omaha hi/lo beginner's guidepart 1: the basicsi am, by no means, an expert on the game. however, at the low/micro-limits, this game is very beatable--easily. i feel i have enough skill at these limits to write a guide for it. remember, however, that all my advice is specifically for the low limits. it probably won't work effectively if you're playing with good people who actually know what they're doing.like hold'em, winners thrive more on bad players than on their own skill. unlike hold'em, the bad players are HORRENDOUS, not just bad. they have no understanding of basic strategy, and while hold'em can often reward bad players through schooling (giving each other pot odds) and luck, omaha does this to a much smaller degree.another difference is that while hold'em is a simple game to learn to the average person, omaha is not. with two cards, people recognize which cards are monsters (AA, AK, KK, etc.) and most have some sense of which cards are terrible (2-7, 2-8, etc.). omaha is not the case. people see potential in EVERY hand, and they don't have the ability to think what other people might hold.omaha is also a much more mathematical game. luck plays a much smaller role because often you can have the nuts on the flop or turn and other people can be drawing dead to baby straights/flushes/boats. you won't get huge suckouts as much, rather, you'll get mathematical draws that hit 1 in 3 times, e.g. nut flush draws.finally, some people complain that omaha is a river game (since the river is often vital to a hand). however, unlike hold'em, the river does not give bad beats--it gives mathematical probabilities. if you hold the nuts on the turn, 3 out of 4 times it will hold up, so you bet on the turn regardless of the possibility of drawing out. if you hold the nut flush draw, you will hit it 1 in 5 times on the river, so if the pot is 6-way, you bet. i can't stress it enough, omaha is a game of probabilities--if you play them, you WILL win.this game can be played fixed limit or pot limit, but IMHO it works best fixed limit.i will be doing this in parts since it might get long.enjoy!
basic rules:two players left of dealer post small and big blinds. everyone is dealt four cards. small betting round (preflop). then the flop (three board cards). small betting round. then the turn/fourth street. big betting round. then the river/fifth street. big betting round. then showdown.the best five card hand MUST have TWO and ONLY TWO hole cards, and THREE and ONLY THREE board cards. e.g. if the board is AAAAK, the nuts would be KKxx for Aces full of Kings. four of a kind is not possible since you can only use three board cards. another important application of this is that to have a flush, you must have two cards of that suit in your hole (unlike hold'em where you can have a flush with only one card).the high hand is the best five-card hand. the low hand is the same as any other split pot game. a low hand must have all five cards be 8 or lower. so if the board has three cards 8 or lower, a low hand is possible. otherwise, no low hand qualifies.low hands are read from high card down. 87654 is the worst low hand, while 5432A is the best low hand. since you read top-down, remember that 65432 beats 7432A (even though the first one has no ace). a good way to think of it is to think of the hand as a five-digit number--the lowest value wins. so 65 thousand beats 74 thousand, doesn't matter what the three lower cards are.
the nuts:omaha hi/lo at the low limits is all about the nuts. 9 out of 10 hands, the nut high will win the high pot. 9 out of 10 qualifying low hands, the nut low will win. practice reading the nuts on the board and get used to relating your hand to the nuts. board: 5
6
8
K
nut high: A
x
nut low: A2 any suitnut high draws: KK, 88, 66, 55, K8, K6, K5, 86, 85, 65, 3
4:diamond: , 4
7
, 7
8
nut low draws: A3, 23in the above example, if you don't have one of the above hands--either nuts or a nut draw--get out of the hand. you are drawing dead the vast majority of the time. personally, the nut low draws aren't good enough. you're drawing to at best 4 outs, but i listed them for the sake of saying that you are drawing to the nuts. with sets and two pair, you're drawing to boats, but really, the only one worth staying around for is KK. with others, if the board pairs (and doesn't give you quads), you will often be a baby boat. the straight flush draws aren't too good, either, you're drawing to two outs if it's open-ended or one out if it's gutshot.so taking all of that into consideration, the only draw worth staying around for is KK. the rest are longshot draws (by all means, if you have the odds, go for it, but beware having the second-best hand). one note is that if the board is paired, quads are the nuts, and are not uncommon. but if you have top boat, bet freely, and don't stick around with middle set hoping for quads because it's a one-outter.
counterfeiting:if you hold A2KK, and the board is 34J9, don't be overly aggressive! while you have the nut low draw, you have no counterfeit protection. what i mean is that if an A or a 2 lands, you no longer have a low hand at all (three low board cards, but you only have one low non-pairing card in the hole). that's why it's important to play hands with counterfeit protection if you're aiming for the low. A234 is the best counterfeit protecting nut low draw hand. A23x is good, A24x is good, etc.you can also get counterfeited in your hole cards. if you're dealt AAAA, fold. you have no chance at anything but one pair, no low. if you're dealt AAAx, fold. many people get excited with pocket aces, not realizing that one of their two outs is dead. fold any three of a kind, i can't stress that enough!
