Poker.

Byline: Steve Rosenbloom

Usually, this column deals with no-limit hold 'em, but today's subject is pot-limit Omaha, a game that is gaining popularity.

Quick recap: In Omaha, you are dealt four hole cards instead of the two you get in hold 'em, and in Omaha you must use exactly two cards from your hand and exactly three cards from the five-card board to make your best five-card hand. In pot-limit, the biggest bet can equal, but not exceed, the amount of money already in the pot.

Two of the best pot-limit Omaha players are Robert Williamson III, dubbed "Mr. Omaha" for his many titles in the game, and Johnny Chan, the "Orient Express," and they hooked up in this hand as Chan was chasing a ninth World Series of Poker bracelet in 2003.

With the blinds at $4,000-$8,000 and three players remaining, Chan limped into the pot. Williamson woke up with pocket kings and bet the pot _ about $20,000.

"We're both deep enough that I really want to play a pot, but I don't want to get shipwrecked on one hand against Johnny because he's the other deep stack," said Williamson, who stars in the instructional DVD "From the Kitchen Table to the Final Table." "But I'd like to have his chips certainly.

"I'd already raised a lot of pots, so they're going to think, `Aw, Robert's trying to take this pot away by making a raise here.'"

Chan called. The flop came 6-6-2, rainbow. Chan checked.

"In that position, he's shown weakness before the flop and now he's showing weakness on the flop like he's ready to surrender, "Williamson said. "I have to bet. I make a stabbing bet to find out where he was. I probably bet $30,000-$35,000, about half the pot. I just wanted to find out where he was at, just in case he had A-K-Q-2 double-suited. Sometimes you wake up with a hand like that. I didn't want to lose all my chips. Johnny smooth-calls again."

Fourth street came an offsuit 8, eliminating the chance of a flush, which is an important consideration in Omaha because much of the strategy in the game involves betting on draws. Chan checked.

"Now, though, the alarm's already gone off," Williamson said. "I said, `There's something wrong about this hand.' I checked behind him."

The river came a jack of diamonds.

"Instead of checking there, Johnny makes a mid-sized bet _ about $50,000 into a $110,000 pot _ that forced me to call with two kings. He had two aces."

"He knew it was the best hand and he trapped me into the last bet because he under bet the pot," Williamson said.

"He knew if he made a big, big bet, I was gone. But he knew I was forced to call a mid-sized bet on the river. He had me so confused in the hand that I really didn't know where I was at.

"I wouldn't have been so creative at that stage of the tournament with aces. But now, to think at the higher level, I've played that hand that way several time since."

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TABLE TALK

Double-suited: Your four hole cards include two cards of one suit and two cards of another suit.

Smooth-call: To match a bet or raise with a strong hand as a way of enticing additional action.

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Steve Rosenbloom is a sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the author of the new book "The Best Hand I Ever Played," now available in bookstores. He can be reached at srosenbloom@tribune.com.

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