Omaha - hands, hints and history

RustySpoon

I tried my hand last night at penny poker high omaha, and quite liked what i saw. Made all of $2.62 on stars :rolleyes: i know this playing at low limits can be just a case of call, call get lucky but what i would like to know is:

Who on here plays it?
Where is a good site to play?
What would you consider a good starting hand?
Any other tips?

careca

I've played a fair bit recently on PPP and its swings and roundabouts. It really is a great game with far more action than holdem but the variance can be killing at times. I play 50/1, 1/2 and sometimes 2/4 PLO on PPP and you basically get the same group of players all the time.

My advice would be to stay at the lower limits for as long as possible and try to learn starting hands and so on. some people play with any pair and others think that AAxx is unbeatable and will call off all their chips pre and post flop with it. Also its vital to be able to tell straight off what the nuts is (are) as a lot of times the nuts will be out there (especially with 9 players).

One other thing, which I will probably get lambasted here for, is not to raise too much preflop until you get the hang of it, as more often than not the best hand going in wont win.

Finally, put some good player notes together as you can quite quickly tell the players who haven't a clue and those that will chase draws as opposed to those who only bet the big hands. Course this applies to all forms of poker.

Off topic: Anyone know who jammyhoor is on boards . He gave me dogs abuse on Friday night on PPP for no apparent reason !!! Most of it was good natured, but how he sodomised my dead dog I'll never know He says he plays the fitz and knows me ???????????????

RoundTower

I've played a fair bit recently on PPP and its swings and roundabouts. It really is a great game with far more action than holdem but the variance can be killing at times. I play 50/1, 1/2 and sometimes 2/4 PLO on PPP and you basically get the same group of players all the time.

My advice would be to stay at the lower limits for as long as possible and try to learn starting hands and so on. some people play with any pair and others think that AAxx is unbeatable and will call off all their chips pre and post flop with it. Also its vital to be able to tell straight off what the nuts is (are) as a lot of times the nuts will be out there (especially with 9 players).

One other thing, which I will probably get lambasted here for, is not to raise too much preflop until you get the hang of it, as more often than not the best hand going in wont win.

Don't play too many hands preflop until you get used to the game, but raise a lot. If "more often than not the best hand going in wont win" then you can be forgiven for occasionally raising without the best hand. Raise with hands like 9876, TT98, etc, especially in late position, especially double suited, but fold your JJ26 and 66A4s until you are more used to the game. Once you've played 100,000 hands, or whatever you can get in on the Internet in 24 hours these days, then play every hand as if it were aces in holdem.

The reason you shouldn't raise preflop too much in careca's school of thought is that very often you will get it all in preflop, lose and sit there thinking "oh there must have been a better spot to get all my chips in". You will then find yourself disheartened and want to give up poker. If this is the case, then Omaha may not be for you.

Imposter

I've been playing quite a bit of .50/1 PLO lately on PS, GamingClub and Party/Empire. There seems to be more guys who know what they're doing on party!

The thing to remember with starting hands is you want as many options as possible to make a decent hand. In full games playing for a flush without at least a K high flush is asking for trouble. Playing hands with 3 to a straight and a pair are also good I find. If you are lucky a low flush might win but don't be betting big (doing so = a bluff as you'll probably only be called by a better hand) or calling big bets with it.

The most important thing though is betting. Don't min bet a good hand after the flop (or on turn/river). Bet the pot or nearly the pot. Chances are they'll be someone with minimum of 8 outs playing the hand (especailly at lower levels). Make them pay. Also you are also never that far behind preflop but beware of reraises as it'll more than likely be an all-in on the flop if not preflop.

Hectorjelly

Only draw to the nuts. Drawing to a king high flush is suicide.

Lafortezza

Make sure you have the bankroll for it. Omaha can be alot swingier than hold'em. 30 to 40 times the buy-in is recommended if you are taking is seriously. So if you're playing the lowest $25 tables on Party say, you should have between $700 and $1000.

Doc Farrell

wow, a lot of excellent advice here. if you are truely a newbie at the game I recommend printing out the above posts and studying them. all you need is in those paragraphs.
if ur brutal please join me in the low limit games on PPP. if you're half good stay away!

one final word, if ur in a hurry for action play single table tournies for a dollar. Omaha takes many hours and involves laying down huge hands. its the easiest card game of all to lose everything. apart from strip poker.

cheers, and good luck, d.

Lafortezza

Doc Farrell wrote:

Omaha takes many hours and involves laying down huge hands. its the easiest card game of all to lose everything. cheers, and good luck, d.

I'd NL hold'em cash games are worse than PL Omaha for losing your bankroll. As with everything in poker it's all relative. You have to realize that like any poker game it take a bit of time to get in the rhythm of a game and figure out what's a good or bad hand. In some Omaha games a Q high flush or top 2 pair can be consistant winners, mostly not.
I think there's some NL Omaha on some site whose name escapes me atm, now the variance in that game would be savage!

RoundTower

Hectorjelly wrote:

Only draw to the nuts. Drawing to a king high flush is suicide.

Occasionally you will have something like bottom set and a Q high flush draw against an obvious straight, and headsup you will have to call. But in general you would like to have a lot of different cards that give you the nuts.

Hectorjelly

RoundTower wrote:

Occasionally you will have something like bottom set and a Q high flush draw against an obvious straight, and headsup you will have to call. But in general you would like to have a lot of different cards that give you the nuts.

In the first case you would call because you have a set, not because you have a flush draw.

RustySpoon

Thanks for all the tips, think i will play a bit more over the next few days and see how i fare. What are your favourite starting hands?
I was thinking that a suited ace/rag with a high pair (with neither card the same suit as the ace) would be nice as you've got the nut flush draw and possibilities of the house.

RoundTower

Hectorjelly wrote:

In the first case you would call because you have a set, not because you have a flush draw.

No - you might fold the set, but call because you have the set and the flush draw, even though you may have only one nut out. And I'm talking about a situation where you have a set, but are definitely behind, and need to improve to win.