The quick guide to Razz, Stud and Omaha

A friend of mine (who recently discovered the wonderful world of poker) asked me if a could compile in short a quick guide for the rules and basic strategy of some poker variations. There are thousands of sites about Hold'em, Razz, Omaha, Stud and the tens of other variations of poker, he says, but there are too 'detailed'. Ok man - I'll try to compile for you in brief the rules and basic strategy - but just an advice for everyone 'discovering the wonderful world of poker' - be sure to play for free first and never put more than you can afford to lose on the table.

Fast Start

As I am starting with my first steps in the world of online poker I definitely needed a bankroll and of course there is no better deal than the free $50 from Poker Strategy. I registered there, passed a simple quiz and - voilà - I have the cash deposited straight in my Everest account (unfortunately Party Poker is not allowed in Bulgaria). In fact, I plan to review more thoroughly the site, as it has a lot of interesting lessons about, MTTs, S'n'G's, cash games and many more.

In sake of 'testing the water' I entered a $1+0 tournament called 'a chip and a chair' and a 6-max Limit Hold'em s'n'g with 120 players. What a fish tank and calling stations workshop!!!

The MTT was a pure gambling in the beginning with 'players' calling each others' all-ins with all kind of crappy hands... After that I was to play with survivors (read: lottery winners, who seem to have missed the basics of the game and thinking of outs and pot odds as of some king of mystery. Several times obvious flushes and straights were called by middle pairs, two pairs and my favorites... Q or J high.. Thanks God the guys on the final table knew what the game is about..

I also won the sit'n'go to add the incredible amount of $0.18 to my bankroll :)

However, I pledged to myself that I will keep a strict discipline and will not risk more than 5% of my bankroll at a time and now I am going to try some single table double and triple-ups with a wide variety of buy-ins and will avoid the cash tables, at least until I reach the $ 100 benchmark.