Fourth and Fifth Card The Zoo Parade

Whereas at straight high Omaha the last two rounds of betting (usually at the double size limit) present many opportunities for the expert to exercise his skill and judgment in reading the opponents and then perhaps making good percentage moves, at Omaha high-low, it is much more difficult to read the opponents correctly. Thus even the best players must proceed more on general principles (as do the medium good players) than on deep brilliant moves. However, general principles sometimes can be applied with considerable skill and psychology.

Just as all good Omaha high-low players know that they must avoid getting “squeezed” by the brutal and terribly expensive raising that sometimes occurs on the last two rounds (unless they have a lock in one direction), all good Omaha players also know that this is indeed one of the best times to make money. Although a lock low hand is often reluctant to cap out the betting in fear of getting “quartered” (that is, getting only one- quarter or one-sixth of the pot), when there is a known fish splashing around in the pot, sometimes the lock low will risk a raise or two (especially after the fourth card if he has some extra prospects). Many Omaha experts tend not to “over squeeze” a poor fish caught in the middle because it turns off the fish and sometimes resembles collusion (even if the good players do not know each other) — and there is always the possibility of getting quartered.

Less deep

There are also some occasions where an expert can make fairly safe assumptions (especially about the starting hands of other good players) which strongly affect the odds of a situation and allow the expert to make somewhat “offbeat” bets and raises on the last two rounds. But, all in all, Omaha high-low has much less “deep game” (a contract bridge concept) potential than straight high Omaha.

Biggest Loss

Poker is the game of luck where everyone comes with only thing in mind that is to raise their wealth as quickly as possible. But at the same time they all are aware that if the luck does not favor them they might have to go home empty handed. I too have suffered many losses during my journey. Here I am telling all Play poker lovers about my biggest loss.

I kept telling myself that I wasn’t going to break. No matter what the gods of fortune spilled on me, I would survive. That’s what I told myself, but the agony grew inside me with every minute that Shirley stayed away. Finally she walked toward me. Richard ambled in the other direction, kind of smug, I thought.

Shirley sat down at the booth across from me. Probably a half hour had passed, but it seemed like a week or a month. My suspicion was that she was going to let me down easy. I mean, I could just feel it, and I thought, well, that’s the way it’s going to be, I’m just not supposed to win anything. There wasn’t any spirit left in me, no fight left, I was sapped. I couldn’t even make my eyes meet hers.

Finally, I said, “Would you like afresh drink?” Still, I didn’t look at her directly.

“No.” That made me think that maybe she was just going to break me the bad news softly and leave.

But the silence between us just went on and on while the band seemed oblivious to my agony. Rock n’ Roll.

Gradually, Shirley began to drum her fingers to the beat.

At last I got the nerve to ask, “Do you want to tell me anything about it?”

She said, sort of remotely, “Richard apologized. He wants me back...” So on and so forth.

You know, she never told me what she’d decided. But pretty soon I got to thinking, Well, hell, Bobby. She’s still Sitting here, and Richard, he’s across the room somewhere. I put it together. I didn’t ask her any more questions. We left the club together.

And when we got home, I said, “You know, I’d like to have Staci move in. She’d be like my own daughter, if

that’s what you want...”

So Staci came to live with us the next day.

High vs. High –Low

I am playing poker for past four years but when I first started playing poker I was really bad at it but now I have developed my skills but still I am unable to match my skills with the experts on the basis of my experience I am summarizing, the impact of the skill differential of experts over good players, is more financially significant in both hold ‘em and high Omaha than in high-low Omaha. Otherwise put, the expert wins over good players more consistently at hold ‘em and high Omaha than high-low (this is certainly one reason why many medium good players like high-low). Some poker “experts” have misevaluated the great skill potential in straight high Omaha — but high Omaha is clearly more complex and in some situations has a higher overall skill factor than hold ‘em. This subject will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 14 which compares hold ‘em and Omaha.

From the foregoing it should be clear that if you are a “medium level poker player” at Omaha high-low, as long as there are several fish in the game, you rate to make money. And if there are less good players in the Omaha game than at a typical hold ‘em table, so much the better!

