We have stated before that if you are holding a top pair (A-A, K-K, Q-Q) preflop your hand will be stronger if your other two cards connect with your pair in some way. If your aces or kings do not improve on the flop, they are big underdogs to take the pot, so your pairs really do need some sort of back up with the other cards you are holding.

Any pair that you are dealt in PLO  really does  need some kind of connection with the other cards you are holding, because even if you hit a set on the flop, any overcard could give an opponent a higher set, so that means you are have just one out in the whole of the remaining deck and that is not a very good position to be in. You really need to be very cautious if you decide to play any pair lower than a nine, as you are always going to be vulnerable to any overcards that hit the board and any connected cards on the flop means that you could also be up against flush or straight draws as well.

It is in situations like these that you really need to be able to read the board and get an  idea about what sort of hands you could be up against. It can be so hard to fold a flopped set to a a big raise. If you are holding 2-6-8-8 and the flop comes K-J-8, if your opponent makes a pot sized raise he could be holding a pair of either kings or jacks, the best you can hope for is that he is holding two pairs, even then they could hit a full house.  Any opponents that have connected cards like Q-K-A-X  means that your set is very vulnerable to straight or flush draws.

If you want to fine tune your Pot-Limit Omaha skills and sit on the rail as the pros play the High Stakes tables, go to Full Tilt Poker.

If you look down at your four hole cards and see you are holding four  connected cards, you have the potential to make a very good winning hand in the pot-limit Omaha, especially if your cards are suited as you will have the chance of hitting a flush when the community cards are shown. Not having suited cards will weaken any straight draws or wraps you may have, because as soon as there are more than one card of the same suit on the flop your hand is going to be the underdog to take the pot.  

If you have four connected high cards such as 10-J-Q-K, or 9-10-J-Q, these hands should be played strongly before the flop, even more so if you have position.  Hands like these are going to give you chances of hitting a nut straight or nut flush. With a good flop you could could be holding a hand that will have more outs to help you hit a winning hand.

If you are holding a strong hand like 10-J-Q-K double suited, it is worth making a small raise that will not drive your opponents out of the hand and it will help build the pot, also if one of your opponents is holding A-A-x-x, they will not be able to reraise too much before the flop.

Lower connected cards whether they are double suited or not, are really only best played if you are able to get a good read on the range of starting hands your opponents will see the flop with. A lower wrap like 3s-4s-5d-6d may look like a good starting cards that will give you a chance to hit a number of straights or flushes, but a flop like 7-8-9 will certainly give an opponent a chance of a higher straight. In PLO you need to be able to make the best hand possible, or the high end of the straight or flush.

When you are trying to assess your Hole cards in a pot-limit Omaha hand, do not fall into the trap of just waiting to be dealt a big pair, you must look at the combinations that your cards may be able to make.  Being dealt a big pair in PLO has less value if the other two cards you are holding will not help you after the flop. It cannot be stressed enough, that if you see a flop holding  just a solitary pair with neither of your other two cards connected in anyway, you will be a underdog in the hand. 

Although you can only use two of the four cards you are holding, if you can use any of your four cards to make a hand, you have a possible six card combinations that you may hit the flop with. That is not to say that holding a pair in your hand is of little value in PLO,  just remember that they should be played with caution, as you will realistically have to flop a set to stand any chance of taking down the pot.   

Being able to make various combinations will give you the chance to hit the nut straight or nut flush draws, and these are the hands that you can really maximise your profit.

If you are used to playing Texas hold’em,  you are probably well aware of the importance of having  position over your opponents at the poker table, but PLO  has much more action after the flop, and with possibility of the lead changing after every street it is much more important to see what your opponent does before it is your turn to act. If you are folding all but the premium hands when you are out of position and a bigger range of hands when you do have position, you will find that you are less likely to find yourself in tough situations later in the hand.

By being in a late position you are going to get more information about your opponents hands, if there is a raise and a reraise before you get to act , it is easier to decide whether to continue with your hand or fold.  Being able to play a larger range of hands when you are in position is only half the story, being able to use your position to your advantage will make your game alot more profitable. But remember you still have to use good hand selection and be willing to fold the hand if you miss the flop completely or you are drawing to a non-nut hand. 

