Every month I divulge some of the strategies that I have learned about this game. This month, I would like to share a secret that most people don't know: I am the luckiest player in poker.

It's true. I can't believe how often I get lucky at the poker table. Just recently I was playing in a tournament against other members of my website, www.InternetTexasHoldem.com. The flop came Jh10h8c. A player bet about two-thirds of the pot and I moved all in with the KhQc. I was rather short-stacked and needed to make a move. The button called, and I instantly knew that I was in trouble. He showed the Ah9h. Not only did he have the best hand, but he also had the best draw. The turn was a 7, giving him a straight. But a 9 hit the river and I had the nuts. I have such great luck! I took that pot and went on to win the tournament.

The term "out" is one of those words that create a lot of confusion among poker players. And, in many cases, players use a definition that will lead to incorrect decisions. One commonly used definition is that an out is a card that improves one's hand. For example, you might hear a player say that he has nine outs with a flush draw. This is a popular and practical definition - as one can easily count how many cards will improve his hand to a better one. This definition always works well in describing to beginning players the various possibilities in improving their hand. Although practical, this definition tends to give many players false impressions with respect to the strength of their draw.

An interesting scenario arose for me in the $1,500 pot-limit hold'em event at the World Series of Poker. I took down 14th place and a $21,000 payday, but I won't bore you with how the ladies (pocket queens) let me down a couple of times toward the end. This column focuses on a key stage in the tournament when the time clock played an important role in determining my strategy.

There are always two key decisions you must make when taking the initiative in no-limit hold’em while playing a hand. Are you going to play, and if so, how much do you want to bet? The amount of your bet is always very important. If you bet too little with a good hand, you could be inviting your opponent to hit a long shot that might cost you your entire stack. If you bet too much, you might find yourself in a situation in which you are winning only small pots and losing large pots. A key part of the decision in determining how much to bet depends on the pot odds and implied pot odds.

I read a lot of hand examples and answer a lot of questions in the forum at my website, and there are some common errors that I consistently see. Beginning players, and even some players with a decent amount of experience, have misconceptions on when they should raise and when they should call. In general, a player should raise when he has the best hand. Most players understand this. What they don’t understand is how to define the best hand.

The possibility of becoming a professional poker player is an alluring one for most players. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to sit at home playing poker all day? My personal situation is such that the idea is especially appealing. I have a decent job, but nothing I would be reluctant to quit. I have no dependants, a very supportive family and a partner who earns enough to get me through the tough months if things went badly wrong.

In college I played on the football team. Now this isn’t exactly a bragging right in England where football is not nearly as big as it is over in the US , but nevertheless I loved the game and was fairly good at it. There was one guy on the team who struggled. He trained hard, listened to the coaches and put in a lot of effort but he just wasn’t a football player. He was undersized, lacked coordination and didn’t have an aggressive bone in his body.