Slow-playing is where you limp into pots (and allow others to do the same) with a major hand, hoping to catch the nuts on the flop and maximise the pot by re-raising any bets that come your way. Although this strategy may work if you have gone into the pot with second or third best hand, you are more likely to see your premium starting hand cracked with the more players there are in the pot.

Instead, you best course of action is to raise by three or four times the blinds. This will be enough to take out the SB and BB and one or two other players who have identified you as a tight player and do not want to commit to a pot against you. There should still be one or two players for who the pot odds now represent value who will be willing to call you and pay to see the flop.

Once the flop is drawn, your choices are going to depend a lot on your position. If you have entered the game in early position you have the options of a continuation bet or checking through to see what other action there is on the table. Whereas checking through is the less risky option, if none of the other players has connected with the flop, you are giving them a free card with the turn.

In later positions, you can see what has happened in front of you and act accordingly – although beware anybody you may suspect is a slow-player who has connected with the board, or one who may have come into the game with a better hand than you. With no bets coming into you, your best option is to make a modest raise again and see if you can isolate just one of the players or collect the pot now.

Although this is not as ideal as finding yourself holding the nuts in a nine-way all-in scenario, over a period of time the “softly-softly” approach will prove more profitable for you and lessen the likelihood of being hit by an expensive bad beat. The best way to play big starting hands is to make people pay to get their cards, but not so much that the price does not represent value to them.

Open-Ended or Outside Straight

This is where your pocket cards and two of the board cards combine to make a sequence of four consecutively ranked cards. For example your pocket cards are QT and the board shows KJ6. You need an ace or a ten to complete your straight, and the odds of doing so are calculated as follows:-

There are 8 cards that will complete your straight – 4 aces and 4 tens. There are 47 “unseen” cards after the flop and 46 after the turn. You divide 47 into 8, and 46 into 8, and add the two results together – 8/47 + 8/46 = 0.34. Consequently, you chances of drawing any of the cards you require to complete your open-ended straight are 34 in a hundred, or about 2/1.

Gutshot or Inside Straight

A gutshot straight is where one card is missing from the middle of the sequence, and you need an inside card to complete your straight. For example, your pocket cards are QT and the board shows K96. In this scenario, only a Jack will complete your straight, and as there are only four of those available in the pack, your odds of making the straight are calculated thus:-
4/47 + 4/46 = 0.17 or 5/1

Double Gutshot or Double Inside Straight

This scenario occurs when you have two opportunities of making a straight, and both require an inside card. This could happen when you are holding J5 and the board shows 789. As with the open-ended straight, you need one of 8 cards to complete your straight:-
A 6 will give you 56789
A T will give you 789TJ

Consequently the odds of achieving a double gutshot straight are the same as an open-ended straight – 2/1.

Knowing the odds of making your hand will help you determine whether or not it is worth continuing in the game and, whether you win or lose, now at least you will know the name of the hand you are aiming for!

One difference between the two games lies in the number of cards that players are dealt. In Omaha Poker, each player is dealt four cards. In Texas Hold ‘Em, players are only dealt two cards. Following the deal, wagering would then follow in both versions. Additionally, in both games the object is to try to make the best hand of five cards as possible. This would be done by using any of the community cards to add to one’s hand. This is sometimes one reason that is cited for the popularity of these two games. Many players like the use of community cards as it provides them with another opportunity to add to their hand. Also, it allows them to have an idea of what cards are out there that their opponents could also add to their hand.

Another difference between Texas Hold ‘Em and Omaha Poker lies in the pace of the games. Typically, a game of Texas Hold ‘Em poker moves at a faster pace. Omaha Poker features a slower pace. There are many benefits that can be afforded to players because of these differences. For one, if you play Texas Hold ‘Em, you will be able to play more games each hour. With Omaha Poker, you can have a slower pace game which often suits those players new to the game of poker. If you aren’t sure which variation you’d prefer, try them both out. You might end up preferring one over the other or perhaps you will like both or alternately you may want to enjoy other casino or online bingo sites for extra fun.

There are hundreds of opinions on how AA should be played depending on the position in which you are seated and the type of game you are involved in.

Many ring game players feel that irrespective of position, you should bet 3x – 5x the blinds to eliminate as many other players as possible and leave yourself as favourite against a smaller pair or somebody hoping for a draw. In multi table poker tournaments, limping into a pot gives you more options and the opportunity for a three-bet pre-flop or slowplay in later rounds to build the size of the pot.

