1) It's an obvious one, but I'll say it anyway - keep your money secure and in sight at all times. I can't tell you how many times I've seen ladies leave their pocketbooks draped over backs of their chair as they play or guys with their wallets bulging out of their back pockets.

While casino cameras can catch just about everything, it can still miss sleight of hand of a good pickpocket. Keep your wallet in your front pocket and your purses secure on your person. If someone bumps you, check to make sure you still have everything on you. Of course, if you're like me and live in New York City, you probably know this already.

2) If you play tables, don't leave your chips on table if you have to step away for a minute. Many people entrust hundreds - even thousands - of dollars to dealers and other casino staff as they get up to make a phone call, smoke a cigarette, or go to restroom.

Their tournament structure is pretty straight-forward. Each player begins each round with 5,000 in tournament chips, and a preliminary round is played. If a player has most chips at their table after 25 hands he advances to semifinals. In semis, player with most chips after 25 hands goes to final table. At final table everyone's in money; player with most chips after 25 more hands would win $5,000 in cash.

I had just barely squeaked by in preliminary round to win my session. Me and two other players were neck-neck-and-neck going into final few hands. One of ladies I was up against busted out with one hand to go, while I got a blackjack on my big bet, pulling me ahead with a decent chip lead. It came down to my opponent going all-in and needing to win her hand to beat me out for session.

She had a hard 14 against a dealer's ace - big trouble. She had practically no choice but to hit as I helplessly stood there holding my breath. I chanted to myself, "Break! Break! Break," and dealer delivered my opponent news. Nine. Game over.

I was only finisher for that session with about 2,700 in chips. A pretty ugly session all in all, but a win's a win. That session was kind of nail-biter that left me tingling all over, and it's that rush that brings be back with every invite they send me. That, and fact that they tend to draw spectators is pretty nice, too!

My semifinal round would turn out to be most memorable. It seems I wasn't quite done with ugly winning just yet.

Many tournament strategists recommend players start out conservatively for round. Most of us weren't very conservative, but we weren't very aggressive, either. I started betting 700-900 a hand and cards were going my way first several hands. Blackjacks were dropping right in front of me, and got some really good double down hands. I just went with flow, and before long I had a lead of about 4,000 on nearest contender. The other players had some catching up to do, so at this point, I decided to try for a little fun, hopefully at my opponents' expense.

I started to play low - betting smaller than others with hope that everyone loses hand. I bet minimum of 100 while others went for 1000-1500 to catch up to me. It wasn't so much about me winning or losing hand since I only bet 100. If other players lost, it would increase my chip lead. One hand I had a hard 16 versus dealer's 6. In a regular live game, of course, no one would EVER even think of touching hand. I decided to hit - amid gasps and groans from other contestants, of course - and busted with 26.