1) Big Draws Are Often Favorite Over Made Hands

In Texas Holdem a draw is usually an underdog on the flop against a made hand. In Omaha the 4-starting cards mean that a player holding a combination draw can actually be a 2/1 favorite on the flop against an opponent who flopped a set. ‘Wrap around straights’ may have 16+ outs, add to this a flush draw and over-pair - and the drawing hand becomes a firm favorite. Remember that it is vital that you draw to the nuts in Omaha Poker.

2) Aces Are Strong Pre-Flop, But Vulnerable Post-Flop

How much you win and lose with A-A-x-x hands in Omaha can make the difference between a profitable session and a loss. Many players over-value aces after the flop in Pot Limit Omaha and end up losing large pots. The key is that any opponent who calls your bets to the river when you only have an over-pair to the board is almost certain to have you beaten!

3) Coordinated Starting Hands Are Key

With Omaha poker involving 4-hole cards there are a lot more situations in which you will appear to have a playable hand. Since the showdown can only include 2 cards from your hand it can pay to think of starting hands in terms of 2-card ‘combinations’. A single pair has just 1 combination working for it, 4 cards close in value and of 2 suits may well have all 6 potential combinations live – allowing them to hit the flop more often.

4) Position Is Critical In Omaha

Position is a key factor in winning any form of poker. In Pot Limit Omaha Poker it is critical. This is due to two interacting factors. Firstly that starting hands are close in value. Secondly the pot-limit betting means you are less likely to be ‘blown off of a hand’ early – allowing you to benefit from your good position for longer.

5) Balance Your Raises!

A common error for players new to Omaha is to raise only with premium pairs. This tips off observant opponents to your hand while giving excellent odds to play. In fact as you gain experience in this for of the game spotting and stacking an ‘aces-only-raiser’ becomes a profitable strategy in itself. Raising is critical, since allowing random hands to see the flop will make playing difficult. Balancing those raises to include connected medium cards and / or suited high cards in addition to those premium pairs is key.

Stacked Up - Will be a poker show focused entirely on cash game play.  Players will be divided in teams of 3 which will have Professional Players, Sky Poker presenters, and novice players.  The teams who show the largest increase in their bankroll will be declared the winners.  The first shows will be hosted by Tony ‘Tikay’ Kendall and Norman Pace but soon after some of the current hosts from Sky Poker will take over.  The show will be aired every Tuesday at 8.00 pm GMT on Sky Poker Channel 846.

Sky Poker Unlimited -This show will be an all around show for the virtual tables at Sky Poker.  The presenters will visit cash games, multi-table tournaments and even sit n go’s to analyze the players’ play.  The show will be hosted by many of the current Sky Poker personalities and feature all the best tournaments on Sky Poker, including The Open, Velocity and The Five 0.

With all Sky Poker shows, you can play on TV through their Website SkyPoker.com.  If you don’t already have an account visit our Sky Poker Promotional Code page for details on how to get 500 Sky Points FREE!

Each freeroll winner will also get:

• Entry to the 2008 Main Event worth $10,000
• Accommodation at the Palms, Las Vegas
• $2,500 for expenses

The promotion is called the WSOP* Million Dollar Giveaway. To get your free chance at the big game, download the pokerstars software (using Marketing Code: BRB50). Enter the freeroll of your choice in the tournament lobby by clicking ‘Tourney’ and ‘Freeroll’ or, alternatively, under the ‘Events’ tab and then ‘WSOP’ and ‘All’.

