Omaha Poker Strategy
Thoughts on Omaha/8 - Part 4
by: Mark Tenner and Lou Krieger©
This is our fourth and final piece in this short series about Omaha/8. We hope we’ve included something of interest for everyone: Omaha/8 newbies as well as seasoned veterans. Because the first three articles in this series approached the game conceptually, we thought we’d get down to the nitty-gritty and end our series with some very specific tips that you might use the next time you play.
Common Omaha/8 errors and traps
Praying ¾ and playing ¾ for runner-runner: You have a premium starting hand, catch a bad flop, and call a bet hoping to catch a turn card that will give you a draw to the river. When you do this, you are living on hope, and hope is the death of many Omaha/8 bankrolls. Let your opponent try to catch runner-runner ¾ essentially a parlay where one is looking to pick up a draw to another draw ¾ because plays like this are very bad news.
Drawing for a high hand when three low cards flop: When three low cards flop and you have naught but a draw to a high hand ¾ and draws in Omaha/8 include flopping middle and bottom set ¾ you are chasing half the pot, but the cost to draw is the same as if you were chasing the entire enchilada. It’s OK to see the turn if you flopped top set or have a draw to the nut flush, but even these hands ought to be pitched some of the time.
Failure to value bet: When you fail to value bet the river, you can wind up leaving money on the table. Value betting the river is revenue neutral much of the time. You’ll bet, someone else calls, and it’s not much different than it would be if your opponent came out betting and you called him. But by betting you’ll attract some calls from players who hold lesser hands and would have gladly checked it down on the river. On other occasions you’ll bet and an opponent will raise, and when that happens you can usually toss your cards away. Because most opponents raise on the turn, a river raise is fairly uncommon and usually signifies a miracle card for the raiser.
CLICK
HERE TO PLAY ONLINE POKER NOW FOR REAL CASH!
Draws and traps to avoid: Here are some of the draws you ought to avoid and some trap hands you need to be on the lookout for:
Top and bottom pair.
Third best flush.
Second best straight.
Second best low hand.
K-Q-Q-x unsuited, and similar holdings.
J-J-T-x unsuited, and similar holdings.
7-6-5-4 suited or unsuited.
6-5-4-3 suited or not.
Some miscellaneous tips: Here are some miscellaneous tips to improve your Omaha/8 game. They are covered in more detail elsewhere in our book, but we’ve listed them here, so you can access all of them in one place.
If you’re playing $10-$20 Omaha/8 or lower, after the flop you
should generally draw only to the nuts or have multiple, high quality
draws.
If you’ve been dealt A-3 or 3-2 with nothing else of real quality,
you ought to throw it away if you’re in early position. In late
position, A-3 is almost always playable, but 3-2 is not.
While late position allows you to play more hands, middle cards,
such as 9-8-7 ¾ particularly hands with nines in them ¾ should not
be played.
When you’ve made a nut low on the flop and are sure that you’re
going to be quartered, you have our permission to muck your hand,
particularly when you have no back up to protect you against getting
counterfeited, and no possibilities of making a high winning hand.
If you’re holding A-2-K-Q, it may look good if the flop is 6-5-4,
but if you suspect that one of your opponents also has an A-2 in
his hand, the best you can hope for if there are three others in
the pot with you is that you’ll get your money back. It’s sort of
like, “Heads they win, tails you tie,” and that’s not a rosy picture,
is it?
On the river, you can raise if you’re holding a nut low when it’s
four handed, but just call if you’re playing three handed.
When you’re in the cutoff seat or on the button in a pot where no
one has come to play, either raise or release. Do not call.
High hands with no low possibilities do well in heads-up play, three
handed play, and pots where many players take the flop. When there
are a gaggle of players already in the pot, thus indicating that
many low cards are already in play and that the deck is rich in
high cards, you should raise with your good high hands.
In multiway pots, early position strength should be bet because
you’d like to attract paying customers. Deception is unimportant.
When your opponents see the flop, many of them will find any possible
excuse to call and see the turn ¾ and the river too.
If a player in early position bets into a raiser, do not call with
anything other than the very best of flop fits. In this situation
it’s really OK to throw your hand away.
An ace is the most important card in Omaha/8. Next in importance
is a deuce. Nine is the worst card, and if you hang around an Omaha/8
table long enough, you’ll find that nines, eights, and sevens appear
in more losing hands than any other cards.
According to World Series of Poker bracelet winner and Omaha/8 expert
Linda Johnson, 6-5-4-3 is the worst starting hand combination that
most Omaha/8 players consider a good hand, and one they will play
on a regular basis.
The flush factor: In a 10-handed game, you’ll be dealt a suited
or double suited hand 70 percent of the time. So will your opponents,
so when you do draw to a flush, be certain it stands a good chance
of winning the pot, or at least the high end of it, if you make
it.
When playing heads-up, any hand with two unpaired low cards is playable.
It takes a bigger hand to call a raise than it does to raise in
the first place. And it takes a bigger hand to overcall than to
be the first caller.
World Series of Poker Omaha/8 champion Steve Badger says that in
Omaha/8, “…you can get by on a smaller bankroll because the game
is more profitable than hold’em since there are more weak players
playing poorly.”
Although many players think of Omaha/8 as a game of draw-outs, it’s
worth remembering that seven-ninths, or 77 percent, of your hand
is known on the flop.
The river card is the least important card in Omaha/8. All of the
important action takes place prior to the river. If you have the
best of it before the river, you’ll win more often than not. Get
your money into the pot when you have the best of it, and save your
bets when you don’t. While that sounds simple and obvious, many
players do not follow that axiom.
High stakes poker player Annie Duke’s list of top mistakes in Omaha:
Playing stranded pairs. Hands like K-K-8-4 are unplayable, but hands
like Ks-Kc-2s-3c and K-K-Q-Q can be played.
Overestimating the value of small pairs, deuces through eights,
since these sets become very vulnerable when hit.
Overestimating the value of A-2.
Overestimating the value of A-A.
Underestimating the value of big connecting cards, because you cannot
get trapped with them.
That’s it for our series on Omaha/8. If you’re an Omaha/8 player we hoped you picked up something of value from this series or at least reinforced some thoughts and concepts you hadn’t considered for a while. If you’re new to the game, or never played Omaha/8 but are thinking of giving it a shot, we hope you found this series helpful. Now just find a game and give it a go.
|
