Top 10 Tips for Limit Omaha 8 or Better Players

1. A3xx is far superior to 23xx

On the surface these two hands look fairly similar, both hands need a very specific card to give you a nut-low draw; with A3 you need a deuce to fall, and with 23 you are looking for an Ace. However, this discounts all the other possibilities you have by holding four cards in your hand: The added high potential of the Ace (high trips/two pair/nut flush draws far outweighs what a 23 hand can offer.

1. When a solid player raises; AAxx and 23xx lose most of their value

When a good player raises you can be fairly certain that one of the Aces you need to either hit a set with AAxx or to flop the nut-low-draw with 23xx is spoken for. Furthermore, it’s not out of the realm of possibility you are dominated by a hand like AA2x or A23x.

1. You should raise if you have or expect four or more opponents with any A2 hand that also includes a suited Ace and another wheel card

This is one of my Omaha 8 pet peeves: Players who don’t raise pre-flop. Omaha 8 is a game that I compare to digging a hole: most of the time you are using a shovel to win ½ the pot here and there, while you are waiting for an excavator to arrive - known as a big scoop. In multi-way pots, hands like Ah2h4dQc are your excavator hands: you want to keep your opponents interested in the pot post-flop by getting them to stick around because of the huge size of the pot and tremendous pot-odds they are receiving; and you do this by raising pre-flop.

1. Avoid all starting hands with card combinations between four and nine

4678, 5779, 6789: These are dead-end hands. These hands have no low potential, and if you do happen to make a high hand 90% of the time there is a low hand possible, so you are only playing for ½ the pot.

1. Always raise two or more opponents if you have a lock one-way, and any potential in the other direction

Getting quartered is only costly if you are heads-up. When you have a lock hand for ½ the pot, but are certain another player does as well, it’s imperative that you try to raise-out a player with a non-nut high-hand if you have any high potential at all. Winning ¾ of the pot in a three-way hand is huge; getting quartered in a three-way pot will cost you maybe one bet.

1. Playing the tightest will give you an edge in a typical Omaha 8 game

Omaha 8 rewards tight play, players who fish around with A3xx in raised pots, play 2468 hands for 1-bet, and raise it up with QQ28 are often dominated, and always going to lose.

1. Only draw to the nuts

As simple as this advice sounds very few players actually adhere to it. King high flush draws, non-nut straights, and bottom two pair are dominated hands; you might as well just pass your opponent a stack of chips and save both of you the trouble of playing out the hand.

1. Do not play A3xx from early position unless the game is extremely passive

With the possibility of a raise behind you, your A3 is likely to be dominated. Save the A3xx hands for when you can get in cheaply from middle to late position.

1. High-only hands are only strong in multi-way pots

The value of high hands comes from dead money in the pot from all the low hands that have to fold on the flop when it contains two or three high cards. If you don’t have multiple opponents pre-flop, you won’t have this dead money in the pot.

1. Do not raise every AAxx hand

In Omaha 8, AA is not the powerhouse hand it is in Texas Hold’ Em. In Omaha you usually have to improve from a single pair of Aces to win the pot, and that means flopping a set. The trouble is that flopping an Ace puts a low card on the board, which further means there is a higher likelihood you will be playing for only ½ the pot.