A favorite Poker game for many people is Omaha Hi/Lo. By nature, it is far more unpredictable and fun than Omaha Hi. The name Hi/Lo means that the highest and lowest ranked hands can split the pot at the end of a hand. If there is no qualifying low hand, the pot goes solely to the highest hand.

For a hand to qualify as a low hand it must consist of five different cards lower than an 8. Straights and Flushes don’t count against a low hand. So, a hand consisting of an Ace-2-3-4-5 is the lowest hand possible, whether they are suited or not. Ironically, the same hand, whether suited or not, could become the highest hand.

Because of this interesting facet, the tedium of playing for and waiting for good hands is not as evident as in Texas Hold’em. So there is far more action and more active players in every hand. Mere tactics like Bluffing and Raising put a whole new spin into the game.

Omaha Hi/Lo is played the same as Omaha Hi except for the pot being split at the completion of a hand. So, like Omaha Hi, four upcards are dealt, only two of which can be used to make a hand. After a round of betting, three upcards are dealt to the middle of the table. These three cards are referred to as ‘The Flop’. After another round of betting, a fourth upcard is dealt alongside the flop. This card is referred to as ‘The Turn’. After another round of betting, a fifth and final upcard is dealt alongside the turn. This card is referred to as ‘The River’. After all five ‘Community Cards’ have been dealt on the table, a final round of betting occurs and the remaining active players show their four downcards.

Betting moves clockwise, always starting with the player to the left of the dealer. Omaha Hi/Lo also has forced bets called ‘Blinds’. Before each hand is dealt, the player to the left of the dealer places a bet called a ‘Small Blind’. This player is also referred to as ‘The Small Blind’. The player to the left of the small blind must then place a larger bet called a ‘Big Blind’. Likewise, this player is also referred to as ‘The Big Blind’. The price of the blinds are established before play begins.

During the first two rounds of betting, both before and after the flop, the minimum bet players can make to stay in the hand must be equal to the price of the big blind. However, during the last two rounds of betting, after the turn and after the river, the minimum bet must equal double the price of the big blind.

—Glossary & Definitions—

Hole Cards: The first four downcards dealt to each player.
The Flop: The three upcards dealt on the middle of the table.
The Turn: The fourth upcard dealt alongside the flop.
The River: The fifth upcard dealt alongside the turn.
Pot: The total amount of money the player with the best hand wins.
Bet: An increment of money placed into the pot.
Check: Not making a bet when no one has bet beforehand.
Call: Placing an equal bet to remain in a hand.
Raise: Increasing the bet that others must make to remain in a hand.
Pot Odds: An estimation of the profitability of a potential bet.
Rags: A bad hand.
Bluffing: Bets and raises designed to force players to fold when you have rags.
Bad Beat: Losing a pot to a great hand when you have a good hand.
Pocket Pair: Two of the four hole cards of the same value.
Bullets or Pocket Rockets: Two Aces of the four hole cards.
Big Slick: Ace and King of the four hole cards.
Suited: Two of the four hole cards of the same Suit.
Connectors: Two of the four hole cards in sequence (4-5, J-Q, etc).
Boat: A full house.
Trips: A three of a kind.
Nuts: The best low or high hand.
Flopping A Hand: A good hand made only from the Flop.
On A Draw: Needing a turn or river card to make a good hand.
Open Ended Straight Draw: A hand with four cards in sequence, and needing one of either two possible cards on the turn or river to make a straight.
Inside Straight Draw: A hand missing one card in the middle to make a straight.
Flush Draw: A hand with four suited cards needing a fifth on the turn or river to make a flush.
Overcards: When the flop doesn’t give you a pair, but your hole cards are individually higher than the three in the flop.
Outs: The number of cards needed on the turn or river to make a winning hand.
Limit: Bets and raises set at a fixed price.
Pot Limit: Bets and raises cannot exceed the value of the pot.
No Limit: No limit to the price of a bet throughout a hand.

—Strategy—

It is easier to win in Omaha Hi/Lo than in Texas Hold’em. However, the pendulum between winning and losing is not as extreme. Successive large wins interrupted by bouts of failure are uncommon. For this reason, Omaha Hi/Lo can often not be as profitable, but it does not demand constant observation and analysis from a card player as Texas Hold’em does.

