Annette Obrestad, the winner of the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event recently added to her already impressive list of poker accomplishments by winning her first major Pot-limit Omaha title at the 2010 Aussie Millions.

The young Norwegian used to be a predominately online player but she has started to make her presence felt in the live arena. Some of her famous wins include coming first a 180-man tournament despite only looking at her hole cards once and outlasting a field of 20,000 in an $11 tournament.

Having played mainly No-limit Hold’em for most of her career, Annette has been branching out and learning new formats, with Pot-limit Omaha being one of the games she is looking to excel at. It seems as if her studying and hard-work has already started to pay off as she completely dominated the final table of the $1,100 Pot-limit Omaha tournament in Melbourne, Australia.

By the end of the first day, the 160 entrants were whittled down to just the final table of nine with Annette sat third in chips and within touching distance of the title, championship gold ring and the AUD$40,000 first prize money. The players at the final table had no answer for her aggressive style of play and she was responsible for eliminating five of her eight opponents.

The final elimination came after only three hands of heads-up play against Billy Seri. A pot sized raise on the button from Seri saw Annette re-raise enough to put Seri all-in. He called and the players revealed their Omaha poker hands. Seri showed Kh8dJc9h and was trailing Annette’s KcJdJh2s. The board ran out Ac9cAh2cTc and Miss Obrestad’s pair of jacks held up to give her the win and consign Seri to second place.

The win took her live career earnings to over $2,800,000 and cemented her third place in the women’s all-time winnings listings.

Omaha Poker is a tough game to gauge before the flop as the greatest of starting hands is often turned into instant mush once the flop hits.  For this very reason, many people recommend that you never raise before the flop.  While the general consensus is that this is the way to go, there are a few occasions where you will want to throw out a raise.

The first situation is when you have AA and you are the first or second to act.  In order to have a shot at winning the hand, you are going to need to eliminate some players and the only way to do that is to get some money in the pot.  When you are first or second to act, it is early enough to dissuade callers from getting into the pot with a marginal hand.

You are also going to have a better idea of where your stand against your opponents if they are getting into the pot. As it is unlikely for someone to call you with a marginal hand, you can count on the fact that you are sitting across from a hand that has a high pair in it.  If the board flops babies, you can continue to be aggressive with a little more confidence that you are still sitting on the best hand.  If a K or Q hits the board and you fire with them coming right back over the top, you are probably better off letting the hand go as they will more than likely be sitting on a set and you are reduced to 2 outs.

The second situation where you can throw out a raise is when you have a lot of limpers already in and you are in late position with a drawing hand.  The reason for this is to build up the pot on the hopes that you hit the flop in a big way.  The beauty of this move is that most inexperienced players will check it around to you regardless if they hit or not.  They will hope to hit you with a check raise and if you don’t hit, you have the ability to get a free card on the turn.

Raising here is very effective over the long run as the odds that you are generating off of the initial raise are rather large when compared to the overall investment that you are seeing back on your hand.  If you manage to hit one out of about 8 hands, you will be at the very worst even.  If you can hit two of these hands, you are going to have a very profitable session.

Raising in Omaha is a true weapon and you have to use it wisely.  Don’t abuse it and after you hit a few hands you will be able to pull off a bluff every now and again.  You of course need to mix up your game a bit so you don’t become predictable, but stick to these guidelines for the majority of your play and you can turn profitable sessions when you are raising before the flop.

With so many cards being out on the deal, the board pairing at any stage can cause panic on the table.  Depending upon how many people are still in the hand and how the preflop action went will dictate exactly how you play from that point forward.  In most cases, if you don’t have a card that matches, you are going to let your hand go.  However, that is not always the case and there are times when you can actually steal the pot away.

When you see the flop with multiple callers and you are not on the pair, you absolutely have to let your hand go unless you are on the nut flush or the nut straight draw.  Even then, you are going to have to play very cautiously as any match will crush you.  This will be more of a feel for your opponents at that point, but be very careful.

The best opportunity that you are going to have to steal away the pot is when you are heads-up with a prefop raiser and a small pair hits the board.  As long as you don’t see an A or a K out there, you very well may be able to snatch the hand by keeping the pressure on all the way through the river regardless if you have the matching card or not.  The preflop raise is a definitive sign of a player that is sitting with AA or KK in their hand. 

Now when the pair hits the board and you do end up hitting your boat, you have to pay particular attention to how you hit the boat. When that river comes around and you are sitting with the low kicker, you may still paying someone off. Throw the bet out there and see what the reaction is.  If someone is banging you right back, you may have to actually let the hand go.

When you flop the nuts and there is no danger of anyone outdrawing your boat, you want to encourage the action.  You can do this by putting out cautious bets that will now show your hand, but still let everyone know that you have something.  With a little luck, someone with a weaker boat will come over the top and you can drop the hammer on them. 

Remember, Omaha Poker is a dangerous game when you are playing on a full table.  More than likely, the nuts are out there on each and every hand so you need to make sure that you don’t go to aggressive on a hand, regardless of its strength, if it is not the nuts.  Learn how to read the board and pay attention to how each and every opponent plays different hands.  Do this, and they will be reloading when you catch them with their hand in the cookie jar.

