“Most important thing….is premium hands….If a bet’s good enough to call, you’re in there raising.  Tight but aggressive.” – Kevin Canty, Rounders

Calling bets and never raising is not the way to win the war.  You need to find the opportunities to play a tight aggressive game, and the best way to do it is use the strategy: If its good enough to call, its good enough to raise.

When playing a full ring table or full table poker tournament of Omaha, you must keep in mind – just because you flop the nuts, doesnt mean that you are going to win the hand!  Generally speaking, when playing Texas Holdem, flopping the Nut Straight or Nut Flush is a great thing!   In Omaha (especially PLO), you need to be careful. 

Being that this is a drawing game, players are not going to let go of their draws to a “better nut” hand – and if there are more than 3 players that saw the flop, I can guarantee that you are getting callers. 

Rules in flopping the nuts:

1. DO NOT slowplay on the flop – BET THE POT!
2. If you get called, and the turn is a blank – BET THE POT AGAIN!
3. If the turn pairs the board, bet – but be VERY cautious of a caller and FOLD to a reraiser

In light of my last post about Super System, I wanted to make a quick comment about the continuation bet.

While the continuation bet is a good strategy in a lot of circumstances, you must know when the continuation bet is going to be worth your while.  If you are playing against a calling station, stop doing the continuation bet – as the real purpose of this move is to get the opponent out of the hand.

Super System edjucates players to always continue their bet after the flop if they have raised pre flop – and I think that if you want to be a winning player you need to discover when the right time to continue your bet is!

I understand that when you bet the flop and the turn you feel like you should at least give it another shot on the river. Think about what you are doing when you keep betting. Are you trying to represent you have a hand or do you have a hand and are betting for value? If you bet and bet and you keep getting called you should stop to think what they could be calling you with. This is especially important if you have position on your opponent and they keep check calling you. It is ok to check on the river and save yourself from being in the position to have to call a raise especially if you only have a pair. This will save you a lot of headaches and money in the end.

There are many reasons for betting…You can bet to see where you are in the hand, bet for value or bet to bluff someone out of a hand.

With all the intricate ins and outs of how people play Texas Holdem Poker you are not always going to be right. Like I was always told when I was growing up: that is why there are backs on the cards!

The key in this game of incomplete information is to use your tools (chips) to make the best decision as possible to maximize your profits. The decision in the end may have you folding, even if you have raised to see where you are. You have to just remember that you need to follow your plays and trust what you think your information is telling you.