You should use your position and the strength of your hand to dictate the size of the pot.  If you have a very strong hand preflop, don’t be afraid to reraise a raise, this will drive out any opponents that may have flat called the original raise. Likewise if you only have limpers in front of you, limping in yourself is a option if your hand is more marginal, but be aware that the flop may help any number of players and the pot can grow quickly in the next rounds, so be sure that if you do limp in to see the flop that you are not chasing a non-nut draw in later rounds.

Remember not to become predictable with your play when in position, don’t always limp in if everyone limps to you and don’t always only raise when you are holding  big pairs. Good players will always pick up on your plays if you do become predictable, so do remember to keep a balance in your play.

Before we go any further i will discuss how big a pot in pot-limit Omaha can get.  Do not be fooled into thinking that because it is pot and not no-limit that the pots do not get so big.  If you are used to playing no-limit hold’em you will no doubt be used to raising or calling all-in, but the nature of Omaha means that more players will see the flop, so if  aggressive players were to raise all in every hand, the game would turn into a lottery. Having a pot-limit will not stop the pot growing big and if you are still in a hand, be prepared to see some big raises.

Omaha is more of a action packed game with more people seeing the flop, the pot limit will give players who want to see the flop the chance to bet their hand if they think it is strong enough.

If you are going to raise with your hand, you can raise the pot by the size of the pot itself including any bets that were made before your turn. So if the pot is $10 and a player bets $5 , you could raise up by another $20. You would call the $5 bet and raise by the size of the pot $15, making the pot $35. Another raise in the same round of betting would see an opponent call your $15 raise and again raise by the size of the pot $35 making the pot now $85. So you can see how quickly a pot can grow during the betting rounds. Some poker sites now have specific “Bet Pot” action buttons that make play easier.

Pot-limit Omaha is definately not a game for the faint hearted, your hand can be a red hot favourite on the flop and become junk on the river, thats part of the appeal of this action packed game.

If you are at a hold’em table and you are dealt a big pair like  A-A or K-K, you are holding two powerful cards, but in PLO these cards in your hand alone are not enough to give you a chance of winning the pot. It does not mean that big pairs are not good cards to have when playing PLO, but for them to be strong cards they need  to work in combinations with the other cards you are holding.

Inexperienced players will often bet a hand, A-A-X-X all the way to the river, but in a multiway pot unless you hit the flop really hard, you are a big underdog. So you need your A-A to work together with your X-X, you  have the possibilities  of hitting a straight, flush or full house.  If you are hold a  hand like A-A-9-3 of different suits, your hand will only improve if you hit another Ace on the flop, but if it is a multi-way pot and there are two or more suited cards your hand is probably an underdog to someone holding a monster hand.

If your hand is A-A-J-T of just two suits, this will give you alot more opportunities to hit a monster hand, the nut straight or nut flush, another Ace  and you have the chance of the nut full house.

 To be in with a decent chance of winning the pot, you really need to be able to make a straight or better. The more your hole cards can work together to give you two cards that will work with whatever comes on the flop, the more chance you have of taking the pot.

1. A-A-K-K  
2. A-A-J-T
3. A-A-Q-Q
4. A-A-J-J
5. A-A-T-T
6. A-A-9-9
7. A-A-X-X
8. 8-9-T-J
9. K-K-Q-Q
10. K-K-J-J
11. K-Q-J-T
12. K-K-T-T
13. K-K-A-Q
14. K-K-A-J
15. K-K-A-T
16. K-K-Q-J
17. K-K-Q-T
18. K-K-J-T
19. Q-Q-J-J
20. Q-Q-T-T
21. Q-Q-A-K
22. Q-Q-A-J
23. Q-Q-A-T
24. Q-Q-K-J
25. Q-Q-K-T
26. Q-Q-J-T
27. Q-Q-J-9
28. Q-Q-9-9
29. J-J-T-T
30. J-J-T-9

These hands should all be double suited, as in  Ac-Ad-Kd-Kc.

These are considered the best starting hands in pot-limit Omaha. We will discus why these hands are so important in future posts.

In an earlier post i explained how you should be selective in choosing cards that you see the flop with. There are two factors that will determine how good a hand you are holding.

