Posted Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:35 pm GMT by weirdofreek
I have been trying my hand at PL omaha online and it has been profitable at .25/.5 level simply b/c i understand the rules. My strat is simply play any double suited w/ connecting cards or high suited. I fold any thing less than trips at a full table and any thing less than top two short. I would like to get better as online omaha seems like a licence to print money any advice or crtique of my play is apprciated.
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Posted Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:20 am GMT by Geno
I second this call for help, my Omaha game is dire and in need of medical assistance!
Posted Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:11 pm GMT by Phil14312
Lyle Berman's section of Super system 2 is a good read on PL Omaha.
Posted Sun Oct 23, 2005 3:33 pm GMT by supafrey
I am awesome at this game. Hope that helps.
Posted Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:22 pm GMT by UrAteUp
weirdo there are several good books out on Omaha that could be very helpful to your game.
Tom McEvoy and TJ Cloutier wrote one named "Championship Omaha, The Bible To Winning Omaha". I read this book awhile back even though I am not keen on Omaha. It helped me to understand the game better and more importantly showed me some good stragies for Omaha.
Mark Tenner and Lou Krieger co-wrote " Winning Omaha8 Poker". This book is on Omaha8 but might be useful. I haven't read this one personally but it was mentioned to me for reading by a good friend and great Omaha player.
How Good is Your Pot-Limit Omaha by Stuart Reuben is a good read on Omaha.
Winner's Guide to Omaha Poker by Ken Warren I have not read. My neighbor has though and he said it helped him greatly with his game.
I hope this information helps you and anyone else that might be interested.
Posted Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:21 pm GMT by xDiamond_CutteRx
A couple of things.
1. Starting hand selection. I like hands that fit roughly into the following groups, plus a few more hands. Remember, Omaha is like playing 6 Hold'em hands at once, not 2, so you want a lot of live combinations that give you a winning hand, usually the nuts.
a. Two high pair. Double- or single-suited adds a lot of value, and aces are much more valuable than any other pair, especially if they are suited. With 2 pair in your hand, you will flop a set about 1 time in 4, but you want to make sure it's top set, so I recommend not overvaluing many pairs below Jacks, and certainly don't overvalue any pair lower than 9's (not to say low sets aren't good, but they CAN get you in trouble).
b. A suited-ace with a 3-wrap, the higher the better, especially if you can make broadway. A great hand is something like A  Q  J 10 because you can make the nut straight many ways, the nut spade flush, and a very good defensive diamond flush.
c. AAxx Double-suited. This hand is great because when it hits, it hits great. Unless you have a good combination for “xx” I recommend you play this hand cautiously however, and be sure that you ARE double-suited if your other two cards aren’t all that great. AAKK(ds) and AAJT(ds) are considered the best starting hands in Omaha, but remember that they don’t have nearly the relative strength of Aces or Kings in Hold’em.
d. A suited-ace with a big pair. Bonus if you have a wrap or comparable hand to go with it, or if you’re double-suited. A hand like A Q Q  10 is especially good.
e. A wrap with one or no gaps, especially if suited or double-suited. These flush draws are primarily defensive in nature, but middle wraps can hit a LOT of flops, especially with a hand like 9  8 7 6 .
2. Position. Some players mistakenly believe that position doesn’t matter that much in Omaha, when in fact the opposite is true; position is more important in Omaha than perhaps any other game. Because bluffing from early position is much rarer in Omaha, players’ initial actions are often good indicators of the strength of their hands. If they bet, they have something, and if they don’t, then they don’t. Personally, there are very few hands I like to play from up front; from late position I can see how cheaply the next card will come off the deck, and it gives me a chance to re-raise if I have a big hand. I would really tighten up in early or middle position, because it can be costly to call bets with a draw, only to get raised by the button.
3. Bluffing. In general, there isn’t much bluffing in Omaha. But one instance in which bluffing is very lucrative comes in weak, loose games on the flop when you are last to act. In weak games, like those at the low limits, if the bet gets checked to me on the flop, I almost ALWAYS bet, regardless of what I have. This bet only needs to succeed about half the time to be profitable, and it usually is, because weak players tend only to value bet. When they check, they have a weak draw or nothing at all, and any signs on aggression often send them running. Padding your stack with these little pots makes a big difference when you get in that big pot.
