Those with experience playing Texas hold’em know that when a pair appears on the board amid the community cards, that doesn’t always mean someone automatically has trips. For example, if two players see a flop of J-6-6, neither is probably going to suspect the other has trips since the chances of flopping two sixes when holding a six in one’s hand is so small. It happens, of course, but by no means should the players always expect someone to turn over trips in this case.
Read the full story

Poker players who make the move from hold’em over to Omaha often discover early on that reading the board isn’t necessarily as simple as might appear at first glance. Even experienced Omaha players sometimes make mistakes when trying to read the board. And, as we all know, such mistakes can prove especially costly if they come at inopportune moments.
Read the full story

Whether we are talking about pot-limit Omaha (high only) or Omaha high-low, it is of particular importance when selecting starting hands to try to play hands in which all four hole cards are coordinated or “working together.”
Read the full story

Yes, it’s true. One curious facet of pot-limit Omaha is the fact that it is occasionally strategically sound to fold the best hand. Seems to go against intuition, I know, but there are times in PLO when it is not such a good idea to proceed with your hand after the flop even if at the time you hold what is undoubtedly the best possible hand.

There are a couple of situations where having the nuts on the flop is not to be envied. One is perhaps more easily recognizable than the other, that is, the situation where you flop the nut straight with no redraws, and are facing heavy betting from one or two opponents, at least one of whom very likely has flopped the same straight with redraws to a better hand.

For example, you are holding Jc-8c-7d-6d and the flop comes 10h-9h-2s. Congratulations, you’ve flopped the nuts. The problem is, there aren’t any possible turn and river cards that can improve your hand by the river. You’re best for now, but there are lots of dangerous cards that could come that would make things uncomfortable for you. Any heart completes a possible flush. If the board pairs, you have a full house to worry about. And if any eight, jack, queen, or king comes, now you no longer have the best possible straight, either!

So you lead out with a pot-sized bet, then your lone opponent reraises pot behind you. Now what? If you had two hearts in your hand, you might continue with this hand, but without any redraws, you’re very likely just playing for half of the pot. In other words, every chip you put in from this point forward you are hoping to get back, plus half of whatever was in there before the flop. In fact, you shouldn’t have led out, but checked in order to try to keep the pot small, as this is definitely not a spot in which you want to be committing a lot of chips.

The second example of a time when folding the nuts maybe is less apparent is when you have flopped top set with no redraws and no real chance to improve to anything but a full house or quads, yet you are facing a lot of heat from a single opponent who has a huge “wrap” straight draw and a flush draw. In this case, you could well be a big underdog in the hand, despite the fact that you have a huge advantage on the flop.

Here’s an illustration of that unique situation: you hold Qc-Jc-7h-7d and the flop comes 7s-6s-2h, giving you top set. Your opponent, however, is in late position and is betting heavily with his 9c-8s-5s-4h. He’s flopped a huge “wrap” straight draw as well as a spade flush draw, and is in fact a 61% favorite to win this hand by the river. You can gamble here if you like, but do so knowing that it is quite possible you aren’t getting your money in good.

The fact is, if you play with some discretion, you’ll discover there are going to be many better spots in which to get your chips in the middle than these two in which you’ve flopped the current nuts.

As you well know, Omaha High-Low is a game in which you are hoping to win both the high half and the low half of the pot. In other words, the object of the game is really to “scoop” pots and not simply play for half of them.

That being said, there are some situations where it is not such a bad idea to go ahead and play so-called “one-way” hands, that is, hands that really only have potential to win either the high or the low half of the pot. Let’s identify a couple of situations when that is the case, one occurring before the flop, and one after some or all of the community cards have been dealt.

Most good starting hands in Omaha High-Low contain an ace in them, since the ace can be played both as a high card and as a low card, therefore increasing the chance that your hand is going to be competitive for both halves of the pot. However, it is sometimes okay to play a hand with four high cards (ten or higher), meaning you haven’t any chance whatsoever at making a low, but you still have a chance at scooping the entire pot.

How does this work? Well, sometimes no low is possible because of the way the community cards come out. Since in Omaha you must use exactly two of one’s hole cards matched with three community cards to make the best five-card poker hand, that means there has to be three unpaired cards eight or lower on the board for anyone to qualify for a low hand. When no low is possible, the high hand wins the entire pot.

If you are in late position with your four high cards, say K-Q-J-10, and you see a number of players limping in to see the flop, you might want to limp in as well since odds are most of those players are holding low cards, thereby reducing the odds low cards will come out on the flop, turn, and river. Some players even advocate raising here to build the pot, since if it does happen that no low is made, you have a good chance at winning a nice-sized pot. Barring any knowledge of anyone’s hole cards, the odds of a hand not producing a qualifying low is about 35%.

Another situation when playing for half of the pot is warranted is when you find yourself up against two or more opponents and you know for certain you have the best possible high hand. That means that while the other players might be splitting the low, you stand to win the entire high hand for yourself, and with three or more of you putting money into the middle, that means profit for you.

The split pot version of Omaha poker, known as “Omaha High-Low” or “Omaha Eight-or-Better,” is usually played as a fixed limit game, although lately the pot-limit version has begun to be played, too, especially online. The pot-limit betting format introduces a few twists into strategy that make that game different from fixed-limit Omaha High-Low, but a lot of the advice still carries over. In these articles, I’m going to be speaking primarily of the fixed-limit game, although as I say, some of the tips may well apply also to pot-limit Omaha High-Low.
Read the full story

As far as a lot of seasoned pot-limit Omaha players are concerned, the flop is where the game really begins. That’s one reason why PLO is sometimes called a “flop game” — because so much is affected on the flop with regard to hand values and subsequent action.
Read the full story

You hear pot-limit Omaha described in various ways. It’s an “action game,” meaning it tends to encourage players to mix it up, play more hands, and not be content with folding. It’s a “drawing game,” meaning it is often not until the turn or river cards are dealt that players finally make their hands.
Read the full story

Among the many factors you should be considering before the flop are your position at the table relative to the button, your starting cards, and the stack sizes around the table. Of course, you’re also paying attention to the playing styles of your opponents, as you would in any poker game. But let’s talk briefly about these three factors and their significance when it comes to pre-flop decisions in pot-limit Omaha.
Read the full story

Omaha can be a complicated game to figure out sometimes. The fact that players are dealt four hole cards and can use any two of those four to make a hand with three of the community cards means there are many more possible hands to consider — both for oneself and for one’s opponents — than is the case in hold’em.
Read the full story