Thinking like a poker player may be a cliché but it is one that certainly hits the nail on the head. Poker requires a way of thinking which many beginners find difficult to comprehend.
It can be quite easy to get off-track during a game of poker, so this section is designed to help you eliminate distractions and learn to concentrate on the things that you must be concentrating on in order to be a winner – like the four key poker skills.
4 ESSENTIAL SKILLS
Frequently, professional poker players are considered to be either ‘tight’ or ‘aggressive’. Poker sharks play few hands, but when they play, they do so with a killer-like instinct. While these terms a good descriptions of poker professionals, novices simply will not understand them.
To address things in basic terms, the most important things a poker player can do is learn, practice and develop continually four critical skills: math, discipline, psychology, and risk versus reward. Here’s an outline of these critical concepts:
1. MATH
A good poker player should about know general percentages. These are any odds that can be memorized about the game of poker which will save you time when playing under pressure. For example, there is approximately a 1 in 8 chance of hitting a set when holding a pocket pair. The chance of completing a flush draw at the flow is around 33%. The more general percentages you know there more help you have when sitting at the poker table or playing online. Focus on critical numbers because it is impossible to remember all the many statistics available. However, the more you play, the more you’ll develop a memory for these facts.
Outs are un-dealt cards that will improve your hand and great poker players always know their outs. Keep track of how many cards can help your hand and think of them in terms of a percentage. To calculate the odds, count the number of outs, multiply by two, add two, and the answer will show the percentage change of hitting one of the outs to improve your hand. This formula is well worth committing to memory.
Pot odds are very important also and go hand-in-hand with outs. Unless outs are converted into intelligent betting that considers the financial return versus the risk of decisions, they don’t mean anything.
2. DISCIPLINE
Great poker players require an advantage. The difference between a winning player and a fish is that a fish doesn’t expect to win, while a skillful player does. A fish is just hoping luck will be on his or her side and will play other casino games. A skilled poker player doesn’t depend on luck; he does, however, hope that others do not get lucky.
Skilled poker players know that every game requires different levels of discipline. A disciplined no-limit player could be a very foolish limit player or visa versa. Most often, a disciplined limit poker player plays tight at the pre-flop stage. He doesn’t play too many hands. Instead, he selects those hands high winning potential.
On the flip side, a disciplined no-limit player is entirely different. This player is less concerned with playing too many blinds. Instead, he concentrates on not getting trapped. The main difference between a disciplined limit and a disciplined no-limit player is that the limit player avoids allowing his stack take repeated small hits. A disciplined no-limit player avoids losing his whole stack in one fell swoop. Because of this, a disciplined no-limit player can play a lot of hands. Pre-flop, he may play be as loose as anyone else. Yet, he also knows exactly when to fold hands that can get him in big trouble.
A truly disciplined poker player, as the song says, knows when to “hold’em and knows when to fold’em”. He or she recognizes when they’re on tilt and aware when the game is too lucrative to stop. This knowledge arrives only through playing experience; in the meantime simply follow your instincts. If you find you are playing more with emotion than with your brain, taking a break and reorganizing would be in your best interest.
Disciplined poker players know they are not perfect and that they will make mistakes but they use these mistakes to learn. They do not blame others for their errors nor do they whine or cry about them. Every mistake is a lesson from which a poker player can learn to become a more sophisticated player. So, when you make an error, learn from it and move on.
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3. PSYCHOLOGY
A great deal of information about poker psychology is available, far too much to address in depth here. However, there is some sound advice you should know. Remember that the OTHER PLAYERS in any poker game are just as important as you. Often, people playing poker are off-guard because their thoughts are on themselves, their decisions, their strategy and approach and their cards. While these things are important, as addressed in the DISCIPLINE section above, you should still think about what is going on elsewhere at the poker table.
A good poker player is not a self-centered player. While he may be a real jerk and very self-centered when not at the poker table, when he IS playing poker, his philosophy should change. He should empathize with other players and attempt to place himself in their position. This helps him to understand the decisions they are considering.
