David Peat, recognized by most only as "Viffer," is a regular player in the big ($50-$100 and $100-$200) no-limit hold'em cash games in Las Vegas. The Ohio native made the move to Las Vegas about five years ago, and he is still playing from the same bankroll he brought with him. Peat is known as a chatty player, but he uses his endless stream of stories to maintain a lighthearted mood at the tables. After all, when the fish are being entertained, they don't resent Peat as much for taking their money.

At only 27 years old, Gavin Griffin already holds one of the most impressive collections of poker's most prestigious titles. The former poker dealer won the $3,000 buy-in pot-limit hold'em event at the 2004 World Series of Poker, a win that, at the time, bestowed upon him the record as the youngest bracelet winner in history. Since then, he has accumulated more than $4.5 million in live tournament winnings, and made history again by winning the European Poker Tour Grand Final Championship, which boasted the biggest first-place prize in EPT history at the time, more than $2.4 million.

According to the PokerStars website, a deck of 52 cards can be shuffled into 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,404,000,000,000,000,000 sequences. Among them we'll find every last combination of holecards, burn cards, flops, turns, sixth streets, and rivers. Players tend to be furious when, with all of these possible variations, they're dealt a dozen hands in a row that are more or less the same, without a single card higher than 7, for example - unless they're playing lowball, of course, in which case they're thrilled. The length of this number also has a lot to do with why the winner of the World Series of Poker main event is no longer thought of as poker's best player.

Glen Chorny won this year's European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Monaco, which attracted more than 800 players, and he pocketed upward of $3 million. Prior to that, the Canadian player had placed 13th in the 2008 Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure and earned $80,000. At only 22 years old, he has made more than $3.4 million playing tournament poker. He is known to be an aggressive player, but he is also selective with his starting hands.

An act that would establish a legal framework to license and regulate online poker in the United States was introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (New Jersey) on Oct. 1. If passed, S. 3616, called the "Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act of 2008," would amend current U.S. Code to "provide for the licensing of Internet skill game facilities."

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Eva and Tony Parker asked me to come down to San Antonio to emcee their charity poker tournament for "Eva's Heroes"; check out Evasheroes.com. Since the event was held on Aug. 9 and I figured that I would have three weeks off right before then - following the end of the World Series of Poker - plus the fact that I could bring my son with me, I decided to attend. Also, Eva's Heroes supports a segment of the population that is close to my own heart: those with developmental challenges.

I just got back from my first trip to China, for the Asian Poker Tour (APT). The tournament was held in Macau, but we stopped off in Hong Kong for a few days to do a little sightseeing. What did we see? Not a whole heck of a lot.

When a hand is tied and the pot is split, players will often say, "It's like kissing your sister." They mean that a split pot is not very exciting. (I also have heard players say this when they break even for a session. To me, breaking even is far from boring, especially if I've been way behind or even way ahead earlier in the session.) Ties are so important that I believe it is necessary for me to interrupt my series of columns on suited aces to cover the subject. Ties are a very important consideration in poker games with common boardcards, like hold'em, Omaha, and Omaha eight-or-better