Take Another Look at Pocket Aces in Omaha

A player typically does a little leap in their head when a player stares down and sees pocket aces in Texas Holdem. In Pot Limit Omaha numerous players will have a tendency to do the same thing when they look down at pocket aces, but not all hands that contain aces are physically powerful.

A-A-K-K double suited as many people know, is the best starting hand in Pot Limit Omaha. This also considered is a powerful hand while Preflop, is the hand that is always ahead. A couple of coordinated cards are also very power Poker hands. So does hands that have aces in them.

When the players play aces that are not coordinated or suited, a lot of them get into a trap with aces. Players treat any starting hand with two aces in it like the nuts and sometimes get into a holdem poker mentality. When you are relying on only the aces to win the hand, the problem with playing a hand with aces that does not have any backup or else you need to be incredibly lucky.

A poker player that is known to be an aggressive and loose player raised from middle position in an Omaha Online Poker tournament about a year ago. Mean while a player on the button reraised the pot and the LAG player that reraised all-in and was called. The LAG player showed A-A-4-9 with no suits while the opponent showed Qh-Jd-10h-9s. The aces are only 58% to win if you run stats on this hand preflop and this is almost a coin flip situation. The aces all of a sudden went to an underdog because the flop fell 8s-10c-2d and the player with the wrap had a 57% chance to win at this point. The aces were busted the wrapped player actually hit his straight.

Settled, the need for a player to have backup with their aces are required the wrap to hit. Hand must hit in order to stay ahead although any chance hand with two aces in it is indeed a slight favorite before the flop. Uncoordinated aces will not hit the flop and then fall behind in many cases.

The question of how should a player play a hand with uncoordinated aces depends on several factors including position, the nature of poker players at the table, the restrictions, and certainly your stack. Seeing if you get lucky and limping into a pot with on the flop is the type of one hand that you may even want to consider. Omaha is a drawing game although limping with aces look as if counterintuitive. Players that pick up a draw on the flop actually are ahead against "naked aces". You recognize that a raise will knock some players out. You may want to put in a raise if you are on the button against only limpers. If you do not hit the flop that you may want to tread very lightly should keep in mind or else you may end up giving your chips away.

Spring Cleaning for my Blog

The sun is shining with selflessness on this cozy spring morning. I just strung out six pairs of socks along the washing line. Maybe the mattress needs to be aired too. And the timing is perfect to start my blog renovation project.

Colors and fonts are changed. I add some purple this time, maybe brown next time.

Abundant widgets are deleted so they won't scare off new visitors. It's a hard choice but I think it hurts more to have a turtle-speed website. Though I try to follow some example to conceal some useful but not so nice widgets, the code part is just beyond me so I give it up.

Underlines of hyperlinks are removed to make text layout more smooth. Besides, I think these lines are really urrrrrgly. I went to numerous professional sites for the magical tip. Finally, I add the code "text-decoration: none" in the Edit HTML section. And Bingo!

The sidebar part needs to be better organized. And I should look for a nice background picture …

Anyway, I will keep trying to post articles of updates I'm doing and add a bit more non poker stuff to give my blog a bit more variety.

Internet Poker at Your Service

The following is for the advantages I think of internet poker—though I'm sure someone with a creative mind could think of others. I would be glad to meet fellow poker "punks", so don't hesitate to inspire me with your great perspectives.

Ability to "Multi-table"

Online poker has spawned something that never existed before in poker—the ability to literally play more than one game at the same time. This has a huge potential upside for the player who is a consistent winner with a well-defined style of play. Though he may give up some profit in each game he plays by limiting his ability to "play the players", he can greatly multiply his hourly win rate by playing many games at once. This can be an enormous example. Imagine, for example, that you are a winner of two big bets an hour in your live games. Now imagine that you can play eight games at once—winning only one big bet an hour—having to give up your full advantage because you can't tailor your play to each individual player. That still leaves you with the ability to earn eight big bets an hour—four times your live play rate. Is it any wonder that so many of the hottest poker players these days make their money chiefly on line?

