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American PokerStars Qualifier Takes Denmark by Storm

Tim Vance may look like just a 46-year-old contractor from St. Louis, but he’s a survivor and now he’s a poker tournament champion. Vance won the EPT Copenhagen over some home-country favorites, outlasting them in a 4 ½-hour marathon session.

Vance worked his way through the field until he was left sitting at the final table with Soren Jensen of Denmark and facing a more than 300,000-chip deficit  —  2.4 million to 2.1.

Jensen eventually got his total up to 2.8 million, before small pots started to just go back and forth with neither player finding any traction. About 2 ½ hours into the game, things started to go Vance’s way.

With the flop down 8-2-T, Vance had already raised 400,000. Jensen answered with another 400,000 raise - and Vance called. The turn came up a queen of spades, but Jensen checked! The river came up jack of clubs. Vance pushed and Jensen called the hand. Jensen had the same two pair he had had on the turn, but in a crucial turn of momentum, Vance had picked up a flush on the river.

Talk at the table turned to Jensen’s critical decision not to raise on the turn. “I should have raised you on the turn,” Jensen said. Vance agreed. But now the chips were in Vance’s favor, 3.7 million to 870,000.

The match went on into the early morning hours, until finally, it all came down to one hand. After Jensen check on a 2-7-8 flop with two spades, the two players checked and the turn put down the 3 of spades. Jensen upped his bet to 115,000 and Vance called. Jensen was working a straight and a flush. But Vance stood up, he had an ace and 10 of spades - his flush couldn’t be beat. He threw down his cards. There was no way he could lose the tournament. Jensen, despite the support of his fellow Danes, knew that he was sunk. 

“I knew I was going to win,” Vance said after the tournament wrapped up. “I was the best and I wanted it the most. There were times I made mistakes and times I got lucky. But I outlasted him. I knew that the longer it took, the better my chances were of winning. It was a tough competition, as tough as anywhere I have ever played.”

The Danish players were no match for Vance, who won 834,590 euros with the title. Jensen finished with 472,463 euros. Two other Danish players, Magnus Hansen and Rasmus Hede Nielsen had finished third and fourth. Daniel Ryan, another PokerStars qualifier from the United States and one of the top internet players around, finished fifth, coming away with 172,576 euros.

But the day and night and early morning belonged to Vance. It had taken 4 ½ hours to get just the right hand and the nut flush that gave him the winner. For Vance, a guy from St. Louis, a qualifying spot from PokerStars had gotten him to European and eventually, holding the winning hand.

Bodog unveils huge new tournament

If you are interested in making a splash in the online poker series, along with a whole lot of cash, you need to check out the new tournament announced by Bodog. The Bodog Poker Open will begin Monday, March 3 on Bodog’s web site, bodoglife.com.

The Bodog Poker Open (BPO) will begin for players with five preliminary events, which all feed into the series’ championship. The Championship is the $500 buy-in BPO Main Event, which will cap things off on Sunday, March 9.

What will the winner get? The top cash prize, an engraved Omega Speedmaster watch and some series online poker bragging rights. Bodog wants to make sure it has one of the best prize pools available, too. So, in order to sweeten the pot for some of its best players, Bodog will add $75,000 to the BPO prize pools. This gives the entire tournament a larger prize pool and allows players to have more bang for their buck through their buy-ins.

In the announcement of the tournament, Bodog North American CEO Alwyn Morris talked about how special this tournament will be, because it’s the first.

“We’re excited to finally give our online players a tournament series where they can battle it out for some major bragging rights and serious money,” said Morris said. “While there will be more Bodog Poker Opens, there will only be one ‘first’ Bodog Poker Champion, and he or she will have the cash and champion’s Omega Speedmaster watch to show for it.”

