Table of Contents
Chapter 5 Poker Etiquette and Rules of the Road 34
Act In Turn 34
Keep Your Cards In Plain Sight 34
Discussing Hands In Play 35
Turn Your Hand Face Up At The Showdown 35
Table Stakes 36
Toking 36
Playing In a Casino 36
Five Good Reasons to Play Omaha in a Casino 37
Avoid Making A String-Raise 37
Raising Made Simple 37
Don't Splash the Pot 37
protect Your Hand 38
Time Our 38
Decks And Dealing 39
Shuffling And Dealing 39
How To Get In A Game 39
Buying Chips 40
What Will Your Opponents Be Like? 40
Part 2 Advanced Strategy
Chapter 6 Outs 'n' Odds 45
A Little Probability, Please 45
Flush With Success 46
Straightening Things Out 46
Getting Counterfeited 49
Drawn and Quartered 50
Looking For Two Perfect Cards 51
Basic Arithmetic For Omaha Players 51
Chapter 7 Getting Down to the Nitty-Gritty 57
Chapter 8 Starting Hand Selection 60
Recommended Starting Hands 62
$ or Fold 66
Chapter 9 Playing the Flop 68
When Three Low Cards Flop 68
Flopping Flush Draws 73
Flopping A Flush 74
Flopping Straight Draws 74
Straight draws and low cards 75
Straight draws and suited cards 76
Straight draws when the flop is paired 76
Flopping Straights 76
Flopping a straight with low cards on the board 77
Flopping the nut straight with flush cards on the board 77
Flopping middle straights 78
High Hand Scoops 79
Playing Middle Cards 80
Case Expert's Advice 82
Chapter 10 Playing Aces 85
Pocket Aces: Omaha/8's Most Overrated Hand 85
Some Cases of Aces 86
Aces Up, Bankroll Down? 86
The Big-Gun Set You May Regret 87
Conclusion 87
Chapter 11 Playing the Blinds 89
Playing the Small Blind 89
Calling a Raise in the Small Blind 90
When to Raise in the Small Blind 91
Playing the Big Blind 92
Chapter 12 Playing When They Kill The Pot 95
Kill Pots 95
Order of play 96
How to Play the Kill 96
Raising with the Kill 97
When to Raise a Kill 98
Chapter 13 Raising 101
Raising Before the Flop 101
Raising to limit the field 101
Raising on the Flop 105
Raising on the Turn 106
Raising on the River 108
Raising from the Blind 110
Raising With the Nut Low Before the River 111
A Word Of Warning About Bluffing In Low-Limit Games 111
Value Bet Bluff 112
Chapter 14 Playing Pairs on the Flop 113
Some Bluffing Opportunities 114
When You Bet Into a Paired Board and You're Raised 114
When Your Opponent Raises Before the Flop and Then Bets Into a Low Board 115
Chapter 15 Different Betting Limits Make For Different Style Games 117
Low-Limit Omaha/8-$l-$2; $2-$4; $4-$8 117
Bigger Than Baby Steps-$6-$12; $9-$18; $10-$20 118
Middle-Limit Omaha/8-$10-$20; $15-$30; $20-$40 118
Big Games-$30-$60 and $40-$80 118
High-Limit Games-$50-$100 And Higher 119
Big Fish In Small Ponds-Killing Time In Smaller Games 120
Chip Management 121
Chapter 16 Runner-Runner: Dream Street or Nightmare Alley 123
Chapter 17 A Bet Saved Equals A Bet Earned 125
Bet Saved 125
Bets Earned and Saved on the Flop 129
Bets Earned and Saved on the Turn 130
Bets Earned and Saved on the River 131
Chapter 18 Playing Styles 133
The Rock 133
The Will Rogers Player 134
The Maniac 134
The Steamer 135
The Tricky Player 136
The Aggressive Player 136
The Quality Starting Hand Player (QSHP) 137
The Very Good Aggressive Player (VGAP) 137
The Evaluator 138
The Crafty Player 139
Forging Your Own Winning Style 139
Zhapter 19 Shorthanded Play 141
Hands Change Value 141
Draws and pairs 142
Timing is everything 142
The Importance of Position 142
Be Aggressive or Sit it Out 143
The Danger of Danglers 143
Five- or Six-Handed Play 143