Ability to Instantly Take Notes on Opponents

A good poker player often notices tendencies of his opponents that help reveal what cards they are likely to hold. In a live casino it is very difficult or impossible to record those impressions immediately. But in an online room this is simply a matter of typing in some brief notes on a pull down screen. These notes can be retained for as long as an opponent plays under the same screen name. This advantage is itself augmented because of the ease of locating these players in the future. Most online poker sites have a "find a player" feature that allows you to type in their screen name and locate, immediately, where they are playing. So if you've noticed that a player is a loose passive opponent, you can look for him again in a future game and adjust your play accordingly. If only "fishing" were always so easy in real life.

Inability of Opponents to Read Your Poker Tells

Many players reveal a lot about their hands by their unconscious but observable traits at the poker table. These "tells", such as how you physically bet, breath, talk, hold your cards, or otherwise react to situations as they develop during the play of the hand, give experienced players extra information from you that they can use to exploit. When you play on line, these traits become invisible, eliminating a disadvantage you may have had in a live game.

Top 10 Interesting Blackjack Facts

1. There is great dispute amongst the Italians and French as to who first invented the game of blackjack, although most think it to be the French.

2. The game was originally called vingt-et-un (French meaning 21).

3. It is well documented fact that Napoleon loved the game of 21 and played it when he had time to kill on his exile in Elba.

4. The name Blackjack came about due to a variation in the rules of the original game where payouts were given if a player held the black Jack of Spades.

5. Blackjack was banned in the US at the turn of the 19th century and went "underground" until 1939 when the state of Nevada removed its bans as it gave birth to Las Vegas.

6. In the early 60's Edward O. Thorp wrote a book entitled "Beat the dealer" detailing the mathematical workings of this casino game and is known as the father of card counting.

7. The publishing of Thorp's book lead to increased player attendance and winnings at casinos. The casinos then altered some of the standard rules, bringing about new variations of standard games.

8. Al Franesco was the inventor of blackjack team play, earning him and his team millions of dollars and resulting in the formation of many famous card counting teams over the years including the famous MIT card counting team document in the movie "21".

9. The seats positioned around a dealer at the poker table in blackjack are called "bases", and referred to as "first, second or third base", however these are the only baseball terms that appear in the game.

10. There is a Blackjack Hall of fame. It was launched in 2002 and honours blackjack experts, authors, and professional poker players who have made significant contributions to the game.

Speed Hold'em—Fast Game

What's it like? Let me put it this way. It's Ferrari in F1; It's running back of NFL; It's 100-m sprint on the Olympic track …

We call it Speed Hold'em. You know what? The gaming software engineers have instilled the essence of fascination into the game. That is, Quick, Fun and Convenience.

First of all, quick gaming is what we promote and honor at the poker table. The time limit for every move of every player is largely reduced—30 seconds compulsory. You don't have to wait endlessly before the monitor for one of your components is involved in his templation or in worse case, he is stuck in a time-consuming non-poker-related business. So, Speed Hold'em saves us time and energy.

"Have fun" is the ultimate priority of all human entertainment activities. For Speed Hold'em, it's no exception. You don't have to doubt any change in the poker rule itself. Speed Hold'em is nothing but Texas Hold'em. But quicker, and that's what we throw in for your interest!

Last but not the least, Speed Hold'em is devoted to convenient user experience. HINT signs pop up 3 times to warn it's your TURN now. "Pre-select" button is set at your service so you can decide your action before other poker players even act. when emergency comes, it won't bother you anymore.

Join me in this game, cowboys. Speed has no limit.

Useful Game Tips in BlackJack

Blackjack is a simple game—the closest to 21 without going over wins. In reflection, there are four steps to improving your online gaming experiences. They are based on the value of the dealer's up card.

1, if the dealer's up card is 7 or higher, continue to draw cards until you have a hard count of at least 17 or higher, or a soft count of 18 or higher. (A "soft" hand is one that has an Ace that is counted as 11. A poker hand that either contains no Aces or the Ace is counted as a 1 is called a "hard" hand.

2, if the dealer's up card is 6 or lower, draw cards until you have at least 12. Stop when you have 12 or higher.

