Omaha Poker Blog

Just a couple of weeks ago, Thang Luu, took down more than 900 other Omaha 8 players for his SECOND CONSECUTIVE gold bracelet. That’s probably two more bracelets than I would ever have in a lifetime, and he got them in two years? That’s why I call sick. And guess what, he came in second the year before his first. (more…)

Watch Mike Matusow at Full Tilt Poker get involved in a pot here where even though he has the nut low, it is a losing hand situation as he has to share the low with a single opponent, and has NO chance of winning the high hand.

One of the reasons you always want to be playing for both sides of the pot in Omaha high low, is because you may find yourself playing for a fraction of the pot, when you might have been anticipating winning at least half of the pot.

So many players play A2 hands, without regard for their other two cards to the point of playing themselves out of the tournament or losing money in a ring game, simply because they don’t realize that other players are playing the same cards, but with better potential for the high side of the pot as well. It’s true that A2 of the best regards to have for the low side, but if you call a lot of raising pre-flop and the flop doesn’t work for you - it’s a useless hand.

It isn’t going to work for you all the time if you don’t know how to control the pot size. This hand can also be useless, even if you are declared one of the winners. In particular, it is often a fight for a fraction of the pot when you are up against multiple opponents. Let’s say for example you hold Ac, 2h, Jh, 9s, on the button and you see the flop with three other opponents of 6d, 3d, and 8d. Against three other opponents, you can pretty much be assured with a flushed flop like this that you are instantly out of the running for the winning the high hand.

Since you do have the nut low however, a lot of players will think this is a good flop with your hole cards. That simply isn’t true, because this hand is only going to involve difficult decisions from here to the river, if you don’t get out of the hand altogether.

If you are in a sit and go tournament, I can assure you, that you are likely to lose money on this hand if you stay involved whenever you are in a situation like this. The reason for this is that although you may win the low side on the occasion, you can virtually never be putting money into this pot with the expectation of scooping. Scooping is the key to playing profitable Omaha high low in ring and tournament games.

So if you can’t scoop a pot, you are resigned to be playing for half the pot or less. It’s going to surprise you to know how many times, you will actually be playing for less than half the pot. Keep in mind here that on this hand in particular, there is a flushed board, so you would also likely expect some aggressive betting - in particular on the turn and river making this pot relatively huge. Think about it – you are going to have to commit more and more of your chips on the premise that you think you’re going to win half this pot with the nut low. That is a losing omaha hi-lo poker strategy, and you must have the discipline to throw away hands in this situation.

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.