Omaha Poker

Low starters

admin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:39:25 +0000

There is no such thing as absolutely low starters since in some situations they can form high combination. Many players do not pay attention to positions when they have low starters during the pre-flop and they raise regardless of their position. This common mistake is done because:

•    Most of the flops give the strongest low starters nuts low or nuts low draw.
•    In most of the cases this starter is going to take half of the pot.
•    This starter can take the whole pot if together with nuts low forms nuts high. These players think that they have to raise no matter what is their position and how their opponents act. This conclusion is very wrong since they do not consider the following:

1. If you have the strongest possible low starter and form during the flop nuts-low draw, that does not mean you are going to have nuts low during the turn. The turn can be a high card or can form a pair. This way your nuts-low draw is going to stay nuts-low draw and you have to decide is it worth to keep it till turn. But in order to do that, you have to consider the actions of your opponents and positions.
2. Part of the low pot is going to be split with somebody from your opponents who has the same nuts low. The information that this half of the pot you want to win actually is going to be one quarter of it, with a bad position, costs you so much money that this quarter you are going to win cannot compensate.

So, what to do with these low starters? In early positions you have to play aggressively since we have no info about our opponents’ cards and their future actions. In middle positions we have the opportunity to consider our opponents actions. If somebody in early position before us plays aggressively, it is better to call. When we have a low starter in late position, we have to consider not only the level of aggression but limpers too. The less aggression and less limpers, the more aggressive pre-flop you have to play.

Mixed starters

admin — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:38:01 +0000

Starters, good for both high and low combinations are to be played aggressively no matter what is the position and how aggressive are the opponents. The only problem here is that many players evaluate their hands as mixed when they are not. The problem with high starters is much more complicated. These are the starters good either for nuts-high or for nuts-low combination.
High starters
High starters are something absolutely real. These are hands which cannot form a low-combination. We can say that there are two types of high starters - the ones that include and the ones that do not include A (ace). Very few among the high starters worth playing aggressively in case they don’t include an Ace. An exception are the strong starters like 10, J, Q, K but only in case you are in middle or late position and there are no aggressive players among your opponents. If the opponents in early positions did not act aggressively but we raised the pre-flop from late position with this hand, we solved two direct problems and one indirect as follows:
1.    Most probably that will substantially increase the amount of money in the pot for the flop because limpers fold very rarely after raise from late position.
2.    In case the flop did not give our starter a strong hand or draw, as a respond to our opponents aggression, we can fold while the pot is relatively not big.
3.    In case the flop gives the opportunity to stay in the hand, the late position will allow to evaluate your chances at the most even for a pot that most probably is going to be split. With this starter you are going to achieve the inverse effect if you raise in early position. First, if you act like this, there is a possibility for the potential limpers to fold. There is also a possibility some of the opponents to re-raise. And that will create unfavourable for this hand conditions. The logic of playing with strong high starters with A is a little bit different. In case your high starter with an ace is strong enough, you have to raise no matter what is your position.

With this your action you are going to:
1.    Increase the amount of money in the pot.
2.    The marginal high starters are going to be fold.
3.    The marginal low starters are going to be fold. The worst flop for the strong high starter is different suit no pair low flop which iof frequent occurrence. As a rule, this type of flop does not give the opportunity to this starter to form a hand. But it gives low expectations to some of the opponents and they are not practically able to ignore them. In fact, in order to make a low, they can make nuts-high and our starter in this situation is not going to get any profit. The same situation is when the flop has two low no pair cards. Do not forget that if there are strong low starters on the table such as A, 2; A, 3 etc. this is bad for the high starters. But if you have an A in your hand, this decreases the probability some of your opponents to have strong low starters since one of the aces is already in your hands.

Omaha High /Low

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:37:24 +0000

Omaha High /Low is a game where bluff and semi-bluff are almost not possible – actually, in most of the cases they are impossible. But in Omaha Hi/Lo you can get info about your opponent hands if you take into consideration the positions. Based on the potential of the hands, we can divide them into three categories: highb potential, low potential and mixed (high and low) potential hands.

The importance of positions II.

admin — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:36:39 +0000

In early position everything seems to be absolutely different and you can beat the position disadvantage only with very strong starting hand. This is why in order to understand how important is the position in Omaha Hi/Lo, you have to understand first what is the very nature of this game. So, what is the point? In short, the point is to win the high and the low pot together. At first, this seems to be very easy to achieve. But the real donors to a good player are the players who do not realize that. And there are a lot of players like that in Omaha. It is a very popular situation when two opponents with nuts-low raise to death. With this act they fill the pot with their money not for themselves but for the player with nuts-high. He is the one who is going to take the half of the pot and they are going to take just a quarter of it. This is a substantial source of profit for the player who does not play this way and uncompensated loss for the player who does. What has this situation to do with the position? Let us think about it. Getting very strong high or low hand, in most of the cases you have to continue playing no matter what is your position. The stronger the hand is, the more aggressively you should play. The pre-flop actions of your opponents actually don’t give you a lot of information. First, all players have four pocket cards and second, the hands can be high, low or high and low at the same time. The truth is that in Omaha Hi/Lo, the pre-flop actions are probably the most important for the game. Playing Hi/Lo it is very important to create the most favourable conditions for you no matter how the things are going to turn out. In order to achieve this goal, the
osition is really very, very important.

