After one bout on the 2-7 Triple Draw table I approached the Omaha hour intending to perform my new routine of aggressive folding - something I’d found saved me a fortune at times. So yes, Omaha...

I brought my remaining 1,330 to table Perseus IV and being British, opted for that quintessentially native breed of omaha - pot-limit. Another reason was that I figured this would limit my losses.

Contrary to my usual karma I found a hand straight off the bat, making a flush on the river for a scoop worth over 1,000. A nice start, allowing for one glorious moment spent thinking I was a natural at this game. Then the wheels fell off.

But I’ll get to that. First, what are you looking for in an Omaha hand?

Well it's varied but one with the highest possibility of winning should be your aim –big pairs and double-suited connecting cards give you a shot at everything from quads to a straight. So something like Ad Ah Kh Kd wouldn’t be bad.

And the not so good? Well quads and trips are a no. Remember that you must play two cards of the four dealt to you so if you hold T-9-A-3 on board of Q-Q-Q-9-2 your nine doesn’t make the full house. You must use two of your cards (so you'd need to hold two nines to make the full house). And as far as a good starting tip, always be aware of what the nut hand is – and how that might change on the turn and river.


Joe Hachem – one of world’s best Omaha players

I was busy glorying in my play when a swine of a hand came a long that I thought too good to fold. It blossomed on each card into something even more beautiful, like a bird of prey stretching its wings and taking flight, only to be shot out of the sky at the last moment by a machine gun.

Dealt 6h-Ah-2c-7d I was getting a quick lesson in the perils of Omaha. With a 4h-Js-5s flop I had a straight draw. With a 9h on the turn I’d developed a flush draw too. Galloping towards the river I had no regard for how much I was paying to call. The Jh made my flush and I may have cheered something at the screen. But my spine went cold when I saw my opponent’s full house.

This ugly hand left me with 155. I’d ignored the fact that the paired board made a full house possible. But never give up! All I needed was some kind of herculean comeback.

And I’d just learned a valuable lesson - that it often takes the nuts to take the pot. Anything less than a good straight (with no flush possibility on the board) would do, and if you don’t have the nuts, well, what are you doing calling on the river?

If only I’d asked myself that earlier.

So after 15 minutes I was in trouble. But then I made a full house on the turn which took me up to 625. A few hands later, without having to do anything but check my big blind, I couldn’t help calling a bet on the river with a Jack-high straight. Excellent, I was back up to 975. Fighting weight.

Fortune struck again. Holding 7-9-J-3 I checked my big blind again (that tends to be a hand to fold), made two pair on the flop and a full house on the river. A pot of 1,140 took me to 1,840 – an amount not only above where I’d started but over ten times what I’d been reduced to after my idiotic escapade with a flush earlier on.

I could try a story about perseverance but honestly I was just glad to save face. Now I just needed to sit and fold for 30 minutes and reach the hour mark with more than I started with - a thoroughly defeatist arrangement I admit, but one that seemed to suit me fine.

Down to 1,580 I had ten minutes to hold on. An expert might say that if that’s your attitude you shouldn’t be sitting at the table in the first place. Technically I was doing well and should have been pressing home this advantage. Instead I played the ‘free hands’ on my unraised big blind and nothing more.

So when I did the same holding 9-9-7-2 on a T-9-4 flop I figured ‘What the heck. Let’s spend the last of my new found wealth on a send off hand’. The seven on the turn did nothing for me but the nine on the end did. With quads I enjoyed that sunshine moment of knowing I'd win and win big. Called on the end I was suddenly up to 2,510. A “nh” and “ty” followed, I ended the hour on 2,435, a profit on the day of 1,105.

I’m up in chips, I hope you are too. The adventure goes on. What better time to try out a session of five card draw?