AK is the next best pre-flop combination you can hope to be dealt with an ace, and although AK gives you the strongest kicker if another ace comes out on the flop, it is vulnerable to a player making a set with lower ranking cards – i.e.

Player 1 – AK        Player 2 – 99
Flop shows A94

The odds of being dealt any pair in Texas Hold´em poker are 16/1 so, if there are eight other players around the table, the odds that somebody will be holding a pair are only 2/1. Thereafter, that player has an 8/1 chance of hitting the set on the flop and a 4/1 chance of acquiring the third card they need by the river.

Although these odds do not represent value for the player with a pocket pair, it does not necessarily mean that they are going to fold to your pre-flop bet!

Any suited Ax combinations are valuable to a point. The hope is that you will flop a flush, but this only happens once in every 120 hands. More reasonable is that you will make your flush by the river, but this is still only likely to happen once in fifteen attempts.

The higher the suited second card, the better kicker you have if an ace comes out in the flop and there is also the possibility of making trips with your kicker, which is then supported by your ace. Although it is more preferable to be dealt Ah Th than a pair of 4´s, it is not a hand you should commit to too early in a game.

Any off-suit combination other than AK should be treated with extreme caution. AQ/AJ/AT are a mile away from AK in terms of the betting possibilities and, although the second card is a valuable kicker, betting two heavily on a top pair will see you get buried by anybody holding AK.

The odds of making the top straight by the river (60/1) do not justify betting on these hands for the straight and some top poker players will not even play these cards in short-handed Texas Hold´em.  The best solution with a hand like this is to try to limp into the flop or semi-bluff your hand when in late position.

Aces, when played correctly, can be a very valuable card to be dealt, but in many circumstances an ace in your hand = caution required!

This article relates to Omaha Hi games only. Omaha Hi/Lo has a much different perspective.

Opening Hand Selection.

In Omaha there are good hands that will lead to a high draw, flush or boat. There is little else. A pair of aces with nothing to support it does not constitute a good hand and is better folded than played against Kh Qs Qd Jh. Other good hands to consider playing are any which have four cards ranked 9 or better, with no more than two suited and no more than two of the same rank.

Position.

Position has a fraction of the value in Omaha as it has in Texas Hold´em, as betting aggressively from early position is often a winning strategy. As Omaha is a game with so many possible combinations, when you are dealt one that with great potential, you need to get as much into the pot as possible pre-flop and then, if you flop a set or have multiple top outs possible, raise aggressively once more. In Omaha, one of the biggest mistakes that you can make is giving you opponents a free card or letting them get one cheaply when you are in prime position.

Bluffing.

If anything, bluffing is more straightforward in Omaha than it is in Texas Hold´em. Players are looking at all the possible combinations of cards that have the ascendency over their hands, so if an ace and two queens were drawn, or three high cards of the same suit, a major bluff post flop would imply that you had caught a boat or top flush.

Bluffing after the turn is not recommended, as players who have got to the turn are more likely to have a good hand already, or be into the pot for so much that it is worthwhile for them to call you.

Play Fewer Hands.

There is a myth in Omaha that you should be involved in more hands than you would be in Texas Hold´em because of the greater number of opportunities. In fact the reverse is true. Disciplined, patient play will see you win fewer hands but with bigger pots in Omaha as everybody else tends to believe this myth. Save your chips on anything less than prime opening hands for bigger wins when you connect with a monster.

Focus on Your Opponents.

Inasmuch as identifying the betting traits of your opponents is important to successful Texas Hold´em, in Omaha it is doubly so. “Slow players” are not so likely to be profitable in Omaha, as the later cards can demolish their top post-flop set – so take advantage of players who regularly limp into the pot.

Any player raising aggressively pre-flop who would be considered “out of position” in a game of Texas Hold´em should be avoided, as should tight aggressive players who come out with all guns blazing post flop- they know that they have the odds in their favour.

With these few adjustments to your game, whether you are playing in ring games or multi table poker tournaments, you should be become a profitable Omaha player.

The bluffer who bets first is the bluffer who wins more often, and inasmuch as it is important to not get carried away with the “strategy”, bluffing too infrequently could be damaging your bankroll.

Both tight aggressive and tight passive players have a reputation for high opening hand selection and, when playing on a particularly observant table, will find that they win pots that they enter because everybody else realises that they must have a strong hand (as they have entered the game) and folds. Consequently they do not win as many chips as they might, because nobody wants to take on their premium hands.

