27 March 2006

One Royal Flush, Please, Hold the Ten

On Saturday night Matt and I joined Andrew at Commerce Casino. We got there around 10pm. Andrew also got there around 10pm, except on Friday. At one point he was up over a thousand, but it was reduced to a couple hundred by the time we arrived. Matt and I both had fairly successful (read profitable) nights, during the course of which a guy at my table actually had a royal flush. This may not sound like a big deal, but the odds of getting a royal flush are about 1 in 650,000. A few hands later, someone else got a straight flush. A straight flush usually receives quite a response, but it was completely dwarfed by the royal. After all, the odds of getting a straight flush is only 1 in 72,000. Real easy, right?

When Matt and I left around 2:30, Andrew was still grinding away at the $100 NL tables. He didn't leave until 5am, for a ~30 hours session.

5 comments:

slackwench said...

You should play Omaha (it's a type of poker).

osmodion said...

I do. I've been playing a lot of HORSE, which includes Omaha/8 (eight or better). And I've been winning money at that too. :-)

mephistakitten said...

Royal flush is my favorite brand of port-a-potty...

slackwench said...

I was curious what other kinds of Hold 'Em there were, and Omaha came up. It looks like fun, but really complicated.

osmodion said...

Amittedly, Omaha can be much more complicated. Obviously you need to play it a lot to get really good at it. I assume you already know the rules, so here's my simplified playing strategy:

The general rule is that many of the lower hands, such as top pair, that would have taken the pot in Hold 'Em aren't going to win in Omaha since there are so many cards dealt. Straights result in split pots surprisingly often, and odds are that someone has the flush, assuming there are at least a few people in the pot. An excellent starting hand would be AAKQ or AAJJ, both double suited, though something like JT98 is also playable. Then there's Omaha/8, where the lowest hand (which must have 8 or lower as the high card) takes half the pot. This brings a lot more action, as well as quartered pots should two people tie for the low half. A good starting hand would be A23K, double suited, for both high and low potential. Since people can for the high and the low, there are more hands still in the pot, and you generally have to have the nut low to win. Same for the high.

I don't play HORSE for very high stakes (I'm perfectly happy extracting money from people who can't play Omaha and the stud games), but I assume that as you play with better people for more money, there will be fewer people in a given pot. However, the same principles apply.

As for other Hold 'Em style games, there's always Pineapple. You are dealt three hole cards, and you must get rid of one after the betting on the flop.