Doug Sahm's Poker Journal

  • Placing your bet
  • Playing low pocket pairs

Reading Your Poker Opponents

As with any poker style of play, successful poker players need to be able to read information and hints in order to improve their game and ability.

I have thought of five of the best tips that I was offered in order to improve my fixed limit Omaha Hi-Lo game play, helping me to turn my bankroll from a minus figure into a healthy one.

Look to play hands that offer more than one winning card combination

Looking to play cards that have more than one combination that could win the www.FullTiltPoker.net pot is something that almost every poker player forgets about, opting to aim high and if the cards fall wrong then changing their method to hunting for the best low cards.

The best thing to do is to be aware of the hands that are going to deliver you with the best strength in both situations and play them aggressively from the start.

Aim to be the only winner in the pot

With there been more than one way that a player can win the pot, players often end up placing their chips into the pot only to see the chips been split between them.

Aiming to be the only TitanPoker player who is going to feature as the winner of the pot should be your main aim, not looking to share the pot with anyone else.

Assess your starting hands and know which hands work best together

Because Omaha Hi-Lo only allows you to use 2 cards from the ones that you are holding and 3 of the community cards that are made available to all players, playing a diverse set of cards from the pre flop situation, giving you a better chance of hitting the flop, is a must.

Looking into your cards and finding a spray or assortment of high cards or picture cards will offer you a great chance to make a winning hand, with the community cards been given a larger span to offer strength to your overall hand.

Remember that position is one of the most powerful tools you can have

All poker variants offer position to players one way or another, whether that be with the inclusion of a dealer chip rotating around the table as the hands are passed through or the lowest showing card deciding the order of play.

Having the position on your opponent where you have the chance to make a strong play in order to scare your opponents out of the pot, ultimately giving you more than the usual ways of winning the hand, adding the chance of all players folding their hands.

Think how often you are going to bluff, if at all

Bluffing has long been a form of play that is used to show your opponents strength in your hand even though you are holding a hand that isn’t really that strong.

Advantages of this style of Full Tilt play is that you will find that the tighter players at the table will be more willing to allow you to win the pot in order to preserve their chip count.

What players should think about in this situation is the playing style of all the opponents that are still active within the pot as an aggressive player is more likely to make a call on your bluff, leaving you in a situation where you have placed a larger amount of chips into the pot with a hand that could well be beaten.