This can present a problem to the tight player – particularly on short-handed tables – because it prevents them from becoming competitive in the later stages of tournaments, and subdues their potential for profitable poker at the ring tables. The answer is to bluff a little more often that you normally would.

Ideally establish a table image that you are a tight player and when the opportunity presents itself (in late position with a handful of limps into the pot in front of you), play an outrageous bluff with nothing in your hand. On the first couple of occasions your opponents will fold – you may even catch a bonus on the flop if somebody decides to go with you – but eventually the other poker players will realise that you cannot be getting the great cards as often as you imply with your betting action. That will set them wondering, and make them inclined to take you on again with your premium hands.

It can actually be advantageous to you if you get caught bluffing. Your observant playing partners had you noted as being a tight player – now they are confused and do not know what to expect. You may lose a few chips on the times that it happens, but it will result in your bets on strong hands getting called by weaker ones further into the game.

Bluffing is a great ploy to vary your play and prevent you from becoming too predictable. If you get away with it – you win. If you get caught doing it – you win. Provided you do not give away outrageous tells by timing your betting action in an obvious manner, increasing the frequency of your bluffs will take your game to a newer height.

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Seven Card Stud is always played “Fixed Limit” and the hand rankings are the same as in Hold´em. Each player pays an “ante” into the pot at the beginning of the hand, and three cards are initially dealt to each player – two that only you can see and one “face up” that everyone can see. A round of betting follows this, and each subsequent card that is dealt, with the next three cards being open (face up), and the final card only viewable to you.

Your focus in Stud should be on mentally registering all the open cards you can see during the various stages of the game, and using this information to determine the odds of you making your hand, or an opponent making a better hand than you. By applying this information, your calculations regarding your “expected value” of a hand will be more accurate and therefore enable you to know when to increase your betting or to fold.

The player with the lowest open card after the initial deal will start the betting with either a “bring-in” or a bet, depending on the strength of their hand. Subsequent rounds of betting are started by the player who has the best hand showing, using only their open cards, and therefore your position on the table in relation to the betting frequently changes.

Therefore position does not hold the same relevance as it does in Hold´em or Omaha, although having a strong hand partially concealed by your two face-down cards can be of great advantage when you are close to the end of the betting rotation. It is also useful to see the betting action that has preceded your turn, as another player may also have caught a strong hand, and is possibly giving you a “tell” as to its relevant strength, by the speed at which s/he makes their bet.

Seven Card Stud is most widely played on PokerStars, with three times the traffic for Seven Card Stud Poker than any other site. They have a wide range of stakes available at their ring game tables to suit the novice through to the most advanced player, and they also have several Stud and mixed poker tournaments each day.

To find out more about how you could be among the stars at PokerStars, please follow this link >>>>> www.PokerStars.com

As the network no longer allows players from the US to use its site, the majority of the action takes place during the European evening both on the ring tables and in the tournaments.

Outside of Texas Hold´em, there is very little tournament action in other games, but players who enjoy acquiring value from their games will be glad to know that many of the opportunities on Lucky Ace Poker are substantially undersubscribed.

Regular games are comprised of a mixture of regular low entry multi-table tournaments – often freezeout guaranteed games – a wide selection of freerolls available to new members and qualifiers to the network´s Daily Challenge Series.

Tournaments in any depth commence from mid-day (UK time) and start to tail off around 10.00pm. Low entry tournament games up to $5.00 + $0.50 are normally guaranteed to 100x the stake (so, a $3.00 + $0.30 guarantees $300.00 prize fund) and usually pay out to the top ten players.

Beyond that level, there are a few games each evening with a $5.000 guarantee that have a $20.00 + $2.00 buy-in, and the Monday Twins Tournament – two innovative tournaments run within 30 minutes of each other with a potential $10.000 bonus for winning both!

For consistent multi-table tournament players, the Daily Challenge represents excellent value. Comprising of a different headline competition every day, not only are the final events frequently undersubscribed, but so too the satellite events.

For example, Tuesdays Challenge is a $12.500 NLHE freezeout with a $100 + $9 buy-in, however just two hours before this game, there is a $21 + $2 satellite with 15 seats guaranteed for the final event.

This scenario continues throughout the week until the Sunday $50.000 Gtd Challenge, which has a buy-in of $75 + $5, is preceded by a $16 qualifier – again guaranteeing 15 seats, and often not attracting the 75 paying entrants it needs to make the qualifier viable to the site.

In terms of the loose standard of play and regular value to be acquired in guaranteed and “Challenge” tournaments, Lucky Ace Poker has to be one of the best poker sites to get involved with.