In Omaha Hi/Lo, the best practical strategy is to always try to win the low hand. Mathematically, the odds of obtaining a low hand exceed those of obtaining not just a high hand, but a winning high hand. A high hand is so hard to come by that it is not sensible to try to obtain one at a potentially large cost. There are usually so many people in each hand that flopping a three of a kind wont be enough to win the high hand. The chances are, ironically, that when trying for the low hand a winning high hand will develop easier.

Having any two of the lowest three cards is a strong position to be in. With this combination, only one card is needed on the flop to have the lowest low hand possible. If dealt a 2-3 in the hole, an Ace is all that is needed to have the lowest hand possible. If dealt a 2-4, however, an Ace and a 3 will be needed to guarantee a low hand. There is, therefore, more chance of guaranteeing the lowest hand possible than it is to conjure up a winning high hand.

These low hands don’t happen regularly, but there are more potential hands open to play when aiming for the low hand. Having at least two of the lowest five cards possible is a solid basis to work from. It is often profitable in Omaha Hi/Lo to see the turn for one bet with a lot of outs, but not paying double the blind to see the river unless you have a lot of possible outs, or the pot is big.

When calculating pot odds, bear in mind that most pots will be split between the high and low hands, so the pot will be half its actual value at the time. Call a bet on the flop to see the turn cheaply and calculate the implied odds of the bets after the turn and river if the needed outs are obtained.

A lot of patience through those long periods of no hands to play is required in Omaha Hi/Lo. Your frustration is your opponent’s ally. Influencing you to make rash or inappropriate decisions. Playing only the good hands will fatten the bankroll, but it will happen slowly. Let your opponents play loosely, taking advantage of the bad players when you have good cards.

A wild, loose table is ideal. Surrounded by players who will play anything they are dealt is to your advantage. In Omaha Hi/Lo, the high and low nuts happen more frequently than in Texas Hold’em. So, when you have them, it is essential that there’s a lot of money in the pot.

Try to check whenever you are on a draw. Only bet on a draw when you’re in one of the later positions, have many outs, and a way to see a free river card. Every active player in Omaha Hi/Lo tends to have a lot of outs, so one large bet will fail to persuade opponents out of their hands. Often, one of your opponents will make that large bet for you, which helps conceal the strength of your hand. Bluffs don’t often work, so focus on making bets when hold strong cards. This may seem like exposing your game, but remember that all your opponents will often have many outs and will typically call you. Slow playing is not as effective in Omaha Hi/Lo in increasing the pot as it is in Texas Hold’em.

Something else to consider is that the “Lo” pot is regularly shared by more than one player. So, avoid ballooning the pot just because you have the best low hand possible. You will find that not only do you end up paying more rake for a pot that is to be split evenly, but you are also giving half of each bet to the player with the high hand in only getting a quarter of each bet when you split the low.

Out of Eden is a regular contributor to PokerPlasm.com. He also contributes articles to other sites about world travel, political affairs, and Aussie Rules Football.

Razz is a seldom-known yet very popular, fun to play, variation of Seven Card Stud. The same five card hand principle still applies. However, the aim of Razz is to get the lowest hand, the lowest hand winning the pot. Basically, turn the “winning hand hierarchy” upside-down, but with one exception – straights and flushes don’t count at all. So, the ‘highest ranking’ hands are:

1. The Wheel
5-4-3-2-Ace.

2. Lowest High Card

The player with the lowest high card wins.

3. Second Lowest High Card

If two or more players have the same high card, the next lowest high card wins. So, 6-4-3-2-Ace would beat 6-5-3-2-Ace.

After this, comes a pair, three of a kind, two pairs, full house.

Razz is played on a table with eight hands maximum. Players are dealt two hole cards (face down) and one upcard (face up), which is followed by a round of betting. Three upcards are then dealt one at a time to each player, followed by a round of betting. Then one final downcard is dealt to each player, followed by a round of betting, which culminates in ‘The Showdown’.