The Bodog Poker Open’s preliminary tournament will be varied. Each will have its own buy-in among and Texas Hold ‘Em format. Some of the tournaments will be No Limit, some pot limit, limit and six-handed no limit. If you want to play, you can buy in directly into any of the preliminary events with cash or your Bodog Tournament Credits. There will also be many low-cost satellites, which have already begun. Winners of the preliminary tournaments will get intro the Bodog Poker Open Main event.

Here are some important dates for the Bodog Poker Open.

Monday, March 3: No Limit Tournament, $250 buy-in + 20, $10,000 added

Tuesday, March 4: No Limit 6-handed Tournament, $300 buy-in + 25, $10,000 added

Wednesday, March 5: Rebuy Tournament, $100 buy-in + 10, $10,000 added

Thursday, March 6: Pot Limit Tournament, $200 buy-in + 15, $10,000 added

Friday, March 7: Limit Tournament, $150 buy-in + 10, $10,000 added

Saturday, March 8: Satellite day.

Sunday, March 9: No Limit Main Event, $470 buy-in + 30, $25,000 added

Bodog already has one of the top online poker sites around, with this new tournament, the site will be able to give online players a shot at not only just another big payday, but a pretty prestigious title for someone to win. Being the winner of the inaugural Bodog Poker Open would be quite a boost to someones poker-playing resume.

Bodoglife.com offers a variety of other online poker games, including Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7-card stud, 7-card stud Hi/Lo and 5-card stud. The site also gives players a shot at many other big-time tournaments, including earning a qualifying spot in the World Series of Poker.  

Crazy Pineapple

Crazy Pineapple is a variant of hold’em.

In Crazy Pineapple, players are dealt 3 cards instead of two. There is a round of betting. Then the flop comes (3 cards just like hold’em) and there is another round of betting.

However, after the betting on the flop, each player must discard one of their cards, so they are back down to the traditional two cards, then the hand is played out the same as a normal game of texas hold’em game.

- Thomas Hardy

How to begin a tournament

Early on in a tournament, there are many different theories and methods on what hands to play in order to both survive and build your stack. Throughout this article I will give the various opinions that different people have, and then say what I believe is the best theory and why.

The main theories saying which hands to play early on in a big mtt are as follows:

1) Stay tight, for the first hour survival is our main aim. The less pots we enter the less we can lose all we want to do is wait for the lesser players to slowly get knocked out and we can then play poker in the 2nd hour. If we do play a hand we play it aggressively raising and reraising to get as little people left in the pot as possible. The hands we will do this with are as follows: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010. Raise and reraise to thin the field. We will also raise or call a raise with the following hands: 99, 88, and 77 AJs KQs (KQ and AJ suited preferably in late position). We may limp in late position with the following hands: 66, 55, 44, 33, and 22.

Then within this theory there are two ways you can play post flop. Because we have been raising before the flop every time we play, it is likely that we have the image of a solid player. We can if we like use this to our advantage by deciding to bet EVERY single flop when we have raised preflop, however good or bad the flop has been for us. This way we are just looking to take every flop down as quickly as we can, the theory behind it being we give ourselves as little chance as possible to be eliminated. Even if we flop a huge hand, we won’t ever give a free card so we cannot get ourselves in trouble with silly draws hitting.

The other way to play it is to play as if you normally would, trying to extract as many chips out of a big hand, through trapping, check raising etc and dumping a hand when we miss. The theory behind this is that when we miss we lose the minimum and when we hit we get the maximum. In a sense this can be a riskier way to play because you will win big pots but you will also get beaten in big flops when you let the flush draw beat your top set because he got a free river card.
I think the better method of these two is to bet every flop you raised and just try and take down all of the pots you enter as quickly as you can either preflop or post flop. Build your stack fast, and with minimal risk. This first method I call the survival method, after I explain the next method which I call the all or nothing method.

This theory works as follows:

2) Totally the opposite to the survival method. Our general is to get as many chips as we can within the first hour and try and become as near to the top of the leader board as we can, making the 2nd hour a lot easier. Hands to play are all as in the survival method except you can also play lots and lots of speculative hands. Suited connectors, one gappers, all pairs and suited aces.

