[ttwarrior1]

Basic Poker Strategy: Understanding Omaha Hi/Lo's Basics



Want to try out Omaha Hi/Lo but want to get a firm grounding in the best hands to play first? Check out this piece that explores your options.

You've seen Omaha Hi-Lo being played and you have a basic understanding of the rules (either the highest or lowest Omaha hand can win) but are still a bit confused by which hands you should be willing to play with versus ones that “look” right but aren't as playable. While high hands are easy enough to understand, low hands can frequently get players into trouble and understanding how they interact and

Low Hands
First of all, we should make sure that we understand what counts as a “low” hand: there are no cards higher than eight in your five-card hand and flushes or straights are ignored when making the low hand, which means the lowest possible hand in Omaha Hi/Lo poker is A2345. Remember that since you're playing Omaha, you must use two cards from your hand and three cards from the board. If there is no qualifying low hand, then the winner with the highest hand takes the entire pot.

Ace-Deuce
Many players get into trouble with A2 because they think of it as the pocket rockets of Omaha Hi-Lo, but there are a couple of caveats that you should pay attention to when you get this tempting duo in front of you. You have to remember that to qualify for low hand status there have to be three other low cards on the board and that if an Ace or 2 gets dropped on the board; your hand will no longer qualify for low status. It's also the most common hand to get quartered, meaning that you'll have to split not just with the high winner, but with anyone else who got A2 and is playing the same way you are. You could actually lose money playing that way!

The Ideal Hand
As you have four cards in your hand, you can use any combination of two of them to generate both high and low hands. It takes some work, but getting to know the space where the two interact is the single best thing any budding Omaha Hi/Lo player can do. Work to coordinate your hands and remember that you want cards that can help you make a straight, flush or full house. It's very rare for a single pair to win on Omaha games.

Bill Boston's guide to the game took a look at the possible starting hands and how they fared in a game and came to the conclusion that AA23, double suited gives you the best chance to win on either side, especially as you get a good chance at the nut flush in two different suits and have the strong possibility of a straight as well, as a deuce or three dropped on the felt just gives you the chance to make a straight versus being directly counterfeited.

Hopefully this will help the budding Omaha Hi-Lo player better understand how they should approach the game. We'll be talking a bit more about Omaha in this column over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

[ttwarrior1]

Basic Poker Strategy: Turbo Tournaments



Find out what the difference is in playing a turbo tournament versus a normal one and how you need to change your game to match the faster pace.

Turbo tournaments are frequently the bane of a beginning-to-mid-level poker player’s existence, as they can either reward a cunning player greatly or utterly humiliate those that aren’t ready for their rapidly-growing blinds and aggressive (and sometimes downright vicious) play.
How can you improve your game at a Turbo tournament like those hosted here at Bodog? Let’s go over some basic changes you can make to your gameplay in order to best others at the online poker tables.
In a turbo multi-table tournament, you can and should play the early blind rounds in much the same way as you would a regular freeze-out tourney. Your game should shift pretty radically, however, when the blinds begin to get large in relation to the average chip stack.
When it becomes a matter of wagering a significant percentage of your chips in the blinds, you should be willing to go more aggressive and push in with a slightly broader variety of pre-flop hands and be willing to go all-in on coin flip hands when the river looks good.
This actually goes against a lot of the advice I’ve given on Bodog but this has to do with the fundamental shift in the game that occurs when you are playing in fast-paced games that reach higher relative steaks more quickly.
In turbo tournaments you must be the aggressor to succeed and while I avoid using the term “gambling” to describe poker play most of the time… that is exactly what you must be willing to do in order to get your chip stack large enough to compete in latter stages.
Sit and Go turbo tournaments also require a similar strategy, but your aggressiveness needs to be kicked up a notch. In these tournaments, the blinds rise even more quickly relative to the total amount of chips in play and the tournament will have fewer players, meaning that you have even less time to wait.
You’ll want to push others hard and try to play in situations where you are ahead when you go all-in or, again, it’s pretty much a coin flip with chips in the pot from players who are no longer playing in the hand.
You do want to be careful, however, to never risk more than a third of your chip stack pre-flop unless you go all-in and are willing to walk away.
If you want even more action than a turbo tournament offers, every Sunday, Bodog’s online poker room offers a $10,000 guaranteed turbo double-stack, where you get twice as many chips but also have twice as much to risk!