The importance of positions I.

admin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:35:03 +0000

In any community card poker game, the position of the player is changing clockwise and has to be taken into serious consideration. For Texas hold’em, this is an absolute truth but for Omaha, especially for Omaha Hi/Lo there are different, even contradictory opinions. But how important is the position in Omaha Hi/Lo actually? It is strange but there is no one opinion on this matter among the poker players. Some say that in Omaha the position is not that important as it is in Texas hold’em. Others claim that it is even more important. Even in poker literature you can read that the position in Omaha Hi/Lo does not matter at all. Nevertheless, if you have not decided what is your opinion relative to the position, it will be almost impossible for you to win. But when you start to lose with good starting hands, you will feel and realize that it takes not only good cards to win but good position too. With not very starting hands but in late position you are able not only to evaluate your chances but to determine your opponents post-flop actions.

Omaha High-Low (8 or Better) II.

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:34:02 +0000

Betting begins the third player to the left of the dealer. Each player is allowed to fold, call, raise or check. This part of the game is called pre-flop (the first betting round). After all the bets are placed, the flop is dealt. That’s how the three community cards are called. The flop is dealt face up and the players are allowed to use it in order to make combinations. After that there is another betting round. After the betting round, another community card is dealt face up. This card is called Turn.(The betting rounds are exactly the same as in Omaha hold’em). Then the last community card is dealt face up. This card is called River. Players with the highest and the lowest hands win and split the pot. The highest combination is considered the Royal flush (ace-high straight flush). Low combination are allowed to have only cards lower than 8 and no pair. The most famous and the best low hand is A, 2, 3, 4, 5 known as “wheel”. The lowest hand is always to be determined by the highest card in it. There are two pots in Omaha Hi/Lo – one for the highest poker hand and one for the low poker hand. For both hands, a player can use different cards and can win both pots! So the main goal in Omaha High/Low is to win the low and the high pot together! Winning both pots is known as “scooping the pot”. Many players try to win either the high or the low pot, which is known as “quartering’. Remember, in order to form a hand of five cards, you must use two hole cards (of four) and three community cards (of five). That means that nobody can form flush unless there are at least three community cards of the same suit on the table or full house unless there is a pair among the community cards.

Omaha High-Low (8 or Better) I.

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:33:00 +0000

One of the variations of Omaha is Omaha Hi/Lo (known also as Omaha eight or better) where the pot is split between the highest and the lowest combination of cards. The game is played also with 52 cards. The Ace can be used as a highest and as a lowest card as well. One of the rules in the game is that low hands cannot have a card higher than 8. Another important thing to know is that straights and flushes do not disqualify low hands. In the beginning, before the cards are dealt, in the pot are placed by all players blind bets called ante – minimum bets. Then the player left to the dealer places a bet equal to half of the ante. The next player bets ante. Then all players get four pocket cards face down. The cards are dealt clockwise starting from the player to the left of the dealer. Normally, Omaha Hi/Lo is played as a pot limit game. Don’t forget that you always have to use three cards from the board and two from the hand.

Flop

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:32:19 +0000

After placing the bets, three cards face-up are dealt in the middle of the table. They are the community cards, also called the flop. They belong to all players in the hand and can be used by them in order to form a five card combination. The flop is followed by the next betting round.

Turn
After the betting round, one card face up is dealt in the middle of the table. This fourth community card is called the turn. The turn is followed by another betting round.

River
In the middle of the table the last one, the fifth community card face up is dealt. This card is called the river. The river is followed by the last betting round and the showdown. Wins then player with the best card combination made by two of the pocket cards and three community cards. This player takes the pot.

Pre-flop

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:31:41 +0000

The first betting round is called a pre-flop. If the first two players placed their blinds, the pre-
flop begins with the third player left to the dealer. The players then are allowed to:
1.    Call – the most passive possible step. If the previous player has already posted a bet, the next one should make a bet at least equal to the bet of the last player, in order to stay in the hand. So if the first player placed a bet of $10, the second one raised it to $20, the third player should post $30 and the first player $20.
2.    Fold – discard.
3.    Check – to decline to make a bet but to keep the cards in order to have the opportunity to call or raise later.
4.    Raise – to increase the bet.
5.    Re-raise – to make a second raise.

Omaha general

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:30:12 +0000

A very interesting poker game also is Omaha poker. The game is similar to Texas hold’em. Both games share a lot of rules but there are some differences. A standard 52 card deck is used in both games. The game is played with no more than 10 players. The main goal of Omaha is to make the best hand using two of the pocket cards and three of the community cards and to win the pot. Like in Texas hold’em, a dealer’s button is placed in front of one of the players which makes him the dealer. The dealer’s button is moving to the next player clockwise each round. It shows that the player left to the dealer is to play first. Usually, before the cards are dealt there are some blind bets placed into the pot. The player left to the dealer acts first and posts the first blind, called Small blind (SB). The player next to him posts the Big blind (BB). In some games only one blind is posted. Then starting with the player left to the dealer, four pocket cards are dealt face down to each player. These are the pocket cards.