Poker Academy Blogs

Omaha is a game that appears very similar to Texas hold’em, but in fact is quite different. The additional two cards and the restriction that players can only use three board cards creates an entire new array of strategies relevant to Omaha. There is one poker variation that beat all the others – it’s definitely the game where you find most action and good players have a huge edge against lesser opponents.

Get ready all you Omaha High and Omaha Hi-Lo fanatics, Chilipoker is back again this year with an Omaha Poker Rake Race valued at $130,000. There are several qualifying periods during the Omaholic rake race.

The qualifying Periods are as follows:
- September 7th – September 13th
- September 14th – September 20th
- September 21st – September 27th
- September 28th – October 4th
- October 5th – October 11th
- October 12th – October 18th

Each race will have 4 leader boards according to the blinds played:

- $10/$20 and up: top 10 rewarded
- $2/$4 and $5/$10: top 40 rewarded
- $0.5/$1 and $1/$2: top 50 rewarded
- $0.1/$0.2 and $0.25/$0.50: top 50 rewarded

Monday Night Omaha Freeroll Satellite

In addition, tokens to a freeroll satellite for a new Monday Night Omaha tournament (worth $109 each) will also be awarded. 

The Monday night freerolls will be held on the Sunday following the leaderboard results (for example – a player who wins a token in the leaderboard ending September 13th will play in the freeroll on September 20th, which will award seats to the Monday night Omaha tournament, to be played on September 21st. 

Omaha is Not Hold’em: Bluffing
One mistake that players comparing hold’em to Omaha make regards bluffing. While bluffing in limit hold’em is difficult because of the fixed betting limits, bluffing in Omaha is that much harder. The reason for this is that with so many cards in play, someone usually has the nuts or close to it by the river. If you move all-in in a pot-limit Omaha game on the river and someone doesn’t have the nuts, you’ll probably win that pot. Unfortunately, unlike in hold’em, if you’re facing two or three opponents at the end, one of them probably does hold that boss hand.

Omaha is Not Hold’em: Position
While position is important in Omaha, trying to manipulate the table so that loose players are on your right and tight ones on your left, as you might do in hold’em, is more trouble than it’s worth. It will be easy to see from the flop whether it is worthwhile for you to continue with the hand, so knowing what your loose player will do, while important, is not nearly so important as it is in a game like no-limit hold’em.

Omaha is Not Hold’em: Results
If your Omaha results are not as good as your hold’em results, there has got to be a reason. Ask yourself what elements of strategy you are bringing over from your Texas hold’em games and if they really apply to Omaha. If they do not, you’ll want to lose those ideas and replace them with ones that are more Omaha specific.

With pot limit Omaha it can be an easy mistake to bet the pot instead of making a small 'test' raise (be sure the raise is not to small) and so test the water. If your expecting a re-raise based on your cards and the cards on the table, then have the discipline to fold. 

Be smart with your AA, AA Suited and AA Double Suited. Trick or treat, only reraise the hand preflop otherwise trap. Watch the flop, then make an attempt at winning the hand. Smaller bot, looking for top flush draw.

Cashgame, Omaha pot limit full table.

-only play good starting hands

-play the lower starting hands only in position

-put most of your focus on your hand and on the flop rather than on the other players

-if a few players are in, only chase the nut flush or the nut straight

-don’t risk all your chips with bottom set

-don’t chase flush or straight if board is paired

-if someone is raising your bet when you hold nut straight after flop, be careful, especially if there is two of same suit out. Most likely he has same straight as you and maybe also a set or a flush draw to go with it.

-if you have a big drawing hand, for example you have 4589 with two spades and board is 672 with two spades, bet big to get muppets out. Bottom set, top two pair and nut flush draws might give you the pot if your bet is big enough. If you are first in, you should consider check raising since a pot-bet here is not big enough to get muppets out, for example when the pot is 60. If you bet 60, maybe you get some callers since it’s cheap to call with top-two pair, nut flush draw or whatever. If u check and someone is betting pot and get 2 callers u can now put in 300 instead of 60 and u will make it expensive for bottom set, two-pair or a higher flush draw to stay in the pot. They might all fold. If you get only one caller, you should be the favourite. It’s good to be heads up with this hand. If the bigger flush draw and the 8910 folds here and only the 67(top-2) calls, you now have more than 50 per cent chance of winning instead of less then 20 per cent if they were all in the pot.

-if you flop top set and there are many draws out, get as many chips in the pot straight away. If you hit a full house on the turn, then it is too late. They will leave you hanging with your fish lip alone in the no more chips for you.

-always have a lot of chips so u can make a pot bet on turn when u hit your flushes or straights.U want a muppet that holds a set pay to see that river.

-always be aware on how many chips your opponents have before u make a play.
-AA with nothing else is not a good hand...

Before you begin playing poker, you need to find out what your goals are when playing the game. Are you playing to have fun, to make money, to become a better player or just to meet interesting people?

