Tag Archives: pot

Luck Versus Skill in Playing Poker Games

April 13, 2020   Personal game   No comments

Is poker a game based on luck or skill? This debate has been going on for quite sometime now. The group of people who are into the game, say that the rules and strategies are required to play this game. Without skills, one cannot dream of winning this pot. Whereas the other group who are watching poker from a distance, feel that it’s a game totally driven by luck and probability. They feel that it just another game of gambling or lottery requiring no skills.

But if you think harder then poker is a game which has tournaments. We never heard of any other so called gambling tournaments like say blackjack tournament. The famous poker legends definitely didn’t win the World Series of Poker, twice by fluke. From various studies it is clear that a player with knowledge of the game fair better compared to a layman. In Pennsylvania where gambling was being prohibited, a judge named Thomas A. James Junior, declared Texas Holdem to be a game driven by skill and thus does not fall under the category of gambling. This clearly spells out that poker requires much more than sheer luck.

But again if you see it from the other side, then a lucky player with the right cards will go a long way and even win a particular game. And you will have to agree that a bit of luck is required everywhere. Even a skilled poker player will need some luck to push him further towards winning the pot. But poker is generally badly confused with gambling. Moreover it is difficult to say that it’s a game of skill, when a game of payer is played only once. At such a situation it is difficult to predict that which of the two (luck or skill) contributes to the game.

The most rational thinkers will not bother getting into the debatable topic of luck versus skill. They know that poker players should be well aware of the rules, bets and strategies to be able to make the best hand of five cards. A completely ill-informed player cannot go a long way. Luck is again a factor that ensures an easy win. A great set of cards does have an advantage. Where skill can be relied on, luck is not reliable. One cannot go on winning consecutive games on the basis of luck. A player with both good luck and good skill will definitely win the pot but a player with both bad skill and bad luck shouldn’t hope much. So let’s just say that poker requires both luck and skill in the right combination.

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Point count system for Omaha high-low poker

March 23, 2020   Personal game   No comments

When you play Omaha poker you will come across two versions–Omaha high and Omaha high/low Eight or better. They are also called Hi-Lo, Omaha8 or 8 or Better. These are names of the same game. Hi-Lo Omaha has become very popular as there is a split in the pot than only poker High game. In fact low limit Hi-Lo game is becoming more popular in the poker rooms. As there are two types of hands that are winning the pot, there are more people playing till the end.

When you are trying to make a low hand you should not have more than 8 in any case in you hand. You cannot have straight or flush if you are playing a low hand. The best lowest hand is A 2 3 4 5. You can win in Omaha low only if you have two low cards in your hand and three on the table which are lower than 8. Unless such cards are there you cannot make a low hand and the player with the highest hand wins. The ideal hand to play high-low poker is to have two high cards and two low cards in your hand. This will bring the whole pot to you without splitting. The other way is you have a high hand and there are no low hands.

In Hi-Low Omaha poker there are point system which decides your winnings. You must know the point value of the cards before you start playing the game. There are software available which gives these points and you can practice with them. The point system in this game is as follows:

For high cards:

Pairs: Ace has 30 points, kings have 13 points, Queens have 12 points and Jacks have 11. Rests of the cards are taken on their face value. Flushes: two flushes will be counted 10 with A. all the other flushes count 4. Three or four of the same suit is taken a half. Straights: when you have two cards with one gap or no gaps at all it is taken as 2 points.

When we come to low cards:

A,2 have 20 points, A and 3 – 15, 2, 3- 10 points, other cards with 10 points are- A,4 and 2,3. Cards with 5 points are – 3-4, A-5, 2-5, 3-5 and 4-5.

You need to add up the four cards for high or low points. You may call for 25 points, raise for 40 points and re-raise for 50 points.

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