Now that Poker Stars is spreading 2-7 Triple Draw, I might never go wandering from the site again. After all they are the largest poker room on earth, they rake less than the other rooms overall, and their VIP thingy is the equivalent of a decent rakeback program. The only other place to play this game that I am aware of is Ultimate Bet. UB does have some higher-stakes donkeys (who are actually good poker players) that like to jam this game with 3 and 4 card draws. But you can always find a game at Stars, something UB cannot boast.

To play this game correctly you need to play a tight-aggressive game and be willing to do some gambling. Your starting cards need to be three or more cards between 2 and 7 with at least one being a 2 or a 3. The exception being in the blind; if you only have to call one raise then you can call with two cards between 2 and 7 as long as one is not a 6. If you are going to play either raise or reraise - never just call unless it’s already been raised twice or you are in the blind with a three-card draw.

The 6 is a tricky starting card and you should usually lean towards not playing it in pots with two or more opponents. Heads-up against an aggressive player it is always worth playing. It is not a premium card though, and you will end up in tricky poker situations when playing it - even heads up. If you just want to play super-solid poker then just never start with it. That means tossing it from one-card draws and drawing two instead.

You must watch your opponent’s draws! This is the entire game. UB stickies their last draw next to their name, which is great. Stars doesn’t, which sucks - so you cannot multi-table there. Anytime you are before the last draw when your opponent draws more cards than you, always bet into them - no exceptions.

After the first draw, abandon any non-premium two-card draws. Call one bet only with premium two-card draws (2-7 with no 6). You generally want to be drawing only one card after the first draw.

Stop when you make an 8 or better and bet or raise until the last draw. If you get raised, slow down and call if all you have is an 8. If you have a 7 keep raising them. On the river check and call all 8-6 or 8-7 hands, and bet or raise 8-5 or better depending on the hand, action, and the last draw. You’ll get the hang of it. Most players bet 8-6 or better on the end.

Before the last draw if your lone opponent is drawing, stop with a jack or better. With two or more opponents stop with a 9 or better. Sometimes do tricky things to get your opponent to draw such as check-raising (or whatever you can think of) if you have a stopping hand. Also check or call good hands behind your opponent before the last draw to get them to think that you are still drawing, so they will stop with a jack or ten when you have a 9 or better.

Fun game!

Technorati Tags: Poker, Triple draw

Mixed Feelings. That’s my summary. I have been reading his Card Player column for years and always loved his stuff. So I was really looking forward to this book, which apparently changed titles a few times while in production. It also seemed that the book fell short on material, as half of it is reprinted Card Player articles. So it is divided into two sections, with the original material in the front.

First Section

This is the new stuff. I hated it, although it was enlightening as to what is happening around me in some of the PLO games I play on Poker Stars. It’s mostly about his short-buy system for playing at full ring games, both online and off. Now, it is mathematically sound and probably a solid approach to one type of game, but I have no interest in it. I play mostly 6-max online cash games and I like to play big stacks and do a lot of flop-betting.

He did mention a big-stack strategy but it really is just about finding somebody to pick on. In my games the player turnover is high and the action fast, so that really isn’t doable. He also dedicated a section to online play, but it amounted to a reiteration of his offline strategies with a few more examples.

Second Section

The section section of the book, as already mentioned, is a reprinted collection of his prior Card Player articles, many of which I have already read. However, they are excellent and I was happy with my purchase of the book when I got into these. Lots of important concepts are brought into the light, and studying them really helps your game. They are arranged in a manner that flows well, culminating in a must-study chapter on critical hand matchups.

Application

I read Lyle Berman’s section of Supersytem 2 before I started seriously playing Pot Limit Omaha. This book formulated my approach to the game and I did well right out the gate. While I was reading Rolf Slotboom’s book however, my game started slipping. I started making pot-size raises with hands I would have folded before and my results suffered from it.

That is, until I got to the second section of the book where my results started improving again. After finishing the book I am playing better than ever, largely as a result of the hands matchup chapter. Also I can now recognize when somebody in my game is playing Rolf’s short-buy strategy and sometimes avoid a confrontation with them because of it. After all, I am after the other big stacks.

Conclusion

All in all, a must-read for PLO cash game players. But you might want to take a break from playing while reading the first section if you are an active big-stack player.

Technorati Tags: Poker, Poker books

Today’s hand example is something that you must come to an understanding of, if you plan on profitably playing cash Pot Limit Omaha games. It is the classic match up in this wonderful form of poker. The hand happened to me a few days ago in the Stars 6-max .50/1.00 game with a $100 maximum buy-in. I had $109 in front of me and my opponent had $121. Here is what we held:

My hand:

My opponent’s hand:

The first mistake my opponent made was calling in late position when everybody else folded. He should have raised or folded. I was in the big blind and mini-raised after the small blind called. But never mind all that, here was the flop:

A raising war developed and we got all the chips in. Take a long hard look at this situation. It’s one you need to learn about. You don’t want to be the guy without the flush draw.

Now in this particular situation I cannot blame my opponent all that much for his predicament, seeing as we are playing at an aggressive 6-max table and we didn’t have deep stacks. It’s reasonable to think a player in this game might be pushing a flush draw. If the game conditions were more conservative and/or the money deeper (such as both of us having $200 or more) I would never get myself in his position. That is, I would fold to the last big raise from my opponent with the made nuts on this board.

Also, if I were him in this game I probably would have elected to call the flop bet and see if a heart is going to fall on the turn before committing fully. You always need to be watching for this trap in PLO.

OK OK, here is how the rest of the board fell:

Hey, at least he had a redraw.

Technorati Tags: Poker, Pot limit omaha, Poker stars