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.