DOUBLE OH, DEAR! It may seem very James Bond to be the kind of player who is confident enough to always be “doubling” (playing two games at once). It usually indicates two very different kinds of player. One of them is good news. He’s the guy who gets bored easily and wants adrenalin action. He’s only gratified if he’s got two games going at once. This will mean his general style of play is impatient and you’ll very quickly begin to get a “read” on him. If you have a reasonable level of experience this guy can make you money. Inevitably his concentration is not going to be one hundred per cent. He certainly won’t have the time to be taking notes on his opponents so his ability to read you will be sketchy. Restless players are also much more likely to play hands that should be dumped and almost certainly he’ll bluff too often.
HOW WILL I SPOT HIM? So how do you know if a player is involved in two games at once? That’s relatively simple. Check on the lists in the site’s lobby area. Make sure you do this prior to sitting down and then check at intervals to see if he’s still at it. This kind of player has quite often had a bad run somewhere and is “chasing”. Trying to play catch-up by double-playing is asking for it. If you’re able, make sure he gets it!
THEN THERE’S THE “OTHER GUY” The “other guy” you might encounter playing two or even three games at once is a rarity but as dangerous as a snake in water. Some hardened professionals can pull this off. They live and breathe Texas Hold’em and their minds are wired to hold lots of information at once. He will change gears a lot on you. You won’t know if he’s bluffing our not because his timing won’t falter and he’ll be very decisive. He wins more than he loses and he’ll be multi-playing all the time. Be thankful he does so because the fact that he is forced to focus on maybe as many as thirty hands at a time should even things up between you. If you spot him in the lobby list, railbird a while. Watch and learn. He may not be James Bond but he might well have the makings of a Goldfinger.
OMAHA VERSUS HOLD’EM I get a lot of new players asking me what really sets Omaha apart from Texas Hold’em. Let me put it in a nut-shell. In Omaha you will be dealt four hole cards, any two of which must be used in combination with three cards from the board. In an eight handed game of Hold’em where you only receive two hole cards there will only be eight hands in play. However, if you are playing an eight handed game of Omaha, where each player has six possible combinations, there will actually be forty eight hands in play. This is a big difference and it means a powerful premium hand in Hold’em is worth a lot less in Omaha. That’s the main issue.
