December 01, 2005
Since you will only reraise before the flop with Pokerparty hands that have some intrinsic value, other opponents will respect your raises - regardless of whether or not the maniac is active in the hand. This, of course, provides excellent support for an occasional bluff, particularly on those occasions when you're involved in a hand with fairly tight, weak, or timid players. Remember, they've been watching you slug it out with the maniac, and show down a real hand whenever you're called.
When a maniac raises, you'll seldom know what he has. Is it legitimate, or is he bluffing? Since a maniac is capable of raising with absolutely anything - or even nothing - conclusions are hard to draw with any certainty. When someone constantly raises, you know he can't have the goods all the time.
He'd rather bully you out of a pot than beat you in a showdown. Maniacs also self-destruct and go broke quite regularly, but they frequently take a number of others down with them. With a maniac at your table, you need to be aware of the changes his presence invariably brings. Because of his proclivity for raising and reraising, more of your Pokerparty chips will be at risk. Lose, and you're likely to lose more than you otherwise would. Wins also tend to be bigger.
- With your daily gambling allotment in hand, decide which games you want to play. Remember that your money figures to last longer in games that are dealt more slowly than others. So find a game you like and start playing. If you go to the craps table you'll be in a game where the house edge is small, but you often have to risk a goodly chunk of change by taking full advantage of that low casino edge.
- Once you've gotten a handle on how much you can afford to spend, start subtracting. When you've deducted the cost of lodging, travel, dinners, and shows, and some of those souvenir T-shirts all of us say we're never going to buy but wind up purchasing anyway, the remainder is your Pokerparty budget. Let's say you have $1,000 to risk at the tables.
- Bankroll management is all about discipline; knowing one's limits, knowing when to take a risk and knowing when to quit, knowing what level you feel comfortable playing at, and when the stakes are too high for your financial circumstances. Still, if you are around gambling for a while, you may quickly learn that walking the walk is much tougher than talking the talk. We can always do a better job of managing our bankroll. When it comes to gambling, it's probably the toughest lesson of all.
- Omaha/8 is a variation of Texas hold'em in which each Pokerparty player receives four private cards, and the best high hand and the best low hand split the pot. The mechanics of the blinds, and the deal, and the betting rounds are the same as they are for Texas hold'em, but the game's strategies are quite different. I'm not advising that you call all of the time, but if you have a decent hand and someone bets into you on the last betting round, you should consider calling. On the other hand, if you were nursing a straight- or flush-draw that never materialized, throw your hand away if someone bets.
To ease your transition, I've provided very simplified strategies for three of the most popular casino games: Texas hold'em, 7-Card Stud, Omaha eight or better high low split (which we'll mercifully abbreviate as "Omaha/8"). While these strategies will not make experts of you, you'll be able to avoid getting yourself into too much trouble.