A good friend of mine is one of the best online players in the world, but still he has lost around 10 million SEK during the last couple of months. This happened only because he persisted in playing on the highest levels only where the best players hang out. Probably he was still a favourite compared to the average player there, but he was only slightly better. When he ran into a cold period of time, he started taking bigger risks than earlier and suddenly he didn’t have an edge anymore. Now he was the fish at this level and the other players took advantage of his recklessness. I still think he is one of the best players online and he is also incredibly precise in his analysis when it comes to live games. He plays some really good live poker as well, but still he manages to lose his entire bank roll. How is it possible?

In this case there is an explanation. To become a better player, he really wants to play with the best opponents because he wants to be one of the best players in the world.

What’s your goal when you play poker? Some people play only for fun, but many play to win money. If you want to win money playing poker, ALWAYS TRY TO PLAY AT TABLES WHERE YOU ARE THE BEST PLAYER. Even if you are ranked at number 10,000 in the world, you will win if you find players that are ranked around 50,000 in the world. Probably they won’t play at the highest levels, but sometimes they play at a higher level than they should, and that is where you can make really good money. If you run into a player that plays poorly, write down his username and try to play against him as often as possible if you feel comfortable with the stakes.
You don’t even have to keep track of your opponent’s games. Today there are several computer programs that help you when it comes to your own and other players statistics. Online poker is great!

I’ve been playing poker for more than 15 years and there is one aspect that I have learned to really take care of – sleep. Don’t ever play poker when you are too tired. Not only because you can make the most horrible decisions when you are tired, you also lose your ingenuity and your variation of play that is one of the most important parameters for a good poker player. When you have been playing for 24 hours, you start to play like a robot and other players that recognize this will take full advantage of your lack of good play. If you play live you will throw your cards in the muck all the time and suddenly when you get a hand, you will wake up and play. Do you think anyone will pay you in that hand?

When you start to get tired, go to bed. Don’t play poker. And remember - When you play, do it against weaker opponents. If you follow these pieces of advice you will for sure increase your chances of making more money playing poker.

Players who are new to Pot-Limit Omaha tend to make more mistakes with Aces than with any other hand. They get themselves into really tough situations - ones where they can lose a lot of money. Avoiding these spots is one of the keys to playing PLO profitably.

Here's the kind of situation that newer PLO players sometimes find themselves in. Say it's a $2/$5 game where all the players have about $500 in front of them. There's an early position raise to $15 and a player in middle position with A-A-x-x re-raises to $50. Four players call the $50. Now the flop comes down J-7-2, rainbow.

The Aces might be good here, or they might not. It's very hard to know. This is the kind of spot where it's very easy to make a big mistake - either by putting in a lot of money while a huge underdog, or by folding the best hand.

Novice PLO players get in this sort of trouble because they don't really understand how Omaha differs from Hold 'em. In Hold 'em, if you start with a big pair like Kings or Aces, you know you're a big favorite before the flop. But this isn't the case with Omaha. For example, pre-flop, Ac-Ad-4s-7h will win only 51 percent of the time when heads up against Js-Ts-9h-8h. Throw a couple of other hands in the mix, and Aces become extremely vulnerable.

Because so many hands are so evenly matched, Omaha is a game where what you catch with the community cards is usually more important than what you start with. You're looking to make big hands - nut straights, nut flushes, and big sets.

Still, hands that contain Aces are usually a decent favorite when played heads up. And, with Aces, you always have the opportunity to make top set or, if you're suited, a nut flush. So you're going to want to play these hands, but you often want to be more cautious pre-flop.

If there's a raise in early position, you don't have to re-raise with A-A-x-x, especially if that re-raise would commit you for only a small portion of your stack. When all the players have deep stacks, a few will be happy to call your bet and see a flop. Then you're likely to find yourself in the sort of situation described at the beginning of this tip. You won't know if your hand has held up on most flops. And when you do hit your set of Aces, you're not likely to get a lot of action, as your opponents won't have much difficulty putting you on a hand.

However, there are some occasions when you want to play Aces aggressively pre-flop. When there's been a lot of action and a raise will allow you to get about three-quarters of your stack in before the flop, go ahead and make that big bet. At that point, you're looking to force some folds and, hopefully, play heads up. With that much money committed, you know the rest of your stack will be going in on the flop no matter what comes.

Of course, once you're in the hand, your Aces can lead to some very profitable post-flop situations. You might catch top set while an opponent makes a lower one or your nut flush might take a big pot from someone who made a lower flush.

So slow down with your Aces pre-flop in PLO. Your deceptive play will win you some big pots when you make a big hand. Plus, you'll avoid losing a lot when the board doesn't fall your way.

Omaha is highly situational. In hold’em, you can get pocket aces ten times in a row and it may usually hold up even if your hand doesn’t improve on the flop, turn or, river. In Omaha, you can get a strong double suited AKAK and never win a pot if the flop always comes six high.