It is very important for a good poker player to always try to answer three very important questions:
1. What cards does my opponent hold?
2. What cards does my opponent think I may hold?
3. What does my opponent believe that I think he is holding?
First, consider what you believe the answers to these three important questions are and then use that information to manipulate the situation to your advantage. You want to first know the answers to these questions and then know how to manipulate the answers to your advantage. If you have a pair of kings and your opponent has a pair of aces, and you both know what the other has and you both know that each of you knows what the other has, why bother to play a game of poker? A poker professional will manipulate the scenario using various techniques in order to mislead the opponents. You’ll need to become accustomed to mixing things up and not being too easy to ‘read’. This is the best, and sometimes only, way to play a great poker game.
Import note: Good psychology is crucially important in a no-limit game, much more so than in a limit game. It is absolutely vital that you realize this important fact. Limit games frequently become math battles, but no-limit games involve a strong psychological element. Novice and beginners should be fully aware of what they are getting into before playing no-limit poker.
4. RISK vs. REWARD MGMT
Risk and reward management may seem obvious; after all, we use it in daily life as well as at the poker table. But gambling often brings out aspects of ourselves that we usually don’t encounter; we may, at times, play with more passion that reason. Always try to strike a balance between the two, and never allow things to get out of control. Good poker players are willing to take a big risk only if the reward is sufficiently large, and even then ONLY if the expected return is higher than the risk. Playing poker is a balancing act, and expert poker players are those able to balance things most effectively.
More importantly, understand that the risk-versus-reward nature of poker extends beyond the poker room. Always keep a budget of how much money you need for playing poker and how much you need for other living expenses. It is not our place to tell you which is more important, but it is a good idea to play within your allocated poker budget.
Fundamentally, good poker players are slightly averse to risks, which may come as a surprise to many. In terms of investment, a person is risk-neutral, risk-averse or risk-accepting, depending on how that person allocates available investment funds. You’ll find that, over time, the most successful poker players are not those who bet the whole wad on a risk-accepting long-shot, hoping to get lucky, or even the ones who bet their bank roll only on rare occasions (risk-neutral). The really successful poker players are actually those who take only calculated risks, and keep focused on the ‘big picture’.
Sticking to this kind of example is much better than striving for the whole pot all the time. Even though you may have some success with taking big risks, over time reckless strategies will result in much less success than playing more prudently.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Poker Pot Odds
Pot Odds Is Very Important In My Opinion...
Pot odds defined
The idea of pot odds is crucial when deciding actions in poker play. Pot odds refer to the relationship between the pot size compared to bet size. If there is a $10 pot and, in order to call, you have to put in a $2 bet, you are getting pot odds of 5:1. If you have to call a $5 bet in the same $10 pot, you are getting pot odds of 2:1.
The size of the pot
Always be conscious of pot size. When in a Limit poker game, count the number of bets in the pot rather than counting the amount of money. When bets double, for example in Hold’em, count the big bets as two small bets. When Pot-Limit or No-Limit is the game, it is a more difficult to count the pot and the odds will probably not be as exact. Nevertheless, you must still do it.
How to use pot odds
Once you determine the pot odds, use the information appropriately. To do this, connect the pot odds to the value of your hand. Then means you must be able to put your opponents on likely hands and consider your chances of holding a better hand than theirs. Let’s say, you have a flush draw on the flop in hold’em and are up against an opponent you believe has, at a minimum, a top pair. There are nine cards, called outs, which will give you a flush when you have flopped a four flush. The below table indicates that nine outs gives a 35% change, or 2:1 against, of making the flush on the turn and river combined. This means you need to have pot odds of at least 2:1 to call any bet on the flop.
Implied odds
Implied odds refers to the relationship between the size of the current pot and the pot you expect to win. This means that sometimes the pot does not lay the right odds, when you decided to play expecting to get further action and win more when you hit the hand. For example, in Limit Hold’em your opponent bets $20 into an $80 pot, your call gives you pot odds of 5:1 since you are risking $20 to win $120. But, if you expect your opponent to call a bet or raise on the river if you make your hand, your implied odds are 6:1 or 7:1.
