[toc]Do you like online poker? Do you like action?
Well, then why aren’t you playing Pot Limit Omaha?
It’s without a doubt the most fun and exciting game of poker you can find online, and you can play at Bet365 from just a few dollars.
How to play Omaha
The mechanics of Omaha are easy to pick up if you’ve played No Limit Hold’em.
The game plays exactly the same (hole cards, flop, turn, river) except that you must use two cards from your hand and three cards from the board. No more, no less.
You don’t have a flush here!
One mistake a lot of new Omaha players make is to go crazy with a hand like As-Ad-Td-9c on a board of 9s-6s-2d-3s-5s. They get all their chips in, get called by a king-high flush and… lose?!
Remember: you must use two cards from your hand! You don’t have a flush just because you have the ace of spades; you need another spade to go with it.
A game of draws
Omaha is called a game of draws, and it’s vital to recognise how much the strength of your hand can change from flop to turn and turn to river.
It’s possible to flop a huge 16-out or even 20-out straight draw. These are known as “wraps” because they wrap around the flop.
For example, if you have J-T-8-7 and the flop is 9-6-2, you a total of 16 straight outs in the shape of fives, sevens, eights and tens.
When does nine high beat three aces?
Picture this: you have Ah-Ac-Kc-Qh and the flop is Ad-6s-4s. Boom – you have top set and it’s the nuts.
You and your opponent bet and raise and re-raise until all the money is in the middle and he turns up a mere eight-high straight draw.
He’s a 50.61 percent favourite with his 8h-7d-5d-3h.
Such is the power of draws in Omaha. Any 2, any 3, any 5, any 7 on the turn will give him the better hand. If he has a flush draw to go with his wrap, he becomes a huge 57.32 percent favourite!
Even a hand as strong as K-K-Q-J on a flop of K-T-8 can be outmatched when the chips go in. Remember: You don’t have top set; you have a draw to a full house!
Omaha strategy tips
If you want to transition to the Omaha tables from your usual Hold’em games, here’s some top tips to get you started and avoid missteps:
- Don’t overplay aces: A pair of aces is a huge hand in Hold’em, being infinitely more powerful than the next-best hand. In Omaha, even before the flop, aces is only a decent favourite. After the flop, a bare pair of aces is unlikely to be the best hand.
- Remember how big draws get: Hold’em players are likely to call all sorts of draws, even just a gutshot. In Omaha, a four-out straight draw is trash when your opponent may have three times as many outs.
- It’s easy to make the nuts: Hold’em players chalk it up to bad luck when the money goes in and their jack-high flush is no good. In Omaha, you have to seriously be able to consider folding the second nuts in certain situations.