Unlike the survival theory in the all or nothing theory raising is not something you will be doing so much, we will raise with big pairs and maybe AK, but with everything else, and especially with the speculative hands (suited connectors, etc) we are trying to get as cheap a flop as we can. The idea of these hands is either to get in and out cheaply or to hit your hand hard and win a big pot because it is so deceptive.

This means that with the all or nothing theory because your style of play will be recognized by the other players as being loose, you cannot make as many steals as with the survival theory as your table image won’t be what it would be if you were playing a lot tighter. Therefore you need to use a method of either “pump it or dump it” after the flop. In simpler terms this means if you miss the flop get out, and if you hit the flop bet and raise to take it down.

You continue to do this over the first hour, whilst the blinds are low and you can take cheap flops. The main problem with this theory is the fact that you can hit half a hand such as top pair with a hand like 89s and you end up losing a big pot to JJ. Also, your table image will mean that you cannot bluff or even semi-bluff as your opponents will keep calling you all the way down. This can however be used to your advantage, and when you do hit your hand you can count a big flop, hence the all or nothing in the name, you either win big pots or lose big pots, but the pots you play will be bigger than the ones you play in the survival theory.

I have now explained hand selection and how to play these hands in the early period (the first hour) in online poker tournaments. It can also be applied to live poker, but it will be a longer period and the blind structure will be very different.

The idea of these 2 theories is either to try and give yourself as much of a chance as you possibly can of getting through the first hour, or on the other hand to either get a huge stack early, or bale out. It all depends on the type of style that most suits your playing style.

-          Thomas Hardy

Pot Limit Omaha: General Tips and Strategies for Beginners Part 3

Don’t play any double suited hand
I can’t stress this point enough. So many people see a hand that is double suited, they say to themselves “Boy, this hand has a lot of potential,” and guess what – the hand is junk. Let’s take a look at a few examples: 2 :-s 7 :-s 9 :-h 4 :-h . This hand belongs in the muck, period. “But I have 2 flush draws” – but chances are there is a strong possibility that if you make your 9 high or 7 high flush, you’re going to wind up playing against an ace high or king high flush. Besides that, your hand has little connecting potential, and not many straights can be made from 2479. Let’s look at a not so obvious DS hand that looks good: Q :-s 2 :-s 9 :-h 6 :-h . This hand looks reasonable. I might even play it in the SB, sometimes. But if you aren’t in a blind, I would probably not play a hand like this. You don’t have much connecting value, and your flush draws are marginal. Sure, if you hit a queen high flush it could win, but you could also end up putting in a large amount of money against the nut flush or king high flush. Although these hands look tempting, they are usually junk and will make you a losing 2nd best hand.

Don’t value bet often
In Hold Em and other forms of poker, it is often common to see value bets go in on the last card to try and extract a few more chips. In Omaha, however, it isn’t too common. You generally want to keep your bets pot sized, or close to pot sized. If a pot is $15.35, I would probably bet anywhere from $12.50-$15.35, depending on the number of opponents in the pot. See, in hold em, if you have a $100 pot, you might see someone throw in $15 or $20 in the end to try and extract a few more chips. In Omaha, though, this is bad for 2 reasons: it looks suspicious. If you bet strong the whole way and then bet a small amount, it either looks like you’re trying to get paid off, so you’ll probably lose a call or 2 unless they have a very strong hand. Second, if it isn’t on the river, you are letting the many drawing hands in cheap, which is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Sure, a flush draw with a wrap isn’t going anywhere, no matter how much you bet, but say he just has a flush draw – now you are giving him the right price to call and beat you. There are times when you can throw in a value bet, mainly against unaware players or heads up on occasion, but lean more towards pot sized bets than value bets.

