A - Z of Poker: Day 16

From London to Vegas in 26 Letters

Day 16: P is for ...

P is for PLO. We finally got there! In poker, P is for Pot and Pot is for Omaha. I suppose if you said "pot" out of the poker context, then it might be assumed that you were speaking of the smoking kind of pot. And it often strikes me that smoking and PLO have something in common.

At first it's something that you have heard about but it's something other people do. You can't really see why anyone would want to do it, and you don't imagine that you would get involved with it.

Then one day, for whatever reason, you give it a quick try. You hate it, obviously. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth / wallet. Your initial suspicions were correct.

But, you are persuaded to give it another try and the pain is a little less the second time. Before long, you can't get enough of it and take every opportunity to get your hit. The thought of giving it up is ridiculous.

I actually did manage to give up smoking 12 years, 7 months and 29 days ago. Maybe that is where PLO differs because I am not sure I could ever give up that up.

P is for Position. Position, Position, Position as estate agents might say. I have a feeling that the importance of position follows one of those special rules where it is always slightly more important than you think, even after you have already realised it was more important that you previously thought.

It also follows that poker golden rule that whatever lesson you learn (notwithstanding that you paid for the lesson in cold, hard losses), the lesson has to be learned over and over again.

Repeat after me: Position is everything, only more so.