Omaha Poker Blog

Some newbie tips scrounged up by Phaedrus75:

I have been trying to watch as many David Eistein Videos as time will allow on RPT. He is the site’s Omaha specialist. So far I have watched all the cash game videos and only a couple of tournament videos.

Whilst I still have not played any multi-table tournaments, I do note that David suggests a few things of relevance to this thread. From memory these are:

1. Don’t preflop raise (much if at all).

2. Don’t chase draws unless they are to the nuts

3. Occasionally he will play a Hi only hands but mostly he is playing start cards which allow for a scoop.

4. He says on numerous occasions that patience is even more important in Omaha than hold’em.

Now, for some of my own strategic throughts….

We know that in Holdem Tournaments GCI, Mzone, Inflection Point Play and Structured Hand Analysis govern pre flop play considerably, usually in the form of all in moves when the blinds are high.

However in Holdem, there can be a pretty big difference between pre flop hand strengths. Accordingly, when Harrington runs through his structured hand analysis in HOH V2, to show that pushing 10-8s is positive EV from Red M, much of the positive EV comes from fold equity.

As Raz correctly points out, there is much less difference in pre flop hand strength in Omaha which should mean that you will have less fold equity. Accordingly, shoving and pre flop agression from low M is unlikely to have the same effectiveness (this coming from a guy who has never played a tournament though so I really am only guessing here).

If that is the case that you have less fold equity, then it stands to reason that you need to have more patience.

Or otherwise, the kind of strategy in one of my previous threads called “Is this SNG strategy a Stitch up? would make even more sense in Omaha. That is, when you are short stacked, calling liberally makes alot of sense since you have no fold equity anyway and at least you are calling for a guaranteed big pot.

The above comes from zero experience so I am just putting it out there as a hypothetical which might spark a line of theory from more experienced O8 tournament players.

These are good, widely acknowledged Omaha starting hands for both games, and work in conjunction with the Hutchison points system. if you use Omaha Indicator Poker Calculator, they actually show both, and most times will be in concert with each other.

Omaha Hi/Lo

• Top 10:
  A-A-2-3 Double suited
  A-A-2-4 Double suited
  A-A-2-3 Suited
  A-A-2-5 Double suited
  A-A-2-4 Suited
  A-A-3-4 Double suited
  A-A-2-3 Non-suited
  A-A-2-2 Double suited
  A-A-3-5 Double suited
  A-A-2-6 Double suited
• Premium:
  A-A-2-x
  A-A-3-x
  A-2-3-x
  A-2-4-x
  A-2-x-x
  A-3-4-5
  A-A-x-x (one x < =8) including A-A-A-x(x < =8)
  A-3-K-K
• Strong:
  High Only, Playable (A-A-K-K, J-Q-K-A, 10-J-Q-K,etc)
  A-3-4-x
  2-3-4-x
  A-2-2-2
• Weak: The rest.

Omaha Hi

• Top 10:
  A-A-K-K double suited
  A-A-J-10, A-A-Q-J, A-A-K-Q double suited
  A-A-Q-Q double suited
  A-A-J-J double suited
  A-A-10-10 double suited
  A-A-9-9 double suited
  A-A-x-x double suited, double pair, x is not an Ace
  8-9-10-J, 9-10-J-Q, 10-J-Q-K double suited
  K-K-Q-Q at least one suited
  K-K-J-J at least one suited
• Premium:
  PAIR of ACES - A A x x
  PAIR of KINGS - K K x x
  HIGH PAIR and ACE SUITED - Qh Qs Ah x .. Jh Js Ad 6d
  HIGH PAIR and OTHER PAIRs - J J 7 7 .. Q Q 4 4
  HIGH PAIR and TWO or more OTHER HANDS - J J 9 7 .. K 10 10 8 (2 gaps straight, Suited)
  ACE and HIGH CARD SUITED - AK(S), AQ(S), AJ(S), A10(S)
• Strong:
  Other High Pair Hands …
  HIGH CARDS SUITED - KQ(S), KJ(S), K10(S), QJ(S), Q10(S), J10(S)
  MIDDLE PAIRS - 99, 88, 77, 66. For example, 9977, 8866
  ACE and MIDDLE CARD SUITED - A9(S), A8(S), A7(S) A6(S)
  MIDDLE SUITED CONNECTORS - 10 9(S), 98(S), 87(S), 76(S)
  ANY FOUR HIGH CARDS - K Q J 10 .. A K J 10 .. Q Q 10 10 .. A J J 10 .. (includes two high pair)
  THREE HIGH CARDS with ACE SUITED - Ah Qs 10h x .. Ah Ks Jd 5h
  THREE HIGH CARDS and ACTIVE SIDECARD - K Q J 8 .. Ah Qs 10d 4h
  THREE CARD STRAIGHT w a PAIR - 7 6 5 5 .. 9 8 7 8 .. 6 5 4 6
  THREE CARD STRAIGHT and an ACE SUITED - 8h 7s 6d Ah .. Ah 9s 8d 7h
  CLOSE GROUP with 2 gaps or less - J 10 7 6 .. 8 7 6 5 .. 9 8 5 4.. 9 7 6 4 .. J 10 8 6
• Weak: The rest.

Ok glad I have some company here. I have played a lot of Omaha since last week when they sent me this thing. I am sure its not doing so good for my ROI, but I may just be holding my own about now.

Funny, I went back to play NLHE for a game or two and found it “simple” as in I didn’t have to think nearly as much as in HL.

I have cashed in a couple Omaha tournaments, but have been frustrated at the learning curve. It is very difficult to put players on hands when 4 hole cards are played, but you do have to watch for draws and just assume they they hit if a draw shows on the board, then check/call.

The only time I was able to call my opponents hand in O8 is if he is holding the A2 combination, and I use the profiling for that as well, becuase tight players dont seem to enter many pots without A2.

Scooping in O8 is CRITICAL, so you need to be drawing to both sides. The only time I don’t play that way is when the I am ITM or stack deficient and I will shove with a HIGH-ONLY hand. I cant say it is right, but I am trying to learn still.

I have run into a lot of players that just absolutely knew what they were doing, and 3 times now, (after I was eliminated) I kept the table running and reran the tournament on Poker Stars visual replayer, investigating every hand they played. This is very educational for sure.

I have also played in a few .10/.25 ring games to some success with limited knowledge. I once scooped a great pot from a dude who raised EP with 7773s, which I already know is one of the weakest caliber hands in O8, so I do know there already worse players out there than myself.

I dont find the choice of games to vast at Stars and FT, so I can sympathize with you guys who are playing on other sites, and envision the situation there even worse. With a little patience though the sng’s do fill up, but you sometimes have to sit first and wait 5 minutes.

All in all so far, a VERY interesting game that demands attention at the table, you can’t really sleepwalk through this game.