Omaha Poker Strategy Guide
Winning money on a regular basis at Omaha Poker on PKR.com is very easy for people that don't make all the common mistakes. Omaha can be very complicating even to people that have been playing for years. I am going to cover all of the typical mistakes people make in this game. You should understand that a majority of the players at the Omaha tables are rookies that are still wet behind the ears. This is because many Texas Holdem players get bored at their typical tables and decide to give Omaha a try.
Some fall in love with the game and stick around for a while at least. They fall victim to experienced Omaha players that feed off of their mistakes. Usually after loosing a decent amount they will go back to the Holdem poker.com tables never to return. The plus side is that for every 1 that quits there is 10 more to take his place. Omaha poker is growing fast right now, at the best sites to play Omaha poker there is more traffic on the Omaha tables than some sites have at all their tables put together. I will start off with Omaha Hi.
Omaha High Poker Strategy
Omaha high is pretty straight forward and a lot easier to play then Omaha H/L but people still tend to make quite a few mistakes. The biggest and most common mistake is not knowing when to lay down a hand. Omaha Hi is a game of draws. Always assume the other player has caught their draw if the cards indicate they have, here is an example:
Hole Cards
Player 1 - 7d-Kd-Js-Qc
Player2 - X-X-X-X
Community Cards
7s-2s-Kh-6d-9s
Lets pretend you make a large bet on the river with your trip kings and one player called. You should automatically assume the player is going after a flush. You still hold a very solid hand and have greater odds of winning. The turn only improves your odds so you should make the maximum bet again. The river comes and puts the third spade on the board. Most rookie pocker players will still make the maximum bet here because you have a very strong hand. This is a major mistake and you will see it happen constantly at the tables.
After you bet you will most likely get raised because the other player probably has a strong flush because most players won't chase a weak flush. Now your looking at a large raise, you should fold. Flushes are very common in Omaha poker so you should always assume the other player has caught their flush when 3 of the same suit are on the board.
Omaha Hi-Lo Strategy
There are plenty of common Omaha Hi-Lo mistake. The most common is being too aggressive with the nut low hand. Players seem to forget that splitting the low pot is quite common in Omaha Hi-Lo. When two players split the low pot and 1 player wins the high pot this is called being "quartered". Rookies will raise and re raise with the nut low and end up losing money because they have to split the low pot with another player and the player with the high hand wins half. Check out the example below to see how this happens.
Hole Cards
Player 1 - A-2-8-J
Player 2 - A-2-5-K
Player 3 - 8-8-10-J
Community Cards
6-7-9-K-3
Money In Pot
$30 each
During this hand on PokerStar.net player one kept one betting because he had the nut low. Of course player 2 would be re-raising with the best high hand and player 1 would re-raise again..ect. At the end of the hand player 3 will end up winning $45 dollars for the high hand. Players 1 and 2 will only will win $22.50 each. This means they lost $7.50 each.
Another mistake is going after a draw for the high hand when you are heads up. If all the other players fold except for one and you only have a draw for a middle strength high hand than you should automatically fold because it will only cost you money to chase against someone that already has a made low hand.