According to the Professor, if you want to rub elbows with the pros--including Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, and Lederer himself--there's only one place in town to play: The Bellagio. "The Mandalay Bay has a good game as well, and the Palms, Wynn, and the Venetian have very nice rooms, too," says Lederer. "But if you're up to the limits, The Bellagio has the best room in Las Vegas."

When it comes to advice for poker novices, or "fish," as the pros say, Lederer has just one rule: "Play no more than twenty-five to thirty percent of your hands. You need to be tight and aggressive. All professional poker players have this approach. You're conservative in terms of what hands you play, but once you're in, you're aggressive. When you become selective with your hands, you'll actually have something good so you'll want to protect your hand by being aggressive. You'll win fewer pots, but you also lose fewer pots. Plus, when you do win, it's going to be a bigger pot."

The Professor also has a strict policy regarding money management. "You want to risk no more than one hundred times the big blind in any given evening. So if you're sitting down at a one- to two-dollar no-limit game, don't lose more than two hundred dollars in one night. If you lose two hundred dollars, walk away and play again tomorrow. There's no shame in getting up from the table." On the other hand, Lederer says, "you do want to press your wins. If you're feeling good and you're winning, keep playing. If you're up two hundred dollars, you might lose it back, but there's a better chance you're going to be up four hundred dollars at the end of the night."

And really, who doesn't want that? Find more tips from the Poker Professor online at howardlederer.com.