Playing from a blind
In Omaha, you want to still remain pretty tight in the blinds, and use some judgment on the hands you choose to play. In the small blind you should still not be calling with junk:
2-7-9-6 is always junk, and you shouldn’t play it. However, you can call with some hands like Q :-s K :-s 5 :-h 6 :-h , as long as there hasn’t been any raises. This normally wouldn’t be a great starting hand, but you have some potential value so you might want to take a flop. Some dangler hands, such as J-9-8-2, or Q9106 can now be played if a few people have limped. In the big blind, and there has been a raise, you can play all the hands you normally would (high connectors, big pairs+connectors, etc) and you can add a few dangler hands, as long as the raise wasn’t huge. However, you don’t always want to call if you have a dangler hand, and no one else has called, you should probably just fold. You want as many people in the pot as possible if you are going to be playing junk so you have the opportunity to get paid off nicely.

Playing AA hands in early position
This is one last point I want to bring up. In early position with AA hands, you normally should just limp. The reason for this being is that the only people in the pot already are the small and big blind, so the pot isn’t very large. Your raise is accomplishing little to nothing, because your raise isn’t going to scare many people off who had the intention of limping anyways. In late position, there is some more money in the pot, so a raise can drive more people out. If you have a hand like AAJ10, double suited, you can stand a little more heat with it because it has strong connecting possibilities, 2 nut flush opportunities, and the pair of aces. With a hand like AA37, with no suits, your hand can’t stand that much heat. Your goal is to get the pot down to heads up. If you limp, there is an upside and a downside. The upside is that if someone decides to raise, you can now throw in a reraise, and most likely narrow the pot to the two of you, or win it right there. However, this will tip the strength of your hand, as most people will not reraise with out aces. The downside is that if everyone limps behind you, you don’t know where you stand in the hand. On the flop, you must use your judgment on where you stand. If you don’t hit a set or the nut flush draw, you are usually beat and should muck your hand if any decent action comes your way. Aces are not as nearly as strong as they are in Omaha as they are in Hold Em – in Hold Em, your opponent cannot have as many drawing possibilities as they have in Omaha. More often than not, someone will hit the flop in some way in Omaha, may it be a flush draw, a wrap, 2 pair, a set, a straight, or some other sort of hand. Therfore, your lone pair is not likely to be good and cannot stand action against several opponents. That is why it is best to isolate against one player with a big reraise preflop if someone raises before you. That way, you only have to beat out one person instead of several; not as many draws will be out against you.

Times to slowplay
Generally, you want to be betting your strong hands and folding your weak hands. However, there are times when you hand is strong enough where you can afford to slowplay your hand. Anytime you flop quads, you normally are going to slowplay the hand. The only exceptions are: A) You think your opponent has a strong hand, such as a full house, or B) You are an aggressive player, and therefore your opponent is going to be suspicious of your check.
Say you hold 10 :-c 10 :-d J :-h Q :-s . If the flop comes 10 :-s 10 :-h A :-d , and there was a raise preflop, and now your opponent is firing away at the pot, you can be pretty sure he either has a wrap, or more likely Aces full. Here you want to sit back and let your opponent give you his chips. On the turn or river, you want to fire in a medium to large sized raise to get him to put all his money in. Another example, is say, a straight flush. If you hold 6 :-s 7 :-s 5 :-h 4 :-d , and the flop comes 3 :-s 4 :-s 5 :-s , you may want to gear down and let them fire into you. But, if you believe they have the nut flush, you may be more inclined to fire away at the pot, making them think they have you beat. The last example is when you have Aces full of kings. Say you have AKJ10, and the flop comes AAK. Here you want to let your opponent try and take a free card to catch either a straight or a lower full house.