Top 10 Poker Tips

1) Stay Focused – allowing yourself to become unfocused by trying to play to many hands at once, will prevent you from watching the hands you’ve got to play. Keep an eye on every hand take notes as needed. Focus on your opponent’s weak points and betting patterns. By staying focused on the game, you will be able to stay involved with the game, regardless if you are vested in the pot at that moment or not.
2) Learn through Watching - The concept may seem fruitless, however rail birding could be one of the most valuable assets a poker player can have. With any sport, research is vital, watching a player, their patterns, and learning from their mistakes and successes will provide you with the information needed to compete at any table. Remember that when you are out of the game, you will be able to see plays and moves that may not be noticed while you are competing, so if it is at all possible, watch the high stakes tables.
3) Do NOT Drink and Play – Friends don’t let friends loose their bankroll drunk. It is easier to tilt in that state, poor judgment will always result in bankroll loss, so just don’t open yourself to such a poorly played poker game. What a hang over it would be to wake up after a night of drinking and playing poker, to find out you owe the bank money you didn’t have to lose the night before.
4) Don’t Play a game You can’t Afford – If you are searching for your poker game, look for one you have the bankroll for. By using quality Bankroll Management you will avoid playing in a game you can’t afford to lose, or play comfortably. It isn’t a good feeling to bust out, and be broke. Bottom line, don’t play more than you are comfortably able to.
5) Take Active Notes – Even chess players keep a note pad with them to record mistakes, and advantages, and player patterns. If a poker player keeps the notes specific to an opponent, seeing betting patterns, and other points of view will be advantageous, both for learning to better your game, and how to approach a player in the future.
6) The Button – Remember the most powerful position at the table is the button. Maximize your hands when you have it. Relax your typical standards for betting, and be very aggressive. Basically, steal blinds when you have it, or if you have a strong hand drive home your point, and bring in the pot. The button moves to give the advantage to every player, so do not let this go to waste. Let other players believe you are stealing from the button.
7) Play Strategically to avoid trouble – Do not get incredibly involved in the early stages of tournament play in particular, even in Sit n Go’s. The loose players tend to make big moves early on, or attempt to steal blinds with nothing. Let them do it, in the end, the fewer players for you to compete against the better your odds. Obviously if you have a strong hand to start, don’t put it down, just don’t play ones that are not strong. It is not worth leaving the game early.
Invest very small amounts in small pairs – Don’t make big pre-flop moves on pairs under 9. Leave the hand if the flop doesn’t bring you 3 of a kind. Constantly playing smaller pocket pairs will eat through your chips quickly. They are only really effective when you play them sparingly and with a lot of callers in the pot, to better your odds. This will help you manage risk in your online poker game.
9) Don’t play favorite hands – This is a game of skill, not luck. As such lucky hands do not exist, so don’t put a stake in them. Favorite hands are nice, but remember there are odds in everything you do, keep them in your favor, not staking your entire bankroll on a 7c 3d because the last time you had it, you were able to run it. If you can catch a lucky break in football, you can get lucky in cards too.
10) Do not play out AK often – This hand, suited or not, is a powerful draw, however against a pair of two’s it won’t stand. Watch your opponents carefully and know when to put it down.

With such simple strategy integrated into your play, you will find your bankroll increase, your tournament play improve, and you will cash more often. Once these adjustments are made, the results will be visible at the first table.

PayPal was founded in late 1998 by American Peter Theil, former securities lawyer and options trader.  Along with several friends from Stanford University they created a company called Confinity.  The company began to grow very quickly as people looked for an alternative to credit cards for buying things online.

Fast forward to 2004, online poker was in its boom.  Everyone was signing up for accounts to play poker online, but they needed a way to get money into their player accounts.  At one point Paypal was widely accepted for use with online poker sites for everywhere in the world from the United States to the United Kingdom.  Unfortunately a few years back Paypal changed this stance and currently paypal can only be used for gambling in a few places accross Europe.

Today, a few sites still accept paypal as a deposit method for online poker.  These can all be seen on our paypal for online poker page.

Daniel Negreanu always mentions that players should try and keep pots as small as possible until they have the nuts. Raising out of position and juicing up pots for no reason can have very negative effects.

Most of the time players raise pre-flop to protect their hand before the flop. If they don’t hit on the flop or get a somewhat weak hand, often players will continuation bet (bet again) to protect the pot even further. This posts a huge risk as you have now commited a large percentage of your stack to a pot with only a marginal hand.