A rule of thumb for Texas Hold’em and Omaha
Every out gives you an approximate 4% chance of hitting on the turn and river combined. For example, 5 outs gives you about a 20% chance of improving, 6 outs about 24%, etc.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Poker Slow Playing
There are so many different situations in poker and one key to winning is to know when/how to slow play your hand. What does slow playing actually do for you? It makes your opponents think that they have you beat.
So whether you flopped a monster and want to slow play in hopes of your opponent getting a hand to bet/call a decent amount. It also causes your opponents to bluff more. Slow playing isn’t only a technique to get the most out of your hand, but it can also be a way to have your strong hand taken down by a weaker one if it is not executed correctly.
Who to Slow Play Against
First of all, slow playing is a strategy that should be used when facing either advanced or aggressive opponents. The reason for this is that more advanced players are likely to try and steal pots when they feel weakness, and aggressive opponents like to buy many pots.
The key is to trap your opponent, which is when they make a bet or raise in hopes of you folding. You do not want to just give them free opportunities to see another card. When you are facing very weak and inexperienced opponents, it is usually best to bet them out of the hand, as they will often just check when they don’t have anything.
How to Slow Play
When people slow play they often think that it is best to check to their opponent. This is not always the case because you don’t want to give your opponent a free card. What you want to do is make a mediocre bet, that is smaller than your usual bet, to try to make them think that you are bluffing. Nothing’s better than flopping a straight and getting re-raised all in because your opponent felt you were bluffing.
However, if you make that mediocre bet and your opponent only calls it, then next turn you want to bet him out, and if he happened to catch or has a feeling that you are bluffing, then you may have caller, which should mean more money for you. Now, there are the occasions that odds will go against you and you will lose your hand. That’s why you take a chance when slow playing in order get a bigger pot.
The Dangers of Slow Playing
Obviously slow playing isn’t 100% reliable. It’s a chance that you have to take. If you never slow play, you won’t see as many bad beats and for some people that’s what they want. No one wants bad beats, but if you are willing to take a risk you can really get paid off.
The biggest danger of slow playing is that you give your opponent an opportunity to see a card cheaply. With that card they may catch a draw or even a stronger hand than you. If they get a straight or flush draw they may call a pretty large bet from you and of course they will eventually hit and win the hand. So there goes your whole idea of slow playing to win a bigger pot. If you don’t want to take the risk, bet your opponents out whenever you can.
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Specific Situations
There are only a few occasions when you should check all the way to the river. If you hold AK and you flop a full house, slow playing is a good idea. If the flop is AAK, there’s only one ace left in the deck, along with two kings. This makes it a long shot that your opponent has anything worth playing.
However, if you check and allow a few free cards, your opponent can catch up. For example, if your opponent had J10, and you bet, he will probably fold. However, if you check and the turn is a Q, you are going to win a very nice pot. Also, if your opponent tries to steal at any point because of your checking, you will extract more money from him.
Another situation would be if you had a high pocket pair. You don’t want to slow play low pocket pairs even if the flop consists of all under cards because there is a pretty good chance that an over card will come up on the turn or river. If you have a high pocket pair, specifically AA or KK, you should slow play like you learned above.
There are so many situations when you should slow play and there’s no way to talk about them all. But then again, there are plenty of situations where you shouldn’t slow play. Make sure you think about your odds before you slow play and consider what your opponent may be holding.
In almost every occasion you don’t want to slow play if there are several people in the hand, because the chances of one of them catching something stronger than you is much higher. The only exception would be if you catch a monster such as a straight, a flush, a full house, and so on, but these never guarantee a win.
Overall it is a great idea to slow play, as long as you pick the right situations, the right opponents, and only do it on occasion. By following this strategy, slow playing will really help you build your stack if you do properly.