- Thomas Hardy

Pot Limit Omaha: General Tips and Strategies for Beginners Part 2

A rundown of playable Pot Limit Omaha hands
Pair of Aces with a High Wrap DS or suited (double suited): A :-s A :-d J :-d 10 :-s
Pair of Aces with another face card pair, DS or suited: A :-s K :-s A:-d K :-d
High End Wraps suited or DS: 9 :-s 10 :-s J :-h Q :-h and 10 :-d J :-d Q :-s K :-s and A :-d Q :-d 10 :-c K :-c
Middle Wraps: 6 :-d 7 :-c 9 :-h 10 :-s
Middle Wraps with a pair: 8 :-c 8 :-h 7 :-s 10 :-s and 7 :-h 7 :-d 8 :-c 9 :-h
Low End Wraps: 3 :-s 4 :-d 5 :-c 6 :-d
Other Hands: Face card pair with connectors, K :-s K :-d 10 :-s J :-d , Face card 2 pair: J :-s J :-d Q :-s Q :-h , Bare Aces, preferably single or double suited: A :-s A :-h 2 :-s 9 :-h

Of course, other hands are playable in certain situations, but these are some of the most common hands you will be playing in pot limit Omaha. Here are some ways to play the different hands:

Aces are generally a reraising hand, not a raising hand. In PLO, the first raise is usually not very large because the pot isn’t very large. Also, by opening with a raise, you are generally tipping off the strength of your hand. But, if you let someone put in the first raise, you can isolate that player by reraising a significant amount .You don’t want to be playing bare aces up against multiple opponents. The Aces with the high wrap double suited can stand up against a few more opponents, but with aces, in general, it’s better to thin the field down to as few as possible.

High End Wraps: You can stand a raise with these hands. In position, you can raise with a hand end wrap.

Middle Wraps, Middle Wraps with a pair, Low Wraps: Try to play this hands as cheaply as possible. If there is a raise, consider limping if 3 or so people have already called the raise. What you are trying to accomplish with this kind of hand is to spike a low straight, or possibly a low full house. If you put your opponent on aces (many players will not raise preflop without aces in PLO), you can sometimes take a flop with a wrap to try and hit a straight and pick him off.

Two pair hands: Hands like 9988 are vulnerable, but you can take a flop to them cheaply. If you don’t flop a set, full house, or the nut straight with this hand, muck it. These hands are only good if you get in cheap, or got in through a blind. Hands like 2233 aren’t even worth playing in most situations, because if you hit your set, it will be bottom set, still leaving you vulnerable.

2. Determining what you have

Sounds pretty straight forward, doesn’t it? What I mean is, you have AA23, and the flop comes A-10-6, what do you have? You have a set of aces, easy. But there is a common mistake in Pot Limit Omaha that beginners usually get confused about. The number one situation I am talking about is if the board comes with a set on it. For example, you have AK35, and the flop board 10-10-A-10-3, what do you have? If you are familiar with hold em, you probably thinking you have a full house, 10s full of Aces. But in reality, your hand is garbage and all you have is 10-10-10-A-K. You have to use EXACTLY 2 cards from your hand. Another common mistake is when the board comes with a 4 flush. Say you hold As-Qd-10h-Jh, and the board reads: 9 :-s J :-s 3 :-s 2 :-s 6 :-h . You have a pair of jacks – not a flush. (We’ll later discuss how a similar situation could be used as a bluffing opportunity) The same thing is true for a 4 straight on board and only one in your hand – you don’t have a straight. Now let’s say the board reads: J :-h J :-c 10 :-d 10 :-s 2 :-d . You hold J :-s A :-s 9 :-c 3 :-h . You don’t have a full house. Your hand is A-J-J-J-10. The last thing I want to address is a 3 flush in your hand and a 2 flush on board – you don’t have a flush. You are using exactly 2 cards from your hand. Although this seems easy to understand, many people misread their hands and it leads to costly mistakes.

3. Times when you would fold the nuts or play them slow

In a hold em game, you would never fold the nuts at a given point, or at least not correctly fold the nuts. However, in Omaha, you can fold the nuts at a given point, correctly, too. Let me illustrate with an example where you could consider folding the nuts.

