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Just like any other poker variant out there, there are some myths revolving around Omaha Poker. If you do not know much about the game, you just might be a victim of one of these myths.
It is complicated
I heard this one about Texas Hold ‘Em too. It is not true. In fact, for Omaha Poker, [...]
It was a good poker week for Banky and the tart. I moneyed at Woody’s (3rd) and Banky won the Thursday league game last night. I fucking bubbled last night, which is worse than chumping. I hate the effing bubble. But c’est la vie! At least one of us brought home the bacon last night.
The big buzz around my little poker world, however, has to be the recent string of underground cardroom busts.
For the most part, Banky and I have stayed away from the undergrounds. We twice played in a charity tourney that Woody organized that was held in a local (long since closed) club. But I’ve never felt all that comfortable with the idea of going into some skeevy looking industrial complex to play cards. I don’t care if other people do, it’s just never been something I’m very comfortable with.
That said, we’ve frequently played in raked games not hosted in a casino. They may not be ‘clubs’ – but they are games held by people who profit off of them. Games in bars or organized by people we know. I’m sure no less illegal in the eyes of the law – but somehow feels less illegal to me. It just seems like a game held with a bunch of drunks at a local legion is somehow less nefarious. How’s that for justification?
The part that bothers me about the busts is that in another article, a police officer was quoted saying something about the players being there “for their fix”. This is just such an inflammatory and ignorant thing to say. Not everyone who plays poker is a gambling addict. I have several friends who play in the clubs, and I certainly wouldn’t categorize them as going there to get a ‘fix’. They go because it’s a fun night out, and they are tired of taking money off each other at the same weekly homegames.
I wish my favourite hobby didn’t have such a seedy image.
I’m an enthusiast, dammit, not an addict.
Imagine spending tens of millions branding your company name all over the world, only to have a judge take it away from you while you slept. Well, that’s what happenned to Calvin Ayre and our friends at Bodog this week.
Earlier this month the mega-gambling/entertainment company was on the losing side of a patent infringement lawsuit [...]
I
fist ran into ‘proper’ poker in about 1996. There were two icons on my internet start-up
page under the heading of ‘play cards against humans now!’ (and if you’re young enough
to have never known anything other than a globally-connected, facebook/myspace-flavoured
world, I can assure you it did once exist. Scary thought eh?). Anyway, one icon was
the shape of
Omaha
, and
the other the shape of
Texas
. I
don’t remember why I initially picked
Omaha
(I
think it was ironically the more intriguing shape – just like the game).
At
the time I was getting off more on the fact that I was sitting in my front room with
a dial-up modem playing poker with a housewife in Germany and two Americans than the
game itself (again, you’ll have to trust me that the World Wide Web was a BIG deal
in 1996) but the key point was that I was having fun. I later went back and clicked
the other shape and Texas Hold’em entered my world. It also entered the world of friends
and family as I went about the business of teaching them so I could practice without
the need of a dial-up modem.
Then
I went to
Las
Vegas
in
the late 90’s and played my first live games. I sat down in a $3-$6 limit game and
– with a total disregard for bankroll management (mostly because I’d never heart of
bankroll management!) – bought in for $100. I had a wonderful time; played some nice
poker; and never once left a session at the table down. Oh, and VERY importantly -
I HAD FUN!
Fast
forward ten years, and I’ve made a big decision. I’m going to stop worrying about
poker. I’m going to stop worrying that I don’t play enough; I’m going to stop worrying
that I don’t play at high enough limits; I’m going to stop worrying that I don’t read
every strategy article in every magazine; I’m going to stop worrying that I only know
three chip tricks; I’m going to stop worrying that I’ve never won a ‘big name’ tournament;
I’m going to stop worrying that I don’t play enough satellites; I’m going to stop
worrying that I don’t read every poker blog; I’m going to stop worrying that I don’t
make the most of the big guarantees; I’m going to stop worrying that I don’t participate
in poker forums; I’m going to stop worrying about playing in every single bloody freeroll…
As
you might have picked up, I’m basically going to stop worrying about poker. Full Stop.
What
I am going to do is remember that I got into poker because it’s an awesome game. It’s
fun, satisfying, frustrating (in a magical way), and probably the greatest social
catalyst since ‘winner stays on’ Street Fighter II on the
Mega
Drive
.
The
next time you find yourself worrying about poker, take a deep breath, count to ten,
reme
mb
er
that you are playing a game, and try to enjoy yourself.
Life’s
simply too short.
Matt
Broughton is the Editor of Flush Magazine (www.flushmag.co.uk)
and part of the expert presenting team on Sky Poker.
It’s down to final table action at the Bike casino in California for the 2007 Legends of Poker WPT event. And fittingly, a few legends of the game have made it to the final six too.Seat 1 – Shi jia “Jack” Liu: $1,305,000Seat 2 – Dan Harrington: $2…
Every week I get emails from my readers telling me how wrong I am about this or that. On two occassions I received threats that involved my balls and a knife. Apparently people get very upset when I don’t fall in line and print only glorious stories of things that are “good for poker” – [...]
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