So whether you flopped a monster and want to slow play in hopes of your opponent getting a hand to bet/call a decent amount. It also causes your opponents to bluff more. Slow playing isn’t only a technique to get the most out of your hand, but it can also be a way to have your strong hand taken down by a weaker one if it is not executed correctly.
Who to Slow Play Against
First of all, slow playing is a strategy that should be used when facing either advanced or aggressive opponents. The reason for this is that more advanced players are likely to try and steal pots when they feel weakness, and aggressive opponents like to buy many pots.
The key is to trap your opponent, which is when they make a bet or raise in hopes of you folding. You do not want to just give them free opportunities to see another card. When you are facing very weak and inexperienced opponents, it is usually best to bet them out of the hand, as they will often just check when they don’t have anything.
How to Slow Play
When people slow play they often think that it is best to check to their opponent. This is not always the case because you don’t want to give your opponent a free card. What you want to do is make a mediocre bet, that is smaller than your usual bet, to try to make them think that you are bluffing. Nothing’s better than flopping a straight and getting re-raised all in because your opponent felt you were bluffing.
However, if you make that mediocre bet and your opponent only calls it, then next turn you want to bet him out, and if he happened to catch or has a feeling that you are bluffing, then you may have caller, which should mean more money for you. Now, there are the occasions that odds will go against you and you will lose your hand. That’s why you take a chance when slow playing in order get a bigger pot.
The Dangers of Slow Playing
Obviously slow playing isn’t 100% reliable. It’s a chance that you have to take. If you never slow play, you won’t see as many bad beats and for some people that’s what they want. No one wants bad beats, but if you are willing to take a risk you can really get paid off.
The biggest danger of slow playing is that you give your opponent an opportunity to see a card cheaply. With that card they may catch a draw or even a stronger hand than you. If they get a straight or flush draw they may call a pretty large bet from you and of course they will eventually hit and win the hand. So there goes your whole idea of slow playing to win a bigger pot. If you don’t want to take the risk, bet your opponents out whenever you can.
Poker Help Online
Specific Situations
There are only a few occasions when you should check all the way to the river. If you hold AK and you flop a full house, slow playing is a good idea. If the flop is AAK, there’s only one ace left in the deck, along with two kings. This makes it a long shot that your opponent has anything worth playing.
However, if you check and allow a few free cards, your opponent can catch up. For example, if your opponent had J10, and you bet, he will probably fold. However, if you check and the turn is a Q, you are going to win a very nice pot. Also, if your opponent tries to steal at any point because of your checking, you will extract more money from him.
Another situation would be if you had a high pocket pair. You don’t want to slow play low pocket pairs even if the flop consists of all under cards because there is a pretty good chance that an over card will come up on the turn or river. If you have a high pocket pair, specifically AA or KK, you should slow play like you learned above.
There are so many situations when you should slow play and there’s no way to talk about them all. But then again, there are plenty of situations where you shouldn’t slow play. Make sure you think about your odds before you slow play and consider what your opponent may be holding.
In almost every occasion you don’t want to slow play if there are several people in the hand, because the chances of one of them catching something stronger than you is much higher. The only exception would be if you catch a monster such as a straight, a flush, a full house, and so on, but these never guarantee a win.
Overall it is a great idea to slow play, as long as you pick the right situations, the right opponents, and only do it on occasion. By following this strategy, slow playing will really help you build your stack if you do properly.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Poker Strategy – Moving Up/Down Limits
Choosing which limit to play is a critical element when playing poker. Generally, you should choose which limit to play based on your financial situation, your poker ability, and your aversion to risk.
No matter how wealthy you are, it is often best to start out at the lower limits simply because the competition there is easier. Few ‘professionals’ play at the $1-2 games, so it is a relatively safe place to begin one’s poker career. Even if you are a billionaire, no one will know it when you play on the internet and think any less of you for playing at a low limit.