You are dealt JQ107. The flop comes 8 :-s 9 :-s 10 :-d . You don’t have any spades in your hand. Now, suppose there is a bet in front of you, and then a pot sized reraise. Now you are stuck in between 2 guys going to war with each other, but you have the nuts! Guess what – you’re probably a dog to win the hand. First, you have the nuts, but you can’t improve your hand to anything better. You don’t have a high end wrap, so you can’t make a straight 9-K. You’re likely up against top set (with or without a flush draw), and the nut flush draw with some sort of hand like a lower set or 2 pair. You really have to know your players when it comes down to a hand like this. You could also be up against another QJ, but he might be freerolling the flush or a higher wrap. If you decide to call this bet, and the original raiser pops in another pot size reraise, you will usually fold. You are probably up against the current nuts who is freerolling. Now, let’s say that the original better just flat calls behind you. As long as the turn doesn’t come a J, Q, a spade, or pairs the board, you can now play the hand strong. You are now the favorite against 2 players to win the hand with a set and a flush draw.

4. Bluffing in Pot Limit Omaha

Let me be the first to tell you, as much as you might think, Omaha is not a game of bluffing. More often than not, you are going to have to show down the nuts, so it is best to not get any funny ideas about throwing money into the pot you are probably going to lose. One reason you don’t want to bluff is that it is very expensive: By the river, the pot is probably quite large if there has been any significant action. If someone has been betting or calling down to the river, chances are, they will call the river either because of the big pot, or because they have the nuts. I’m going to give you 2 situations where you may attempt a bluff in Omaha.

Heads Up: In heads up play, you don’t have to show down the nuts nearly as often, obviously because there isn’t as many hands out that could beat you. So if your opponent is playing passively, or if he has checked to you once or twice, you may try to fire a bet at him to get him to fold.

2. I said earlier in the “Reading your hand” section about an opportunity where we could bluff with a flush draw out there. Suppose you have As-Jd-10d-Qh. The board comes 9s-3s-6s. You have nothing and no draw. You don’t have the Ace high flush draw because you have to use two cards. However, this could be used to your advantage. Because you are holding the card that is used for the nut flush, no one else could have the nut flush. So, by you holding the key card, you can represent you have the ace high flush. However, this bluff can’t be used against everyone. To successfully use this bluff, you have to be playing against fairly good players, capable of laying down a high flush. You also have to make sure a pair isn’t on the board, or you’re going to get nailed by a full house, most likely. Do not try this bluff against weak players, at low stakes (generally because of the weak players/calling stations), or against calling stations. If you have someone that would call you down with a 9 high flush, you’re not going to force them out of the pot. Don’t overuse this bluffing technique, but against the right opponent, if you represent significant strength, it can be used to your advantage.

One last point I want to say in this article is this: Very, very seldom show your cards. If you win a big pot with a royal flush, I don’t care how much you want to rub it in their face, don’t show your cards. You can’t afford to give this information away. You don’t want to give them any information you don’t have to. Definitely never show your cards if you win on a bluff; you want them to think you had that Ace high flush if you run the Lone Ace play. Keep them guessing, and don’t give information for free, make them call that bet on the river to see what you have.

Part 3 will follow soon.

- Thomas Hardy

Pot Limit Omaha: Some Basic Tips and Hints for Beginners. Part 1

Pot Limit Omaha is very interesting and complex game. In this article, I’m going to provide a few helpful hints that will help you improve your game next time you sit down at the table.

1. Make sure every card in your hand works together.

Many Hold em players will see a hand like J :-s Q :-s 5 :-h 6 :-h , and think this hand is pretty good. It’s not. To a hold em player, they see 2 suited connectors. However, all 4 of your cards do not connect. You want hands that work with each other, something like J :-s Q :-s 10 :-d 10 :-h . This hand has a few things working for it. First, it has the pair of 10s. It also has the suited JQ (although this could get you into trouble if you hit a flush. We will discuss this later) You also have the J10Q, so you can make a few different straights. Try to also make sure your hand works together in some way - don’t treat it as 2 separate hold em hands.