Taking a pounding

But be forewarned! On a bad night, not only medium players, but even experts can take a pounding at Omaha high-low. The main reason is that at high-low, there is a much lesser predictability of results with non-lock hands; thus, you have less control. In high-low it is much harder to gauge the likelihood of losing, and it can be disastrously expensive when you are unlucky. And you win less when you win (unless you are lucky and scoop).

Even the staunchest of high-low aficionados will admit that, on a bad night, even all of their best “moves” can’t save them from the unholy bath waters. One helpful observation is that it is no amazing coincidence that most of your bad nights at high-low Omaha (everyone has some bad nights at high-low Omaha) correlate somewhat with the lack of bad players in the game.

Even if you are a die-hard high-low enthusiast, you should read about and master the straight-high concepts of seizing the initiative and driving (Chapters 9 and 10), since whenever the flop contains two or more high cards (nines through kings), you are essentially playing straight high Omaha.

Strategies Of Playing Poker

Raising Before the Flop

As with hold ‘em, the greatest regulatory tool for changing the character and tone of the game is a raise before the flop. If the Omaha game is very loose (many callers after each flop), you are less inclined to raise, since you would rather see your flop in place than bet on the come. Remember, in Omaha, even the best possible four cards (ace- king ace-king, both suited) are a big underdog to the rest of the field.

There are certain kinds of hands where you would like to reduce attendance in later rounds because your chances of winning will be increased. For example, if you raise in second chair with aces and get only a few callers, the aces might even hold up. Generally, raising in an early seat greatly increases your chances of winning with two high pair. There are also a number of low card hands where you would like to raise the other low card competition out. A low straight will hold up better against fewer players. The value of lower suited cards increases greatly against fewer floppers. Note that raises in the early seats are more likely to reduce attendance. Most callers of the original bet will stick around for subsequent raises.

For Students of the Game

If you would like to test some of the above concepts (without a computer), simply take the four cards you want to test out of a regular deck of cards and then turn over the remaining 48 cards, three at a time. Thus you have sixteen flops. Note how many of the sixteen flops work well with the four card hand you are testing. For example, if you are testing four cards containing one pair, two of the sixteen flops will give you trips. If you are testing two flush cards, then approximately two of the sixteen flops will yield a four flush.

Some Drawing Odds Outs”

Before proceeding with the next several chapters, some knowledge of basic percentages is necessary in order to discuss the likelihood of your hitting a drawing hand meaningfully. This can be accomplished without going into serious mathematics. The easiest method for determining the likelihood of making your hand is to count the number of cards left in the deck which will make your hand. Since you don’t know what cards are in your opponents hands, you consider their cards as if part of the remaining deck.

In poker parlance, the good cards which complete your hand are called “outs” (short for “outstanding cards”). For example, if you have two diamonds and the flop contains two diamonds, then (since thirteen minus four is nine diamonds left) you have nine “outs.” There are forty-five unknown cards in the deck (that is fifty-two minus your four cards and minus the three in the flop). Thus, the odds of the fourth street card being a diamond are nine out of forty-five or twenty percent. [That is about the most complicated math problem I will give you]. The mathematical combined odds of making the flush either on fourth or fifth street are about 36 percent — more than one-third of the time.

Playing with the Girls

Here is a bizarre ending which illustrates that you must always be alert and understand the proceedings. We'll watch Al play it. He had stayed in a hand of three-card sub, playing for the high, and wasn't too happy about his prospects. One trade had already been made, and this was the layout:

It looked as though Eleanor would pitch the 4 to develop a low, and she didn't seem to have much competition. Paul was clearly playing high. Fred might toss either the 5 or the 9. If he held a low hole card he might become a low contender. The second trade cost eight cents. Freddie stayed for the bet. When it came time to trade, Fred ditched the 9. He received a 5 for three of a kind. Now Eleanor went into a huddle. Al knew that she was holding at least two pair and was debating whether to break them for low or compete against Fred for high. Two small pair is frequently a nuisance in this game. She went for the full house and didn't make it.