When choosing a limit, the major choices come when one decides to move up a limit or down a limit. Generally, you should only move up a limit if you think you are comfortable playing at that limit for seven sessions or more. Do not choose a limit so high that it makes you scared to play. Playing scared is a guaranteed recipe for losing. It is also not wise to ‘go for it’ at a higher limit. If you are making a run for it at a higher limit, you probably do not have the bankroll to survive there for long. Even if you win on two straight sessions, you will likely bust out and have to move down if you are not bankrolled enough at any given limit.
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If you take a hit at a higher limit, you should generally move down. However, you shouldn’t move down so far that you are totally unmotivated to play. If you move up to $25-50 from $10-20, you shouldn’t fall back to $1-2 once you decide that $25-50 is too high. While people tend to play too scared at a higher limit, they also tend to play too loose at a lower limit. Play a limit that motivates you to play, but also at which that you are not scared to play.
No matter how wealthy you are, it is often best to start out at the lower limits simply because the competition there is easier. Few ‘professionals’ play at the $1-2 games, so it is a relatively safe place to begin one’s poker career. Even if you are a billionaire, no one will know it when you play on the internet and think any less of you for playing at a low limit.
When choosing a limit, the major choices come when one decides to move up a limit or down a limit. Generally, you should only move up a limit if you think you are comfortable playing at that limit for seven sessions or more. Do not choose a limit so high that it makes you scared to play. Playing scared is a guaranteed recipe for losing. It is also not wise to ‘go for it’ at a higher limit. If you are making a run for it at a higher limit, you probably do not have the bankroll to survive there for long. Even if you win on two straight sessions, you will likely bust out and have to move down if you are not bankrolled enough at any given limit.
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If you take a hit at a higher limit, you should generally move down. However, you shouldn’t move down so far that you are totally unmotivated to play. If you move up to $25-50 from $10-20, you shouldn’t fall back to $1-2 once you decide that $25-50 is too high. While people tend to play too scared at a higher limit, they also tend to play too loose at a lower limit. Play a limit that motivates you to play, but also at which that you are not scared to play.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Poker Strategy – Tournaments Overview
Tournament poker is one of the world’s hottest fads. While poker has been consistently played for over 100 years, the tournament circuit is still a relatively new thing. In 1972, the grand prize at the World Series of Poker (a $10k buyin) was only $80,000. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker took home a cool $2.5 million. The reason for this drastic increase in prize money is the number of players that have entered tournaments. In 1972, only 8 players entered the world series of poker, while 839 entered in 2003.
I am not a fan of tournament poker. Television has made tournament poker look glamorous- a competition where skill prevails. However, the truth of the matter is that luck plays a much larger factor in tournaments than ring games. Think about it this way: if you started with $2000, what is the chance that you would end up with $2 million dollars before the night was over at a regular no-limit game? Zero. However, to win a tournament where each player has 2k starting chips and 1000 people enter, you would need to win two million in chips to win the tournament. Not an easy feat to do unless lady luck truly smiled upon you that day!
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In short, the reasons I prefer to make money at ring games rather than tournaments is:
1. I can consistently win at a ring game, whereas a tournament is feast or famine.
2. Luck plays a much smaller role in having a winning session at a ring game than at a tournament.
3. It is much easier to tell if you are a good ring game player than a good tournament player. Since the best tournament player can easily go ten sessions winning nothing, it is very difficult to tell if you are ‘doing the right thing.’
Nevertheless, I play tournaments because they are fun and because I hope to make some money at them. Winning at tournaments still requires sound poker strategy, but emphasizes several factors more so than ring games:
1. Your chips have a different relative value. In a standard poker game, you should view each dollar as having equal value. This is not the case in a tournament. When you start off with an initial thousand in chips, that thousand is worth a lot more than the next thousand you make. Since you cannot buy back in, you always need to have chips in order to survive. At the beginning of the tournament, you should be more reticent to go all in because even if you win you are not in much better of a position. However, later in the tournament you must gamble or else you risk just losing by being blinded away.
