Back to basis - Omaha Hi for Beginners
Starting hands and betting
Omaha Hi Poker has its own set of strategies which are different from Texas Hold’em strategies, it is important to remember this and not try playing Hold’em strategies in Omaha Hi. There are a number of areas to be considered in Omaha Hi strategy, the starting hand, Pot Limit betting structures and your position at the table.
One of the most important things to remember is that before the flop, there is not really such thing as a favourite starting hand. Because you have four pocket cards, of which two must be used with three of the five community cards it means that generally the winning hand is much stronger than with other types of poker. In Omaha Hi straights, flushes and full houses are all quite common. It is important to consider how your hand will fare in relation to community cards. Same suited cards, in particular if you have an ace, and cards close together in value can make flushes and straights. Unlike in Texas Hold’em a starting high pair is not necessarily a sign to play aggressively, if the flop comes up with an obvious flush or straight and you hold a high pair you will probably have to fold.
Because of the bet being limited to the size of the current pot your betting strategy has to be carefully considered. For instance, if you bet the maximum in the early rounds it will alert the others to the table that you probably only have aces. Another mistake would be to never raise, by doing this you are allowing your opponents to call some very tentative hands. A good way to avoid these two mistakes is to raise a selection of strong hands before the flop. Since position is important in Omaha Hi you can vary your bets depending on your position in relation to the dealer. If you are betting last you could re-raise to build a pot or escape cheaply if there are lots of raises ahead of you.
Finally, you must make sure that you are only drawing for the strongest hand (drawing, in this context, is when you have an incomplete hand and are waiting for more cards to complete it). If you are drawing to try and complete a low straight or a medium flush you could find yourself losing money.
