What is Irish Poker?
Irish Poker is inspired by Hold'em and Omaha. Omaha is a very dynamic variation that is appreciated by players, but which can have a very high variance. Irish Poker on the other hand is reputed to be as enjoyable to play as Omaha, but with a lower variance
The Rules of Irish Poker
A game of Irish Poker is played like a game of Hold'em or Omaha. There is a dealer, 2 blinds, small and big, the cards are dealt one by one clockwise starting with the small blind, there is a flop, a turn, a river, the slaughter, etc
Where the action differs from the two previous variants is at the flop. Each player will receive 4 preflop cards and will see a flop. After the flop, each player must discard 2 of their private cards. From that moment on, the rest of the hand will be played as a Hold'em hand. So, to sum up, the pre-flop action is like in Omaha, the action after the flop is like in Hold'em, only the action at the flop will differ from the other two variants
The Irish Poker Drinking Game
Irish Poker also has its variations. One of these is the Irish Poker Drinking Game. As its name suggests, it is a variant that encourages us to drink alcohol. This variant is only played in private poker games. (Alcohol abuse is dangerous to health)
The Irish Poker Strategy (Classic Version)
When it comes to your preflop hand selection, you should have the same mentality as when you play Omaha, i.e. you want cards that work well together. A hand like J-Q-K-A is a good example. Of course, the big pairs will also be an excellent starting hand. A hand like J-J-Q-Q will be excellent. It will be even stronger if it is double-matched. Hands to avoid, apart from obvious hands such as 4-4-4 or Q-2-2 for example, are hands that have only two interesting cards to play. A hand like Q-Q-2-4 in an early position is to be thrown away most of the time
If you're new to Irish Poker, the best advice you can get is to be conservative in your early days, so you avoid making huge mistakes. Go for strong hands that play well (not hands that will often give you headaches at the flop). For your selection of preflop hands, select your starting hands from the following categories
Large pairs: (AAKK, QQKK, QQJJ, AAJJ, ...)
Double assorted: (AhThKsJs, Ah9sKsTh, ...)
Wraps (assorted or not): (9TJQ, 89TJ, TJQK, ...)
Note that double matching hands gain a lot of strength. A hand can be discarded if it is odd, but played if it is double-matched
At the flop, most of the time, the strategy will impose itself. In rare situations, you'll have some heartbreaking choices to make, but most of the time, to determine which cards to discard, you'll just have to rely on the mathematics of poker (considering the fairness of the hands). The combo to be retained will be the one which, in the long term, will have the best equity
This poker variant involves less variance than a game of Omaha in which players hold their 4 cards until the kill
