Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007 | 7:02 a.m.
Backdoor: Making your hand by catching the cards you need on the final two (or more) rounds dealt.
Big blind: The larger of the two forced bets required before the cards are dealt in games such as Texas hold 'em and Omaha. The position of the blinds rotates around the table.
Capping: Putting in the last of the maximum number of permitted raises in a round.
8 or better: A high-low split game with an 8 qualifier, meaning a low hand must be 8 high or stronger in order to play. If no one has a low hand of 8 high or better, the high hand wins the entire pot.
Flop: The first three community cards, dealt face up in the center of the table.
Fourth street: The fourth community card dealt.
Hole cards: Cards dealt face down to a player, such as the first four cards dealt in Omaha.
Quads: Four of a kind.
Set: Three of a kind, specifically two of the rank in your hand to go with a third on the board.
Wheel: A 5-high straight, the best low hand in most high-low split games.
Proceed with extreme caution, probably fold to any bet.
Listening to Annie Duke irreverently describe the thought process of a typical Omaha high-low split player, it was impossible not to be reminded of a certain World Series of Poker main event winner.
Duke's sample hand entailed a player 's drawing to a queen-high flush, but no low possibilities, with two cards to come.
"You're only going to get half the pot," at best, Duke said in a World Series of Poker Academy seminar at Caesars Palace this past weekend. "So you're going to cross your fingers and pray to the Easter Bunny or whomever you choose to pray to that ( A) you make the hand, ( B) nobody has a bigger flush, ( C) the board doesn't pair to make somebody a full house, ( D) that you actually get the whole pot because nobody makes a low.
"That seems like a lot to wish for, doesn't it? I don't think the Easter Bunny is that powerful," Duke cracked.
Somewhere, Jerry "Lord, Give Me a Set" Yang must have been cringing.
Duke's delivery might have been tinged with a dose of smart aleck, but her information was rock solid.
Even at relatively high levels, such as big buy-in tournaments, Omaha 8 or better (the official name of the high-low split game) can be profitable for players who come prepared.
Too often, players enter the Omaha arena from Texas hold 'em and neglect to make the appropriate adjustments.
Yes, you start with four cards in your hand in Omaha, rather than the two in hold 'em. But so do all your opponents. Average Omaha players would be well advised to keep that in mind, Duke said.
Otherwise, they'll tend to stick around for too many long shots or weak draws like that queen-high flush.
Forget about the Easter Bunny in Omaha 8 or better, Duke told the academy participants. Less Dionne Warwick-style wishing and hoping and dreaming. More critical thinking.
Detailing a poor Omaha hand that might look exciting to a hold 'em player, Duke described a player with hole cards of two queens, a 9 and a 10, two of them hearts. The board reads deuce, 3, jack with two hearts.
"You have nothing," Duke said, though in hold 'em, "if you had an overpair and a high -flush draw, you'd be thinking, 'Sweet!' "
Even in the $5,000 buy-in Omaha 8 or better tournament at this year's World Series of Poker, Duke encountered many players who were thinking the same thing: sweet.
"I'm not kidding," Duke said. "That's the internal monologue of most people playing this game. But that's why this game is so profitable.
"In the (World Series), I saw people playing worse hands than this where they were capping it in four-way pots. You laugh, because it seems obvious when someone explains it to you."
Duke's treatise on Omaha 8 or better was a highlight of this weekend's academy at Caesars, the latest in a series of well-attended multi day poker camps sponsored by the World Series. The cost of the camps typically runs from about $1,700 to about $2,200 , depending on the event.
Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, Andy Bloch and Mark Seif were among other professional poker players who served as instructors at Caesars.
Much of Duke's presentation focused on the differences between hold 'em, the most popular tournament poker game, and Omaha 8 or better.
She cautioned against calling even a single raise in the big blind with junk hands in Omaha high-low, even though it's frequently correct to do so in hold 'em. Calling a raise in the big blind in hold 'em offers odds of at least 3 1/2 to 1, enough to take a look at the flop.
Because of the split pots in Omaha 8 or better, those odds just aren't there.
"The 3 1/2 to 1 is an illusion," Duke said. "When you call out of the big blind in Omaha 8, you are getting 1.25 to 1, close to even money. Yet people play 2-6-8-10 and say, 'Well, I'm in the big blind.' What are you going to make with that? I have no idea.
"Play tight in the big blind. No one else will, mind you, and it will be hugely to your advantage."
Oh, and punish opponents who insist on chasing long-shot draws.
In the $5,000 entry Omaha 8 or better event at the World Series of Poker, Duke was lucky enough to flop quads when the board showed two kings and a wheel card.
The best way to play quads here?
"Bet out ; raise if someone bets into you," Duke said. "You want to make them pay to draw to the backdoor low. You don't want to give up half the pot cheaply by checking."
Even in a high-end tournament like the World Series, with players who should know better, several opponents tried to chase a low hand.
"I've had people verbalize this to me: 'If a 2 or a 3 or a 4 or an ace came on fourth street, I knew I'd be in great shape,' " Duke said.
Duke scooped a nice pot, disappointing her miracle-seeking opponents who were trying - hoping, dreaming, really - to make a backdoor wheel that failed to materialize.
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