2. Avoid the dangler

So, what is a dangler? Let’s look at a hand like the J :-s K :-s 9 :-h 2 :-c . Can you spot the dangler? It’s definitely that 2 :-c. Your hand seems to flow nicely until you get to that 2. To many people, this looks like a strong hand, but be weary of the dangler. It doesn’t flow with your hand, so there’s one no-no. I’ll show you another reason why you don’t want danglers. Say you have the hand stated above. The flop comes down J28. You now have a bet and a call in front of you. You’re 2 pair is probably not good, but you’re just itching to call. Save yourself the frustration and muck the dangler hands. Some exceptions to this is many people have already limped in front of you, and you have a suited ace. Also, if you are playing from the blinds, a dangler can be tolerated.

3. When drawing, make sure it is to the nuts

I’m sure if you have played hold em before, you have chased a draw. And I’m also sure that if you have chased a draw, you have chased a draw less than the nuts. In Hold Em, your opponent is only holding 2 cards - so the probability of him having the nuts is far more unlikely. In Omaha, your opponent has 4 cards. This is equivalent to 6 hold em hands. (ABCD - AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD) So, that chances of him having the nuts go up, especially at a full table. If you have a flush draw, draw to the nut flush. Omaha is a game of the nuts - more often than not, that’s what it takes to win. NEVER draw to the idiot end of a straight, such as having 6745 and the flop being 9102. First, you shouldn’t even be calling a bet on the flop, but just for the sake of our example - let’s say you do. Now the turn comes the 8, just what you wanted. Now you get all the money in and they turn over the JQ. And if not JQ, you’re beat by J8. It’s difficult for hold em players to accept the fact that they have to lay down hands like straights and flushes where they would usually push in hold em, but if it isn’t the nuts, you’re vulnerable. There are times when you could draw to a king high flush, heads up being one of those situations.
But if you’d rather not go through the frustration of losing all your money to an ace high flush, it’s better to usually pass.

4. Always have a backup draw

Let’s say you have a straight wrap. You have J :-s 8 :-s K :-h Q :-d . The flop comes 9 :-s A :-h 10 :-d . This, by itself, is a very strong hand. Any J, Q, K, or 8 makes you the nuts. But you have a hidden little backup here - that J :-s 8 :-s. You have a backdoor draw, but that backdoor draw could end up winning you the pot. Try to always have something to go along with a primary draw - say you have the nut flush draw. Even a little gutshot draw would add outs to your hand and maybe end up winning you the pot. A side note: Backdoor flush draws generally do not have to be the nuts. Because you backdoored the draw, it is less likely someone is holding that nut flush, so lower flushes are acceptable when backdoored.

5. Don’t go broke on 2 pair

In Hold Em, 2 pair will generally win you the pot. In Omaha however, you have to be very careful when playing 2 pair. First, let’s analyze what 2 pair you have. I’m going to put up a practice flop, and then different hole cards 3 different times.

FLOP: A :-s Q :-d 3 :-h

First, you have A :-d Q :-h 2 :-c 10 :-s . You have top 2 pair. You limp in and 2 other players see the flop with you. If one of them bets, and the other folds, or even if he calls, you can stand that bet. You can even reraise him if you know him to not be very tight. If he reraises, you may want to slow down and see what happens. As long as another face card doesn’t come on the turn, you can probably see the hand to the end. If he bets the pot again, analyze the board, look back to see what kind of player he is if you have played with him for some time, and reevaluate where you stand in the hand. If there are any sorts of draws out there, like 3 flush cards, or 3 straight cards, be careful. You may want to fold the hand in this situation.

Now, let’s say you hold A :-h 3 :-c 2 :-d 10 :-s. You can call a bet with this hand, but if your opponent starts putting some pressure on you, he probably has you beat with a higher 2 pair or a set.