1. You need your four cards to be able to be combined in sets of two, especially if they give you a chance of making the best hand on the flop. An example is Ac-Ad-Jc-Td, with these cards you have possabilites to hit a full house, a nut flush and the nut straight.
2. If your cards run in a tight straight that will let you hit the nut straight on the flop. Cards with a gap at the lower end are also good. A good example of how a straight run of your hole cards can improve on the flop is, Qd-Jc-Td-9c, the fact that the cards are double suited will also help you hit a flush. There are many community card combinations that can improve these four cards to make a great hand,

AKQ, AKJ, AKT, KJ9, KT9, QT8, Q98, JT8, J98, J87, T98, T87, 987, 876,

Remember the lower your straight the more chance of someone else making a higher straight that will beat your hand.

In an earlier post i discussed the differences between NL hold’em and Omaha, now i will discuss more of the specifics of Omaha. On most online poker rooms you will find two types of Omaha being played, pot-limit Omaha( or Omaha High), in which the highest hand wins, and Omaha Hi/Lo( also known as Omaha Eights or Better or Omaha Split) where the highest and lowest hands win.

The variant that this blog will focus on is Pot-Limit Omaha(PLO), which is what you will find the pros playing on the high stakes tables. If you are going to try your hand at PLO, be prepared to change the way you think about the cards you are holding, and make sure that you do not dive in and play at a high limit until you are used to the nuances of the game.

As when playing hold’em, you will want to play a tight and selective game before and after the flop, you do not want to go chasing too many draws. You need to play cards that will give you a chance of making the best hand, for example, how would you play AK in hold’em?. Of course it is one of the best starting hands you can get so you are going to raise, not so in Omaha, a single pair of aces or kings will leave you well behind.

The hands that you want to make in Omaha are straights, flushes and full houses. These are the hands that win the most, and you will even get hands being outdrawn by a better hand of the same kind. A straight will always be vulnerable to three suited cards on the board, a straight that was made on the flop could turn into an opponents higher straight when the remaining two cards are dealt and a paired board is always dangerous as it could give an opponent a full house.
In Omaha you really need hands that have a strong chance of making various hands when the flop is dealt, that means even though you can only use two cards, you need all four cards to be working for you to be able to see the flop.
A hand like Ac-Qh-7d-3s, is not going to help you hit a flush or a full house, there is a chance of a straight, but that is all. Hands that have cards that are connected, like being double-suited are very good, 8d-9h-10d-Jh is going to give you chances of straights and flushes on the flop.We will go into the best starting hands in Omaha in another post.

One thing to remember when playing Omaha is to not waste money playing weak staring hands. Many of your opponents will want to see all the cards of the board before they decide their hand is no good, this is an expensive way to play, but it does feed the pot and these pots can be picked up by you if you are playing quality starting hands.

Now many players are discovering Omaha poker, partly because it seems it is the game of choice for the top high stakes pros, players are deciding they want to try their hand at the Omaha tables. So now we have the Omaha tables full of players who have a background in hold’em and try to use what they know and apply it to their Omaha game. If players think that they can approach the four card game of Omaha the same way they do Hold’em, they will most certainly lose money.

Don’t let the differences in strategy put you off playing Omaha, it’s the differences that make Omaha exciting and profitable. As no-limit hold’em is the most popular form of hold’em, the pot-limit variation is the most popular form of Omaha.

Both games have a set of community cards, the 5 cards that make up the flop, turn and river, but it is the 2 extra hole cards and how a hand is made that sets Omaha apart. You are dealt 4 cards in Omaha and from the 4 cards you must use only 2 and no more. Then to make your hand you must use only 3 of the 5 community cards that are available.

The Rule to Remember is

Two common remarks that are often made about Omaha are, “Omaha is a game of the nuts” and”Omaha is a drawing game”.Both of these statements are very true in that you will often commita lot of money to the pot without a made hand as you will very good pot odds for your draws, and if you do commit chips to the pot, you really need to be drawing to the best hand.

Starting hand selection in Omaha is not as straight forward as in hold’em, mainly because there are not many starting hands that have a big advantage over other starting hands in Omaha, whereas a starting hand in hold’em can have a big advantage over another.

Your table position is vital when playing Omaha, even more so than in hold’em. Being in late position at the table will not only let you see how your opponents act, but also control the betting, so if someone bets into you, you can come over the top if you are holding a strong draw.