10 Important Things to Remember when Playing Omaha Poker

Omaha and Texas Holdem have many common characteristics. The flop, turn and river are dealt in the same way and the order of betting is also the same. However, holding 4 hole cards instead of 2 requires some strategy changes in order to beat this poker variant. This article looks at 10 important things to remember when playing Omaha Poker – to improve your profits today.

Omaha Poker #1 – 3 From The Board And 2 From Your Hand.

Many players new to Omaha make a basic error in how the best hand is determined at showdown. You must always use 2 (and only 2) cards from your own hand, together with 3 cards from the community card board. Memorize this rule early to prevent expensive errors reading the board.

Omaha Poker #2 – Play Coordinated Starting Hands

Since you can only use 2 of your 4 hole cards to form a hand at showdown the ‘strength’ of starting hands can be measured in terms of the number of 2-card combinations that you hold. The best 4-card starting hands actually include 6 playable combinations, while a high-pair hand with no ‘help’ from the other cards really only has 1 combination with the potential to win a pot.

Omaha Poker #3 – Be Cautious With High Pairs

In Holdem games an over-pair to the board is usually a strong holding. In Omaha this is not the case. Since all players have so many combinations of starting cards the hands shown down are much stronger (on average) than in a Holdem game. This means that high-pairs with no ‘backup’ are actually very vulnerable after the flop. Play these hands with caution when the betting gets heavy.

Omaha Poker #4 – The ‘Size’ Of The Game

Pot-limit Omaha is said to play twice as ‘big’ at any given buy-in level, than the equivalent Holdem game. The number of draws and re-draws mean that the pot size will often be very large – and the natural swings also large. If you are used to playing No-Limit Holdem with $1 / $2 blinds then starting Omaha at 50c / $1 is a good idea – at least until you build experience in this game.

Omaha Poker #5 – Playing Draws

The key to Omaha is to avoid drawing to non-nut hands. Again the combinations of starting hands means that there will often be many draws out against you. Drawing to the 3rd nut flush (for example) can be a very expensive error by the time you find out you are actually behind. Never draw to flushes or straights on paired boards unless you can see a showdown very cheaply indeed.

Omaha Poker #6 – Bluff Less / Semi-Bluff More

With so many possible hands fitting the flop, turn and river Omaha is not a game for ‘pure bluffs’. Make sure your bluffs are made with outs, particularly those to nut hands. This will give and extra way to win the pot those times your opponents call you.

Omaha Poker #7 – Raise A Variety Of Hands

One of the worst errors your opponents will make in Omaha is to raise only with aces. When using pot-limit betting this tells the table what they hold, at the same time as giving excellent implied odds for everyone to call. You must balance raises by including medium rundown hands such as 8-9-10-J and other ‘double suited’ hands to ensure that your raises can not be read.

Omaha Poker #8 – Position Is More Important

Position goes up in value in pot-limit game when compared to a no-limit game. The reason for this is that there is likely to be betting across several different streets, giving your good position more time to be of use. In no-limit games a large over-bet can often end a hand immediately, where in pot limit this usually only happens when 2 players enter a ‘raising war’ with each other.

Omaha Poker #9 – Stack Size Determines Your Play

Deep stacked pot-limit Omaha and ‘shallow stacked’ play are completely different strategic battles. With a deep stack you should look to gain position on an equally deep stacked, but weak, opponent. Your game plan can then centre on working towards a situation where you can take this opponent’s entire stack in a single hand. With shallow stacks you should wait for a premium starting hand and try to get ‘all in’ before the flop. Now additional betting by deeper stacks may offer your hand some protection.

Omaha Poker #10 – Beware Of The ‘Nut Peddlers’!

Omaha will attract many ‘nut peddlers’. These opponents will see a few cheap flops with premium hands and generally fold to any betting. They are waiting to flop the nuts (or a strong hand with some good nut draws) before committing any chips. Make sure you identify these players – steal small pots as often as possible from them, however when they commit large bets to the pot you’ll need to fold your hand fast.