Omaha Hi/Lo

This section is for some basic tips to help new players get started quicker and increase their winnings. Understanding how to drive the pot is important as it can add to your bankroll rapidly. Since loose games in Omaha are mostly about having nut hands you always want to look for having it. Not only because you have the best hand rather than the second best, but because you can manipulate the pot more. This means when you have the nut hand make the best of it and try to get as much money in the pot as possible. If you don’t then just play for as cheap as you can. Since nut hands and nut draws can drive the betting use it to your advantage. To kind of give you an example of how this works lets look at KK versus JJ in regards to driving the pot. Let’s say the board shows KQQ7 after the turn versus the JQQ7. As you can see, the difference between the situations is huge and it allows for the KK to drive the pot more epically if bad players are chasing Q’s.

Another way to help drive the pot is to use cooperation with other players. By that I mean cooperation lies in cooperative betting. For example, if you have the nut low after the river and you are the second person to act if the first player raises you should call rather than re-raise. By doing so, the other players behind you are more likely to call. Whereas if you re-raise it often causes the players behind you to drop out and that means less money in the pot. However, if the first player to act doesn’t raise then you should raise causing the other players to chase the pot and throw in more. This kind of cooperation will allow the pot to be driven higher.

Another tip is don’t let random acts of bad luck effect your good playing style. Since all poker has luck to some degree, some players will get a bad beat once and a while and change up their game play causing them to play worse. Since Omaha is mostly about mathematics, stick to the numbers they don’t lie. Don’t let a miracle one out river chase you away from the mathematics because the mathematics will more often than not pull you through.

Also, you always want to play for the nut hand. You might end up getting a high end straight on the flop. However, be cautious because it isn’t that hard for the board to turn up a few suited cards or a pair causing the nut hand to be a flush or full house and beat your straight. So, shoot for the nuts and remember that two pair and trips don’t win very much in Omaha.

This tip may seem odd to a new player but get caught bluffing every once in a while. You probably are wondering why would I want to do that? Because it will make you unpredictable and cause other players to limp in later on when you want the action.

Finally, when a person raises check their chips. Several players that are getting low on chips often rush and bet just to try to get all of their chips in for a all or nothing last hand. Even if that hand isn’t worth raising.