2. Domination plays a much bigger factor. Later in the tournament, the blinds will be so high that most players in contested hands will be all-in preflop. Thus, you want hands that dominate other hands. High pocket pairs are good because they dominate lower pocket pairs, and ace with a good kicker is a good hand because it dominates many other hands. Many players make the mistake of betting very hard with a low pocket pair such as 55. In truth, these low pockets are only good for stealing blinds. If someone calls you, you are at best a 50-50, while you are a 4.5:1 underdog if they have a higher pocket pair.
I am not a fan of tournament poker. Television has made tournament poker look glamorous- a competition where skill prevails. However, the truth of the matter is that luck plays a much larger factor in tournaments than ring games. Think about it this way: if you started with $2000, what is the chance that you would end up with $2 million dollars before the night was over at a regular no-limit game? Zero. However, to win a tournament where each player has 2k starting chips and 1000 people enter, you would need to win two million in chips to win the tournament. Not an easy feat to do unless lady luck truly smiled upon you that day!
Poker Help Online
In short, the reasons I prefer to make money at ring games rather than tournaments is:
1. I can consistently win at a ring game, whereas a tournament is feast or famine.
2. Luck plays a much smaller role in having a winning session at a ring game than at a tournament.
3. It is much easier to tell if you are a good ring game player than a good tournament player. Since the best tournament player can easily go ten sessions winning nothing, it is very difficult to tell if you are ‘doing the right thing.’
Nevertheless, I play tournaments because they are fun and because I hope to make some money at them. Winning at tournaments still requires sound poker strategy, but emphasizes several factors more so than ring games:
1. Your chips have a different relative value. In a standard poker game, you should view each dollar as having equal value. This is not the case in a tournament. When you start off with an initial thousand in chips, that thousand is worth a lot more than the next thousand you make. Since you cannot buy back in, you always need to have chips in order to survive. At the beginning of the tournament, you should be more reticent to go all in because even if you win you are not in much better of a position. However, later in the tournament you must gamble or else you risk just losing by being blinded away.
2. Domination plays a much bigger factor. Later in the tournament, the blinds will be so high that most players in contested hands will be all-in preflop. Thus, you want hands that dominate other hands. High pocket pairs are good because they dominate lower pocket pairs, and ace with a good kicker is a good hand because it dominates many other hands. Many players make the mistake of betting very hard with a low pocket pair such as 55. In truth, these low pockets are only good for stealing blinds. If someone calls you, you are at best a 50-50, while you are a 4.5:1 underdog if they have a higher pocket pair.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Introduction to Omaha continued
Flop play
In general, you want to fold any hand unless you have top 2 pair or a draw to the nuts or near-nuts (for example a King-high flush). These requirements can be relaxed a bit if the game is shorthanded: you can draw to slightly lower straights/flushes. However, you still don’t want to be calling with one pair.
If there is a pair on board and you don’t have trips, then do not draw. Most likely someone has the trips and you’re unlikely to semibluff people out of the pot. If you call and hit your draw, you may be beat by a full house!
Semi-bluffs are only useful if you can think you can win outright. However, in many loose low-limit games you will get called to showdown by multiple players. In this case, you don’t want to semi-bluff that much. Maybe throw in one or two for deception, but try to avoid it otherwise.
Two pair and sets are troublesome if there is a draw on board. With several people in hand, there may be so many outs against you that you will probably lose the hand! Try to go for a check-raise and punish people for drawing. However, be prepared to fold at the turn if a draw (or two!) hits and you think you are beat. If you hit your full house, you can try slowplaying (if you have the nut full house) and hope someone hits their straight or flush. However, don’t overdo the slowplay, you should only do it if you really can’t be hurt by the river card, and be more inclined to slowplay if the opponents fall for it often and if you have position. If you find your opponents to be call-stations then go ahead and bet on the turn anyway. If your opponents are new at Omaha and they think their Ace-flush is the nut hand when the board is paired, you don’t want to slowplay. Often times these players will cap out against you on the turn and river despite the full house possibility showing!