Playing from the Back: Seats 5 and 6 143
Playing in the Middle Seats: Seats 3 and 4 146
Playing from the Blinds: Seats 1 and 2 148
Three-and Four-Handed Play 149
Heads-Up Play 150
Value Betting in Shorthanded Play 151
The Value of Experience 152
Chapter 20: High Stakes Omaha/8 153
Raising and Warp Speed 154
Full Table Omaha/8 154
How Raising Changes Starting Hand Requirements 156
Part 3 Other Poker Skills
Chapter 21 Pot-Limit Omaha/8 161
Focus 162
Playing a Starting Hand Containing Two Aces 163
Starting Hand Guidelines 164
The Joys of Multi-Way Draws 165
Avoid Draws Where You Can Only Win Half the Pot-But Might Lose It All 166
How to Play Sets in Pot-Limit Omaha/8 167
Flushed with Success 168
Flush-Draw Failures 169
Por-Limit Omaha/8 Game Texture 169
Calls and Raises 171
Situational Betting 172
Elements to Remember 174
Chapter 22: Thinking, Calculating, Evaluating 175
Some Thoughts on Position 175
There's Value in Value Betting 176
Changing Gears 177
Applying Your New Skills 178
Common Omaha/8 Errors and Traps 179
Praying for runner-runner 179
Drawing for a high hand when three low cards flop 179
Failure to value bet: 179
Draws and traps to avoid 180
Some Miscellaneous Tips 180
Chapter 23 Money Management and Record Keeping 185
What's Money Management All About? 185
Does Quitting While You're Ahead Make Any Sense at All? 185
Should You Set Stop-Loss Limits? 186
All You Need to Know About Money Management 186
Game Selection and Money Management 187
Summaty 187
Keeping Records 188
What Kind of Records Should I Keep? 188
How Does the Standard Deviation Work? 189
How to Calculate the Standard Deviation 190
Using the Standard Deviation to Analyze Your Poker Results 192
Life On the Edge: What's My Risk Tolerance? 192
How Should You Balance Your Win Rate Against the Standard Deviation? 193
Keeping Up With Record Keeping 193
Chapter 24: Playing Poker Online For Play-Money Or Real Money 194
What's Online Poker All About? 194
But It Isn't Real Poker, Is It? 195
Internet Play-Money and Micro-Limit Games 196
How Play-Money and Micro-Limit Games Help You Improve 197
The Best Internet Play-Money Sites: Internet Poker Casinos 197
Getting Started 198
Keep Notes 198
Participating in the Future of Poker on Forums 198
Virtual Poker for Real Money-Internet Cash Games 200
But is it Legal? 200
Our Advice to You 200
Chapter 25 Tournaments 202
The Early Stages 202
Tire Middle Stages 203
The Late Stages 204
The Final Table 206
Chapter 26 Play Your Best-Always 208
Playing Omaha Is Too Much Fun 208
We Call Too Much 208
We Tend to Play to the Level of Our Competition 209
Don't Play When You're Psychologically Weakened 209
Monitor Your Own Play for Weaknesses; Then Act On Them 209
Never Go On Tilt; Never Play Less Than My Best 210
Make Myself a Narrow Target 211
Model Successful Behavior and Play 211
Chapter 27 Fighting Through Emotions 213
Chapter 28 Back To Basics 216
Chapter 29 Ten Keys To Success 219
1 Be Aware of Your Own Strengths and Weaknesses 219
2 You're Responsible 219
3 Think About the Game 219
4 Have a Plan 219
5 Set Deadlines 220
6 Be Realistic 220
7 Expect Difficulties 220
8 Build On Small Accomplishments 220
9 Persist 221
10 Have Fun 221
Chapter 30 Bad Game, Good Game 223
Loose Games, Lots of Chips 224
Tight Games, Few Chips 224
Happy Players, Gambling Players 224
Angry Players 224
Maniacs 225
Calling Stations 225
Chapter 31 How Big A Bankroll Do You Need? 227
Chapter 32 Afterword 230
About the Publisher 232
About the Authors 233
