When it comes to poker, we have long lost the middle ground. The chances are one is either a star-struck poker-crazed gaming nut or a vehemently outspoken anti-poker puritan. My wife is the latter type. I'm trying to make the transition from the former category to a more balanced middle-of-the-road position.

Poker involves risk. Definitely. But which activity doesn't?

People lose money playing poker. But is that the only activity in which the law-abiding taxpayers are parted from their hard earned cash as a result of their very own voluntary decisions?

The year was 1999. The month, November. The stock market was so red hot it seemed like nobody could do anything wrong. You just closed your eyes, picked a stock, and damn if the darn thing didn't go up the very next day!

We sat down one night with my wife and discussed whether it made sense to keep our money in a savings account that earned three and a half percent a year when we knew a number of people who doubled up their money in stocks the year before. She grudgingly admitted that freezing our money in a savings account was not really the most rational thing to do.

So she allowed me to pull out $15,000 from our savings and various credit cards and open an account with one of the better known on-line brokerage houses.

December 1999 -- I dived into the Wall Street with the enthusiasm of a kid in a toy store.

The first month I not only did not lose any money but actually made $500. I felt like I knew what I was doing.

January 2000 was even better