Representatives from more than 30 countries visited the United Kingdom on Halloween to talk about regulating online gaming. The United States was not one of them. The UK held the online gambling summit to start conversations with countries that allow Internet gambling, to figure out how to reach a consensus on how to provide a regulatory framework.

It's no secret, certain places are hotbeds for particular types of talent. A disproportionate number of NBA point guards hail from New York City and Chicago. The town of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic has more players per capita currently in major league baseball than any other city on the planet. Canada, and in particular the province of Ontario, has gained attention for producing some of the world's most successful … poker players.

In this column I'll do my level best to narrate the history of poker, from the game's arrival in New Orleans as 20-card poque (or poqas), its evolution into 52-card poker aboard Mississippi steamboats and later in the camps of Union and Confederate armies, its migration to the Dakotas and California, its importance as both entertainment for servicemen and a tactical model in war games and nuclear diplomacy, through its emergence as a tournament spectacle at Binion's World Series of Poker and its mushrooming popularity in scores of other countries as well as in cyberspace, the fastest growing segment of the $100 billion poker industry.

As I write this, I've been holed up at Foxwoods the last few days for the 2006 World Poker Finals. Foxwoods always has two things going for it: It attracts lots of players, and many of those players like to play fast and loose. Last year, Nick Schulman made a name for himself, winning more than $2.1 million for his first-place finish. The 609 players this year fell slightly short of last year's huge 783-player field but the event was still good for a $1.7 million first prize.

On a Friday night in August in Minneapolis, longtime New York Knicks player Trent Tucker (he played for the Knicks for 10 years) had a charity event to benefit the Trent Tucker Youth Program. Normally, this event is all about the golf, and people pay a minimum of $5,000 a person to play with the likes of Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett, Patrick Ewing, Byron Scott, Charles Oakley, Scotty Pippen, and many other NBA stars and celebrities.

Finally, the World Poker Tour was able to make a long overdue stop in Canada, more specifically, at the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I could actually see the Falls from my hotel room.

I've heard there is an ancient Chinese curse that states: "May you live in interesting times." Well, the game of poker is surely in an interesting time! Thanks to U.S. Senate Majority Leader and 2008 presidential candidate Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), we have the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), which has shaken up the poker world.

People always ask, "How much do I need to play in a $20-$40 (for example) game?" The usual answer to all poker questions is, "It depends." But in this case, it is the wrong question. The question really should be, "Given my temperament and current financial situation, how much can I risk in a game?"

I often hear tournament players tell me about their "pet peeve." It turns out that a lot of these players share the same one. When a player is all in, they tell me, everyone else should check the hand down, every time. "We want to eliminate the all-in guy," they say, and the best chance of doing it occurs when none of the active players bet their hands, forcing the all-in player to beat as many people as possible.