Pot-Limit Omaha

Pot-Limit Omaha is a unique game. It is one of the few poker games that is much more widely played in Europe than in North America. Pot-Limit Omaha also is a game that tends to have huge swings. Even a poor player can be lucky one night and win almost all of the chips at the table in a game of Pot-Limit Omaha. It is also one of the few games that tends to be associated with higher stakes. While there are many low- and mid-stakes Pot-Limit Omaha games played at home, on the internet, and in UK casinos, Pot-Limit Omaha tends to be played for fairly high stakes in most offline casinos. However, this article is intended to help beginners learn Pot-Limit Omaha. This is NOT intended for people planning on playing the higher-stakes games.

Pot-Limit Omaha is very different from Hold'em. In Hold'em, people commonly call down with second best hands. This is because people rarely hold the nuts in Hold'em. If someone always folded their made non-nut hands in Texas Hold'em, they would be a guaranteed loser in the long run. One must call or bet with imperfect hands such as top pair or bottom set.

Pot-Limit Omaha centers on two things: building the nut hand, and position. The first point is obvious. The hands are strong in Pot-Limit Omaha, so you want to be able to hold the best hand. Most Pot-Limit Omaha games do not go to a showdown. When they do, more than likely one player has the nuts or was drawing to the nuts. When two players have strong made hands against each other, generally one has the nut hand or second-nut and the other player also has a near nut hand.

Hand Reading Skills

In order to make fundamentally correct plays, it is important to have some idea about what you are up against. So how do you put your opponent on a hand? Simple: pay attention. Whether you are in the current poker hand or not, you need to pay attention to the action at all times in order to learn what your opponents’ tendencies are. By simply watching the aciton, you will likely be able to find the answers to the following questions:

On the Pre-flop
1. What hands will opponents raise with?
2. What hands will they call with?
3. Do they play conservatively or loosely from early position?
4. How often do they defend their blind to a raise?
5. Do they raise a lot of hands, or are they on the careful side?

On the Post-Flop
1. What type of hands will they check raise with?
2. Do they play draws aggressively or passively at a poker table?
3. Do they slow-play made hands?
4. Do they ever bluff in a poker game?
5. Do they fold often on the flop, or will they call all the way to the river?

These are ten questions that you will learn the answers to simply by paying attention and making mental notes. And the more you play, the better you will get at it.

Poker Position in Texas Hold'em

Poker position in Texas Hold’em refers to the place you are in, on the poker table, in relation to the dealer button. The different table positioning, either early position, middle position or late position, can vastly influence the result of the Texas Hold’em poker.

Your poker position in Texas Hold’em largely influences how a player will play his hand, and this is why it is important to read about Texas Hold'em poker positioning as early in the game as possible.

Early position - This Texas Hold'em poker position includes the first five players seated after the button. When you play before the flop, if you call in early position, you are risking your money, without knowing how many players have raised. This means that because of lack of knowledge you might bet money on a weaker and losing hand, or decide not to bet on a hand that can win. In both cases the result is the same, you have a larger risk of losing money with early position.

Middle Position - This position consists of the next three players after the early position players. Middle position does give you information about how the rest of the players bet, but it is still not whole. In middle position there might be players in front of you, that haven’t played before, that can influence how you would play your hand, had you been positioned later on the table.

Late Position - This is where the button, and the player before the button, are situated, and is the best position in the game. With this Texas Hold'em poker position, the player is always the last to act, except on the first round of the pre-flop. This way, the button gets to see all the bets that are made before his is made, and thus he can take into account how the other players chose to bet, and then react accordingly. The person playing the button is switched whenever a new hand is drawn, so no players will be the sole beneficiaries of the position.

Know Your Texas Hold’em

Are you a poker fan? Have you ever had the experience when you have no idea whether to call, fold or check? Let’s learn something together…

Wandering in Texas Hold’em and other poker games every day, play with winning and losing or appreciate other people with learning; many things have come into my mind…

Once you post your blind the money no longer belongs to you. So, don’t waste additional money on marginal hands and also don’t automatically call with the small blind if you have nothing. Saving a half bet will pay for your next small blind.

Deciding whether to continue playing after the flop will also be your big decision. It can also be one of the most costly decisions if you continue after the flop with an inferior poker hand. It is said that the flop defines your hand. Poker Author Shane Smith coined the phrase “Fit or Fold”. If the flop does not fit your hand by giving you top pair, or better or a straight or flush draw, then you should fold if there is a bet in front of you. If you played a small pair from late position and you do not flop a third one to make a set you should throw the pair away if there is a bet.