3, double down when your first two cards total 10 or 11, If the dealer has a 9 or lower. To double down simply means you can double your original bet after you receive your first two cards. If you decide to double down you will then receive only one more card.

4, always split aces and eights. Do not split any other pairs. To split a pair simply means that when you receive any pair on your first two cards, you can split them into two separate hands. You can then play each hand as individual hands.

Let's start practicing what you've learned today at those online poker rooms.

Position Q&A

I've always wondered why the big blind is in 2nd position instead of first, where it would seem to make sense to put the poker player with the largest forced bet in the poker hand (and it would follow that the poker player with the 2nd worst position places the half blind).

Why the blinds are placed how they are?

Big blind before small blind would get funky because the amount of money put into the pot preflop would no longer be ascending (or nondescending). If the small blind acts before the big blind, he has to put in the proper amount or fold; if the big blind acted first, what would he do, check or raise every time?

In short, small blind before big blind can be interpreted as a forced bet of 0.5 big blind, followed by a forced mini raise to 1 big blind.

Poker Talk

Your best chance to get a Royal Flush in a casino is in the bathroom.
~V.P. Pappy

I must complain the cards are ill shuffled till I have a good hand.
~Jonathan Swift

There are times when I don't care if I'm dressed to impress. One of those times is when I'm playing online poker.
~Doyle Brunson

I guess if there weren't luck involved, I'd win every time.
~Phil Hellmuth

Luck never gives; it only lends.
~Anonymous

In the game, I can put other poker players' souls in my pocket.
~Anonymous

People come and go, while the game continues.
~me

4 Cons

In Texas Hold'em, there are 4 kinds of trouble you should avoid:

Loose Start Hand Selection
I recommend simply avoiding specific poker hands you feel uncomfortable playing.

Failing To Release After Start Raising
I start to play super tight pre flop, and as I play so few hands to begin with, I start pushing my hands too hard after the flop. Playing too tight and too aggressive can therefore be a recipe for disaster.

Failing To Respect Raises
Passive poker players seldom raise after the flop with less then two pair. If the pot is small when the raise occurs, you should dump unless you have a monster yourself. You know that even if you have pocket aces your poker odds are slim. Whether you should call it down or muck it right there depend on the size of the pot. If the pot is huge, you should probably call it down.

Failing To Make Timely Decisions With Unpleasant Outcomes
It almost always pays to play tight, and it's on the flop more then prior to the flop that you should evaluate your degree of tightness. Fold those losers, and rest assured that much better opportunities will arise later on. They always do.

Two Things

Texas Hold'em is no mystery nowadays—people all over the world play it with enthusiasm. And it may seem silly to be reminded of the following fundamental facts, but it's surprising how often players get immersed in the excitement of the game and forget the basics.

So, always remember these two things:

1. The two cards you hold are the only cards that set you apart from the other poker players and give you the chance to win.

2. All of the face-up cards are community cards, shared by you and every other player. It's vital that you focus on what those cards could mean to someone else at least as much as you focus on what they mean to you. In particular, keep your eyes open for your opponents' straight and flush possibilities.

For me, the above count for the basic poker strategy and it's just these little ideas that keep my head up in my daily poker experiences.

Screen Name Matters

If you're thinking that intelligent people won't usually be fooled by a screen name, you're right. But, despite people's conscientious attempts to keep from being swayed, they might occasionally be more inclined to call a poker player who presents himself with the screen name "Loose Tom" than if the name were "Tight Jerry".

Although many intelligent players won't be fooled, enough players will be occasionally influenced by a playful or reckless sounding nickname so that you'll get more calls and earn more money—if calls are your primary goal. If you believe you'll make the most money by bluffing rather than applying sensible poker strategy, then I'd recommend you choose a neutral-sounding screen name or even a conservative one, such as "Frugal Leo".

In online poker, where every extra edge helps, you should decide on a screen name that is most likely to influence your opponents the way you want, even if it only amounts to winning a few extra dollars now and then. By the way, it's been suggested to me that you might get dual advantage by choosing a loose-looking icon and a tight-sounding nickname or vice-versa. I'm sure that might confuse the opposition, but I am not convinced that would be effective, because you don't know yourself what online image you were trying to convey.