Paul broke for low. He pitched a jack. He pulled a jack! That's how the cookie crumbles.

Al now tossed his hole card and pulled a deuce. After a round of betting, the final 12-cent trade commenced with this layout:

Fred pulled a hole card. Eleanor got a 9 in place of her king.
Paul tossed the jack. He shuddered when another 3 came off the top of the deck. Al didn't even have to spend 12 cents to buy. He held a lock with a queen low!

Then there was the night the police were roaming the neighborhood. After some checking around us discovered that they were searching in the woods, an undeveloped tract, for some thieves. Marge turned pale. Her three youngsters were home alone and she was on her way. She and Bill owned the house that bordered the undeveloped tract. The ladies were all sympathetic. In the middle of a hand of twin beds, all the players picked up their chips, their rolled cards, their closed cards, the center cards, the chips in the pot, and the coffee pot, and moved a block up the hill. They arrived to find the children sound asleep. The seating arrangement, center cards and rolled cards were restored as before. Coffee was poured and the game resumed.

I am indebted to Peter Schwed of Simon and Schuster for the following suggestion. It seems most appropriate for social circumstances where it is a mixed game or where the players are at different income levels, or have inflated notions of their ability, or for a myriad of other reasons. Each player is permitted to select his own stakes. There might be three or four levels from which a choice is permitted. For example, the might select 2, 4, and 6 cents. Another permissible range might be 5, 10, and 15. The plunger might play 10, 20 and 30, and 20, 40 and 60 cents may be also permitted. Each player selects the level that particularly suits his fancy for the evening. An impecunious novelist would surely be a 2, 4 and 6 man. The hot-shot account executive might be expected to play for higher stakes but for a lark might also select 2, 4, and 6. He could then bet and raise with abandon, placing the big gamblers under severe pressure which would develop some unusual and striking end games.

Each person makes hid choice of stakes in privacy, recording it on a slip of paper. The folded slips are passed to the host in evening. The betting is generalized as one chip, two chips or three chips. Of course everyone comments at one time or another on the stakes he is playing -lying at times, perhaps telling the truth. When the play is completed each slip is opened. It would be a riot to see the hot-shot player lose after he has chosen high stakes.

This form of variable stakes requires either a bank or a banker. If the big gamblers win and the penny players lose, the bank loses. In the reverse case the bank would gain. If on person chooses to bank the game, he is gambling that the low stakes players will outplay the high-stakes players. One way to start such a game - which I am sure will provide many entertaining moments - is to have each couple chip in ten dollars. If the bank wins over a period of several months, it can then be used to finance an evening on the town. If it loses, the bank can be re-plenished by taxing the winners.