If you think you have the best hand after seeing the Turn card and are first to act, then go ahead and bet. Many poker players will try to get fancy and attempt to check raise in this position. If the other players also check, you have lost a bet or two. In low limit games the straight forward approach is usually the best as there are plenty of players who will call you. Make them pay. Why give them a free card if you don’t have to?

Poker Needs Secrets

Playing poker has been a passion of mine for quite a long time and I have always enjoyed a variety of games. My favorites are Texas Hold’em, Speed Hold’em and Omaha, but I still also play Seven Card Stud. I treat poker games as entertainment while they also need secrets.

In poker, you often find yourself at a point of decision: it is your turn to take action but you don't know what to do. Should you call? Should you raise? Should you fold? You study the cards; you calculate your outs and your pot odds; you retrace the action of the hand; you ponder the chips on the table… Still, you have no idea what is your best move. You analyze the probabilities; you consider advice from poker books you've read; you look skyward for guidance. Yet you remain baffled. Your actions in situations like this determine your success as a poker player.

The secret is to figure out what your opponent don't want you to do and then do that. When you face an opponent in poker, he will always be worried about your particular action.

The secret is reliable---the reason is that the inner desires of your opponent are based on accurate information. He knows almost everything about the details of his poker hands and he does not need to speculate about those things as you do. Therefore, whatever he is thinking is based on factual information from his viewpoint. His thoughts, whatever they are, are rooted in his reality…

Speed Hold’em---It is a Game for You

Today is special---the last day of 2008 in which everything should be special. So, let’s go to play a special game---Speed Hold’em!!!!!

Being a poker lover, are you interested in poker variations, aggression, challenges and passion? If so, Speed Hold’em is a game for you---It is a five handed, with a 10 second time clock. It is a poker players’ heaven where they are able to figure pot odds in a very very short time. Speed Hold’em is a perfect game where you can not only play more hands to challenge but also test your poker skills and luck so that you will become smarter.

More importantly, Speed Hold’em is so simple that if you can play Texas Hold’em, you can master it. In Speed Hold’em, players receive two down poker cards (pocket hole cards) as their personal poker hand, after which there is a round of betting. Three board cards (the flop) are turned simultaneously and another round of betting occurs. The next two board cards (turn and river) are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each poker card.

The aim of the Speed Hold'em is to make the best possible five card hand, using any combination of hole cards and community cards to win the pot. A dealer button is used to indicate where the betting action starts. Except for using two blinds, it is also possible to play with one blind, an ante, or combination of blinds plus an ante. The challenge is of course the time---10 seconds, which means you have 10 seconds to calculate pot odds and to decide whether you want to play the hand or not. This not only adds to the fun but also make poker players bet, where they normally would fold!

Speed Hold’em is extremely stimulative which is really a game for you…

Poker Imagination on a Sleepless Night

Confusion in my mind these days with no reason, I even couldn’t fall asleep late at night. I can’t tell what I was always thinking about and maybe nothing. But who can tell me where my sleepiness is…

Lying down awake with all lights turning off, I began to play Texas Hold’em on my cell phone---sometimes I won and sometimes lost. No matter what, I kept silent to enjoy my own entertainment so that my roommate can’t be waken up. I suddenly realize that happiness is simple; even it can be gained from poker games. I still remember the love story of my cousin and his girlfriend should be attributed to poker…

I couldn’t help smiling because a thought comes into my mind that I am in deep happiness in fact---when I have a sleepless night, I have friends who can send me short messages and comfort me until I feel sleepy; when I want to have fun, I can concentrate myself to my favorite poker game; and also my dear parents and friends…I feel sweet and warm…

To be a simple and sweet girl---that will be always my dream…

To be an excellent poker player---that will be always my direction…

Baccarat

Have you ever heard of the “Gentleman’s game”? Right, it is the reputation of Baccarat which is a very popular casino game all over the world.

People believe that Baccarat has been introduced to France from Italy during the region of Charles VIII of France (1483-1498), which is similar to Faro and to Basset. There are three accepted variants of the game: baccarat chemin de fer (railway), baccarat banque (a deux tableaux) and punto banco (or North American baccarat).

Although being not very good at this casino game, I like playing it and I still remember when I was a kid I saw a film named “King of Gambler” (star by Andy Lau) which gave me a very deep impression, in which he mastered all the gambling tricks and at that time I really admired him…

The valuation of hands in Baccarat is quite different from other poker games like Texas Hold’em so we should pay special attention to it. In Baccarat, cards 2-9 are worth face value and 10’s and face cards (J Q K) are with zero, and Aces are worth 1 point. Players calculate their score by taking the sum of all cards modulo 10, meaning that after adding the value cards the tens digit is ignored.

