Diversify and Conquer

Unquestionably, the most popular form of poker these days, particularly in North America, is no-limit Texas hold'em. It's a great game that is easy to learn and fun to play. I love it, and it's certainly made me a lot of money. But I fear that the days of sitting at a table full of clueless no-limit hold'em players who will hand over their entire stack at the first opportunity are numbered. Luckily, the days of sitting at a table full of clueless poker players are just beginning.

Games like Omaha, stud, and razz are ripe for the picking. With the World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E. tournaments (in which players compete in limit hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better, razz, stud, and stud eight-or-better) just starting to get noticed and becoming more popular, the average poker player will want to try his hand at these games. The good news is, if you take the time to arm yourself with even some basic knowledge and experience in these games, you can be at the tables waiting for the fresh fish.

If you're still not convinced that you should be learning other forms of poker, consider this: If it has been your lifelong ambition to win a World Series of Poker bracelet, the next few years will provide a window of opportunity in which the fields are small and weak in non-hold'em events, and mastering other forms of poker just might be the path of least resistance to one of the most coveted prizes in the game.

So, where do we begin? My high-school English teacher used to tell me, "Write about what you know." The idea being, it's a lot easier to do something if you begin by relying on the knowledge you already have. Therefore, the first thing you should do is take inventory of all of the skills you already have acquired and see which ones can be applied to other forms of poker. In my opinion, the following skills are all transferable, to varying degrees.

Tells
As Amarillo Slim said, "Poker is a game of people ... It's not the hand I hold, it's the people I play with." If you have a good sense of when a player is strong and when he is weak, it will come in handy in all forms of poker. So, watch your opponents and look for clues as you play.

Math
Almost every major form of poker is played with a standard 52-card deck. Once you learn the rules of a particular variation, deriving the math becomes a relatively simple exercise. Along with that comes the ability to determine pot odds and the expected value of a given play.

Position
Poker is a game of incomplete information, so the more you know, the more likely it is that you will make the correct decision. In other words, late position is better than early position, and you have more room to play when fewer players are yet to act behind you. The tricky part about this skill is that in many stud variations, your position can change from one betting round to the next, depending on the strength of your upcards.

Bluffing
No matter what form of poker you play, great starting hands will not come around often enough to make the game truly profitable without bluffing. What separates a good bluff from a bad one in no-limit hold'em also applies to most other forms of poker. In short, make sure that your bluff makes sense. You need to tell a coherent story in order to pull off a successful bluff. One important point to keep in mind is that against many players, the desire to see the next card will often outweigh the price of calling one bet. So, in structured games like limit hold'em, you can't scare people off with huge bets, and if you build a big pot by raising every street with air, your river bet will be such a small fraction of the pot that you'll often get called by ace high. Keep pots small in structured games, make sure that the stakes are high enough to matter to your opponent, and time your bluffs wisely.

Poker Etiquette
You might find it strange that I list "poker etiquette" as a skill, but the fact is, if you are a jerk at the table, your opponents will become annoyed and uncomfortable. Although this can sometimes result in having them make more mistakes against you, it often results in them simply leaving your game. When you're playing less popular variations of poker, it's quite likely that players are already uncomfortable, because they are inexperienced. So, do your best to make the experience as enjoyable and comfortable as possible while you are taking their money.

Bankroll Management
Every form of poker has only one entry requirement, money. So, managing a bankroll is the same no matter what games you play. This also means that you have to factor in your edge when choosing what stakes to play in a game with which you are unfamiliar. When I started learning H.O.R.S.E., I played micro-stakes tournaments so that I could focus on improving without risking any significant portion of my bankroll. You should do the same. There is no shame in admitting that you might not be as good in other forms poker your first time around.

Experience
The simple fact that you've played a lot of hands in any form of poker will give you an edge in every variation. You understand basic universal truths about poker: The best hand does not always win, there is an element of chance in each hand, patience and persistence are golden, and so on.

As you can see, you already know quite a bit about playing almost every form of poker out there. Don't let that fool you, though; each variation has its own particular nuances, and there is a lot to learn. So, get out there and start practicing, before everyone else beats you to it. ♠

Marc "Myst" Karam is a Canadian poker pro who has won millions of dollars competing in major poker tournaments all around the world. Despite his tournament success, he makes his living primarily by playing online cash games on Eurolinx Poker at some of the highest stakes available.