Now, let’s say you have Q :-s 3 :-d J :-h 6 :-d . (let’s assume you got in from the blinds). If there is any sort of action in front of you, your hand is garbage. Try to avoid bottom 2 pair as much as possible. Not only is your hand usually not good, but let’s assume we have that hand and see our practice flop. Now you call a bet on the flop and the turn comes the Ad. Your hand just got ruined. Also, it could even come a running pair like 99 - which would also ruin your hand. Try to check it down with bottom 2 pair as often as you can, unless you have a dead read on your opponent that he has a hand like wired aces, and you are trying to pick him off.

Remember, many of these tips are general, and there are always exceptions. Almost nothing in poker is written in stone. This is meant to provide a guideline for you to follow to help you improve your Pot Limit Omaha game. Remember all poker is situational and this rules are only guidelines and it if your 100% sure you can break one and be rewarded do it.

Part 2 will follow

- Thomas Hardy

Chinese Poker

Chinese Poker, is a game for up to 4 players.

Gameplay:

After the antes are posted, each player is dealt a 13-card hand. The players divide their 13 cards into 3 hands. The first hand has 3 cards, the second hand has 5 cards, and the third hand has 5 cards. The 3-card hand can either be high card, pair, or trips. Straights and flushes do not count. The second hand must beat the first hand, and the third hand must beat the second hand. The three hands are arranged face down in front of the player. After all players have arranged their three hands, there is a showdown. All players’ first hand is revealed at the same time. Then all the second hands are revealed. Finally, all the third hands are revealed.

Winnings:

There are many different scoring systems for Chinese Poker. The most common system is that, 50% of the pot goes to the player with the highest second hand. 25% goes to the highest first hand, and 25% goes to the highest third hand.

- Thomas Hardy

Commmon Mistakes

Mistake 1: Playing too many hands

When people sit down in a game, they want to play. This means some players will even play hands like Q 3. This is a big mistake, and hopefully, this article will help improve your starting hand selection.

Mistake 2: Playing above your bankroll

Sometimes the gambling and money aspect of poker gets to people too much. They become greedy and play in games they cannot afford or games where the competition is simply too stiff. Some players may get a good run in the low limits and think they’re invincible and move up to a higher limit that is abig mistake you shouldn’t move up the limits until your bankroll is ready.

Mistake 3: Becoming too emotional at the table

Bad beats will happen. Losing sessions will happen. Annoying opponents will happen. Don’t let your emotions sway your judgment at the table.

Mistake 4: Not using pot odds

If your hand needs improvement, the concept of pot odds can help you determine if you should call to see the next card on the board. Few beginning players understand pot odds, and they often call too much.

Mistake 5: Not following etiquette

This is a mistake that brick-and-mortar beginners make. When you want to make a raise, you should not say, “I call your bet and raise you $X.” Your initial action is considered your final action. So if you say, “I call …” it means you just want to call. If you want to raise, say “raise” and state the amount you want to raise.

Mistake 6: Trying to play like the pro’s

A lot of people learn how to play poker by watching it on the television. They then try to play like the pro they seen on TV and make crazy bluffs and play crazy hands. What is shown on television is almost always a tournament, and their hands are highly situational. The reason for the professional’s decision probably has little applicability to your own game.

Mistake 7: Overvaluing Suited Hands

Having a suited hand is a plus. However, you should not play a hand just because it is suited. The first two things to consider about a starting hand are the ranks of the cards and whether the cards are paired. These are by far the most important factors in the value of a hand. After this, you should consider if they are suited or connecting.

A hand like Ac Kh is much, much more valuable than a hand like J :-h 3 :-h . A :-c K :-h is a top starting hand, whereas Jh 3h should be thrown in the muck. This may sound obvious, but many beginners make the mistake of calling to see the flop with any two suited cards.

- Thomas Hardy

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