Anyway, have a try then you will get everything of its essence…

Poker is Knowledge

Poker is a game but not that simple as it requires many kinds of knowledge that is quite different form what we have learnt in school. In fact, poker is full of competitions just like our life so that poker is a kind of knowledge.

To win in any kind of activity, such as poker game even our life, a player must obtain three kinds of knowledge: factual, tactical and strategic knowledge.

Factual knowledge refers to the basic concepts or rules of the competitive game which is sometimes gained by memorizing. If one is not familiar with the terminology of a competitive game, his goal of winning in it will be impossible. We can imagine how one can win in Texas Hold’em if he can’t distinguish the flop from the turn or the river and how a poker player win in a tournament if he has no idea what a royal flush looks like…

Tactical knowledge is composed of the different actions that are carried out by the player in order to achieve certain goals which can be acquired by practice. So, to gain all the needed tactical knowledge, the poker player must keep on playing.

Strategic knowledge is acquired when the poker player has already mastered the first two types of knowledge. When the poker player has strategic knowledge he sees the whole poker session, which can last for several hours, as one game. With a broader view, his actions are more directed and more planned.

For me, poker is not just a game but also a kind knowledge that teaches me a lot in my life. I will hold on to keep playing and keep learning…

Christmas Eve

I had a dream yesterday that Santa Claus came to join us on poker table and said, in essence, “I am about to give away a lot of money…” Over the course of next several hours, Santa Claus emptied thousands of thousands dollars out of his bag. At times, there were many players couldn’t believe their good fortune. For some players, the concept of Santa showing up and giving them a holiday gift just seemed...well, too good to be true. Santa even offered some sage advice to players “It's better to be good than lucky...because miracles usually happen on this table”…

When I woke up this morning, I was so happy that I can’t help enjoying the dream until now.

Tonight, on this 2008 Christmas Eve, there will be a lot of people who don’t have to work at all. Shall they enjoy the time sitting together with family members to chat and play poker games like Texas Hold’em, Omaha or Speed Hold’em just like me? Maybe… Children might be the happiest tonight who will be waiting for Santa Claus making his rounds giving gifts to good children.

Happy Holiday, everyone…

Pot-Limit Omaha

The past weekend for me was really like a nightmare although it was the Winter Solstice when people all over the country ate dumplings…I really want to forget everything happened yesterday and just concentrate myself on poker games.

Today I choose pot-limit Omaha which is a community card poker game similar to Texas Hold’em where each player is dealt four cards and must make his best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards. However, it is different from Texas Hold’em…

More people will see the flop in Omaha which also creates bigger pots, making your decisions on the flop even more crucial; players need a stronger hand to win at Omaha because the best hands are those that are made and hold additional value, like top set with a big draw in Omaha. Meanwhile, although position is very important in all forms of poker, it is less important in Omaha and it is usually the player holding the best hand that wins the pot…

I haven’t won in my game by far and I’m not sure whether it is because of my lost mood, but I will hold on…

7 Card Stud---Old Yet Popular

7 Card Stud, which is personally my favorite kind of poker, was the most popular poker variant in casinos of the eastern part of the United States and also home games all over this country before the popularity of Texas Hold’em.

It is one of the oldest forms of game which 2 to 8 players can play and the initial deal is two cards face down and one card up to each player. Position in this game is not that important as other poker game as the position can potentially change with each flip of a card. The first betting round starts with the highest hand showing or for the first round the high card. Then another card is dealt up and another betting round is repeated until there are four cards face up. Then a final card is dealt down and a final betting round held. The ranking of the hands are the same as regular poker except to take the five best cards out of the ones you are dealt.

7 Card Stud is much more complex and requires greater focus and discipline when playing it compared to Texas Hold’em. No matter what, be confident that you bet…

Speed Hold’em-----Time Limited Yet Fun Limitless

Texas Hold’em is one of my favorite poker games, while recently I’m introduced a new game named Speed Hold’em which is a kind of variant of Texas Hold’em whose difference lies in whether betting time is limited or not.

Actually, Speed Hold’em is a very fast poker game comparing to Texas Hold’em while it has many advantages. The most obvious one is that you don’t have to wait for a long time for the other players to take action so that you need not to wait and wait wasting your time. I really feel bad when I wait for a long time before. Meanwhile, when players are asked to play poker quickly, the weak poker players will make mistakes.

Similarly, in any time during the poker game the players can fold and get out of the hand. All bets will be lost at that point.

Speed Hold’em has really attracted me and I have gained more and more fun from it. So friends, don’t hesitate any more, let’s go together to have a try…