Winning Omaha/8 Poker

Winning Omaha/8 Poker, written by top-notch Omaha/8 player Mark Tenner and prolific poker author Lou Krieger and published by ConJelCo, is helping to fill a void in the current poker literature. While tomes about Texas hold'em seem to be published with increasing regularity, books about other forms of poker, including those that deal with "the game of the future," as Omaha/8 has often been called, are far less prevalent.

While books such as Omaha Hi-Low Poker by Shane Smith, High-Low-Split Poker for Advanced Players by Ray Zee, Omaha Holdem Poker: The Action Game by Bob Ciaffone, Cappelletti on Omaha by Mike Cappelletti, and Championship Omaha by T.J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy are all excellent reads, little has been published recently about Omaha/8, and the growth of the game appears to have outpaced the literary knowledge base required to support and develop new players.

Omaha/8 is a fairly new game, arriving on the scene fewer than 25 years ago on the heels of its cousin, Texas hold'em. Omaha offered more action and excitement for many players than other forms of poker, and that's one of the reasons behind its rapid growth in popularity as a poker tournament offering in the United States and Europe, and as a cash game in most cardrooms and casinos.

The authors state, "There's a greater knowledge gap in Omaha than hold'em, if for no other reason than this: Hold'em's incredible popularity has spawned a cornucopia of 'how-to' and instructional books for anyone interested in learning to play well. But that's not the case with Omaha/8. Only a few instructional books exist, and none are recent enough to reflect the current high level of interest in poker and the growing phenomenon of Internet poker."

Winning Omaha/8 Poker, according to the authors, "fills a major gap in the literature by explaining the basics of the game and providing a sound strategic approach that enables the reader to learn to play well in the shortest amount of time possible."

For readers who are new to Omaha/8, or even for experienced hands who want to improve their game, Winning Omaha/8 Poker provides a storehouse of knowledge and information that's convertible into useable know-how and easily integrated into the reader's game. Even if you're a real Omaha maven – an expert – you'll still benefit from what this book has to offer. Some of the authors' suggestions may surprise you and some may simply reinforce the knowledge you've already obtained, and you may even uncover a few gems you've never seen before.

Like most of the books Krieger has had a hand in, it's a reference as well as a tutorial, and there's no need to read it from cover to cover to understand where the authors are coming from. If you know all the rules but want to find out more about starting hands, or how to decide whether or not to continue on with your hand after the flop, jump right in there and start reading. If you want to learn the basics and save the advanced stuff for later, start at the beginning and wait until you feel ready to tackle some of the more advanced concepts.

Winning Omaha/8 Poker is organized so that each chapter is self-contained. The first section covers the nuts and bolts of playing the game. For those who have never played poker before, this is where they will learn hand rankings, how the mechanics of the game work, the need for patience and playing only good starting hands, how to play in a casino, and other points of poker etiquette.

The section on advanced strategy dissects the game, showing the reader how to decide whether to play or fold starting cards, and how to play on the flop as well as on the next two betting rounds. Special attention is devoted to aces, since they are the most important cards in the deck, and a good deal of attention is also paid to straights and flushes, as well as to playing pairs, playing the blinds, and playing in "killed" pots.

The section on other poker skills shows the reader that poker is not played with cards alone, and discusses bluffing, money management and record keeping, basic arithmetic for Omaha players, playing shorthanded, how to read opponents, and how to play poker online for play money and real money. Tenner and Krieger also provide numerous keys to success, as well as a compendium of terrific tips from top Omaha players such as Steve Badger, Mark Gregorich, Linda Johnson, and Annie Duke.

Winning Omaha/8 Poker is chock-full of good information, including a chart showing every "out" from four to 20 expressed both as a percentage and as odds. Readers will also find a chart that summarizes the chances of making a low hand under a variety of conditions. For example, if you hold A-2 and two unpaired low cards flop that don't counterfeit your hand, you are an odds-on favorite to make a low hand. And if you hold A-2-3 and two unpaired low cards flop that don't counterfeit your hand, your chances of making a low hand increase substantially. This makes it clear how important counterfeit protection is in this game.

Winning Omaha/8 Poker also skewers some of the misconceptions that surround the game. Common wisdom holds that with four private cards, one can play more starting hands than in hold'em. The authors contend this is just not so. They also state, "Omaha/8 is far less complex than Texas hold'em." The authors also state that contrary to conventional wisdom, you can raise before the flop in Omaha, and there are even opportunities to bluff in Omaha/8 – even though many players are fond of stating that bluffs never succeed in this game.

At 256 pages and a retail price of $24.95 plus shipping and handling, it's a comprehensive and extremely well-written and well-edited book that's packed with solid information. Winning Omaha/8 Poker is a necessary and welcome addition to any Omaha player's library. In fact, it's one of those books that you're likely to read again and again, until you wear the cover off. It is available from Card Player.