My Choice

Games are so diverse and numerous nowadays that it's hard to pick up "the one" that topples everything else for us. I choose Texas Hold'em for various reasons.

First, it's a poker game. Poker cards are available all over the world and a kind of household game device.

Second, the game takes roots in America. It's becoming very popular in the English-speaking countries and those under heavy influence of western culture. I won't exaggerate its status in poker game industry, but you can imagine that when globalization is on the way and modernization keeps head up, what's popular in the developed country surely would find its followers in other countries.

Third, my own situation guides to the game. I am fairly good at English. I make my choices when concerning different products or services on the basis whether it's "in" in the western world. I won't deny it's kind of vanity style. However, that's a style I can live with, and I live with it happily. HOHO.

Crabs Walk Sideways

Everyone is a speck of dust in the universe, and uses his/her whole lifetime to show the shiniest sparkle … We may not strive to be the most perfect man in the world, like Che Guevara. Deep inside, a little voice moans: behave yourself, play by the rule. That makes me in confrontation with Sattre. Back to gaming business. Poker etiquette are not official poker rules that would affect the results of a poker hand necessarily. They are set of "gentlemen rule" set by the house to keep the game friendly, polite, and in general to keep everyone happy.

It is a great practice for those who run house poker games to add some of the following poker etiquette rules to their house poker rules sheet, print it before the game, and make sure all players are aware of them.

Poker Etiquette During Play

Act in turn.
Keep your cards on the poker table at all times.
Act in a timely manner. Don't take too long to make your move.
If you are not in the hand, don't comment: Don't give advice or information to players who are playing. They are supposed to pay attention themselves.
One hand one player: Don't give advice to anyone. Don't pursue them to make any actions. Everyone is grown up enough to make their own decisions.
Keep your large denomination poker chips in front of your stack.
Don't talk on the phone while playing.

Betting

Don't splash the pot.
Don't string raise.

Showdown

Don't expose your cards until the hand is over.
At showdown flip both cards at the same time.
Don't slow roll: Slow rolling is to pretend your hand is not good enough and take a long time to reveal your cards at the end while your hand is really the winner. Do not do it - it is very frustrating.
Don't check down hands: This is a very non-friendly practice, so unless you are in a very large poker tournament stay away from it.

Aware or not, you are helping make a stand for online poker right here, right now. Thanks for the contribution.

Tilting in Poker

Poker tilt is when we do things we normally wouldn't because we are upset or irritated or disappointed for one reason or another. Although we know so many things, having the discipline to apply them every time we play is another matter. We know we shouldn't tilt while playing at a poker table; we know that we should stay focused at the table, but it is not what we know, it is what we do that separates us from the average poker player.

Emotional control is absolutely necessary to succeed in poker. Tilting is bad. Tilting costs us money. We all know this in our heads, but sometimes it is difficult to control. Learning how to control your emotions is probably the most difficult task in poker to master. The main thing to remember when playing online poker is … it is poker. It is a game of skill, but also a game of luck. Sometimes our opponents are going to go into a hand with the worst of it and come out of it with the best of it. If we understand that it is part of the poker game, then it is less likely to bother us. The thing that occasionally puts me on tilt is when I think I played a poker hand incorrectly. Normally when I do this, I have to get up and walk away from the table to clear my head. If that doesn't work, then I have to get up from the game entirely and call it a day.

Things aren't the way they were before

"Excuse me, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a professional poker player."
"Pardon me?"
"Well, basically what I am doing is play poker games in poker rooms or join poker tournaments at casinos. In fact, as time moves on, I barely leave my home nowadays for that online poker makes lives of people like me much easier."
… Faint …

The above scene may occur if you happen to move in a new city and invite your neighbors to your house-warming party and start a conversation with one of them. In fact, to cater to the ever-increasing and diversifying need of today's job-seekers, here is a list of 5 kinds of cool jobs that you may have never heard before and maybe worth a try.

1. Odor Tester
This one is pretty odd, but some chemist has to make sure that all of those deodorants and anti-perspirants are operating properly to keep their users free of funk.

