Pot Limit Omaha Beginners Guide Part 2

Now that you understand the differences between Texas Hold’em and Omaha, you’re ready to learn how to play winning Pot-Limit Omaha. In this part of the guide, we’re going to teach you how to select good hands pre-flop and how to play those hands post-flop. In addition, we’ll also point out some common mistakes beginning Omaha players make.

Remember that in poker, you profit every time your opponent makes a mistake. These tips will minimize the mistakes you make so you can capitalize on the mistakes your opponent makes.

Hand Selection

While good hand selection doesn’t give you the massive advantage that it does in Texas Hold’em, selecting the right hands can definitely add more money to your bankroll. When you play solid starting hands, you’ll notice that your opponents will often lose to you when their small flushes and baby straights get crushed by your nut flushes and nut straights. Here are some characteristics of strong starting hands in Omaha.

Double Suited- All hands will increase in value if they’re double suited meaning that you have something like A(s)K(s)A(d)K(d) or K(c)Q(c)J(h)10(h). A double suited hand gives you a better chance to pick up a flush draw on the flop.

High Connectivity- Generally hands that are connected are better than hands that aren’t. For example, KQJT is a much better hand than KJ73.

Two Pocket Pairs- Something like AAKK increases your odds of flopping a set and ultimately making a full house. These hands become monsters when they’re double suited and connected.

Basic Post-flop Strategy

Generally, more players will see a flop in Omaha than in Texas Hold’em and as a result, the pots are usually bigger. The combination of large pots and many players generally means that bluffing is a bad idea in Omaha. If you raised pre-flop and are up against only one or two players, you might consider following up with a 2/3 pot continuation bet if the board doesn’t look too scary, but continuation bets have a much lower success rate in Omaha than they do in Texas Hold’em.

The best post-flop Omaha strategy is to play basic ABC poker. That means you need to bet your big draws for value and fold when it doesn’t look like your hand is going to improve.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Here’s a list of several mistakes that new Omaha players make:

Overvalue The Hand- Two pair may be a monster in Hold’em, but it’s marginal in Omaha. Remember, Omaha is a game of the nuts and two pair is never the nuts.

Hold Second Best Hands Too Long- Your eight-high flush may look good, but you might be drawing dead to your opponent’s ace-high flush.

Poor Pre-flop Hand Selection- The pots in Omaha can get huge and it’s tempting to play anything you get dealt in hopes that it hits, but this strategy will hemorrhage money in the long run.

Bluffing Too Often- Due to massive pot odds and huge draws, bluffs rarely work in Omaha. It takes an advanced player to bluff successfully in Pot-Limit Omaha.

Omaha is a fun and highly profitable game. The advice in parts one and two of our beginner’s guide to Pot-Limit Omaha should give you a solid foundation to start playing.