This doesn’t mean that you should never raise, just pick your battles wiseley and know the other opponents at the table. If your table is very aggressive, you are better to just call strong hands out of position. Wait till your hand is very strong and let them bet into you. Once they have commited a large portion of their stack and you are pretty sure that you still hold the best hand, that is the time to make the move. The problem with reraising aggressive players pre-flop is they will call with a greater range of hands, and unless you hit they will be more likely to put the pressure back on you.

Another important aspect of risk management for online poker is position.  When you are in later positions (ie. on the button) and you throw in a raise, your opponents will have to act first on the flop.  Try to bet only if you have a hand, or to find out where you are in a hand using feeler bets (ie. if you raised $5 preflop and the pot was now up to $20 throw in a bet of $10 to see where you are.  When you are in position you will be able to raise with weaker hands, and will control much more of the action in the game.

Playing weak hands out of position is dangerous.  Sure a JTsuited might look like a good hand, but with a raise behind you are most likely behind in the pot.  Try to only play hands like AK, AQsuited, AJsuited, AA, KK, QQ when you are in early position.  Once you are in later position you will be able to open this up a lot more and play a wider variety of suited and connected cards.

By keeping pots small, only playing really strong hands, and playing your opponents and position, you will minimize your risk associated with getting involved with very large pots with aggressive players.  You will be able to do more things like check-raising the best hand against opponents that have already commited to a pot with weaker hands.

Rake = The way the poker sites make money. Basicaly every hand in a cash game they take anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars (depending on the size of the pot) to pay for their operating costs and profits. For players that play a lot of poker (usually multi-tabling), this can add up over time, as they can contribute $1000’s of dollars in rake every month.

Rakeback = Getting a percentage of all the rake you contribute to the site paid back to YOU.

History of Rakeback

Rakeback was originally used as a tool to lure in big players and sponsored pros to poker sites by giving them a percentage of everything the site made off of them, back into their player account. This would keep the players happy and hopefully they would stay with the site for a long time.

Fast forward a bit, smaller sites that had problems competing with big sites like Party Poker and Pokerstars needed a way to attract new players and keep players loyal. They decided to offer rakeback as a marketing tactic to ensure the players would stay with their site, and new players would get something extra for signing up at their site.

Nowadays, around 25% of poker sites offer rakeback to their players and it is a very common tool used to market sites. If you would like to know how much rakeback you would generate check out this rakeback calculator.

Is Rakeback Ever a Bad Idea?

While many would argue that rakeback is always a good idea, there are some potential issues with rakeback. Since you are essentially getting paid to play more, if you are not a really good poker player you might start playing more than you should (in attempt to try and get more rakeback) and will actually lose more money than you would have without the rakeback. So, if you are going to take rakeback it usually helps if you are a WINNING player.

If you are interested in trying rakeback out, check out PKR Rakeback and Bonus page for details.

Who is David Ulliott?

You may recognize him by his funky glasses, but Ulliott has quite an amazing history.

Ulliott was born in Hull, England. He was born the son of Stanley Ulliott, a World War II paratrooper turned truck driver and his wife Joyce (née Jefferson). Ulliott had a rough childhood and at 19 he was involved in a fight where he got his face slashed by a steel comb. He then moved on to safe-cracking and was part of a team that targetted tobaconists, off-license and garages. The team was eventually caught and Ulliott went on the run. His run did not last long though as he was eventually arrested and sent to Leeds Prison where he spent his 21st birthday. Shortly after his release he was arrested again for armed robbery at an off-license, but was released three days later without any charge. After being released this time, he ended up getting back together with another safe-cracking team. This lasted for a bit while he continued a job at a timber yard.

At 28 Ulliott was arrested again for fighting outside a nightclub. He served another 18 months at Leeds Prison where he met a criminal named John. The two plotted a bank robbery on their release, but on the day it was to happen John was arrested and the plans fell apart. John’s wife told Ulliott to go straight and shortly after he met his 2nd wife and as far as we know, never committed another crime again.

Ulliott started playing poker as a young child, and later learned The Three Card Brag (a popular UK card game) at the age of 16. Ulliott also made a fair amount from betting and was banned from William Hill at one point for successfully gambling £4,000 up to £70,000.

