Well, I have been playing Omaha for about 3 months now. I play when I need a break from Hold'em.

I have a question for all of the Omaha Veterans out there...

How the hell do you read an opponents hand?! I just witnessed a hand where one player went from flopping a straight, to turning a flush to rivering a full house!

Now I know this specific example is extreme, but I have been involved in hands that are just off the map! I feel like I am pretty good at determining ranges in my Hold'em games, but it seems like it is damn near impossible to put anyone on a hand much less their draw.

What kind of approach would one take to actually learning the game when there are just soooo many possibilities?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Everything you said seems to support why the vets here go on endlessly about playing pots in position so much.

The first two things I'd suggest if you don't have them already are pokertracker omaha and pokerace hud. It's a lot different when a 90/55 guy throws in a 3bet preflop than it is when it comes from a 21/7.

After that, what I'd do if I were just starting out it to go to the low content thread in this forum. Read the first 30 pages or so. Seriously. Pay attention to all the posts I made in there, cuz I really sucked. Then pay more attention to simo8ball, bundys, iggymcfly and biglebowski's replies. Learn from the mistakes of others to hopefully stop from making them yourself.

Lastly, play a limit you're comfortable with and WELL rolled for (I'd suggest minimum 50 buyins). Post hands that you have trouble with. Yeah there's only a couple of us who check the thread, but I pretty much guarantee that if you post a hand, it won't go unanswered. If it does for some reason, pm me. I'm on fcp pretty much every day all day.

Beyond that, it just comes down to experience and feel.

Good luck.

The best advice I got when I was learning Omaha wwas to assume you were beat. That doesn't always mean fold, but control the pot size until you get more experience. As you're finding out, sometimes flopping the nut straight doesn't mean squat. Take the above advice, he knows of which he speaks, and be patient with it. Experience is really the only way to learn to play this game well.

Thanks for the info. It just really seems like a total crapshoot.

As one person mentioned, flopping the nuts doesn't mean JACK.

BTW, I am playing .05 / .10 Pot Limit. I don't mind losing a couple bucks here or there to learn the game.

This is not at all true. Who DOESN'T want to flop the nuts??

When they say it doesn't mean jack, they are talking about the possible redraws showing. Flopping the nut straight on a TJQ board is a BIG difference than a 789 board. Sometimes it would be correct to throw away a nut straight when facing a lot of action when you don't have any redraws because someone else could have the same hand and freerolling against you. Same goes with flushes and full houses, (top vs. underfulls). Redraws are a huge part of the game, which is a very big reason position is so important.

Just get better at reading the board and figuring out what beats you and what CAN beat you. Players will typically play sets/2pair combos and big straight/flush draws, so that narrows the possibilities (whereas in Hold'Em, players will aggressively play a much wider variety of made hands). The key to reading opponents is like the key to reading opponents in any game: see what boards villains bet at, see who they bet at and when (if they lead when checked to, if they check/call, when they raise, etc). And when they show down, recall the way they bet each street and what was on the board.

It's easy: your opponent has the nuts.

;-)

It's tougher in a lot of cases, because almost any hand could backdoor something with a feature unrelated to how the villain played the flop.