Playing Pot Limit Omaha Poker
While Texas Hold'em is certainly the most popular poker game in America today, it is not the only game out there. In Europe, the poker game of choice is often pot limit Omaha. While pot limit Omaha is not played as frequently in the United States, it can be found in some card rooms and more frequently, at online poker sites. Pot Limit Omaha poker games often have big pots and heavy action, and are sometimes a popular format for poker tournaments. Here are some basics on how to play pot limit Omaha poker.
Similar to Texas Holdem but different
Pot Limit Omaha poker is similar to Texas Hold'em in that there is a small blind and a big blind that drive the action, and you make your best poker hand combining your hole cards with the five cards on the board. The similarities pretty much end there. In Omaha, you have four hole cards, and must use exactly two of those cards in your poker hand. Not one, not zero, not three or four. Exactly two. This can often lead to players misreading their poker hand, for example thinking they have a flush because they have three spades and there are two on the board, or thinking they have a full house when they only have three of a kind. More importantly, with as many as 45 of the 52 cards in the deck in play, you very frequently need the nuts to win. If there are three to a suit on the board the ace high flush will usually take down the pot, unless the board is paired, in which case without a full house, you are in trouble.
Slow playing less useful in Omaha poker
Because of this, it is very important to bet aggressively in pot limit Omaha. The reason this poker game is played as pot limit instead of no limit is because if it were no limit, savvy players would be constantly betting their entire stack when they made the best hand on the flop, in order to force out any draws. Because Omaha hands are so vulnerable, it is necessary to bet a large amount, usually the size of the pot, whenever you have the best hand. On a flop of 8h Th As, if you are holding 8c 8d 9d 7c, you need to try to win the pot immediately. Although you currently have a set, which is probably good right now although not necessarily, and you have a straight draw, there are very few cards that can come that will not kill your hand. Any heart and you are losing to a flush. If a jack comes you will have a straight, but may well lose to an ace high straight. If a 7 comes, you may be behind to a straight (note you would not have a full house in that situation). Even if a T or A comes giving you a full house, you will probably be losing to A T, A 8 or T 8. Examples like this show why slow playing can be disastrous in a pot limit Omaha poker game.
While there is much more to pot limit Omaha poker than this, if you remember that you need to have or be drawing to the nuts at all times, and that you must play aggressively when you are very strong in order to force out draws, you will have a good foundation to build on.
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