A Basic Overview of the Strategic Elements of Oasis Poker

With casino poker games, there are some similar themes that come up across some of the titles. However, being able to break down a specific game into its elements is what separates the hobbyist players from the experts, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do with Oasis Poker here. What we have to break down in this situation is the two decisions that you make in this game: the pre-draw and post-draw decisions. We’ll start with the pre-draw decision to even play the hand in the first place.

As a general rule, you will never draw more than one card in this game. Drawing one card costs you one bet the same size as your ante, drawing two cards costs you two bets the same size as your ante, and drawing three cards costs you three times your ante. When you commit two or more times your ante, you are putting yourself in a situation where you can never earn back the money you’re putting into that draw, so it doesn’t make sense. Along these lines, there are only a few times where it makes sense to draw one.

If you have four to a straight flush or royal flush, then you should always go with the draw because of the increased payouts for making these hands. Four to a flush without a pair is also a draw, and so is four to an open-ended straight draw. However, if you have four to a gutshot straight with no pair, you should raise if at least four of your cards are higher than the dealer’s card. Similarly, you should draw to four to a flush with a low pair, breaking up the pair, if the pair is lower than the dealer’s card and at least three of your drawing cards are higher than the dealer’s card.

In the post-draw scenario, you’ll have to evaluate the situation based on the five cards in your hand and the dealer’s up card. If you have a pair or more, you’ll always raise with no exceptions. Along similar lines, you’ll always fold with ace-queen high or worse. With ace-king high, it can go either way, and you’ll have to make the best decision you can based on the cards that you have and the card the dealer is showing. It’s possible to really break this situation down, but it’s a minority of the time that you’ll face this decision.