Omaha Hi Lo

The last couple of days I tried some tournaments again. Bad beats took me out of a promising freeroll. Otherwise I haven't played a whole lot of poker recently. More days in the week than not, but only for about an hour while watching "Daniel Boone" in the middle of the night before finishing my prayers and going to sleep.

I am not one who can productively play more than one table at a time on the Internet either. I don't think you can learn much more playing two three or eight tables at a time than one. Now, I believe it is on Full Tilt, they have rush poker. That is you are part of a large pool of players, and as soon as you fold or your hand plays out you are shot off immediately to a table that is ready to deal. So there is no waiting for your next hand. But you also cannot get a feel for the style of play of your competitors. Still you can see many hands and get a feel for what pays on a regular basis. Unless you have people pushing all-in hand after hand, no one able to recognize that they are being donkeys and calling their bluff.

So what really magnifies lessons everyone needs to learn in poker is the Omaha Hi Lo table.

First of all you have to always look for the nuts at a Omaha table, with four in your hand and five on the table (using any two from your hand and three from the table). The hand that can't be beat. The big hands you may seldom see at a Hold'm table. No more chasing rainbows unless you like to lose money, whatever the game. But you also learn to bet well. When to push, seeing potential that you want to knock off the hand and betting on your own potential to back into the best hand. And when to pull, when you have the nuts and don't want to chase people out. Hoping they will bet when they see potential on the turn and/or river.

You learn more quickly the significance of the flop. If you are playing all 9 or above, going for that high hand that can take the whole pot, or have A,2 with two other low potential, the flop can tell you... fold. And sometimes  the low cards win it all. You learn the potential for low cards to pay off big. You are going to be in far more hands with Lo cards than you would be at a Hold'm table and reap rewards from those cards on a regular basis.

And to win at Hold'm, coming out significantly ahead, you need to be able to win those starting Lo hands from time to time. And position and risk/reward ratios, what you need to look for to do that well, are clearer in Omaha Hi Lo than any other game. In Omaha Hi Lo, where one may often split or quarter a pot, how many are in the hand is very important. I had an A,A,2 other on a hand and only collected 1/6 of the pot with my Lo. No, my low cards weren't counterfeited, two others had an A,2.

So goes my life. I'm sure somewhere you can find someone who has written in more detail on the topic.

But heah! The investment is doing well and another job opportunity is presenting itself. The Internet advertising hasn't paid off yet. Maybe I'll be able to get to those Tavern Tourney's. It's not the $5 that would be wise to invest that keep me from going, but the cost of the gas as none are close by. Not too anxious about going to the casino when I'm carrying debt.