2. Snake Milker
If you ever get bitten by a poisonous snake you'll be grateful these people know how to work with animals. They are responsible for getting the venom out of snakes to make the anti-venom. Be honest, which one of you thought that snakes had actual milk glands?

3. Dice Inspector
With one false move of a single die a person can lose quite a bit of money on those craps tables. The dice inspector checks for proportionality, specific angles, and blemishes. I guess if dice are not perfect they can't be the reason for you going broke in the casino.

4. Braille Translator
Someone has to modify all sorts of texts and convert them to Braille for the blind. This can include novels, music, textbooks, and brochures. There is nothing wrong with making things more accessible for the blind and this one sounds like it's a quite useful job, but it does sound tedious.

5. Citrus Fruit Dyer
Have you ever passed by the lemons at the supermarket and though to yourself, damn that's some good looking citrus! Well it might be because there commercial farmers out there who dye the fruit a more vibrant color to hide the ripeness of the fruit.

"Share our similarities, celebrate our differences." The quote says so. For me, I am happily reading rock-paper-scissors theory to build up my poker strategy pool—I have some unexplained reasons to believe that luck works and I will be good at this field. Because my nightmare is that when I face the final judgment and Saint Peter says this to me,"You have to run a poker game. And deal." LOL

Play in Russian Style

The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.
—Joseph Stalin

This Georgian Soviet-Union leader had coined many similar stunning quotes which are known to be gallant while merciless. While I don't think he would never dream that two former states under his reign would confront each other more than half a century later, and that's all I can talk about the Russia-Georgia conflict lately.
In fact, as one of world powers, Russia easily catches world's attention in as many ways as you can imagine, intentionally or not.

Russia is "hoping" for global warming to allow for further exploration. They are already attempting to "claim" part of the arctic. To give its initiative some justification, Canada and Scandinavian countries make the same prayer.

Russia is the unparalleled leader in arms exports. And this will continue to be extremely lucrative for them financially and relations-wise with semi-rogues like Venezuela and Sudan.

Seeming to make this topic distracted away from the politics, I also find: in 2006, a gaming zoning bill was passed in Duma by a vote of 440-0. It aimed to control gambling by banishing it to four specific zones; two to be set in European Russia, one in Siberia and one in the Far East.
Fast-forward to 2007. Thanks to a convincing argument by Dmitry Lesnoy, president of the Sport Federation of Russia, on poker being an "intellectual game", and a decision by the Russian Federation's Federal Agency of Physical Culture and Sports, poker tournaments were finally classified as official sport competitions in the nation of Russia. But to some poker players, the sprouting poker rooms and highly publicized legislation could possibly just be a flash in the pan. They are always worried that a change in the leader's mind, and then of the law, could banish poker to the four gambling sectors, like a simple slot machine or Baccarat table.

So, if I am allowed to implant poker rules to make a comparison, Russia has way too many cards to play at this moment, and we hope it will play fair and "by the book".

It may seems I only focus on the negative side (pessimist's bad habit), but I don't deny there is always a silver lining in the cloud (lots of online poker sites are available in Russian). Anyway, I have no intention of messing with Russian people. So if any Russian hackers happen to be here, please don't piss off.

Poker—Presidential Talk

"Americans have played poker throughout history. Playing poker on the internet is simply an example of an American tradition evolving into the 21st century …"



Poker legend Doyle Brunson, formerly a life-long Republican, has made it known that he supports Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in the upcoming U.S. presidential race. Quote:

"During this poker cash game lull, I am on this race for President like stupid is on Britney Spears. I have come to the conclusion that poker players have to support Obama. We can't possibly let McCain be our President because he supports most of George W. Bush's views. Hillary has lots of experience but I don't think she is ready to lead our nation. Imagine her trying to talk to the leaders of the Islamic world? I wish we could have her husband back, but we can't. Jennifer Harman and I have emailed Obama and asked what his position is on internet gaming. Hopefully we will get a response from his camp."


And he has a reason.

Obama has stated that he prefers to regulate online poker and Internet gambling, rather than criminalize it.

Obama is following in a long tradition of poker playing presidents, from Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt and Warren Harding to Harry Truman.

