In the last issue we talked about the “chip-up frebee“, just before a “chip-up” round, where you should call even with a junk hand because it costs you nothing. Tournament conditions sometimes create other opportunities where good dollar sense suggests actions that vary from the usual. (more…)

In poker tournaments where there is a “chip-up” process, there is also what I call the “chip-up freebee” for those players aware of it. In most poker tournaments the limits and blinds approximately double each round of play (timed periods), thereby neccessitating the frequent introduction of higher value chips, and the retirement from play of the lower value chips. (more…)

I have received several inquiries and commentaries regarding the “offer you can’t refuse” (OYCR) mentioned in my recent articles on poker tournament strategy. The OYCR refers to the special rebuy offer made at the end of the rebuy period at certain poker tournaments. (more…)

Tournament Strategy: Part I, noted some of the major overall strategic differences between playing in tournaments and playing in live money games. At any given time in a tournament your strategy is primarily dependent on your relative stack size, which may be designated as “comfortable” (blinds are less than 10% of your chips), “survival mode” (you have chips for two blinds or less), or “struggling”, somewhere in-between comfortable and survival modes. (more…)

General tournament strategy, like most forms of poker, can be best characterized by two words: discipline and opportunism. But there are a number of major strategic differences between playing in tournaments and playing in live money games. (more…)

In a recent discussion I was asked what I consider the most valuable single action or “tool” in playing Omaha. Another participant in the discussion expressed the opinion that the inhibitory raise was probably most valuable because it occurs quite frequently. (more…)

The full court press in basketball often induces error at the start of a play. In Omaha, a raise after the flop usually puts overwhelming pressure on dubious holdings and often has a substantial impact on the course of the river. Playing limit high Omaha in second blind position I “crawled” (a thin call - thanks for the term Al Aikens) a raise before the flop with 8,7,6,3. (more…)

One of the more useful holdem tools, the post-flop “probe” bet, is even more useful in four-card high Omaha. This after-the-flop probe bet is usually made on a not-so-good medium hand that does not have much chance to improve. (more…)

You are playing in a typical four card high Omaha game, where the betting limits are one unit before and after the flop, and two units on the last two betting rounds, for example, “five-ten” (dollars) or “ten-twenty”. Typical house rules impose a three raise limit on any given round of betting. Your four hand cards include the ace and another heart. (more…)

There has been some controversy lately about the true value of low wrap hands - more specifically the 7,6,5,4 unsuited. A “wrap hand” in Omaha is a hand with either four consecutive cards (eg. Q,J,10,9, also called a “quartet”), or four nearly consecutive cards (eg. Q,J,9,8). (more…)