Each new hand of Razz signals an “ante” from every player. An ante is a pre-established bet before any cards are dealt in order to instigate a pot. The ante in Razz is commonly 20% of the low limit bet. In a $3-$6 limit game, the ante would be 60 cents.

A typical hand of Razz involves a lot of betting action, with every turn of a card like a movie plot-twist. In effect, each player remaining in the hand, ends up with seven cards – four of which are upcards, and three of which are downcards. At the showdown, the player holding the lowest hand using the five card principle wins the pot.

—Glossary & Definitions—

Hole Cards: The two cards dealt face down to each player.
Upcards: Any of the cards dealt face up to each player.
Downcards: Any of the cards dealt face down to each player.
Ante: Usually 20% of the low limit bet which must be put in to receive cards.
Pot: The total amount of money the player with the best hand wins.
Bet: An increment of money placed into the pot.
Check: Not making a bet when no one has bet beforehand.
Call: Placing an equal bet to remain in a hand.
Raise: Increasing the bet that others must make to remain in a hand.
The Wheel: The best lowest card combination (5-4-3-2-Ace).
Street: A round of betting.
The Button: A white disc in front of the dealer that determines the first to act.
Bring In: The initial bet made to start action, usually 50% of the low limit.
Checked Around: When a round of betting has finished with no bets made.
Check-Raise: A player who initially checks his bet then raises on the return.
Common or River Card: When too many players remain active by the 7th Street to each receive an individual final downcard, one single upcard is dealt in the middle of the table for all to use.
Showdown: The part of the game when players reveal their hands.
Muck: To withdraw from the showdown without revealing your cards.

—Betting Rounds Detailed—

There are five rounds of betting. Each round is referred to as a ‘Street’, with the first round called the 3rd street, the second called the 4th street, and so on. In fixed limit play, all bets and raises in the 3rd and 4th street must equal the low limit bet. In the 5th, 6th and 7th streets, all bets must equal the high limit bet. A maximum of three raises per street are allowed.

3rd Street: Players are dealt two hole cards and an upcard. The player with the highest upcard is forced to make a bet called a ‘Bring In’. A bring in is usually half of the low limit bet. If two or more players share the same ranked upcard, the bring in is determined by suit – spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs in that order. This is the only occasion when suits have a bearing in Razz. The bring in is often mistaken as a blind. However, the bring in actually counts as a first round bet. The player bringing in only has two options – opening the bring in at half the value of the low limit, or, completing the bet at the full value of the low limit. This is sometimes referred to as a raise. The action then proceeds clockwise around the table, with each succeeding player having three options – folding, calling the value of the bring in, or raising.

4th Street: A second upcard is dealt to each active player. The player with the lowest upcard hand (two cards) must bring in. If two or more players share the lowest upcard hand, the player nearest to the dealer’s left, or ‘The Button’, must bring in. Hereafter, in the 4th and every succeeding street, the player first to act after the bring in can either check or bet at the limit for that street. If no one bets, each player in turn can choose to check. It is possible in every street bar the 3rd for no betting to occur. This is referred to as ‘Checked Around’. Otherwise, the action proceeds clockwise around the table with each player able to fold, call, or raise. When the action returns, any player who previously checked can still choose to fold, call, or raise. The act of checking and then raising when the betting returns is referred to as a ‘Check-Raise’. A check-raise is considered a risky tactic as it can cause no one to bet, meaning a loss of a good hand.

5th Street: A third upcard is dealt to each active player. The player with the lowest upcard hand (three cards) must bring in. If two or more players share the lowest hand, the player nearest to the left of the button must bring in. The action then proceeds clockwise around the table, with all bets and raises now equal to the high limit bet.

6th Street: A fourth upcard is dealt to each active player. The player with the lowest upcard hand (four cards) must bring in. If two or more players share the lowest hand, the player nearest to the left of the button must bring in. The action then proceeds clockwise around the table, with all bets and raises equal to the high limit bet.

7th Street: A final downcard is dealt to each active player. In the rare event that all eight players are still active, there won’t be enough cards in the deck for each player to receive an individual downcard. So, a single upcard is placed in the middle of the table which every player is free to use. This is sometimes referred to as a “Common” or “River” card in Razz. The player with the lowest upcard hand must bring in. The action proceeds clockwise around the table, with all bets and raises equal to the high limit bet.

