Hold' Em Ploy

Your playing $2/5 in a casino and you realize this is the level where poker is very serious.  Here is a standard ploy that scares the rabbits at the table.  First off only pull this out of your arsenal against the fish at the table.  A pro will know what you are doing.   You are in late position and call a bet with any two cards.  One player behind you calls also.  The flop comes with two of a suit.  If the opener bets out and you suspect he is continuing, just call to see what the player behind you does.  If that player just calls then you get to see the turn cheaply with the hope that it is a third suit.  If it is and the opener continues then it is time to raise to represent the flush.   If the player behind you raises to test you then re-raise him with the nothing you have.  Player one will fold and so will player three!   Most of the time anyway!

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"liquor in the front
   poker in the rear"

Omaha Straight Draws #3

There is a 20-card draw with 14-nut outs in Omaha just high commonly known as the 'Maine-to-Spain' draw.  It is two connectors (J-10-7-6) with a two-gap middle.  On a 9-8-X board your 20 outs are: 4 queens, 3 jacks, 3 tens, 3 sevens, 3 sixes, 4 fives.  Quick which six cards are the non-nut outs?  They are the jacks and tens.

Omaha/8 best starting hand?

The pundits all agree the best starting hand in Omaha/8 or better is A-A-2-3 double suited.  Who can argue?  But be careful.  This hand is nothing like pocket aces in Texas Hold'Em which is a 4-1 favorite over an under pair.  This best starting hand in Omaha/8 only wins the high half of the pot 5.5% of the time and the low half 9%.  It scoops 28% of the time.  So what have we learned here?  Don't go crazy when dealt this hand!  What's the worst starting hand in Omaha/8?   2-2-2-2 !  Can you Imagine being dealt quads is a bad thing?

7-card stud/8 trivia question

Try to find the answer to this question in any poker book!  In 7-card stud 8 or better which of the following two hands would win the low half of the pot?  A-A-5-6-7 or 2-2 5-6-7 ?  I contend that the former would win because aces swing but my fellow players say no.  One day at Foxwoods, during an Omaha/8 tourney in the grand ballroom, I asked Men'the master' Ngyuen, who was in the middle of the room trying to get noticed.  He did not answer instantaneously but did finally concur with me.  I finally found printed confirmation in a slim poker book entitled Poker is the Name of the Game by Walter Gibson (page 84.)

Omaha Straight Draws #2

In Omaha just high a hand with a top connector and two single gaps at the bottom (example: J-10-8-6) will offer a 16-card nut straight draw on a flop of 9-7-X.  The 16 cards that will make the nuts are 3 jacks, 3 tens, 3 eights, 3 sixes and 4 fives.

Omaha Straight Draws #1

A three-card rundown hand with a 2-gap bottom (example: J-10-9-6) yields a 16-card nut wrap draw on a 8-7-X flop in Omaha (just high.)  The 16 cards are the 3 jacks, 3 tens, 3 nines, 3 sixes and 4 fives.  Any one of these 16 cards will give you the nut straight.