OmahaPoker.com

Playing a hand in Omaha high/low split part two

But there really are many common denominators here with regards all forms of poker that need to be adhered to. I get many people coming to me for advice about certain forms of online poker who have a lot of experience playing other games.

I think that what they fail to realise is that they have experience playing poker and that experience can be transferred from game to game generally. Of course I am certainly not saying here that a player who has only ever played limit hold’em can jump straight in and play in a tough PLO game. But then again, a player who has only ever played in soft to fair limit games should not even be sitting in a limit game if it is too tough either.

But quite often you will encounter players in other forms of poker who are not just bad at the game that they are playing but are actually bad poker players in general. They don’t keep records, they go on tilt frequently, they cannot be bothered to find beatable games, they don’t watch their opponents closely enough etc.

These are bad poker traits and they will reveal themselves whether a player is playing no limit, limit, PLO, seven stud, Omaha/8 or whatever. In the past I have championed how important it is for novice players to specialise in one form of poker in order to become a winning player as quickly as possible otherwise you run the risk of becoming a “jack of all trades master of non”.

Players who possess bits and pieces of knowledge about many different forms of poker will not succeed simply because they don’t know enough about any one poker form to be successful. I still believe that but I also think that it is very important for players who have reached that holy grail of being a winning player to then broaden their horizons by learning other games. This can help you to find profitable games in other areas and also to be able to play in live cash games where many of them are dealers choice.

But getting back to the hand and general poker concepts, if you keep general poker concepts in mind when you play short handed then you will be amazed at just how well you can play other forms of the game. For instance there will be many players out there who know enough about PLO full ring games or Omaha/8 full ring games to know that position is important as it is with other forms of poker of course.

They will also know that you need to play tight from up front in these situations and that they can loosen up their starting requirements the further around the table that they are sat. They will also be able to recognise good and bad starting hands and know when to launch bluffs etc but yet baulk at the thought of playing short handed.

I think the only thing that many players are missing in many instances is not knowledge but confidence. In some cases I have had students come to me to ask me things when I know full well that they could have worked the answers out for themselves.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Author – “Winning Cash Game Poker”
The poker download at bwin is easy and exciting poker can be just seconds away

• Print

No comments.