The Showdown: At the completion of the 7th street, all betting ceases, and a showdown takes place where the remaining active players show their cards to make the best five card low hand. The showdown is not done simultaneously, but follows a specific order. The last player to have bet on the river is the first player to show his cards. If there was no betting on the river, the first player who bet in the previous street or the last player to have raised in the previous street is designated the first player to show his hand. This proceeds clockwise with each player either choosing to show their hand in hopes of winning the pot or choosing to ‘Muck’ it. A muck is done when a player knows he will not win the pot and would rather conceal his cards from his opponents.

—Strategy—

Razz is a game tailor-made for fast, fun action. With each player ‘owning’ four upcards visible and separate to the other players’ four upcards, it makes strategizing Razz quite complicated. The general strategies in most Poker games do not easily fit straight into Razz play. The two main strategic moments in a Razz game are at the 3rd Street, with 2 downcards, and at the 7th Street, with 3 downcards. Also, when the 7th Street becomes a ‘common’ upcard shared by all. Otherwise, the strategies of bluffing, folding, raising, and checking have a somewhat more convoluted effect in Razz. As with Seven Card Stud, the important thing is to not chase cards if it’s unprofitable to do so. This is even more relevant in Razz as there are usually more plot-twists with each turn of a card. There are moments when playing conservatively is detrimental to the situation, and moments when playing aggressively is detrimental to the situation. Committing oneself to any decision is a recipe for danger. Nimble and flexible decision-making is required. Learning to play Razz ‘one card at a time’ is the attitude to take, and it is a great training ground for just this lesson in playing other Poker games. It also helps one keep a close eye on every card and every situation and be able to quickly remember key bits of information.

Out of Eden is a regular contributor to PokerPlasm.com. He also contributes articles to other sites about world travel, political affairs, and Aussie Rules Football.

Omaha Hi (known as Omaha) is a variant of Poker which is played similarly to Texas Hold’em. Both games share much of the rules. However, the little differences in Omaha allows more frequency of stronger hands to develop through the latter stages of the community cards.

In Omaha, four upcards are dealt instead of the two in Texas Hold’em. However, only two of these upcards can be used to make a hand. After a round of bets at this point, three upcards are then dealt on the middle of the table. These three cards are referred to as ‘The Flop’. After another round of betting, a fourth upcard is dealt alongside the flop. This card is referred to as ‘The Turn’. After another round of betting, a fifth and final upcard is dealt alongside the turn. This card is referred to as ‘The River’. After all five ‘Community Cards’ have been dealt on the table, a final round of betting occurs and the remaining active players show their four downcards. The player who has the best five card combination using only two downcards in his hand and three upcards on the table wins the pot.

Betting moves clockwise, always starting with the player to the left of the dealer. Omaha also has forced bets called ‘Blinds’. Before each hand is dealt, the player to the left of the dealer places a bet called a ‘Small Blind’. This player is also referred to as ‘The Small Blind’. The player to the left of the small blind must then place a larger bet called a ‘Big Blind’. Likewise, this player is also referred to as ‘The Big Blind’. The price of the blinds are established before play begins.

During the first two rounds of betting, both before and after the flop, the minimum bet players can make to stay in the hand must be equal to the price of the big blind. However, during the last two rounds of betting, after the turn and after the river, the minimum bet must equal double the price of the big blind.