However, please note that full house is not even guaranteed to be high-hand. It is quite common to see one full house beat by another at an Omaha game. Generally, you have a low full house if your trip is lower than the board pair, and you are probably safe to win if your trip is higher than the board pair. The best way to tell if your full house is the best hand is by paying attention to your opponents betting sequence. With a low full house, you may consider trying to encourage a bluff by checking and calling instead of betting out, on a fraction of your hands.
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Turn play
If you hit your flush or straight by the turn you definitely should bet hard, and even check-raise if you are certain someone will bet (But bet outright if you have any doubt). There could easily be a set or two pair out against you and they could make their full house on the river. Make sure they don’t get a free card here.
River play
Often times the board will have no straight or flush showing and you think your two pair or set is the high hand. Then a scare card will hit on the river. If this happens, you may want to check down the river. After all, if you get check-raised, you are doubling the amount of money you have put into the hand. It depends on how many opponents are still in the hand and how they played it, but in a multi-way pot, checking is usually the right move. However, if your opponent rarely check-raises, or if he has played the hand like he had two pair, then you may consider betting.
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If you are on the other side of the coin, and you hit your hand on the river, you may want to bet out instead of check-raising, because your opponent may check it down. I usually mix-up whether I bet or check-raise in that situation, depending on what I think my opponent has, but also to add deception and uncertainty. It is important to make your opponents fear the check-raise so that they are afraid to bet on the river, letting you see some showdowns more cheaply.
In general, you want to fold any hand unless you have top 2 pair or a draw to the nuts or near-nuts (for example a King-high flush). These requirements can be relaxed a bit if the game is shorthanded: you can draw to slightly lower straights/flushes. However, you still don’t want to be calling with one pair.
If there is a pair on board and you don’t have trips, then do not draw. Most likely someone has the trips and you’re unlikely to semibluff people out of the pot. If you call and hit your draw, you may be beat by a full house!
Semi-bluffs are only useful if you can think you can win outright. However, in many loose low-limit games you will get called to showdown by multiple players. In this case, you don’t want to semi-bluff that much. Maybe throw in one or two for deception, but try to avoid it otherwise.
Two pair and sets are troublesome if there is a draw on board. With several people in hand, there may be so many outs against you that you will probably lose the hand! Try to go for a check-raise and punish people for drawing. However, be prepared to fold at the turn if a draw (or two!) hits and you think you are beat. If you hit your full house, you can try slowplaying (if you have the nut full house) and hope someone hits their straight or flush. However, don’t overdo the slowplay, you should only do it if you really can’t be hurt by the river card, and be more inclined to slowplay if the opponents fall for it often and if you have position. If you find your opponents to be call-stations then go ahead and bet on the turn anyway. If your opponents are new at Omaha and they think their Ace-flush is the nut hand when the board is paired, you don’t want to slowplay. Often times these players will cap out against you on the turn and river despite the full house possibility showing!
However, please note that full house is not even guaranteed to be high-hand. It is quite common to see one full house beat by another at an Omaha game. Generally, you have a low full house if your trip is lower than the board pair, and you are probably safe to win if your trip is higher than the board pair. The best way to tell if your full house is the best hand is by paying attention to your opponents betting sequence. With a low full house, you may consider trying to encourage a bluff by checking and calling instead of betting out, on a fraction of your hands.
Poker Help Online
Turn play
If you hit your flush or straight by the turn you definitely should bet hard, and even check-raise if you are certain someone will bet (But bet outright if you have any doubt). There could easily be a set or two pair out against you and they could make their full house on the river. Make sure they don’t get a free card here.
River play
Often times the board will have no straight or flush showing and you think your two pair or set is the high hand. Then a scare card will hit on the river. If this happens, you may want to check down the river. After all, if you get check-raised, you are doubling the amount of money you have put into the hand. It depends on how many opponents are still in the hand and how they played it, but in a multi-way pot, checking is usually the right move. However, if your opponent rarely check-raises, or if he has played the hand like he had two pair, then you may consider betting.
