Omaha Poker Strategy

Pre-Flop:

   To become a successful Omaha/8 player you must be patient, play tight and give yourself chances to scoop the pot. (When you win both the high and low half of the pot, or when you win the high when no low is possible, it is called a scoop.) These can all be controlled through proper starting hand selection.

    The best way I have found to focus on strong starting hand selection is to look for reasons not to play a hand. When I find myself starting to play too many hands and/or making excuses to myself to play a hand, I quickly revert back to only playing hands on the list below until I get my head straightened out. The majority, if not all, of your long-term profit in Omaha/8 is going to come from scooping the pot.

Here is a list of strong starting hands:
AA23 - Usually considered the best possible starting hand, especially if double suited.
A2xx - x stands for any card
A3xx - When the Ace is suited or you have three to a straight.
Awwx - w stands for a wheel card (2 3 4 5)
t t t t - t stands for any card ten or higher
wwww - Four wheel cards.
AAxx - Double suited

    These hands all give you a chance to develop a hand that can scoop the pot. If you are just learning to play Omaha/8, start by just playing the above hands. You won’t be involved in many hands, which will help you learn to be tight and patient, and when you do play a hand, it will usually be a better starting hand than your opponents. As you gain experience in both Omaha/8 and in recognizing your opponent’s abilities, you will play many more hands than those listed above. However, playing too many starting hands before gaining experience can be very costly. This is usually compounded by an inability to get away from second and third best hands, which rarely win, after the flop.

    Also notice that most of the hands listed above have all four cards working together. This is a very important observation. A hand with only three cards working together is much weaker than one with all four working together. An example of a hand with three would be K Q T 2. The two, unless it is suited to one of the other cards, will almost never help you win a hand, and even if it is suited and you hit your flush it is very likely beat by a higher one. When you start adding starting hands to the list above, concentrate on adding ones that work together.

    An area that I see many new Omaha/8 players lose a large amount of money is chasing a draw to only half the pot. An example is a hand with A 2 Q K on a flop of 6 8 8. You have four cards to the best possible low but have basically no chance to win the high half. Also, because everyone at the table plays hands with A 2 close to 100% of the time, even if you hit your low you may get quartered. One of your opponents may very well already have a full house or a set. In a situation like this, fold to any bet. It is never worth the possible reward because of the things I just mentioned, and you don’t even have a made hand. It is very likely that you may not even hit your low draw.

    In most discussions about holdem, you will see a great deal of emphasis on position. In holdem, position is one of the most important concepts. While playing Omaha/8, position is of much less importance. It is still favorable to act last, but rarely will it be a deciding factor in a decision to play a hand. This is because of the straightforward mathematical way Omaha/8 should be played. You either have a good hand or draw to a good hand or you don’t. There is very little luck involved.

    The only Omaha/8 games that position becomes important in are pot limit and a game that has players who are far superior to you in playing ability. You should find another table if there are players much better than you at your table and you should not, under any circumstance, play pot limit Omaha/8 until you are a solid limit player. By that time you will be able to recognize when position is important and when it is not.

Post-Flop:

    Play after the flop is relatively straightforward, especially once you have a solid understanding of pot odds. By now you should know that the best possible hand is often necessary to win the low half of the pot, and the best or second best hand is often necessary to win the high half of the pot.

    With this knowledge, you will know after the flop if you have the best possible hand or a draw to the best possible hand. You will now be able to determine if you have the correct pot odds to continue with drawing hands. The most powerful hands are ones that create a made hand on the flop with a redraw to an even better hand.

    An example: You hold Ac 2c 4s 6d and the flop is 3c 7c 8d. You have the best possible low hand with a draw to the best possible high hand, a Club flush. You also have a draw to a straight, but it is not the best possible straight. This hand also offers something that I haven’t mentioned yet, which is counterfeit protection.

    Counterfeit protection is having an extra low card in case one of your low cards falls on the turn or river. If an Ace or 2 hits, you still have the best possible low hand. Counterfeit protection is very important, especially in pot limit Omaha/8.