—Glossary & Definitions—

Hole Cards: The first four downcards dealt to each player.
The Flop: The three upcards dealt on the middle of the table.
The Turn: The fourth upcard dealt alongside the flop.
The River: The fifth upcard dealt alongside the turn.
Pot: The total amount of money the player with the best hand wins.
Bet: An increment of money placed into the pot.
Check: Not making a bet when no one has bet beforehand.
Call: Placing an equal bet to remain in a hand.
Raise: Increasing the bet that others must make to remain in a hand.
Pot Odds: An estimation of the profitability of a potential bet.
Rags: A bad hand.
Bluffing: Bets and raises designed to force players to fold when you have rags.
Bad Beat: Losing a pot to a great hand when you have a good hand.
Pocket Pair: Two of the four hole cards of the same value.
Bullets or Pocket Rockets: Two Aces of the four hole cards.
Big Slick: Ace and King of the four hole cards.
Suited: Two of the four hole cards of the same Suit.
Connectors: Two of the four hole cards in sequence (4-5, J-Q, etc).
Boat: A full house.
Trips: A three of a kind.
Flopping A Hand: A good hand made only from the Flop.
On A Draw: Needing a turn or river card to make a good hand.
Open Ended Straight Draw: A hand with four cards in sequence, and needing one of either two possible cards on the turn or river to make a straight.
Inside Straight Draw: A hand missing one card in the middle to make a straight.
Flush Draw: A hand with four suited cards needing a fifth on the turn or river to make a flush.
Overcards: When the flop doesn’t give you a pair, but your hole cards are individually higher than the three in the flop.
Outs: The number of cards needed on the turn or river to make a winning hand.
Limit: Bets and raises set at a fixed price.
Pot Limit: Bets and raises cannot exceed the value of the pot.
No Limit: No limit to the price of a bet throughout a hand.

—Strategy—

The flow of Omaha pretty much resembles that of Texas Hold’em, but with more twists and looser action. In order to adapt to which hands most regularly win in Omaha, gaining experience by playing a lot of hands is advisable. Generally, the best hands in Texas Hold’em usually are the best hands in Omaha. However, due to there being four downcards instead of two, full houses and flushes are more frequent in Omaha. Experience will teach you this, but it is important to remember this from the outset when analyzing your outs, your pot odds, and the bets/raises of your opponents as the community cards unfold.

For this reason, Omaha is an easier game to win money in as most players are over-enthusiastic with their play. They tend to be over-eager to pay anything just to see the flop. Finding these players is easy, look for tables with the higher average amount bet per hand.

Playing conservatively but raising before the flop is a good way to start winning quickly. The best way though to fatten a bankroll is to win a lot of small-to-moderate pots, relying on patience and observation, and steering clear of the bigger pots. Simply, involving oneself in the bigger pots enough times means the bigger losses will happen more often. Having a good, but not the best possible, hand, should be the trigger to fold when the pot odds are not that flash.

Calculating odds is more important in Omaha than it is in Texas Hold’em. Again, this is due to each player having an extra two hole cards, and a smaller deck. In Omaha, however, the calculations revolve around your opponents’ odds of beating you, not your own outs odds. For instance, you could have a high-flush, and there are no pairs on the board, but your opponent remains in the hand. This would indicate that they are on the verge of a full house. Calculating their odds of getting their outs and appreciating the fact that more often they will get them in Omaha, is fundamental to any betting strategy. Calculating their odds, and playing within your percentages, gives you a subtle advantage over those opponents who go where eagles dare. In this scenario, folding may be a better outcome than losing half your bankroll in a shootout you could have seen coming.

So, as soon as you get a strong hand on the flop, force as many players as you can to fold. There are too many available cards, and shorter outs odds, that players with bad hole cards can stay active and flop a hand from the community cards, especially in the turn and river. Bet large enough to make chasing cards unprofitable for your opponents. Quite often in these situations of card chasing, your opponents will call these large destructor bets, helping only to fatten your bankroll when the dust settles. More so in Omaha, understand and learn from experience, that more often than not, a lot of unavoidable good luck lands in the lap of the worst players. Most tight players get so frustrated by this that they return to playing the more predictable Poker games instead. In Omaha, prevention is always better than the cure. By playing conservatively and within odds calculations, more money will be won than lost.

Out of Eden is a regular contributor to PokerPlasm.com. He also contributes articles to other sites about world travel, political affairs, and Aussie Rules Football.

Texas Hold’em follows the same generic “winning hand hierarchy” that all Poker games do. At the end of a poker hand, the player with the highest ranked five card combination wins the pot.

