Review of Omaha Holdem Poker, Millennium Edition
- Title:
- Omaha Holdem Poker
- Author:
- Bob Ciaffone
- Publisher:
- Bob Ciaffone
- Date:
- 1999
- ISBN:
- 0-9661007-2-7
- Pages:
- 106
- Price:
- $20.00
Note: This is a review of the Millennium Edition of Bob Ciaffone's
Omaha Holdem Poker. It is an updated version of a review of
a previous edition of this book.
October 19, 2001
There was a time during the 80's when many people felt that Omaha
(both High-Low and High only) were the games of the future, and that
the poker community would make these two games the most popular in
the world. This hasn't come to pass, but Omaha High-Low is still
quite popular in many card rooms, and even Omaha High has made something
of a comeback in recent years. However, there isn't a lot of information
in print about this game. One of the few books is Ciaffone's Omaha
Holdem Poker which he has updated and expanded in his "Millennium
Edition".
The book begins with some background, explaining the rules of the
game, its origin, and other generally useful information. This is will be
especially valuable
to those who might not have played the game before, but there are
some tidbits, like Ciaffone's description of the game's origin, that are
likely to
be informative to Omaha veterans. After this, Ciaffone starts in on strategy,
discussing general Omaha principles, such as the relative strengths of
different two pair hands and different draws. The section concludes with
specific strategy advice for limit Omaha High.
The third section is on Omaha High-Low Split, a section that is much expanded
from earlier editions of the book, and includes a quiz on handling game
situations. I believe that the differences between good and bad Omaha
hands (and situations) is more difficult to evaluate than in
any other commonly played form of poker, and Ciaffone imparts a great deal
of wisdom about how to handle these situations in his quizzes. The more
one thinks about these situations, the more apparent the complexities
become, so there's a lot of good possibilities for discussion of the
different types of situations that come up than
just those that are mentioned in this book. The information presented in
this book is very good,
but I don't believe that this section suffices for a general text
on this game. Ray Zee's High-Low Split Poker for Advanced
Players is still the best book on this topic, although Ciaffone's
material makes a worthwhile supplement to it.
A discussion of the author's favorite poker game, Pot-Limit Omaha,
comes next.
A discussion of general strategy, insurance, and a quiz on play are
included here. The information in this section is quite good as
well, but I believe there are many more situations which could be
fruitfully discussed about this game as well, and the repetition of
many key ideas would make it more likely that
these concepts would sink in with the reader's. The book ends with some
discussion about playing Omaha in a tournament, future ideas for
the game, and some concluding remarks.
This edition of the book is much improved over the previous one, although
I still believe that there is so much more to this game that it should
be possible to provide a further expanded and even better book to its audience.
While nearly 40 pages have been added in this edition, the size of the
typeface is larger so its length has not quite increased
proportionally to the page count. Nonetheless, this represents a considerable
increase from previous editions. I still believe that the price of
the book is a bit steep for its volume, but the additional material included,
even at a the higher price, makes this edition a better value than its
predecessor. The bottom line is that this is still the best book I've
read on playing Omaha High, and while
the material on Omaha High-Low is not comprehensive enough for my
tastes, it will likely be valuable, or at the very least, thought-provoking
to the reader. Ciaffone is one of the better poker authors writing
and his book is a worthwhile edition to just about any poker player's
library.
Capsule:
This brief book contains good information on how to play various forms
of Omaha poker. Despite its brevity for the price, it's the best source
of information on playing Omaha High that I've read. I believe that the
information on Omaha High-Low is not sufficient to be considered a
comprehensive strategy guide for this game, but it does make a fine
supplement to another good book, such as Ray Zee's High-Low Split Poker
for Advanced Players.
The Millennium Edition is considerably expanded from the previous edition,
although I still think it's price tag is a bit steep for its volume.
However, the contents will make this book worthwhile to a majority of
players with an interest in these forms of poker.
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