One of our readers sent me an email asking me to boil down my many years of experience playing poker into a winning strategy. The email came from Matt R. in Ft. Worth, Texas.
I thought about his question while playing $4-8 Omaha High-Low at Talking Stick Casino in Scottsdale and came up with 10 commandments that all poker players should follow if they want to increase their bankroll. I went a step further and added some personal experiences that prove these commandments work.
(1) The first poker commandment is try to sit to the right of a player who never raises, but who will call your raise.
I found such a player at Talking Stick. He was a friendly gent from Chandler, AZ. who teaches golf. We played Omaha High-Low for nearly seven hours and he only raised once during that entire session. The casino had a special $100 Splash Pot promotion and he and I split a $300 pot, he with a queen high spade flush and me with the nut low hand. When you know the player to your right won't raise you, it makes it easy to play borderline hands that you would normally throw away.
(2) If you have a pair of queens and there is a lower pair on the board with no low cards, call all bets to the river. You are hoping for a full house, of course. I have been beaten after flopping trip jacks by a player who had the patience to wait until a queen fell to trip up his pocket queens. I have lost and won some big pots by using this strategy and all the real pros do it.
(3) In Omaha High-Low, always play if your hand has four cards five or under. This gives you great potential for flopping a low straight or four cards to a straight. There are 32 cards eight or under and only 20 cards nine to a king. This increases your chances of making a nut low hand. If two high cards come on the flop, it's easy to dump your hand.
(4) Always be polite to female players, but never slow-play them . They can eat you alive and do it with a smile. I remember slow-playing a beauty in Las Vegas and she check-raised me out of a king-sized pot. Ouch, that hurt! I made myself a vow; Never again. She wasn't a lady -- she was a poker player and a good one. Women do use their feminine wiles to defeat the guys at poker and all you big boys had better be aware of this fact.
(5) If you have two high pairs like kings and queens and are last to act in a non-raised pot, raise, especially if there are a lot of players. The other players are probably playing with low cards meaning a lot of low cards have been removed from the deck. This increases the probability that big cards will fall and you could flop trips or even quads. This is a powerful strategy. Most poker players assume a raise means you are holding pocket aces or two or three low cards. And one of your major goals at a poker table is to confuse the opposition.
(6) When you win a pot, always play the next hand regardless of the cards that come your way. This is the strategy Doyle Brunson uses. He does it to give himself a chance to develop a rush, one of the sweetest sensations in poker. A rush is what this game is all about and when it happens, you are on Cloud Nine.
(7) If an attractive woman with cleavage sits down at your table, ignore her. Let the other male players flatter her. You are there to play poker and pay attention to the game. The flirtation can come after the game ends or you leave the table. Female poker players know precisely what they are doing when they dress to distract the attention of the other players. It can become a very effective weapon in the green felt jungle.
(8) When you are not in a hand, pay attention to the other players. I will go a step further and suggest that while you are waiting for a seat to open, stand or sit near the table where you will be playing and observe how your opponents play. Who are the raisers, what cards do they raise with, who are the blatant bluffers, who are the calling stations, and who has the most chips and how did they get them? Once you can answer these questions, you are well on your way to poker glory.
(9) Ninety percent of the time, play hands that can go high or low and that can scoop the pot. Ten percent of the time, play four high cards that are connected. This will help keep the other players from reading your hands and it will heighten your interest in the game.
(10) Play to have fun. It's only a game. The money is just a way to measure how well you play it.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