In texas holdem, every player at the table is dealt two cards face down. These two cards are referred to as the ‘Hole Cards’. After a round of bets by all the players, three cards are then dealt face up on the table. These three cards are referred to as ‘The Flop’. After another round of betting, a fourth card is dealt face up on the table alongside the flop. This card is referred to as ‘The Turn’. After yet another round of betting, the fifth, and final, card is also dealt face up on the table alongside the turn. This card is referred to as ‘The River’. These five cards are referred to collectively as ‘Community Cards’. After the community cards have been dealt, a final round of betting takes place and the players left in the hand show their hole cards. The player who has the best five card combination wins the hand and the pot.

Betting moves clockwise, always starting with the player to the left of the dealer. Texas Hold’em also has forced bets called ‘Blinds’. Before each hand is dealt, the player to the left of the dealer places a bet called a ‘Small Blind’. This player is also referred to as ‘The Small Blind’. The player to the left of the small blind places a larger bet called ‘The Big Blind’. Likewise, this player is also referred to as ‘The Big Blind’. The price of the blinds are established before play begins.

During the first two rounds of betting, both before and after the flop, the minimum bet players can make to stay in the hand must be equal to the price of the big blind. However, during the last two rounds of betting, after the turn and after the river, the minimum bet must equal double the price of the big blind.

—Glossary & Definitions—

Hole Cards: The two cards dealt face down to each player.
The Flop: The three cards dealt face up on the table.
The Turn: The fourth card dealt face up on the table.
The River: The fifth card dealt face up on the table.
Pot: The total amount of money the player with the best hand wins.
Bet: An increment of money placed into the pot.
Check: Not making a bet when no one has bet beforehand.
Call: Placing an equal bet to remain in a hand.
Raise: Increasing the bet that others must make to remain in a hand.
Pot Odds: An estimation of the profitability of a potential bet.
Rags: A bad hand.
Bluffing: Bets and raises designed to force players to fold when you have rags.
Bad Beat: Losing a pot to a great hand when you have a good hand.
Pocket Pair: Hole cards of the same value.
Bullets or Pocket Rockets: Aces as hole cards – the best starting hand possible.
Big Slick: Ace and King as hole cards.
Suited: Hole cards of the same suit.
Connectors: Hole cards in sequence (6-7, Q-K, etc).
Boat: A full house.
Trips: A three of a kind.
Flopping A Hand: A good hand made only from the flop.
On A Draw: Needing a turn or river card to make a good hand.
Open Ended Straight Draw: A hand with four cards in sequence, and needing one of either two possible cards on the turn or river to make a straight.
Inside Straight Draw: A hand missing one card in the middle to make a straight.
Flush Draw: A hand with four suited cards needing a fifth on the turn or river to make a flush.
Overcards: When the flop doesn’t give you a pair, but your hole cards are individually higher than the three in the flop.
Outs: The number of cards needed on the turn or river to make a winning hand.
Limit Hold’em: Bets and raises set at a fixed price.
Pot Limit Hold’em: Bets cannot exceed the amount of money in the pot.
No Limit Hold’em: No limit to the price of a bet throughout a hand.

—Strategy—

Texas Hold’em strategy must begin with the different positions around the table, how different they are, and how to best play them. The position in front of the dealer is called the first position, being the first to bet. The position to right of the dealer is the last position, the last to bet. The positions are so different that the Texas Hold’em must really be played in three different ways.

The first positions are best played conservatively. However, the first positions must also make regular large bets in order to persuade the later positions to fold their hands pre-flop, which is imperative in playing the percentages. In this position, one must be prepared to raise five times the blind when in possession of a good hand. It is the hardest position on the table. A decent hand made on the flop is best handled with a check or a bet. The difficulty of this position, therefore, is that in checking, it allows the other players a potential free look at the turn card. However, in making a bet, a player in a later position with a good hand can rope you into betting all night and take your money. So, when dealt decent hole cards in the early position, a winning strategy is to place large bets to harm the pot odds of the other players at the table, to force them to fold, to reduce the amount of opponents remaining at the flop as much as possible. If they call or raise this bet, their hole cards are likely to be stronger. So it is advisable to check until it is better to fold.

The middle positions on a table are also challenging as they require a player to observe and figure out the playing styles and psychology of the players in the latter positions. Every bet or raise made in the middle position provides a wealth of information about the hands of those in the latter positions. Similar to the first positions, making large bets to coerce the latter positions to fold before the flop is imperative because they will play more hands if it is cheap to to do so. It is a fundamental strategy to get these latter positions to fold so that you become the latter position where it is easiest to control the betting.