4. Raising Pre-flop. This really depends in the game. If the game is loose with a lot of limpers, you should usually just limp too with your quality hands, because if you and a weaker player hit a similar draw, yours will usually be better and you can trap him for a lot of chips. The biggest mistake I see a lot of amateurs make is overvaluing a pair of aces, especially when there is little to go with them. Usually, I will only raise with Aces if I have very strong cards to go with them, and only from late position when there is already a decent pot in front of me. Don’t raise big pairs from up front if you have little or nothing to go with them. It’s better to limp in, hope to flop a set, and crush the opposition when you do. Unlike in Hold’em, where the primary reason for raising is usually to shut people out of the pot, the primary reason for raising in Omaha is to build the pot so you can hammer opponents with a big bet later—I usually like raising solid hands with high pairs from late position, because if I do flop a set, I don’t like to let opponents draw cheaply to beat me.
5. Drawing and re-draws. The law of draws in Omaha is simple. Only draw to the nuts! It’s great to flop a wrap straight draw or a straight with a re-draw to a flush, but I prefer to think of low flush draws as “defensive” (a term used by many pros). That is, you’re not rooting for another of that suit to come because it can give an opponent a higher flush, but he has fewer outs to hit that flush because of your hand. When a pair hits the board, draw cautiously, and don’t draw to a straight or flush if you encounter much resistance, because there are too many hands that can make a winning full house. Never draw at the bottom end of a straight. And if you flop something like the nut straight with no redraws, you must be prepared to FOLD if you encounter heavy resistance. It seems counter-intuitive, but it’s extremely dangerous to let an opponent with the same hand freeroll on you.
I'll post more later if I can think of it.
Posted Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:35 pm GMT by TheSalche
diamond cutter knows what he's talking about, a few more notes
raise preflop with hands other than big suited pairs ... raise with straight draws like 910JQ, more suited the better ... lower straight draws are also nice because you may flop a low straight with other players calling with high cards that missed, or flop some sort of lower full house that somebody with AAxx will call you down with ... being aggressive preflop in position is +EV
another hand you will run into sometimes is when you flop the nut straight, but there is a flush draw on the board ... play this carefully if you face a lot of resistance because the other player may have the straight as well and be freerolling for the flush ... this doesn't happen all the time obviously
i agree with his statement about small pots ... those are very important
as far as places to play I'd reccommend PartyPoker ... ive played omaha there, InterPoker (crypto) and UB and i'd say the games at party are the easiest
another thing with omaha, is you have to get used to laying down what you would consider to be HUGE hands in omaha ... sometimes you're opponents may be behind you, but when they are ahead of you, they will get all your chips, and this makes folding big hands a good idea given your read
you will get a feel for it after playing/watching for a while
Posted Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:56 pm GMT by Skribbles
Diamond and the lady in the pink shirt pretty much covered it.
I've been dabbling in PLO25 lately and one thing that I have found to be very profitable is a small raise from CO or the button.
IE. 5 limpers before you for .25. You hold QhQdJh9c. Not a great hand but is definitly a player from LP. Instead of just limping, throw out the dreaded min raise. No one is going to fold for an extra .25 preflop, rightfully so, and you'll have twice the pot size to bet if you hit. If not, no biggie... just .50. If you don't hit, a lot of the times the flop will be checked to you for an easy steal possibility.
Posted Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:22 am GMT by TheSalche
| Skribbles wrote: | | If you don't hit, a lot of the times the flop will be checked to you for an easy steal possibility. |
most likely a check raise possibility though
p.s. i don't like being called the lady in pink ... but i suppose im asking for it
Posted Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:06 am GMT by Skribbles
| TheSalche wrote: |
p.s. i don't like being called the lady in pink ... but i suppose im asking for it |
I don't see why not. :D
Just bustin on ya.... I got the same thing when I wore a pink shirt out the other week, not stop harrassment from every guy around. Nothing but love from the ladies though.
Posted Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:42 am GMT by Nut Flush
If I had to pick the most important virtue to be good at Omaha, I would have to say "patience". Being ablt to sit and wait for good hands is much more important in Omaha than Hold Em.
It can get very boring grinding it out waiting for premium starting hands, but it is also profitable. Don't limp in with crap because of boredom, you'll just catch a small piece of the flop and end up calling down with a losing hand.
