Pot Limit Omaha Beginners Guide Part 1

Has Texas Hold'em lost its appeal? Are you looking to expand your poker skills and become a more rounded player? Then let me introduce you to one of the most exciting and most profitable poker variants out there - Pot-Limit Omaha.

Pot-Limit Omaha has a lot to offer a Texas Hold'em player looking to find another profitable poker variant to break up their routine. Perhaps the greatest advantage is that there are far fewer solid Pot-limit Omaha players online than there are solid Texas Hold'em players. The pot odds in Omaha tend to keep opponents drawing and inexperienced players will often be drawing dead without realizing it. These players don't realize that a winning Texas Hold'em strategy can be a losing Omaha strategy.

In part one of our beginner's guide to Pot-Limit Omaha, we're going to discuss the differences between Texas Hold'em and Omaha so you can adapt your strategy. Then in part two we'll discuss how to play a winning Pot-Limit Omaha strategy.

The Differences Between Pot-Limit Omaha and Texas Hold'em

Let's get the basic stuff out of the way first. In Texas Hold'em you're dealt two hole cards whereas you're dealt four in Omaha. In addition, Texas Hold'em allows you to play and one of the following: Both of the cards in your pocket and three cards from the community, one card from your pocket and four cards from the community, or you can play the board. In Omaha, however, you must play two cards from your pocket and three cards from the community.

There's also a major difference in hand strength between Pot-Limit Omaha and Texas Hold'em. For example, you're in good shape if you have top pair/top kicker after the flop in Texas Hold'em. However when you're playing Omaha, top pair/top kicker is worthless unless you also have draws to the nut straight or flush.

Remember, Texas Hold'em is a game dominated by pairs and trips. Omaha, however, is a game of the nuts. Whereas a weaker hand may win in Texas Hold'em, the winning hand in Omaha is often the best possible hand. If you're not drawing to the nuts in Omaha, you could be drawing dead.

Tight Is Right

True, tight is right in Texas Hold'em too, but in No-Limit Texas Hold'em tight is right for your pre-flop hand selection. While practicing good pre-flop hand selection is important in Omaha too, good starting hands in Omaha don't give you as much of an advantage as they do in Texas Hold'em. In Omaha, being tight means having the discipline not to draw to the non-nut flush or straight.
Remember that Omaha is a game of the nuts. Making a flush holding 3-6 suited may win in Texas Hold'em, but in Omaha you're almost certainly up against a bigger flush.

In the next part of our beginner's guide, we'll discuss pre-flop hand selection, basic Omaha strategy, and common beginner mistakes. Pot-Limit Omaha can be a very profitable game as long as you know how to play it correctly. The next part of this article will teach you the basic concepts of profitable Pot-Limit Omaha play.