Betfair Online Poker Blog

Wild card games part two - strategy

Nearly every bizarre variant of poker requires major changes to a player's game. This is simply because the addition of wild cards - or extra regular cards to players hands, such as six card Omaha or three card hold'em - makes a huge number of extra combinations of hands possible.

Many players seem to struggle to adjust to these games, and habitually call down with hands that although strong in the regular formats of these games, are awful holdings with the addition of wild cards.

A great example of this is playing pot limit Omaha with the jokers in the deck as wild cards. Time and time again when playing this game I see people getting their chips all in with aces pre flop. Although this is a fine strategy in regular PLO, it is near suicidal in a game where a player can have a wild card in their hand - they simply have so many more chances of winning than you do when holding a joker.

This is also true in games like stud hi lo when playing with deuces wild. Players will take what is normally a very strong low, such as Ac3h4s5c7h and call down players showing extreme strength coupled with another decent low showing. With deuces being wild they will nearly always have you out done not only on the low, but also on the high, enabling them to scoop the pot. Always remember that a few scoops can be hugely expensive over the course of a session - with wild cards out scoops are much more common in hi/lo games, and your hand ranges have to adjust accordingly.

Just like with all forms of regular poker, try and become familiar with as many wild card games as possible. Some of the most lucrative poker sessions when playing live come from when everyone starts wanting to play the crazy games, simply because they reason they have a better chance of making money due to the games being so weird.

This is usually not the case, as an increase in possibilities nearly always gives a good player many more chances to make good choices, which in turn leads to more profit. Next time your having a good home game try introducing a few wild card games in - it might just lead to some surprising results.

Related Readings

Wild card games part one - stakes and games - Marcus Bateman

• Poker
• Marcus Bateman