If you love playing Pai Gow, things may be looking up for you as more properties add linked jackpots to their game mix. I've enjoyed playing Pai Gow since Washington State legalized mini-casinos (15 table games max) about a dozen years ago. Each little casino around Seattle had $5 games and seats available during the two years I lived there, ruining my life by becoming a Mariner's baseball fan, but that's just another bad-beat story.

As for Pai Gow, many casinos now offer the game with a $1 bonus bet on a progressive jackpot, and I always get interested in those when the numbers get over $200,000. I figure that's just high enough for me to really scream about my tax bill ( a few years back, a player at Northern California's Thunder Valley Casino hit a 7-card straight flush for over $500,000). Recently the Gila River casinos in Arizona linked their Pai Gow tables (Vee Quiva, Lone Butte, and Wild Horse Pass) and now their jackpot is $252,000. That's worth a shot!

In Las Vegas, Cannery Casino Resort Properties (CCR), including The Rampart Casino, Eastside Cannery Casino & Cannery Casino, has also linked their tables. Last month they had a $262,000 winner! In addition, the CCR (No, not Creedence Clearwater Revival) group offers a new Pai Gow version called EZ Pai Gow .

EZ Pai Gow is a game with no commission. Instead of taking the extra time to collect commission, EZ Pai Gow uses another revenue source to get the same edge in the game. Each time the dealer makes a queen-high Pai Gow, all bets are a push! It's a great idea, and you'll get more hands per hour. It's win-win as far as I'm concerned.

Got a high progressive jackpot at a casino near you? Drop me a line. Pai Gow players have to stick together!

I was waiting impatiently for a playable hand in an Omaha-eight game the other day and my mind wandered off without me. I started thinking of the way things have changed over the past decade or so in poker rooms. The best thing I could think of was that many poker rooms are non-smoking now. After spending the previous decade sucking-up second hand smoke and having my eyes continually bloodshot from the perpetual cloud of toxins around the game, my body is much happier now! That's progress.

I'm not sure I like having TV's all over the walls, because I get distracted by them, and I can't figure out why. I mean, how many times can I watch the same highlights on ESPN? Many times, apparently. I am happy the chairs are better now though. Some joints used to have the worst little chairs, no padding, and they didn't roll around or anything. The horror!

Poker terms have changed, but it really doesn't matter whether you spike a set on the turn, or catch trips, it's still three of a kind. And, it's still nice when players exhibit some manners. That's what I thought when my mind returned from wherever it went to. Probably because there was a young lady playing in my Omaha game who smiled, spoke pleasantly, and even showed down some obvious losers when calling.

She didn't fire her cards into the muck with disgust when she lost. She just tabled her hand and congratulated the winner. I got to say, "Thank you," and rake the chips on several occasions myself, and you know, when I got counterfeited on a big hand and she scooped a monster pot, I just showed my hand and smiled. It only hurt a little.

It never hurts to show some poker etiquette, and, players don't mind losing so much when the game is lively and friendly. And, if you spend your life on the green felt playing table coach, knock it off. Nobody on the game cares how much you know. The dealer is likely to be able to handle any situation, give 'em a chance.

Which reminds me, as much as today's new players might think they are different than yesterdays, they really aren't. Why? Because no matter how experienced and well-read (within the realms of poker strategy books) new players are, the percentages haven't changed any since twenty years ago. The hands are still made just as often, the pot odds are calculated the same, and......... somehow there is still the same percentage of good players and bad.

That's right. Amazingly, the game still produces the same number of winners and losers once the year ticks past and New Year's Eve ends. So, as always, you have to put your best game on the table to take down the chips. And, there's nothing wrong with being polite. It only hurts a little.

Is anything really simple when it comes to card counting? Sure. It's simple to think you know what you are doing when you don't, and it's simple to lose your money. And that's just the beginning, because beating blackjack at your favorite casino is never a simple task. It is, however, likely to be more fun than you've ever had in a casino!

When I was 17 years old I got a copy of Gambling Times, and decided I should start playing blackjack in casinos. There were all kinds of books offered about how to beat blackjack and I already knew how to play (I thought), so why not. It was a tough road, but by the time I was in college I knew more about blackjack than most casino personnel. The cloak and dagger, hiding from the pit boss, and pulling the wool over the dealers' eyes part was so much fun!

And now, with the internet, you don't need a bunch of books. You can learn how to beat blackjack with a simple plus minus count for free! The count is simple, but your success will hinge on how well you know how to play blackjack.

If you know the game, you know you need to play perfect basic strategy to start with. It's a long learning process, but well worth it. The average player loses about 1.5 percent of their average bet over their lifetime at blackjack. So, depending on the speed of the game, they probably lose $15 an hour. Would you take five hours out of your life to learn basic strategy to get that number down to just $5? It's a skill you'll always have!

Then, the fun part starts. Would you be willing to step up your practice sessions to include a little simple math (can you add, subtract, and divide by six?) and memory skills to turn the tables and actually win $15 an hour playing blackjack? Would you work harder if you knew you could make a even more? I did, I have, and I've never had a losing year at the casinos.

I will admit that the first month I employed my new skills (after many, many hours of practice) I only made $1.98 an hour, but I did win. And, I've never looked back, never had a losing month! And, the casinos give me free rooms, free meals, and even free slot play to reward me for playing at their places. Sweet!

So, learn to play, learn to count, and practice, practice, practice, until you are perfect. Then, you'll have more fun than you ever thought possible in your favorite casinos!

A fellow told me a story last night about ordering a drink from the cocktail server at a poker table. She was cute and quick, but she spilled his drink on the way back from the bar, so she said, "Gee, I'm sorry, I spilled half your drink here." She set down his drink and a very wet napkin, smiled, and added, "Now don't you worry, I'll get you another." She then disappeared for ten minutes. When she came back she smiled and said, "You thought I forgot about you, huh? I didn't, here's your clean napkin!"

Now that's funny. But that's not all, because a floor supervisor had heard both discussions and he said, "Hey, let's get this guy a new drink, all right." But the server said, "No, I'm sorry, it's after 2am now and we already had last call, give me your glass." Now that's a bad beat story. And, it's the first bad-bead story I ever heard that was funny, or I was actually interested in.

If you don't know what a bad-beat story is, consider yourself lucky. There are plenty of poker terms that every player should learn, but all those lucky player bad-beat, suckout, and tournament bubble ones should go straight to the trash bin. Sure, I've told them myself, but I'm not sure why. Probably because I like to hear myself talk.

On the other hand, there are plenty of funny things that happen on games that should be repeated. I thought it was funny when a young player begged several times for a pretty woman at the table to show him her hand after she made a large reraise and he pondered and tossed his cards in the muck. She also pondered, then tabled her cards, showing a busted flush. He looked at her with such a hurt look I almost felt sorry for him as he said, "Girls aren't supposed to lie!"

Oh yeah? Welcome to the new world! There are plenty of ladies out there who can knock your socks off with their poker playing. And, most of those ladies have a pretty good sense of humor! Enjoy.