	Ladbrokes Poker Room Details:
	Country of Origin	:	Gibraltar
	License	:	Gibraltar
	Year of Foundation	:	2004
	Software	:	Microgaming
	Size	:	NA
	Audited By	:	PWC
	Language	:	English
	Accepts USA Players	:	NA
	Bonus	:	Up To $500

Ladbrokes are well-known British bookmakers and the Ladbrokes Poker website is a part of its vast online betting network. It is a great place to begin your poker-playing career as it offers a good sign up bonus apart from which it gives its players an opportunity to play online casino games from the poker website itself. The website also provides various promotions that are introduced time and again. There is a lot that players can look forward to at Ladbrokes Poker. So, if you are still thinking of where to begin, you might just find your ideal solution by opting for Ladbrokes Poker.

Ladbrokes Poker uses the MicroGaming software, which offers simple but useful graphics that make game play easy and quite interesting. The software offers a browser playing facility that allows instant game play. The games run at a good pace and players do not have to wait for games to start, as dealing is quick and there is no time wasted between the hands. The lobby is straightforward and you are able to access the games with no fuss at all. You can also get all the available table stats such as a detailed history of your hands. Also available is a chat facility that enables players to interact with each other and exchange notes.

The ‘My Lobby’ option allows you to view all the games you have played along with a list of all your successfully played games. You can customize the options as per your requirement. A calendar is also available that enables players to organize their time and also mark events they would like to participate in, so that they can receive reminders of the approaching dates. Also you have access to their Sports book that allows you to bet on some of the major Sporting events around the world.

You can even play a demo version of the games before you sign up for a real account. If you do not wish to play for real money even then the website would be a perfect place for you.

The games offered at Ladbrokes Poker include the standard Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha High, Omaha Low, 5 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud and 5 Card Draw. There is a huge range of stakes that you can choose from. In Texas Holdem, the available variations are Limit, No Limit, Pot Limit as well as heads up versions. The stakes begin as little as $0.01/$0.02 and can go up to $25/$50.

Also available are a number of tournaments, which include single table, multi-table, sit and go, heads up, ladder and satellite tournaments. You can enter a tournament with a buy-in as little as $2 or play for higher limits that range to thousands of dollars.

Apart from the regular poker games, Ladbrokes poker also allows its players to play casino games that are made available on the poker website. These include Blackjack and Roulette with limits beginning at $1 and going up to $5,000. You can also play Baccarat, 3 Card Poker and multi hand 3 Card Poker, Craps and Cyber Stud Poker. If you are a slot machine enthusiast, there are a lot of slot machines available to suit your fancy.

Ladbrokes Poker offers new players a 100% sign up bonus of up to $500. The players can wager for this bonus by gathering Player Points with 30 times the points against your deposit. You can get these points by playing tournaments and raked hands.

As for promotions there are several offers that keep coming up and each one is more lucrative than the other, thereby attracting a huge amount of traffic to the website. You will never have the regret of being a part of the Ladbrokes poker site because the online poker room strives to provide the best to its customers.

	Basic Details
	Country of Origin	:	Gibraltar
	License	:	Gibraltar
	Year of Foundation	:	2002
	Software	:	iPoker Network
	Size	:	11.9 MB
	Audited By	:	PWC
	Language	:	English, French, Italian, Spanish
	Accepts USA Players	:	No
	Bonus	:	$600

William Hill Poker Review

William Hill Poker, one of the leading bookmakers of the United Kingdom offers poker players a wide range of online poker games. Apart from being major Sports betting provider William Hill has become one of the largest online gaming sites available today. Its growing popularity lies in the reason that it offers some great promotions and bonuses that draw thousands of people to its poker playing website.

It caters to all kinds of players playing at the poker tables, which include players from other gaming sites such as from the online casino, Sports betting and bingo websites. So no matter what kind of player you are, you will always find something to attract your attention at William Hill Poker.

Software:

William Hill Poker is now a part of the iPoker Network and uses the PlayTech software. The software is straightforward and simple to understand and handle. The game play is fast and the software offers some useful features. The menus are easy to manage providing you with quick access to the desired information. With the help of a swift scan you can easily locate the table you wish to play.

You can also get information on the player statistics, flop percentages, average pot size, hands being played and some other useful details. Also available are hand histories on request. The graphics are not of very high standard but do not cause a hindrance to your game play. The software also offers multi-table playing facilities that allow you to play at multiple tables at the same time. Games at

William Hill Poker:

William Hill Poker provides a wide range of games to select from that include the most popular Texas Holdem, Omah, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo, Five Card Stud and the exciting Blackjack. Stakes can start very low allowing players with smaller budgets to attempt games too. However those keen on making larger wagers can also have their share of the fun at the larger tables.

Apart from the ring games there are also numerous tournaments to play, which include multi-table tournaments, guaranteed tournaments among several others. There are various jackpots to attempt too including the exclusive bad beat jackpot that offers £150 in cash prize.

Bonus/Promotions:

You can get a 100% bonus of up to £600 on your first deposit and you have 60 days in which to wager for this bonus. Apart from this there are daily promotions that attract a lot of traffic to the website. There are freerolls to be won every day and the first winner of the Royal Flush in a day is awarded £100.

William Hill Poker also offers Loyalty Points on every hand and tournament played with real money. These points can either be exchanged for cash or for entries to live tournaments.

Deposit/Withdrawal

Deposit methods include VISA, PayPal, NETeller, Moneybookers, Bank Wire among various others. Withdrawals can be made via FirePay, Citadel, NETeller to name a few.

Customer Support:

Customer Support is available around the clock seven days a week via telephone, live chat facility and email system.