Omaha...the game, not the city...

Omaha H/L is a very strange game at times, it can be quite interesting and fun. For those who don't play it often it can also be quite confusing. I have tried many times to explain the nuances of this game to new players with a complete lack of success. One of the problems people have is they have been playing holdem and trying to play tight. Playing tight in Omaha is a sure was to lose, albeit slowly. In Omaha you usually have a lot more outs than you do in holdem. The picture below is a good example, I think, of why you have to chase and why you have to also use pot odds to win.



As you can see here the play in seat 9 flopped a set, the player in seat 1 flopped the nut low draw and I, in seat 3, flopped 2 pair I was also drawing to a decent low, a straight . After the flop any 2, 5, 6 or 7 would give me a straight and even a straight flush was possible with 2c, 7c on turn and river (though not very likely). The player in seat 9 bet 240, seat 1 called. At this point I figured the player in seat 9 had flopped a set (and I was right) and had put the player in seat 1 on a draw of some sort as he had been calling on alot of awkward draws. I made the call knowing I had quite a few outs, I just had to hope the player in seat 9 didn't fill up.

On the turn he once again bet 240 and seat 1 and I both called, now getting good pot odds as well as implied odds.

The river, there is my key card! the 5 gave me the nut straight so I knew that unless seat 9 had gotten lucky and filled up I had him beat now, I also had seat 1 beat no matter what he was drawing to. Sure enough seat 9 bets 240 again and seat 1 raises all in, once the all in bet was in I knew I was losing the low but I also felt confident that I had the high hand covered and made the call. Seat 9 called also presuming his trip 4s were the best hand, not even seeing the straight out there. This is a common mistake among holdem players coming to omaha for the first time of only playing rarely.

If there are 3 cards to a low straight on the board they fail to see it or count it as in holdem you probably would have folded those low cards preflop and therefor missed your straight. In omaha, however, you often hold these kinds of hands to the flop unless there is a large raise in front of you because having 4 cards...anything can happen and you can hope to get the low half of the pot if nothing else. Having said all of this you can see from the picture that the player in seat 9 made a critical error by calling the river, the best on flop and turn were good bets but kept seat 1 and myself priced in to see the next card. Seat 1 and I ended up splitting both the main and side pots and seat 9 went home early. This was a key hand in tourney as I ended up coasting my way to take 2nd without any trouble.


One thing to remember about omaha is that you MUST use 2 cards from your hand and 3 from the board to make your best 5 card hand. Too often in live games I see new players forget this and at showdown blithely flip up their Ac5h2d8s declaring, "Nut Flush!" when there are 4 clubs on board...unfortunately for them they don't have a flush at all, just A high. Keep this fact in mind and look at ALL of the many possibilities when making decisions in omaha and you will do well, forget this fact and you will go home broke...whatever you do, don't be a seat 9 and miss the obvious, to me, straight on the board.

Another tip from your friendly neighborhood card shark.