One reason for poker’s universal popularity is because the mental processes used in poker resemble the games we humans play in real life. Many of these games we humans play are highly competitive and adversarial in nature. The analysis of all adversarial games starts with the objectives, and next polarizes into offense and defense. (more…)

Good poker players try to avoid “fishing in”, that is, calling (”chasing”) with inferior cards. Calling is often perceived as reluctantly fishing along, wasting money, contributing to a bettor who is driving a winning hand. Some offensive purists subscribe to the theory that calling is unsound, and that if a hand is good enough to call, it should be good enough to raise. (more…)

Although limit Omaha is generally not a bluffer’s game, there are certain situations where a bluff has a relatively high likelihood of success. The real trick of course is to recognize the signs which indicate a favorable time to try to pull it off. It helps to develop a good feel for “high life” situations in poker, when one or more players apparently get inspired and start raising on their looks (we know, you are asking yourself, “Are there any poker players who are that good looking?”). (more…)

In two previous articles we discussed steps one and two of what I refer to as the three-step basic strategy of four-card Omaha. Although I had not originally intended to write an article about “step three”, because step three is mostly “just poker”, I have received some correspondence on the subject and there is at least one aspect that deserves specific mention, namely the common mistake of over raising on fourth street. For your convenience the three steps of the basic strategy of Omaha are: (more…)

In the last article we stated that the “basic strategy” of high Omaha could be thought of as a three step process, namely:

Step One is evaluating your hand before the flop. . . [see page 1]

Step Two, upon seeing the flop, is to decide whether or not to get further involved. This is frequently the most difficult and complicated decision in all Omaha. Your odds of hitting various combinations of “comes” frequently involves complex computations and often includes making “human” judgements as to the likelihood of raises. (more…)

In this article, let’s look further at the basic strategy involved in step one, which, although conceptually simple, is where most players go wrong. First, there is a basic principle common to all poker with blinds (as opposed to poker with individual antes) that you should NOT put your initial money into the pot unless you have a GOOD starting hand. (more…)

If poker should be played as a legal game the organizing company should project that poker is being organized as a game of skill and not as a game of chance. However, the New York State constitution prohibits all sorts of gambling, but with some exceptions. (more…)