Gambling Online
If you are on the other side of the coin, and you hit your hand on the river, you may want to bet out instead of check-raising, because your opponent may check it down. I usually mix-up whether I bet or check-raise in that situation, depending on what I think my opponent has, but also to add deception and uncertainty. It is important to make your opponents fear the check-raise so that they are afraid to bet on the river, letting you see some showdowns more cheaply.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Poker Strategy – Introduction to Omaha
The Rules
In Omaha Hold’em each player recieves 4 hole cards and everyone shares 5 community cards, similar to Texas Hold’em. The catch is that you must use exactly 2 cards from your hand and 3 cards from the board to make your 5-card poker hand. In general the winning hands in Omaha are much better than the winning hands in Texas; in a game of more than 3 people usually a straight or better wins.
When you are first playing Omaha, you should make sure you are actually using 2 cards from your hand, and not 3 or 1. For example, if the board is K Q J 5 4, and you have A Q 4 4, your hand is only three-of-a-kind 4’s. You do not have full house of 4’s over queens. If the board is A K Q 10 9, then your J J 5 4 is not a straight, since you must use two of your cards.
Why play Omaha?
Omaha Hold’em is not as popular as Texas Hold’em but is played by plenty of fish. Also, a lot of good Texas players want to try out Omaha and are unfamiliar with the game but they may still play at high limits because they are good at Texas. These players generally play too loose.
Also, it is much more of a technical game because it is easy to see what the best hand is, since usually there is a flush or a straight on board and odds are that somebody has one.
Some good places to play low-limit Omaha are Party Poker or Empire Poker (they are on the same network). Another place to play is Paradise Poker but they don’t have as many Omaha players.
Poker Strategy – Low-Limit Omaha Hold’em
At the low limit Omaha Hold’em games, there is easy money if you have the patience. Usually, these games are filled with players who are playing far too loose because everyone thinks that their two-pair is a great hand. The best strategy is to play hands that do well in multi-way pots and bet hard when you have the nuts.
There is another version of Omaha called Omaha hi-lo. In this game the high hand and low hand split the pot. This article will not discuss the hi-lo version; I will only talk about Omaha hi.
Some good places to play low-limit Omaha are Party Poker or Empire Poker (they are on the same network). Another place to play is Paradise Poker but they don’t have as many Omaha players.
Starting hands
In longhanded Omaha there really isn’t any such thing as a “dominant hand” preflop. You could get two Aces and two Kings and still easily get beat. However, that isn’t to say that you should call to the flop with just anything. You should still play tight preflop and wait for a good hand, although now there are many types of good hands, hands that become dominant after the flop hits. The best starting hands in Omaha are hands where you hit two pair and your draw, for example Kh Qc Jh 10c. (A decent flop would be Q J x). Those hands are a bit rare, so another good hand in a loose game would just be a hand with a lot of drawing possibilities. If you are expecting a multi-way pot, then it is important to be drawing to the nuts. In other words, you want to draw to an Ace-high flush, not a 9-high flush. Also, you don’t want to draw toward straights if you have low cards and are likely to end up at the low end of the straight.
You may wish to simply call preflop with drawing hands so as to not scare away the loose-passive players. This way you also risk less if you don’t hit your draw. However, if you hold a hand which has strength in high cards, such as Ah Ad Ks Js, then you should raise. You should also raise with several drawing possibilities to build up the pot, if you feel that people are staying in too much for big pots.
Hands with only a high pair can sometimes be played. Play AAxx, KKxx definitely; with AAxx you should raise if you think you can knock people out and get the hand heads-up or 3-way. You may experiment with QQxx but that is very borderline. A set would be nice, but sets aren’t so great in Omaha since someone can easily draw a flush or straight on you. With high pairs you really want to hit a high full house, and rob someone who thinks their lower full house is the high-hand. The main reason high pairs are much less valuable than in Texas is because having an Overpair on the flop is worthless in Omaha. Most likely someone else has a two-pair.
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