Look at Omaha as shifting the action one street later. Pre-flop, you can play nearly any reasonable cards to see a flop, the flop is when you commit more to a hand, the turn defines your hand, and of course, the river finishes a hand (one way or another)

Because of this shift, you should play most of your good hands on good flops straight forward both to get maximum value and to protect your hand. In Omaha, like any poker game, if you think you have the best hand, your goal is to make your opponent make a mistake. Giving them incorrect odds to draw out on you is just that, and can be achieved by a pot-sized bet, especially if you follow that up with a pot-sized bet on the turn if a blank comes down. You’ll force them into a second opportunity to make a mistake, and if they draw out, you’ve done all you can.

For this reason, you need to know when to move hard on a flop and when to wait. Most of the confrontations in Omaha are between a strong made hand (top set or the nut straight) against another draw or draws. Redraws and wraps are powerful, and if you’re fortunate enough to hit a flop with both a straight and a flush draw, you’ll usually want to get all your money in however you can.

If the opponent has a hand, they’ll usually come along with you on the flop, so make them pay if you think you’re best.

Position isn’t as big of a factor as in hold’em. But if you watch the action, position can be used as a bluffing opportunity. If there doesn’t seem to be much action, a hand like two-pair can usually bet out thinking the hand is good. A late position player may call with the intention of bluffing at a turn card that looks like it hit a draw and try to chase out the opponent if they then check. They may also be trapping, so know your player, and you may even try that move yourself in early position.

Additionally, later position allows you to read the opponents’ hands better. If there are three flush cards on a board and you have just the ace of that suit, a bet and a raise tells you that the raiser probably has the flush and wants to know where the ace is. No, you don’t have the flush and can’t improve to make it, but if you call (hopefully with some kind of two pair/set draw to pair the board so you aren’t totally naked with the “dry ace”) and they put in a smallish bet or check on the river, you might steal the pot by blasting them out with a pot-sized bet, representing the ace high flush that you know they don’t have.

The best strategy to progress to expert mode is simple: just as in any poker game, know the odds, know the players. Odds calculation is standard, as most players at this level will know the basics from hold’em (just adjust for the additional known holecards). But since so many players play nearly every hand in Omaha, be prepared for odd things to happen. That way if you have a set of kings on a K356 board, you’ll know if the player checkraising you is capable of playing with a 2-4 or 4-7. Some players merely represent this hand, others play it regularly for just such an opportunity (which is a good way to mix up play if used judiciously).

Omaha creates huge pots, since often there are multiple players seeing a flop, a couple hanging around to see if the turn completes their draws, and thus, a lot of dead money if you hit the nuts. It’s also a game of protecting made hands and big draws. You may, then, think of increasing your bankroll requirements to account for additional volatility. Flopping a set with a flush draw is a nice place to be, and if you can get your money in the middle, great. But your hand isn’t always going to hit by the river, so be prepared to come up empty from time to time on the big draws while a tiny straight rakes in the money. If you can handle those swings both financially and emotionally, and play with a sound mind towards the possibilities, you should be able to succeed at Omaha.

1. Pot size management – control the pot size, play big pots with hands that warrant a big pot, and keep the pot small when you think your opponent may have a good read on your hand.

2. Position – I can’t say it loud enough, when big pots come about, be sure that you are in position.

3. Don’t overplay your premium hands. I see players lose tons of money with “good hands”, don’t be that guy. AAxx is only a slight favorite over 4 random cards, keep that in mind when you are playing a deep stack.

4. Don’t be afraid to get in there and gamble. Omaha is a gambling game and is very risk/reward oriented.

5. Always think one street ahead. This is one of the most important things and it ties together with pot size management. When you are facing a bet on the turn, try to run through your mind what the action on the river will be before you decide on what to do.

6. Always be aware of your opponent’s stack size. Think of your possible win if you make your hand, and remember it’s real hard to bluff a short stack, so be sure you are paying attention.

7. A very popular play in PLO is the naked ace flush bluff (bluffing like you have the nut flush since you have the ace of that suit and know no one else can have the nuts). FORGET IT! Take it out of your repertoire; it’s worthless because very few people lay down flushes unless the game is real big. If you decide to use it, be sure to have a back up plan (such as a gut straight draw or something like that).

8. Don’t play short money at the table. It’s always an extremely powerful tool for me to have as much as possible on the table at all times. No one is scared of a short stack and people love taking their four hole cards to the river. Don’t give your opponents the chance to take advantage of your short stack.

9. Don’t go on tilt. In Omaha there are TONS of bad beats, the fact that everyone has four cards contributes greatly to that. Keep your composure and expect a beat or two along the way. Lots of Omaha games have great action for this reason alone. Someone will take what they think is a bad beat and they will torque the rest of their chips off. Don’t be that guy.

10. The last tip is mainly focused on ring games. Don’t draw at flushes unless they are nut flushes, don’t draw at straights unless you have a wrap, and don’t mess with bottom two pair. All of the following hands are in trouble in ring game situations. You can throw all that stuff out the window when playing short handed though. When playing short handed, be the aggressor and do your best to have the action occur around you.

Good luck at the tables.