Omaha Hands To Steer Away From
The hands that end up to be the worst starting hands aren’t the ones people think they are. The worst hands tend to be the hands that look good but by the showdown they are second best and cost you a great deal of chips. This section is designed to teach you the concepts of the worst hands not necessarily list them all off. Most pots in Omaha are won by stronger hands like nut straights, nut flushes, full houses, and some triples. With so many hole cards at your disposal, it’s easy to make phenomenal poker hands but there are some hands you should steer away from.
With this being said, the worst hands often don’t work together to give you multiple hands. A good example of this would be 2h-4c-8d-Qs. It’s apparent just by looking at it that the hand won’t draw a flush and if it is a straight it will most likely not be the nut straight. These hands are easily seen before the flop though and can be avoided. Another kind of hand that can cause issues is a hand that is kind of coordinated, however, they just appear stronger then they are. Though it does have potential to make a good hand, once again, it’s not likely that it will be the nut hand which is what’s needed at the showdown. For example, if your hole is Kh-Js-6s-6h and the flop’s Ac-Qc-Th, it gives your opponent a good chance of hitting a nut flush or full house.
Another dangerous type of hand to watch out for is un-suited high cards like Kc-Ks-2h-7d. With the strength of the kings being so tempting it can cause problems because you will most likely not be able to call large bets after the flop. For example, if the flop came Jh-Kh-Qs, you may already be beaten and if not there are several cards that could come on the turn to kill your hand. If you managed to draw a full house to save your hand, in the process, your opponents will probably make it very expensive to do so.
Some hands that should be absolutely avoided in Omaha are uncoordinated hands with middle pairs, straight potential with large gaps (5-6-8-J), and unsuited high cards with a low card (2-T-K-A). Although it does have some potential post flop, it usually can’t be played in a raise pre-flop.
By avoiding these types of hands and playing the potential ones for low cost, it will save you a headache from your hand becoming only the second best hand by the showdown.