This is a complete tract into understanding the magnificent game of Omaha. It is a poker game but not as we know it. A game where bluffing is so refined that you will miss a well timed bluff by a country mile. So since you have mastered the game of Texas Hold Em which can be described as the ‘Michael Jackson’ of the poker world, welcome to Omaha the ‘Santana’ of poker.

1. Omaha is a city in the state of Nebraska in the USofA, just as Texas is a state but not a city.

2. Omaha may share the same name as the city but that is the extent of the games relevance to the city.

3. Warren Buffett is from Omaha and is credited as being the 2nd most loaded man in the world.

4. Mr Buffett (The Sage of Omaha as he is known) plays bridge not poker which is probably why he is so rich.

5. in Omaha you get 4 hole cards.

6. Having 4 of a kind as your hole cards is not necessarily a good thing, in fact it maybe a good idea to chuck them away.

7. The best starting hand is hard to determine, however, having 4 rainbow cards is not necessarily all that bad.

8. Having a pair at the turn is very bad unless you are psychic, lucky or both.

9. Remember do not try and buy the pot because most people do not understand the game and are likely to call your bluff.

10. Bluffing is very difficult.

11. Checking is very dangerous.

12. A check raise is almost unheard of in the game therefore devastating when used.

13. Omaha is great fun if you are bored with Texas Hold Em.

14. Hi – Lo Omaha is so difficult do not bother unless you are a rocket scientist.

15. Having 4 of the same suit as your hole cards is also not good.

16. Most teenagers do not play Omaha because it is not simple or sexy.

17. Since teenagers are not interested, therefore, you can get a more sensible game without the outrageous suck outs associated with Texas Hold Em, unless you play a kidult.

18. Going all in pre-flop to steal the blinds will not scare people, in fact it will probably get called.

19. Pot limit Omaha is great if you are a grinder at the lower stakes.

20. Remember, remember you use only two of your 4 hole cards not one, three or all four to win.

Pokerknave Blogger Tournament

As many of you know blogging is more than writing stuff in a online vanity diary, it can also help put stuff into perspective. I have found it very usefull in understanding my decision making process when I have finished a tournament, particularly when i have played bad.

So in order to pay homage to the process of blogging I have created a bloggers tournament for all those poker bloggers out there to promote their weblog and challenge other bloggers in mortal combat on the poker table.

This Mansion Poker tournament will start on the Sunday 21st of February at 20:00 GMT (8pm), and, the game will be No Limit Texas Hold Em Turbo Tournament.

Pokerknave Blogger Tournament

For those who regular read this blog you will probably realise that my attention to details can be a bit suspect. In fact it could be said that I have the attention span of a gnat. However, you will also notice that I do come up with some brilliant promotion and today I announce another to get the juices flowing.

Again with Mansion Poker we have an exclusive Texas Hold Em tournament, which on paper is insignificant but in practice is all about bragging rights. Who is the best poker playing blogger?

So many bloggers write about poker, now lets see how they actually play. I will be inviting bloggers from all over the world, except from the home of poker the U.S of A! It still astound me that the nation who brought us poker, the commercialisation of the Internet, the concept of the ‘pursuit of happiness’ as a constitutional right and the mighty dollar, are not allowed to play poker online – but I digress!

So the turbo tournament takes place on Sunday 21st of February 2010, at 8pm GMT (20:00) and the entry fee is a paltry $1.00+0.10, with a guaranteed prize money of $150 so the action will be fast and furious, all courtesy of Mansion Poker.

Click either the banner on this page or this link. Do not forget the bonus code PKNV.

Don’t forget the tournament on Sunday 14th of February which is the St Valentines Day Tournament.This one is a freeroll and the prize money is $150. Again this all starts at 8pm GMT. The bonus code is PKNV.

Its that time again a day to chuck away money on the person you want to have sex with for the next year or so. If you do not spend tons of cash on chocolates, flowers, dinner, wine and song you might as well go live in a monastery and kiss good bye to carnal knowledge for ever!

So to help all those love sick puppies out there to put some money back into your pocket, we have organised a freeroll competiton to help with the finances. Obviously that means you have to sort out the fluff earlier on and make sure that your partner is well and truly drunk so that they do not bother you and your mission to play Texas Hold ‘Em for real cash.

I am not being a cynic but just hate the idea of a day designed by greeting card companies taking over my life effectively. This causes me great heart ache because the day becomes one big ‘my gift is bigger than your gift’ day, and, if you don’t measure up you are in trouble.

In the past I have gone out of my way to create a row then making up on the day because any present given is a result, but those days are over and it is now a straight trade off. So my advice to those people out there is do breakfast and lunch, make sure loads of alcohol is consumed by your partner or the object of your desire and then the rest of the day is yours.

The session starts at 20:00 (8pm GMT) and the blinds go up every 10 minutes.

Remember to click the banner and it will take you to Mansion Poker to go and register or follow this link <ST VALENTINES TOURNAMENT>

The all important Bonus Code is PKNV

Yesterday night I officiated over the maddest game of poker ever! I have talked about ‘Bingo Poker’ as a legitimate armoury in a players game as it helps facilitate doubt in the oppositions mind. However I never thought I would witness a game played by a drunk who could not stop winning in fact it has scarred me for life.

