And Fun - Part I

Have you been watching poker on TV lately? We all know that poker is booming all over the world. But have you discovered online poker tournaments yet? Not only are they great practice for "live" tournaments, they also can be very profitable – and fun.

Instead of just watching TV at night, I often hook up my laptop, sign on to one of the many online sites, and play in one of the multitable tournaments (usually no-limit hold'em) – while watching TV. Since these tournaments sometimes have more than a thousand players, for a modest buy-in (say, $22 to $55), you can win thousands of dollars. If you make it to the final table, you'll usually end up playing for about four or five hours.

Recently I happened to win a pot-limit Omaha high-low tournament. In Omaha high-low, almost every hand is an adventure. But that night, the final three hands were even more incredible than usual, as well as educational – and fun.

After playing for almost four hours, an aggressive opponent had just outdrawn and knocked out the third- and fourth-place finishers. At that point, we each had about $170,000 in chips. On my $6,000 big blind, he made it $16,000 to go before the flop. Would you defend it with the 7 6 and a 4 and a deuce?

Although it is desirable to have better high potential when heads up, this type of "connected" hand will often play well if there are two or three low cards in the flop. And since he had some momentum, I wanted to stop him. If I reraised any amount, I would simply be raising the stakes, since I knew he would call. So, I just called. Note that generally when you play hands without high cards, if you don't catch a good flop, you get out quickly.

The flop came K 8 3 – which was pretty good for me. I had a flush draw, and the 3 was an excellent card for me because it might well have counterfeited his best holding (if he had an A-3 or 3-2). With $32,000 in the pot, what would you do with my hand?

If I bet the pot ($32,000), he could raise me three times what I bet, or $96,000 (that is, he could call $32,000 and then raise $96,000). And if I called that $96,000, this hand would probably be the deciding hand of the tournament. I liked my hand a little, but not that much.

If I checked, he might well bet the pot ($32,000), which I would at least call. If I bet $6,000 (the minimum bet), he could raise me a maximum of $44,000 ($32,000+$6,000+$6,000) – which I could call and still not be committed. Against some opponents, it might be correct to make a small probing bet – which might also serve as a deterrent. But with this particular aggressive player, I decided to check and simply give him the ball.

I was not surprised when he bet the pot. Things were getting serious, as the pot was now $64,000. Other than the flush draw, I didn't like my high potential. But, I might well have had the best low draw. At this stage of the tournament with the blinds so high, my aggressive opponent might well have raised before the flop with almost anything. And now he might be trying to buy it. If he had a great hand, he might have bet less to make it easier for me to call.

Since I judged that my overall chances of winning at least half the pot were good, I believed I had enough to call. But calling would then put about $48,000 of my chips in the pot with two cards to go, and this opponent was very unlikely to check it down. I might well be facing a $96,000 bet after the turn card. If, instead, I check-raised him $96,000 at this point, what would be the chances that he would fold? Based on what I had seen in previous hands, he would call anything. So, I just called.

Lo and behold, the turn card was the 4! Not only did I now have a flush, I also had a respectable low (the A or 5 would have been even better). What would you do here?

He was carrying the ball so nicely that I decided to check and give him another chance. He bet $50,000. What would you do now?

Of course, I raised all in, about another $75,000. After taking some time, he finally called all in. He had the A 4 7 J. I had high locked up and had him beat for low. The tournament was over unless the river card was a deuce or 6.

Poker fate was having too much fun with us – as the river was a deuce! Hence, he salvaged low and we split the pot! So, it was all for naught and we were back to even.

The last two entertaining hands will appear in my next column.