Newb who has just read through the stickies - addtl help requested

[danswer5]

Hello all. I am going to give a bit of background about myself so that you guys have an idea of where i am coming from. I am 21 years old and I will be graduating from Ohio State this spring with a Finance major. Soon i'll be interviewing and doing all that jazz, and hopefully (but not in an exciting way) I will have a job lined up by graduation. I do understand the importance of investing from a very early age, and to that end I was very curious to hear some input from the more experienced members of this forum.

Right now, my asset portfolio is quite thin. I have approximately $8500 in the American Century Gift Trust (TWPTX) mutual fund, about $1500 in a Scottrade account that I am experimenting with that only has about $1000 invested in a mixture of mutual funds and stocks. (I understand that this amount is so trivial that it's almost pointless to be investing it, esp. with trading fees eating up almost all of the profits that i may make anyhow, but I see it as a learning experience and an opportunity to become familiar with the market more than anything else). Finally, I have about $2000 in a savings account that will be growing at ~5% annually. The rest of the money is in my checking account and I will probably leave that there for now.

Now, I have been doing reasonalby well at poker, making enough to put aside some of this $, but i've only become serious about investing over the past month. I am very interested in trying to invest more money into an index fund of some sort or the ETF's that i've been hearing so much about. Also, emergin markets, esp. international markets in Brazil, China, and the rest of Asia sound VERY appealing to me. I am very willing to take on a good amount of risk, as I see this as a long-term investment in which I will not be withdrawing money unless it is an ABSOLUTE emergency. I also suspect that I may not have enough capital at my disposal to effectively enter this area, but I certainly would like to hear the opinions of others to support or nullify this assumption. I currently have an additional $4-5000 that I can invest, but this knowledge will also be beneficial for me in the future even if I cannot implement it today.

So, here are some of the questions that I have for the distinguished ladies and gentlemen of this forum:

1) What index funds and ETF's would you recommend?
2) Are the emerging markets a good choice right now? I know that they have been doing well lately, but i understand that they are quite volatile. In your opinion, do the rewards outweight the risks?
3) I've just recently bought my first investing book, some insight into the investing habits of Warren Buffet and George Soros, and I have also picked up The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. I was wondering if there was a consensus as far as books that MUST be read in order to succeed in the investing arena (a Small Stakes Holdem, Theory of Poker, or Super System if you will).
4) Finally, any further recommendations that you have would be greatly appreciated and considered. I consider myself very new to this particular field (even with a major in finance) and I would like all the help that I can get.

Look forward to hearing some replies. For those that took the time to read, I do appreciate it. Happy holidays to everyone and good luck in 2007!