As regular readers know, I play all forms of poker, but my favorite poker form is pot-limit Omaha high, the four-card game that is the favorite of many of the world's best poker players. I wrote my first poker book in 1984, and Omaha was the subject. My book
Omaha Poker has been revised many times since then, and continues to sell. But a strange thing has happened in the last few months. Sales of this book have skyrocketed, and I believe the main reason is that new poker players who cut their teeth on no-limit hold'em are discovering how much more action there is in pot-limit Omaha. Nearly every poker player in Europe already knows this, and now mainstream America is finally finding out.
Pot-limit Omaha has more action than no-limit or pot-limit hold'em for these reasons:
1. The advantage of a good starting hand over an ordinary starting hand is a lot less. The edge of a top-quality hand in Omaha is less than 2-to-1, whereas in hold'em, it is around 4-to-1 for pair over pair, and a lot higher when you look at matchups like A-A against A-K. This smaller edge means that a player who wants to play a lot of starting hands - those action players around whom you can sometimes build a whole game - is much more likely to be roosting in an Omaha game, where the road uphill is not as steep. It also means that given there is some money in the pot at the start, several players often hold hands that all have a positive equity.
2. There are many more deals in Omaha in which two players both have excellent hands that they can legitimately play for their whole stack. The main reason for this is that drawing hands run so big that the best ones are favorites against a set that has nothing else to go with it. There also are a lot more set-over-set deals.
3. It is much harder to evaluate the quality of an Omaha starting hand, so many hands will be played by weaker players simply because they do not understand the game well enough to realize they are erring.
We Michigan players can see the difference between the amount of action in pot-limit Omaha compared with pot-limit hold'em very clearly, because we often play a game here known as "round by round." This means alternating one revolution of the button for pot-limit Omaha and then one revolution of the button for pot-limit hold'em. Despite the fact that Omaha is played with $5-$5 blinds and hold'em with $5-$10 blinds, from two-thirds to three-quarters of the swing in any given session comes in Omaha. Players in other states where they alternate games will tell you the same thing. It's no wonder a lot of hold'em players are taking up Omaha.
Here are some tips for success in pot-limit Omaha:
Omaha is a four-card game: Do not evaluate your hands by looking at just your two best cards. Even two aces is not a big hand if you do not have any nut-flush draws and face more than one opponent. Two kings that have nothing to go with them are worth a call in an unraised pot, but will likely have to flop a set to win, so aim to get in cheaply. Stay away from hands that are simply double-suited garbage. Non-nut flush draws are bad news in Omaha unless the rest of your hand is loaded with straight potential, and you flop enough hand to play just on the possible straights.
Omaha is a position game: In hold'em, a player will often make a deceptive check with a good hand because he thinks that giving a free card is not that risky. In Omaha, a player is terrified to give a free card, because there are so many more card combinations in this four-card game. Even a set of kings on a "safe" board of K-8-3 rainbow runs a risk by checking. If a card like a 10, 9, 7, or 6 gives the opponent a big straight draw with a flush draw, the set can become a slight underdog to the draw even with only one card to come. So, in a game in which the players understand the consequences of checking a good hand and thereby possibly allowing a free card, you will get a good view of your hand value when in late position. Preflop, it is hard to play too tight when you are up front.
Beware of overvaluing two aces: Yes, aces are a good hand, especially when suited with other cards in your hand, but they are only one pair. Playing aces too strongly preflop runs the risk of telling your opponents exactly what they have to beat. That will, of course, not hurt you if you can get all in preflop, but with a lot of money left, it puts you in a precarious situation. You want to protect your hand, but there is a pretty good chance that you are already beat, so you do not know whether to bet the flop or not. Especially in a money game, I suggest that you need to be conservative with aces.
Play your big draws strongly: Get away from the mentality of holding the best hand at some particular point in time during play and having that determine your betting. The best hand at the end is the one that is important, and a holding that has a serious chance to win by the river is usually worth betting. Perhaps in a cheap game you will not be able to run someone off a small set or top two pair, but once you get to $5-$5-$10 blinds, most of the players recognize that anything less than top set is a made hand that must worry when the betting gets strong. The higher the stakes, the stronger you can play your good drawing hands, because people in those games do fold non-nut made hands.
You do not need a big hand to bet, so be aggressive: A holding as weak as top pair can be worth betting when your opponents do not show signs of strength and the board is not too dangerous. A lot depends on the number of opponents and how many have already checked. There are many successful styles in Omaha, but the best players all know how to pick up a pot that has a "for sale" sign posted on it.
Bob Ciaffone has authored four poker books, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Poker. All can be ordered from Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons: e-mail [email protected]. His website is www.pokercoach.us, where you can get his rulebook, Robert's Rules of Poker, for free. Bob also has a website called www.fairlawsonpoker.org.