Choose A Best Poker Game

The average amount of money that a video poker machine returns to the player after a long period of play is called the payback. The payback is usually stated as a percentage of the amount that the player invested in the machine. If, for example, the payback of a game is 98%, then, over the long term, you can expect to sustain a 2% loss on each hand. The payback of the game also determines the average profit made by the casino, which is called the house percentage. For a payback of 98%, every $100 put into the machine will return a long-term average of $98 to the player. The remaining $2 is the casino’s profit. Actually, the $98 is an expectation. It could be more and it could be less. It is the amount that, statistically-speaking, is expected to be returned in the form of winnings over a very long period of time. Over the short term, however, anything can happen. For any given machine, there are two payback numbers. One is the maximum payback for perfect play. This is the payback of interest to the player. It is the highest possible return when the best playing strategy is used. It is what i have in mind whenever the term “payback” is used in this chapter. To the casino, this payback has only academic interest because it does not directly define the casino’s profit. The other payback is based on the actual recorded return from the machine. It is the one that the casino cares about because it is an estimate of the casino’s potential long-term profit on that machine. Since many players do not apply the best strategy or bet the maximum coins, the payback for those players is typically 2% to 4% lower than for perfect play. Thus, if the maximum attainable payback on a machine is 98%, the actual recorded payback will typically be 95% to 96%, leaving the casino with a 4% to 5% profit. Coin multipliers All video party poker machines employ coin/credit multipliers. Most machines will accept one through five coins (or credits) for each hand played. The more coins deposited, the higher the payout for each winning hand. The payouts increase proportionately to the number of coins or credits, except that the largest jackpot is significantly higher when five coins are played. Coin multipliers are designed to encourage players to bet the maximum number of coins. For most winning hands, the payout for five coins is five times the payout for one coin. For the top hand, however, the jackpot payout for five coins is typically sixteen to twenty times the payout for one coin. For example, the payout for a royal flush is typically 250 coins or credits for each coin or credit played. Thus, for two coins played, you would win 500 coins; for three coins, you would win 750; and for four coins, you would win 1000. For five coins, however, instead of winning 1250 coins, you would win 4000 coins. On some machines, you would win 4700 or 5000 coins. As a result, when fewer than the maximum number of coins is bet, the average long-term payback percentage is reduced by 1% to 2%. For this reason, the strategies presented in this chapter are based on five-coin play. The only exception is for the second chance machines described below. Details of the games Even within a single casino, there can be a bewildering array of different kinds of video poker machines. One way to sort them out is to group them into major categories. Many players come to prefer certain types of machines, which is fine as long as they seek out the best paying machines within that type. Although new kinds of video poker machines regularly appear, the following are the most common in today’s casinos:

THE STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF HOLD'EM

This is the subject that for some reason excites everyone.

I know that whenever I tell someone that I am a party poker player, one of the first questions I get is, "00 you bluff a lot"? Yes I do, but it's not that exciting and it's a common and ordinary occurrence in a low limit Hold' em game.

Bluffing in a limit Hold'em game is usually a simple matter of mathematics coupled with an elementary understanding of how to read tells. Because Hold' em is pretty much an automatic game when it comes to decision making, you will encounter certain situations over and over again in the game.

Bluffing in this game is a matter of mathematics because of the simple concept of pot odds. If there is $80 in the pot on the river and you bet $8 to try to steal that pot when you have nothing, then you are getting 10 to 1 on your money. Therefore, you need at least an 10 to 1 chance of winning the pot at online poker. If you bluff on the end ten times for a total investment of $80, then you need to succeed on the eleventh try in order to win back the money you invested on the other ten times you bluffed and failed.

As you can see, your bluff needs to succeed only a small percentage of the time for you to show a profit at bluffing. As a matter of fact, if you win the pot most of the time that you attempt a bluff, then you are not bluffing often enough.

Here's another way to look at it: Let's say that you just sat down in the game, you flopped an open-end straight draw and neither the turn or river cards helped you. You decide to try a bluff on the river and you bet $8 into an $80 pot, representing a good hand to the other players when in fact all you have is Queen-high. Two other players with better hands than yours fold and you win the pot without having to show your hand. You are now $80 ahead on attempted bluffs, and you've played only one hand.

If you mentally set that $80 aside and use it only for bluff¬ing opportunities, you can see that you can attempt to bluff ten more times, and lose all ten of those hands, and still not be a loser when it comes to bluffing. One success in eleven tries is all it takes to break even, and obviously anything better than one in eleven tries will show a big profit.

If you estimate your chances of succeeding at your bluff attempt to be better than one in eleven, then you will show a huge profit in this situation. Even if you win only two of eleven times you bluff, you will have a positive expectation.

It is wrong to have a policy of never bluffing in Hold' em.

Because of the community card aspect of the game, you will often be in a situation where you have only Ace- or King-high at the river, and your opponent has only a slightly better hand, but it is a hand that he would not call a bet with. If you check, you lose when everyone gets to show their hand without having to call a bet on the river.

There are many times in this game when everyone missed his straight and flush draw and ended up with nothing and all it takes is a bet to win the pot. Of course you'll have to learn from experience when these times are, but they occur so fre¬quently that it is worth your time and effort to recognize bluffing opportunities.