[ttwarrior1]

Poker Strategy: Winning Small-Stakes Games



Pretty much every online player starts at the low-stakes tables when they decide to move into real-money games, and the reasons are pretty obvious. A lot of players will tell you that low-stakes games aren't profitable, but that's generally because low-stakes players find themselves in on way more hands than the should be. It's possible and in fact practical to play low-stakes poker for profit if you are comfortable with a longer, slower burn at the table with less action. Think Tight Aggressive and crank it up to about 10% past your usual play.
Preflop Strategies
As with any hold ‘em game, position plays a huge factor in low-stakes online poker games. Early position preflop players want to restrict their play to only the absolute best hands: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AQ and AK. Limp in with a pocket pair of TT or lower and AJ is always more tempting than it should be. You're better off folding everything else when playing from the blinds or immediately after. Later positions get more information and have a bit more freedom in their betting, but early players have to keep things tight.
After The Flop
KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. Too many players find themselves trying a bit too hard when approaching the small-stakes games and end up outthinking themselves. There's not much point at all in bluffing or disguising your plays and hands if you're playing against the majority of small-stakes, novice poker players.
Value Betting
Value bet fairly often because players in microstakes games are far less likely to bet heavy on you and will try to call you down while holding weaker cards versus pushing you hard. It's not uncommon for weak-seeming hands played from a later position to pay off when dealing with calling stations.
Again: Don't Bluff
That's sort of a contradiction to our value betting advice, but there's a point to be made. You should be using continuation betting to be in on a hand that you have a likely win on, but you should stay away from complicated poker plays that small-stakes players simply won't understand. In other words, if you're holding 84 off-suit, then muck it and get on with your life.
Trust Your Opponent
Much like you're likely to Keep It Simple, Stupid, other players are going to stick to the basics of the game and when they're betting heavily, it's safe to assume they've got a good run set up. If they check-raise all-in when the flush card hits? It's a flush. flush. Check, check and then bet on the turn? It helped them. Bet preflop and checked the flop? He's got nothing or to board haven't helped them out.
Pay Attention
When players with more competency hit smaller-stakes tables, they frequently find themselves drifting a bit and missing out on the game. One of the key points for any poker player's strategy is to immerse themselves in the game and keep an eye on how their opponents play. After all, the people you face at smaller-stakes tables may well be the people you face in a tournament down the line.
These tips are good for not just the regular player that's stepped down to lower stakes games, but a good checklist for players that are first entering smaller-stakes games as well. You'll get an insight into how more experienced players see the game and see how you can expand your horizons at the tables as well.

[ttwarrior1]

Starting Hands in Heads-Up Poker

by Bodog Poker | Feb 10 2009
Starting hand selection is one of the first things most poker players learn to practice strategically. David Slantsky was the first to address the subject in depth, and he explained that each hand has a winning percentage pre-flop. Proper hand selection involves adjusting which hands you play based on your position and the number of players at the table. The closer to the button you’re sitting the weaker the hand you could play. The fewer number of players at the table, the wider your starting hand selection can be.

In heads-up play the number of players at the table is as small as it can be, and starting hand strategy takes on an entirely different model. Heads-up play is an aggressive game that requires you give value to hands that would not warrant value in most games. There are only four cards in play, so the chance of your opponent having a good hand is slim. That’s why playing with aggression is successful, players don’t like to call raises with rag cards. But in a heads-up situation you have to play what you are dealt more often because big hands that you can win with will not occur often enough to make up for the blinds you’re giving away.

In a setting where big stealing is the name of the game, raising pre-flop with any Ace, King, Face/kicker, mid-high suited connectors and pocket pairs is imperative to your long term success. Letting opponents see flops for free when you have these hands is a bad idea because you’re not getting value for your hand, which is likely in the lead at this point in the hand. If you don’t hit the flop, you’re at the mercy of your opponent’s aggression. Most flops are missed by both players, and if you make a continuation bet after raising pre-flop it will usually pick up the pot.

