Poker School

Omaha Hi strategy

There are a lot of similarities between Hold’em and Omaha. Both are games with a flop, turn and river. But, where you get dealt two cards in Hold’em, in Omaha you get four and you have to use two of these, combined with three on the board, to make your hand. It might seem like a relatively subtle difference but it makes the way the game plays completely different. In Hold’em, if there’s a flush on board, everyone can play it. In Omaha you have to have two suited cards in your hand to use with three on the board. This means that a strong starting hand is one where all four of your cards contribute. If you get dealt four of a kind, you’ve got a terrible hand – a pair, with absolutely no chance of improving. Also, as a general rule you shouldn’t be playing hands that contain ‘danglers’ – cards that don’t contribute to your hand. If you’ve got Kc-Qd-10c-2s, your first three cards can all draw to straight possibilities, but unless the flop comes down K-2-2, your deuce is useless.

So what’s a strong starting hand? High cards are good, along with cards that connect for straights, flushes and top sets or full houses. Double-suited Aces are right up at the top. Ah-Ad-Kh-Qd, gives you chances to draw to nut straights, two nut flushes, top set and the nut full house. And this is vital, as the winning hand in Omaha is much stronger than Hold’em. In fact, drawing to the nuts is one of the most crucial Omaha strategies. If you’ve got 8-9-10-J (a perfectly good starting hand), and the board comes down K-Q-10 you could already be drawing almost dead to a player holding A-J in his hand. If the board pairs and you’re in a multi-way pot, there’s a very good chance that someone has completed a full house. If there’s a possible flush, don’t expect your baby flush to hold up. Basically, be very wary of getting a lot of money into the pot if you haven’t got, or you’re not drawing to, the best possible hand.

It’s also crucial that you know your outs. Because Omaha is a drawing game, you need to know how many cards can help you. If you’ve got Ac-Qc-5s-6s on a 9c-3c-4d board, then any club will give you the nut flush and any two or seven will complete your nut straight. So your outs are nine clubs, plus three twos and three sevens (one of each have already been counted as clubs), which gives you 15 outs. With two cards to come, the easiest way to calculate this is to multiply the number of outs by four, which gives you a 60% chance of completing. As Omaha is a drawing game it’s also crucial to bet strongly to protect your made hand. Don’t let your opponents draw to a stronger hand cheaply.

Which brings us to position. Like Hold’em, position is absolutely vital in Omaha. Playing position means you get to see everyone act before you do. As Omaha is a drawing game, if you’re good at putting players on hands, position is the piece of the jigsaw that can make you a huge winner.

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