being suited/connected:when you have two cards of the same suit, you vastly increase the versatility of your hand, especially if the A is suited. ideally, the best hands are DOUBLE suited, meaning you have two diamonds and two clubs, for example. keep in mind that since omaha hi/lo is a game of the nuts, you want both to be suited with an A, or maybe a king (if an ace lands on the board).when you have two cards that connect, you also increase your chances of hitting a straight draw, just like in hold'em. if you have AKxx or KQxx, you have a chance at hitting a nut straight draw. similarly, if you have a hand that's four-straight (AKQJ for example), you have a great hand that serves as a wraparound straight draw, but i'll get to that later. just remember, suited is good, connecting is good, and double suited/connected is even better.
scooping:the best hands are ones that aim to win both the high AND the low. this can earn you MONSTROUS pots, and i mean in the vicinity of 30-40 big bets! AA23 double suited is the best possible hand... why? because you have two nut flush possibilities, a nut boat possibility, and a monstrous nut low draw with counterfeit protection. with hands that work similarly and aim to win the whole pot (AK23, AAK2, AK24, etc.), scooping gives you a huge edge in a game.
getting quartered:if you have the nut low and so does someone else does as well, you have been quartered--it's a bad experience. what this means is that the high hand will take half the pot, while the low half is split between the two nut lows, so you effectively get a quarter of the pot. same idea if you have the nut high that someone else does as well (rare but possible).with experience, you will recognize these situations. what's important is that you don't get overly aggressive in these situations, and here's why. if at the river, the pot is three-way and each of you put in $80, you add $240 to the pot. if you get quartered, you only get $60 back. you lost $20. if you capped the pot so each of you put in $160, the pot grows by $480, but each of you get only $120 back, so you lost even more, $40. so the more you raise, the more you lose.if the pot is four-way, you will break-even. if the pot is five-way or more, you MUST raise aggressively so that you can make a profit. it's possible to get only 1/6 of the pot if three people share the nut low/high, but that is extremely rare.on the flip side of the coin, having a powerful hand that aims for both high and low can be a monster in this situation, because you can get 3/4 of the pot if you win nut high and split nut low! if the pot is heads up and you have nut low with a decent high, be aggressive because even two pair can hold up for high hand and you can get 3/4 of the pot.
preflop hands:omaha hi/lo is all about having the best hands preflop. with premium hands, you will dominate MANY other hands and can get huge pots. the best hands work together in some way. they should combine to give you straight value, flush value, full house value, or low value.premium high hands want less people in. AA9T for example should be played aggressively to thin the field, but if the pot is big, don't stay around if you don't hit your set or nut flush draw. same with KKxx and QQxx. if you have a hand like AKQJ, especially if the A and K are double-suited, you have a great hand for taking the high. The reason is that if any two broadway cards land, you have a wrap-around straight-draw and it's even better if two cards of your suit land, giving you a nut flush possibility as well.wrap-around straight draws are powerful in omaha, especially if the board is rainbow, unpaired and you have the nut straight possibility. if you have a hand like KQJT and the board is Q9x, you have 13 outs to the nut straight draw (3 kings, 3 jacks, 3 tens, 4 eights). if you have a draw like this, the implied odds also double because this either prevents a qualifying low (if the third card is not 8 or below) or it makes a low hand very unlikely (two low cards have to fall runner-runner). these kinds of draws are great because you have a chance to scoop the pot when no low hand qualifies.with low hands, you want counterfeit protection. having an A is vitally important if you want to go for the low. A2xx is ideal because you're drawing to any low card from 3 to 8. A3xx, on the other hand, is dangerous, because you're drawing to a 2 to have the nut low, but it's worth a shot if you're in late position and can see a cheap flop. same goes for 23xx, you're drawing to an A to get the nut low, and this can be quite beneficial because often it'll counterfeit other players' aces to prevent them from having nut low (decreasing the chances of you getting quartered).
conclusion:so you should have some idea of how to play omaha hi/lo now. i'm not a fan of pre-flop starting hand lists for omaha hi/lo because there are literally thousands of combinations, and so you can't narrow the best hands into top 16 hands, etc. just remember some key things...- having an ace is important!- you want hands that aim to win the whole pot, preferably, otherwise you want hands that have a high chance of being the nut hand in either direction- your cards should work together. A239 is better than A28T, but A234 is even better. the more cards you have that work with eacher, the greater your chance at winning the pot is, exponentially.- being suited and connected greatly improve your hand.- always try to go for the nuts, and be cautious if you don't have it- always remember the possibility of being counterfeited- try to recognize situations where you might get quartered, and minimize your losses or maximize your profits depending on how many people are in the pot.i hope this guide helps. if you have any suggestions, corrections, criticisms, flames, praise, etc., feel free to post below. what i wrote is my style of playing, it might not work for some people, but i guarantee you will rake in much moola if you play like this.enjoy!aseempart 2 -
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