Premium starting hands can be slow-played pre-flop if your opponent is aggressive. Because head-up play is so aggressive, it’s usually the best play to let your opponent bet into you once or twice before making your move. Ideally you want an opponent to hit top pair, and be willing to call a good size raise late in the hand. If your opponent seems to be strong, and makes a sizable raise pre-flop, your premium hand can be played aggressively if you think you’ll get action on it.

Even junk hands can be played for a raise if you think your opponent is weak. If you’re in the big blind and your opponent just limps in, making a raise with anything in your hand can be a high-percentage play; especially if that opponent has shown a history of folding to raises.

Try to get a read on whether your opponent is strong or weak, and use that information to put the heat on them when the opportunity presents itself. Balance the hands that you’ll play based on the size of the pre-flop raise you’re facing. Don’t get pushed around and raise your good hands for value.

[ttwarrior1]

Poker Strategy: Debunking Poker Myths

by Bodog Poker | Nov 10 2010
Much like the fields of crypto zoology and psychic studies, poker is full of myths that have become inflated to the point where they're accepted as fact by many people who aren't familiar with the game, and by a shocking number that are. We're going to do a blow-by-blow look at three of the most popular ones and explain why they are myths and not based on fact.
Poker Myth #1: Poker is a game of luck.
Mark Twain popularized the phrase “Lies, damn lies, and statistics,” and that's how a lot of people look at poker. The myth that you have to be lucky to play poker and winners are somehow juking statistics in their favor is one of, if not the most, pervasive myths about the game. Even with the amount of education that is easily available for interested players, poker's connection to luck is so strong that even Congress and courts around the nation have debated the game's merit.
The truth of the matter is that poker is a game of skill that contains an element of luck to it. Even if you are lucky and get the best possible cards hand after hand, it is still possible for you to lose a game because of how others play. Meanwhile, a good poker player can take mediocre cards and maximize them while minimizing their losses elsewhere, something that can not be done by choice in a game such as Roulette or Craps. Poker is as much psychological as it is math and thus deserves to be treated as a game of skill.


Poker Myth #2: You can't consistently win in poker.
Tell that to Phil Ivey or Gus Hansen or Evelyn Ng or Amanda Musumeci. Good poker players are ones that are able to use strategy and outthink and outplay their competition. This myth falls apart with any real examination and is directly tied in to the first myth about the game's dependence on luck and actually connects to the third.
Play your favorite poker game in Bodog's online poker room now.
Poker Myth #3: Poker games are crooked.
Blame Hollywood or, worse yet, CBS primetime dramas for this particular one. While it is possible for you to run into a game that's mismanaged or, worse yet, out-and-out aimed at pilfering your wallet if you play in circles where there's little in the way of supervision, such as back-room games or, worse yet, private games in someone's home, the vast majority of games out there are professionally run with an eye firmly placed on the concept of fairness. Casinos want to be known as a place where players can return to again and again for the best game possible.
Outside of the general desire to ensure that players have the best possible experience and refer their friends to their site, any online poker site worth its salt knows that players talk and as the recent past has shown, they are able to quickly analyze a situation and figure out if there's anything amiss. The myth of crooked poker games can usually be traced to players who believe that the first two myths exist and have run afoul of a cold deck or the like.

[smitch124]

Basic Poker Strategy: Understanding Omaha Hi/Lo's Basics



Bill Boston's guide to the game took a look at the possible starting hands and how they fared in a game and came to the conclusion that AA23, double suited gives you the best chance to win on either side, especially as you get a good chance at the nut flush in two different suits and have the strong possibility of a straight as well, as a deuce or three dropped on the felt just gives you the chance to make a straight versus being directly counterfeited.

Hopefully this will help the budding Omaha Hi-Lo player better understand how they should approach the game. We'll be talking a bit more about Omaha in this column over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

Bill Boston's book rates every omaha 8b hand from 1. AA23 ds to 5278. KKKK and everything in between, interesting read.

[lolguy999]

niiice! did you come up with this all by urself?

[scarface2738]

Pretty legit advice