Little gossip:

Warren Harding, 29th U.S. president, played poker at least twice a week, and once gambled away an entire set of White House china. His advisors were nicknamed the "Poker Cabinet" because they joined the president in his poker games.

Chip off your shoulder

Here is the lesson. You don't know how to flip or stack your poker chips, so what? Having a handful of thumbs doesn't hinder you to be a good poker player. Learn the lesson below:

So you have a pair of Ts. The guy opposite you is wearing a cowboy hat, shades and a month of stubble. You can't see his eyes but you know he's staring into your head. You start to think that inside he's laughing because he knows what you've got, but on the out side he is cold and calculating. You raise and he re-raises, without hesitation. While he watches you sweat he starts to shuffle his chips with one hand, split the single stack into two and reshuffle them again with one hand. He seems to do it so easily and almost without thinking. How does he do that? It's really cool, but intimidating at the same time. I wish I could do that. But the chinking of the chips is getting louder in your ears and you start to question your poker hand. He must be good. Look at the way he shuffles those chips. You fold. He laughs at your weakness with contempt as he starts to take your chips and shows you his 3 8 off suit.

Try to think it another way: Look how quick Chinese people build up their Mahjong piles and his opponents would be more careful when meeting such a guy. Although you may find it doesn't apply to online poker … Anyway, never let this happen to you/again … Try to learn some tricks on Youtube if you like.

Learning in poker

Once at the poker table, you face a lot of choices and have a lot of decisions to make. Believe it or not, my motto of life seems to apply here: live and learn. For your record, selective thinking and learning can help you avoid being sniffed at as a bystander or a follower.

Texas hold'em case study: hole cards are 6s, Ts; flops are 2h, 9s, Jc.

No doubt it's a good start. It leaves us with a great space for imagination (though based on calculation). Listed below are the possibilities (from the best hand to the worst):

1 - Straight flush. You pick up 7s, 8s in the turn and river, Bang!
2 - Flush. Two more spades will suffice.
3 - Straight. From K-straight to J-straight. 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K of rainbow, we need the last two cards to be blessed.
4 - Sets, two pairs, one pair, high cards. There is no math involved.

The above is utterly obvious. I can imagine you would use your online poker calculator to figure out the pot odds of catching such hands. Then you are not seeing the whole picture. Remember: diamonds cut diamonds. After you find out at what odds you can form your desired hand and how many poker chips you could throw in the pot accordingly, don't forget to glimpse over to see your opponents' moves. You have your odds and they have theirs. If you don't count them in, then it's a natural thing that a black horse comes out from nowhere, with a poker hand just better than yours. And you can't afford that happens. Of course, if everyone is playing according to the book, you would estimate out what hands they have by calculating on their bet, on the condition you are the last one to call. Since you can't control the game, you must take everything into consideration.

I am always quick to summarize. Skill-wise speaking, I am focusing on POP (pot, odds, and position) here. Maybe I'm not that good at picking up the right words, but my idea is basically there. Now, put out a deck of cards, play your case while thinking a little bit, and you can be a self-made mentor quite soon.

Need a cute alias?

I have been hanging around online poker rooms for a while. The other day, while I was logging into one of my favorite sites, a thought came to mind. Why stick to your boring alias, like "happyguy1799", bla-bla? Why don't you change your "gender" online? It must be a real experience.

So, I followed my gut feeling, created a new account at an online casino, with a charming username "gigi". I took extreme caution when filling personal profile, leaving as few hints as possible that I was the opposite sex. I wrote: my favorite celebrity is the combination of Brad Pitt and Chris Ferguson; my dream is shopping on the Fifth Avenue after winning large at Bellagio Casino and Resort.

I doubt if I am the only guy who pretends to be a woman online. Men in the room would comment "gigi, give me a hug", something like that to distract me. Before using this female ID, I have no idea that players use chat rooms to read, bluff, intimidate and annoy our neighbors at the poker table. Now! I realize women are looking forward to socializing when playing poker. In my opinion, they will be much easier to be affected with all the clutter of people shooting arrogant comments!

After two days enduring fuzzy conversations and forgoing some hands that would confuse even myself, I terminated this "gigi" account.