Those of you on our E-mail list will have received our new, revised OPT-IN CardPlayer.com Newsletter. If you haven't signed up, visit www.cardplayer.com and go to the Newsletter sign-up page. Our privacy policy is very strict - we will not rent or sell our list to anyone. The only newsletter you will receive will be from CardPlayer.com. We plan on sending you up-to-date information on what's happening in your area, and anything we can find to help you have more fun and make more money playing poker.

Now, my poker career started before I was born when my paternal grandfather, Alex, a Russian immigrant, came home every Saturday night and gave my grandma Sophie the $2 he had won playing poker. Sadly, grandpa Alex died before I could play poker with him, but my maternal grandpa, Harry, also an immigrant, got mad at me only once in my life - when I bluffed him out of a pot in the Sunday night kitchen table game that my family played. "You don't bluff your grandpa!" he yelled.

While playing poker in Los Angeles, I've worked for most of the studios, edited Bob Hope shows, and made short films that were on all the networks. I've made films that were shown on shows like the Golden Globe Awards, star-studded TV specials, and variety shows, have written for TV, and was a very popular studio screenplay writer. I am an award-winning international corporate filmmaker who has worked for many Fortune 500 companies, and had the honor of directing a Soviet TV film crew on an eight-week documentary in the former Soviet Union.

I've played poker with some very funny and famous people in home games around Hollywood. Home poker games in Hollywood sometimes were all about trying to get a job or a development deal on a script, or getting help to get a project done. I hope to get some of these great poker fans, who play only in private games, to share some fun stories. I also am planning to round up some more visible show business poker folks to make CardPlayer.com a bit more "glamorous." Oh, my one acting gig was in a poker game on Baywatch for my producer/writer friend Mike Berk.

I also love Las Vegas - what a great country, America! In my life, I've flown in on a friend's private jet when I took third in a Hall of Fame tournament eight-or-better event, and I've also driven out penniless when I was a kid. So, I'm far away from Chicago where I grew up, and near legal poker in California and Nevada. I am proud that most gamblers and poker players who know me think I'm a straight shooter and nice guy.

As we approach launching CardPlayer.com with full force, my wife, Tanya (a great sculptor - www.tanyaragir.com), teases me that she regrets encouraging me to combine my Internet world with my love of poker. My staff and I are working very hard to try to make CardPlayer.com as important online as Card Player magazine is in print. Please visit CardPlayer.com and let us know how we can make it the online home "for those who play to win."