The last positions on a table have it the easiest. They have the most information to decide what is best or most advantageous to do when it is their turn to act. They can have a look at a free card if everyone before them checks. They can bluff to assess what the other players will do, how the other players will respond to different situations. When playing the last positions, if you do not have a good hand but have a few outs, make everyone pay big to see the next card. It is likely to convince everyone to fold. Never let an opponent see the turn for free if there’s a good chance of making a winning hand. Or take control of the betting, and check to see the river if the turn card doesn’t help make a winning hand.

A general, sound, conservative strategy is the most profitable for beginners as well as the more seasoned players. Beginners should avoid playing the bluff from the outset. Patient, conservative play allows one to work out the other players’ strategies, habits, and psychologies. True beginners bluff all over the place because no one can afford to play this way for too long before going bankrupt. The experienced players learn to quickly identify these rabid bluffers and clean them out. Therefore, it is to your advantage in learning to be a winner, to play patient, conservative poker and figure out your opponents, find the bluffers, and take them for a ride. Limiting one’s losses always precedes maximizing one’s winnings. Never gamble money you can’t afford to lose.

The hardest first lesson to learn is patience. The next hardest is learning how not to lose. The next hardest is learning how to win. But the most neglected lesson is learning to have fun in a game where losing money is par for the course. Learning to have fun allows one to relax in pressure situations, allows one to gain a better insight into the minds of the other players who are too focused on calculating pot odds and over-analyzing everything that they give themselves away.

Out of Eden is a regular contributor to PokerPlasm.com. He also contributes articles to other sites about world travel, political affairs, and Aussie Rules Football.

Two common misconceptions about counting cards is that it is difficult to learn, and that it helps you win more hands than you normally would.

The reality is that counting cards is very easy to learn, and that it serves only as a guide for when to bet bigger or smaller.

With or without the aide of counting cards, Blackjack is still a game of chance. The chances are that you will still lose more hands than you win. However, with the aide of counting cards, when you do win on your winning hands you can potentially win more money, and when you do lose on your losing hands you can potentially lose less money. The idea is that eventually you will come out ahead in the wash-up.

Essentially, in Blackjack, the dealer has to hit everything short of 17. So, the greater the ratio of high cards (10 through to Ace) to low cards (2 through to 6) left in the deck, then the more likely the dealer is to go bust.

Therefore, counting cards is just a way of keeping track of how many high and low cards have been played. In getting a positive or negative indication which situation it is, this becomes the trigger by which to bet higher when the odds seem favorable and when to bet lower when the odds seem unfavorable.

The way of counting cards then, and why it is so simple, is that you only have to keep track of one figure in your mind as all the cards and hands are played. Cards 2 through to 6 are counted as worth 1 point each. 10′s, face cards, and Aces are counted as worth minus-1. Cards 7, 8 and 9 are not counted.

Start playing only when the deck has been newly shuffled. In your mind, start counting from zero, and as each new card is flipped over, add or subtract the worth value as you go along. At the end of each round, if the number you are counting in your head is positive, then bet big accordingly. The higher the positive number the more confidently you should bet. The reason is more low cards have been played, so the deck is rich in high cards which is bad for the dealer. If the number you’re counting in your head is negative, then bet the table minimum, or even sit out the round. The reason is more high cards have been played, so the deck is rich in low cards which will suit the dealer. At the completion of a round, that figure you’ve been keeping track of becomes the starting figure for the next round, and so on until the cards are reshuffled, at which point you begin counting from zero again.

Of course, there are times when a deck rich in low cards may suit you as well. But it will also suit the dealer. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it is worth your while every now and then to bet a little bigger in this situation to throw off the dealer from suspecting you’re card counting. Chances are you’ll lose, and as card counting would suggest to bet lower or withdraw, this is the opportune time to throw off the dealer by betting slightly bigger and taking a loss every now and then in order to maximize your larger wins.

Out of Eden is a regular contributor to PokerPlasm.com. He also contributes articles to other sites about world travel, political affairs, and Aussie Rules Football.