Omaha Hi/Lo

The problem a lot of Omaha players have, especially if they come from a Texas Hold’em background, is that Omaha is extremely situational. This means you have to play the situation and not the cards. A good way to look at this is in Texas Hold’em you can have pocket aces ten times in a row and most of the time they will win you the hand even if you don’t hit the third ace at all. Omaha is completely the opposite of that. In Omaha you can have double suited A-K A-K and you will never win a pot with it if the flop is always below 8.

This allows for a new kind of play that you may not be used to. It allows you to play any reasonable cards (like an A-4 8-9 double suited) pre-flop and end up with the nuts or the nut draw post flop. Since this makes the game all the more different you should concentrate on playing most of your good hands that actually have good flops straight forward. By doing this it will allow you to protect your hand while getting the maximum value out of the hand. The goal is if you have the nuts is to try to make the opponent make a mistake. Using a pot sized bet and causing your opponent to chase incorrect odds to draw out will increase your winnings.

Another thing you need to know is when to move wait and when to move hard on the flop. Since most of the big hands in Omaha are made between a strong hand, like a nut straight, versus a drawing hand. If you get lucky and hit a flop that gives both a straight and flush draw, you need to find a way to get your money in and get others in. If you think you’ve got the nuts make your opponent’s font out some money pre-flop because they will usually come along for the ride

One factor that isn’t as big in Omaha compared to other games is position. Granted you do what to know what it is and how you can use it to your advantage. When watching the action on the board you can use position as a bluffing opportunity. Like we discussed in the other guide you want to use semi bluffing and not all out bluffing. In the situation that there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of action you can usually make a hand like two pair seem like it’s a much better hand. In some cases a late position player may call with the intention of semi bluffing at the turn card if it looks like he could hit a draw, and use this to try to chase out other opponents if they check. However, they could also just be trying to trap players as well, so the golden rule here is to know your opponent. Occasionally you might want to try this tactic yourself to see if you can get it to work for you.

Another advantage to being in late position is it will allow you to read the situation and predict your opponent’s hands better. Let’s say the scenario is that three cards of the same suit are on the board creating a flush and you are only holding the ace of that suit. Granted you don’t have a flush and can’t get it, but you do know you have the ace they’re looking for. Let’s also say that one of your opponents bet and another re-raises. This should clue you in that the raiser is most likely to have the flush and probably with the king high and is trying to find your ace. Hopefully you have some kind of draw or two pair so it’s not just the ace your pushing, however if you do call and they put a smaller bet or check on the river, it’s possible for you to throw out a pot sized bet and steal the pot making them think that you have the ace high flush that you already know they don’t have.

Since there are so many bad players in Omaha, whereas by bad I mean they play every hand, be prepared for random things to happen. That way if you’re holding A-A and it shows A467 on the board and your opponent is check-raising it’s possible he’s playing a 5-8 or a 3-5. While some players play this hand regularly for the opportunity just as many try to represent this hand. This is a good strategy to use to mix up your play if used with care.

Finally if you can play Omaha with a good mind set towards the probabilities in the fact that you will be able to hit big hands often but you will sometimes up short and not change your style because of one hand, you should be able to bank some good money. This is due to the fact that Omaha creates huge pots since multiple players are limping in to see the flop and limping in to see if the turn pairs the board for them. If you happen to hit the nuts there’s a lot of dead money to be taken.