The game started as normal in a pub with the regular lads who are working away from home and saw this as a way of passing the boredom of Monday night watching Newcastle United v West Brom, while they pined for their families 350 miles away. They were then joined by the scraggy ends of a funeral wake who needed some kicks after drinking for 8 hours solid, and, decided to participate in a couple of rounds of poker – so far, so good. More players more prize money.

One particular gentlemen , who had a gigantic ‘Mars Bar’ (cockney rhyme and slang for ‘scar’) across his face decided that since he did not have a clue about poker he was going to play blind, i.e. not even look at his cards in the hole, but raise and re-raise as and when he felt like it! Normally any half decent player will think great, keep out of his way until you have a very good hand.

The plan didn’t work because when ‘Scarface’ needed a card to get out of trouble, he got it. In one hand he went all in and got King7 in the hole pairing the 7 on the board while the other player had Queen7 and consequently lost.

In another hand a player had Ace paired while drunken mourner with a strip across his cheek managed to get trips of 2′s on the turn and river – amazing scenes!

He then won another tournament when he actually looked at his cards and got a King flush while the other guy had Jack flush by the turn only to be rivered by our hero.

Scarface did lose a couple of games and then whined and moaned that he wanted to buy in although he was told that the tournament was a freeze out tournament. The other guest at the funeral wake found this highly amusing as did moi, yours truly. The other lads took it in good humour as they could see that this was the ultimate fish and very rarely do you get ultimate fishes.

I myself felt two types of feeling obviously you want to help relieve the gentleman from his chips but you do run the risk of getting caught and being made to look like a complete idiot. When I did finally get a game I only ran up against a shop lifting troglodyte (honest he made his living stealing from shops) who telegraphed his hand like a pilot fish but then get lucky on the river when his king 2′s gave him two pairs beating my paired Aces – such is life.

In the end you have to humour these types of players because they help to keep the poker industry alive and sloshed with money. They are basically 3 Card Brag rejects who think poker is a game of chance and will play accordingly. The fact the Scarface and Troglodyte made some money should be seen as charitable work for the needy and the clinically insane. They may come back, they may not. If they come back happy days if they don’t I have given the poker gods a pair of sacrificial lambs and hopefully the honour will be returned.

Knave on trial

I have an irrational fear of a jacks. I almost give up on my hand the second I realise that jacks in the hole means the end of my tournament or a serious loss of chips if in a cash game.

I have therefore devised a cunning strategy to overcome my irrational distaste pre-flop for a pair of jacks in the hole and to help retain my chips if and when I am faced with this dilemma. It is a mathematical formula P =( 1/3S – C)/R, where P is the pot, S is the stack, R is the raise and C is the seating arrangement and position of play.

I put this to the test on Monday in a online game of Texas Hold Em, and, literally waited until I had a pair of jacks as my hole cards and then methodically followed the formula. Unfortunately the big variable R never happened, so the  formula has not been tested, however, initial results led to me not losing all my chips and in fact gaining a proportionally more chips. But the real test will be when the bet has been raised or re-raised.

Obviously my enemies will be reading this and thinking brilliant a sure fire way of knowing what the Poker Knave has and what to do when he bets. Unfortunately this is true and will remain so until I refine this new scientific method of overcoming my fear and loathing for a pair of jacks. The Knave Formula is on trial!

Marius rating for poker blog chart

After a report from Marius and various views from some of the Poker Totty’s I am now in the middle of re-vamping the website as a Poker blogging engine, as well as a window into the world of fashion and glamour. This is to tie in with the 1st anniversary of the launch of pokerknave.com, and, hopefully this will make the use of the website much more easy to use and to utilise.

Although there is a relatively easy to read guide to playing Texas Hold Em, there is also a need to come up with a page for Omaha. Also, when it comes to writing about the lifestyle of a poker player there is a need to simplify the basic functions such as uploading pictures, video and other media stuff. Plus we need to add social bookmark buttons to make it easy to promote the blogs.

More links to modelling agency and casino’s would be an area of further interest as part of the PokerKnave Poker Klub, which believe or not is very difficult at the moment because we have a particular line (fun) with quite a prominently independent online presence (we do and say what we want).

On the fun side of poker playing it would be good for a definitive guide to playing strip poker – including reverse strip poker, with maybe a video to illustrate the tactics and the outcome of such a game. Not because I want to show copious amount of naked flesh (heaven forbid), but to help newby’s to this game have some sort of reference point to the game.

As for the area of live poker games there have been various enquiries about tipping within casino’s especially those located in Las Vegas. I have not been to Las Vegas, but I know that in the UK it is really hot issue with establishments especially restaurants using the tips as part of the wages, which was pretty standard. Quite clearly I am against this dubious practice and a definitive guide should be done on this subject.

Being a premier online poker blogging website it is clear that issues such as poker rake backs, cash backs, free roll tournament strategy and other such things need to be explained as this can lead to total confusion for the recreational players who can get confused by all these schemes. To tell you the truth it confuses me and I am minded to say where there is a scheme, there is a schemer! I will say no more.

The industry is changing and we will be changing to reflect this, however, we will never submit to anyone who want to us to be a straight forward poker, site we will always be eclectic, we will always be irreverent about the world of poker and also comment on other things which on the face of it have nothing to do with poker but as you know my view is life is a poker game just as silly and raw. I would like your views on this so send me a message – ideally it should be on the forum but I am to anally retentive to let spammers have their way so drop me a line via this link <CONTACT>.