When playing in private poker games, Ulliott often carried a gun on him to ensure that he would not be robbed of any winnings. In one instance players attempted to rob him, but he fired the gun into the air and managed to escape with his winnings.

In 1997 Ulliott went to the WSOP with $200,000 to play. After losing it all in tournaments and cash games, he borrowed another $70,000 but lost this too, and pissed off several people in the process. He managed to scrounge together an additional $2000 for the $2000 NL Holdem event, where he reached heads-up against fellow Englishman Chris Truby. On the final hand Ulliott shoved all his chips in on an open ended straigh draw and flush draw and managed to hit his striaght on the river winning $180,310 and his only WSOP bracelet ever. But, he wasn’t done just yet in Vegas. After the game he startd playing in some big cash games and by the end of his trip he managed to accumulate $742,000 in cash winnings.

His largest tournament win came in 2007 when Ulliott came 3rd in the WPT $15,000 Doyle Brunson Classic - No Limit Hold’em for $674,500.

Here is a video interview with Devilfish:

Sources: http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=236
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Ulliott

If you want to play suited cards, wait for premium hands like AK, AQ, AJ suited, or not as premium, but still okay without a lot of risk AT (T=10), KQ, KJ, KT, QJ, QT,  or even JT.  Lastly, I don’t mind playing any 2 suited-connected cards (ie. 98 clubs, 76 diamonds, etc.) as long as you are in late position (one of the last to act, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of action before your turn.  When you get these hands late I suggest making a raise to find out where you are in the hand (ie. if one of your opponents throws a massive reraise, you may be in trouble and should probably fold)

Here are some examples why certain hands might be a bad idea to get involved with pre-flop just because they are suited.

K5 suited (lets pretend spades for this example) - Sure, you have a great face card, but your kicker is garbage.  If a flop comes with a King and your opponent is betting into you, its hard to call.  You are forced to raise (which if called you are most likely in trouble) or fold.  If the player holds Kx (where x is anything higher than a 5) you are way behind in the hand.  Also, if the flop comes Js Td 7s and the player pushes you all in, do you really want to call of your stack on a 30% chance?  And that 30% is based on the fact that he isn’t holding Ax spades which puts you at an even lower percentage.  Think about it!

87 suited (in early position)  - I love playing connected suited cards because when they hit, you can win some big pots, but the problem with these hands is they can be dangerous in early position (one of the first players to act).  The reason for this is there are a number of players to act behind you, so if any of them raise, you will have to fold.  Even if you do hit your flush with this hand, another player may have an even higher flush.  Also, if you hit anything on a flop such as top pair, your opponents may easily have a better kicker or an over pocket pair that they slow played.  Lastly, since there are more cards to come, you may get outdrawn on the turn or river.

As you can see above, playing suited cards may look attractive, but it can end up being very dangerous.  Play your position, wait for strong hands, know your opponents, and raise to find out where you are in a hand, and you should have no problem succeeding in this game of poker!

I personally like to have a few drinks before sitting down at the poker table (both online and offline). Naturally, I am a little nervous when around people I don’t know, so having a drink or two helps me calm my nerves and become more focused and less nervous. By being less nervous, I think there is less chance that players will pick up on my tells, which in the long run will save me a lot more money.

When playing online poker, I find a drink or two helps me make more right calls. If you are a player that always worries about getting sucked out, or fearing that your once good hand got cracked later in a hand (often causing you to fold), the confidence boost from a drink or two will help you really analyze the hand a lot better and calm your nerves, and take your time to make the right call.

Most of my best sessions come after a few drinks, so for me this is just a personal decision, but many players are highly against drinking.

Some of the risks of drinking while playing is you will have too many drinks and therefore start making irrational calls. Your play will quickly become very loose, and unless you get really lucky, you will be out in no time!

Poker is a social game, and unfortunately (for some) alcohol has become the social drink of choice. So if you get nervous when playing poker, next time before you sit down, have a drink or two and see if there is a change in your play!

Good luck!