• Home
• Contact
• Instant Bonuses
• News
• Poker Bonuses
  • Absolute Poker Bonus
  • Bodog Poker Bonus
  • Cake Poker Bonus
  • Carbon Poker Bonus
  • CDPoker Bonus
  • Full Tilt Poker Bonus
  • Mansion Poker Bonus
  • Pacific Poker Bonus
  • Party Poker Bonus
  • Pokerstars Bonus
  • Red Kings Poker Bonus
  • Sun Poker Bonus
  • Titan Poker Bonus
• Poker Reviews
  • Absolute Poker Review
  • Bodog Poker Review
  • Cake Poker Review
  • Carbon Poker Review
  • CDPoker Review
  • Full Tilt Poker Review
  • Mansion Poker Review
  • Pacific Poker Review
  • Party Poker Review
  • Pokerstars Review
  • Red Kings Poker Review
  • Sun Poker Review
  • Titan Poker Review
• Poker Rules
  • 5 Card Draw
  • 5 Card Stud
  • 7 Card Stud
  • 7 Card Stud Hi Lo
  • Crazy Pineapple
  • Omaha
  • Omaha Hi Lo
  • Razz
  • Texas Holdem

Pot Limit Omaha: Some Basic Tips and Hints for Beginners. Part 1

February 6, 2008

Pot Limit Omaha is very interesting and complex game. In this article, I’m going to provide a few helpful hints that will help you improve your game next time you sit down at the table.

1. Make sure every card in your hand works together.

Many Hold em players will see a hand like J :-s Q :-s 5 :-h 6 :-h , and think this hand is pretty good. It’s not. To a hold em player, they see 2 suited connectors. However, all 4 of your cards do not connect. You want hands that work with each other, something like J :-s Q :-s 10 :-d 10 :-h . This hand has a few things working for it. First, it has the pair of 10s. It also has the suited JQ (although this could get you into trouble if you hit a flush. We will discuss this later) You also have the J10Q, so you can make a few different straights. Try to also make sure your hand works together in some way - don’t treat it as 2 separate hold em hands.

2. Avoid the dangler

So, what is a dangler? Let’s look at a hand like the J :-s K :-s 9 :-h 2 :-c . Can you spot the dangler? It’s definitely that 2 :-c. Your hand seems to flow nicely until you get to that 2. To many people, this looks like a strong hand, but be weary of the dangler. It doesn’t flow with your hand, so there’s one no-no. I’ll show you another reason why you don’t want danglers. Say you have the hand stated above. The flop comes down J28. You now have a bet and a call in front of you. You’re 2 pair is probably not good, but you’re just itching to call. Save yourself the frustration and muck the dangler hands. Some exceptions to this is many people have already limped in front of you, and you have a suited ace. Also, if you are playing from the blinds, a dangler can be tolerated.

3. When drawing, make sure it is to the nuts

I’m sure if you have played hold em before, you have chased a draw. And I’m also sure that if you have chased a draw, you have chased a draw less than the nuts. In Hold Em, your opponent is only holding 2 cards - so the probability of him having the nuts is far more unlikely. In Omaha, your opponent has 4 cards. This is equivalent to 6 hold em hands. (ABCD - AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD) So, that chances of him having the nuts go up, especially at a full table. If you have a flush draw, draw to the nut flush. Omaha is a game of the nuts - more often than not, that’s what it takes to win. NEVER draw to the idiot end of a straight, such as having 6745 and the flop being 9102. First, you shouldn’t even be calling a bet on the flop, but just for the sake of our example - let’s say you do. Now the turn comes the 8, just what you wanted. Now you get all the money in and they turn over the JQ. And if not JQ, you’re beat by J8. It’s difficult for hold em players to accept the fact that they have to lay down hands like straights and flushes where they would usually push in hold em, but if it isn’t the nuts, you’re vulnerable. There are times when you could draw to a king high flush, heads up being one of those situations.
But if you’d rather not go through the frustration of losing all your money to an ace high flush, it’s better to usually pass.

4. Always have a backup draw

Let’s say you have a straight wrap. You have J :-s 8 :-s K :-h Q :-d . The flop comes 9 :-s A :-h 10 :-d . This, by itself, is a very strong hand. Any J, Q, K, or 8 makes you the nuts. But you have a hidden little backup here - that J :-s 8 :-s. You have a backdoor draw, but that backdoor draw could end up winning you the pot. Try to always have something to go along with a primary draw - say you have the nut flush draw. Even a little gutshot draw would add outs to your hand and maybe end up winning you the pot. A side note: Backdoor flush draws generally do not have to be the nuts. Because you backdoored the draw, it is less likely someone is holding that nut flush, so lower flushes are acceptable when backdoored.

5. Don’t go broke on 2 pair

In Hold Em, 2 pair will generally win you the pot. In Omaha however, you have to be very careful when playing 2 pair. First, let’s analyze what 2 pair you have. I’m going to put up a practice flop, and then different hole cards 3 different times.

FLOP: A :-s Q :-d 3 :-h

First, you have A :-d Q :-h 2 :-c 10 :-s . You have top 2 pair. You limp in and 2 other players see the flop with you. If one of them bets, and the other folds, or even if he calls, you can stand that bet. You can even reraise him if you know him to not be very tight. If he reraises, you may want to slow down and see what happens. As long as another face card doesn’t come on the turn, you can probably see the hand to the end. If he bets the pot again, analyze the board, look back to see what kind of player he is if you have played with him for some time, and reevaluate where you stand in the hand. If there are any sorts of draws out there, like 3 flush cards, or 3 straight cards, be careful. You may want to fold the hand in this situation.

Now, let’s say you hold A :-h 3 :-c 2 :-d 10 :-s. You can call a bet with this hand, but if your opponent starts putting some pressure on you, he probably has you beat with a higher 2 pair or a set.

Now, let’s say you have Q :-s 3 :-d J :-h 6 :-d . (let’s assume you got in from the blinds). If there is any sort of action in front of you, your hand is garbage. Try to avoid bottom 2 pair as much as possible. Not only is your hand usually not good, but let’s assume we have that hand and see our practice flop. Now you call a bet on the flop and the turn comes the Ad. Your hand just got ruined. Also, it could even come a running pair like 99 - which would also ruin your hand. Try to check it down with bottom 2 pair as often as you can, unless you have a dead read on your opponent that he has a hand like wired aces, and you are trying to pick him off.

Remember, many of these tips are general, and there are always exceptions. Almost nothing in poker is written in stone. This is meant to provide a guideline for you to follow to help you improve your Pot Limit Omaha game. Remember all poker is situational and this rules are only guidelines and it if your 100% sure you can break one and be rewarded do it.

Part 2 will follow

- Thomas Hardy