[BobiJo]

Those of you who have played with me probably wonder about my style of play. I certainly may seem to play strangely - especially when I cannot figure out what hand I even have on Omaha Hi Lo - and I play that game as if it were a Bingo game! I just throw the chips out there and hope my numbers come up. Well, sometimes it is true that I am playing Bingo, and I do not always understand the value of my hand when there are more cards than hold-em. And I don't figure out the math - or know or care about the odds or how many 'outs' I might have.

So I guess you could say that I am not really a poker player - and yet...

A friend of mine playing a home-game with me - who does not know much about poker - said something I never forgot: "The odds of each hand are 50/50 - you win, or you lose". I suppose that is true - no matter what the odds are over a thousand hands - each individual hand can win or lose - no matter what the 'real odds' or 'outs' are - and we have all seen this. OK - if you are playing for the long-haul - then playing right, and playing the odds, and knowing how many 'outs' you have makes sense. However it is clearly not the way I play.

I suppose you could call my style of play the Ebb and Flow of Poker. I basically go with the flow when I am getting cards and/or hitting my hand. No matter how bad or good my cards look at first - if I am on a roll - and if I have sufficient chips - and if the bet amount is an amount I do not mind losing - then I will go for it. If I lose , say 2-3 small or 1-2 medium size bets - then I back off and become like a tight, hard, stone. No one notices when I keep throwing my hands away - it's when I play a hand and raise or call and fish and catch that people remark about how lucky I am! (The great 'Suckout Queen'.)

So when things go right - I can take chances - and make some very strange winning hands. When it starts to turn, then pocket pairs, AK or AQ may not be worth much if I do not expect to win with them based on the Ebb and Flow at the time. I might try a good hand, just to see if it is flowing back in to me, but only if I have enough chips to spare - or I am willing to be gone if it does not flow back.

My strange style of Poker is now explained. May you Ebb when I Flow, and may I Ebb when you Flow. Now let's go enjoy our Bingo-game!