Pick your spots but when you do play, don't be afraid to jam the pot, especially in position. Screw that min raise crap, with 8 limpers in front of you, you need to bet big and weed out the truly horrible hands. Poor Omaha players will play any 4 cards and without jamming, they could easily out flop you. Don't let them see the flop for cheap.
Some other things I've learned in Omaha:
1) top pair is rarely a winner
2) bottom sets are expensive, facing heavy action don't feel bad laying down bottom set
3) ass end of a straight is also a recipe for disaster
4) "the nuts" on the flop is not always the winner
5) flush and straight draws with a paired board is risky as well
6) if you get dealt trips or quads, just fold
7) don't play any pair when your other two cards are bricks
When I play, I wait and wait for big starting hands. Hands like AKQJ, AAKQ, KQJT, especially double suited can turn into huge hands. You will occasionally lose to some jackbut playing a crap hand like 9743, but you'll get it back later.
To get around the boredom issue, just play 2-4 tables at once 
Posted Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:44 am GMT by Xamzax
Although my main game is om8, I can tell you that there is one wondeful piece of advice to give any new player learning omaha...
Learn to fold!
That's right, the most profitable move to make in this form of poker is folding. Fold fast, fold furious and fold well.
See, the problem is this.. in omaha, people are playing for the nuts. That means that when there is a full table and EVERYONE is in the hand to the flop.. if there is a straight possible, the straight is made. If there is a flush possible, the flush is made. There may be the occasional fluke where top pair with top kicker wins is, but it is HIGHLY unlikely.
It's also a game where having the nuts on the flop can hurt you! You flop a straight with two of a suit on board.. well if you aren't suited to the flop, you will be in a bad situation as soon as the flush hits. people stay in with fl draws.. it's pot odds.
The lesson is this - In omaha, go for the nut hands and the nut draws. If you have a hand that goes only ONE way, it's probably vulnerable if it's not the mortal nuts.
example: Ac7s7h9c (big blind, free flop)
This is not a hand I would voluntarily take a flop with. But I'm stiffed in the blind so when I get THIS Flop...
7c, 6c, Jh
I'm thrilled. I have two ways to immediately make my hand. I have middle set of sevens and the nut flush draw as a back up. Knowing that I own two of the three remaining sevens, the only set I'm worried about is the jacks. If the board pairs, I'm certain to have a very strong full house. If the flush comes, I'm styling. The back up is what makes this a raising/reraising hand.
Now, frankly, I'm correct in raising this hand and if indeed I *was* against the trip jacks, I'm still correct in raising this hand. If I lose because I'm against trip jacks that hold up to the end, that's the way it goes. But I'd still bet against it for my flush draw!
The more outs you have to make the nuts, the better off you are. In order to generate hands with more outs, you select hands that have built in out generators. Think about it this way...
Ah,Kd,Jh,10d ---- this is a fun little hand. How would it play out?
Flop 1: 2s, 4d, 8d. You have the second nut flush draw and nothing else. If you are bet into, you'd fold this hand. Why? Because you might be up against the second flush and you have NO back up to go with your hand.
Flop 2: Qh, Kh, 8c. You have the wraparound straight draw. Any ace or nine will fill your straight. You also have top pair (don't rely on top pair much myself). And mostly, you have the nut flush draw. What you are reaaaaallly hoping for is someone to have the same straight draw as you while you have the flush draw working. Go nuts on this flop.
The hand I described is a wraparound hand. If you flop medium to big cards, you'll often have the straight wrap. You can play smaller wraps too, but the lower you go, the better your position needs to be. The worse wrap is the 2, 3, 4, 5. tis unplayable from any position but the blind. You cannot get the nut flush with those low cards and most straights can be beaten by better ones.
The lowest wrap I look for ends with the five. In omaha LIMIT. In pot limit, I'll probably save my rent playing to the seven.
What about pairs, you might ask? Well, most suck. You need more ways to go than just that one pair. yes, kings hold up well in holdem, but this is by no means similar. Kings need back up too!!
Kh, Ks, 5d, 8c --- terrible. Dump it quick. The faster the better.
Kh, Ks, Js, 10h ---- not bad. I'd play it in most positions. I'm looking for trips, boat, straight and BACKDOOR flush possibilities. I say backdoor... because only with backdoor possibilities should you feel more confident about a second nut flush.
Oh brother this is a mouthful. If anyone is interested in more information regarding omaha or my fave, om8.. let me know.
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