Archive for 'Playing Tips'
Raising Before the Flop for Greater Profit
Posted on14. Jul, 2010 by admin.
Unlike its cousin Texas-Hold’em, in Omaha Poker, the greatest strength of a player’s wagering strategy is developed in the starting hand. While there are the occasional strong hands to start with but more often there will be junk hands all over the table. It is through keeping yourself in the game and raising when you can pre-flop that will help increase your odds of winning.
Many players will simply limp along on weak hands in hopes that they will finally get what they need on the flop. By strategic raising on a hand that has at least a good potential, you can force the wagering to go more toward your best chance. Starting hands, even the junk hands, do not run in a close value at the beginning. By forcing bids and raises in your opponents who are looking to the flop to redeem these hands, you are in a better position to share the pot if not take its entirety.
A great deal of the Omaha Poker player’s success is in exploiting the small advantages one gets before the flop. By then you have had your opponents add to the pot and still be secure in knowing that all they have to do is draw a “dead” card for their flop to destroy their chances at the win. It does take concentration to use the information on the table to determine the approximate value of all the hands still in the game. If you hesitate and wait for the flop to determine the outcome of the big blind, you will have missed the opportunity to have weak handed players drop out so the odds are greater that you can emerge victorious in a more closely played heads up game against fewer opponents.
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Ohama Poker – Lady Luck Can Sit This One Out
Posted on05. Jun, 2010 by admin.
One of the primary misconceptions about poker in general is that the ubiquitous “luck” plays a primary part in the winning or losing. Admittedly some types of poker are random enough that no skill can be learned to improve the chances of winning. Often the flow of this random action is what is mistakenly identified as “luck.”
In Omaha Poker, there is very little randomness by which the concept of “luck” can attach itself. Omaha is very mathematical in its nature and is sometimes considered rather dull because of this. In Omaha Poker there is a great deal of information openly known and available. It is possible for the river card to suddenly fill a weak hand and make it a winner but this is not a standard feature of Omaha. Most of the strength or weakness of a hand has been determined in the earlier play, usually even before the turn card, much less the river draw.
A player who feels they derive their winnings through “luck” should stay away from Omaha Poker. The edges are small and the mathematical precision of the play possibilities makes it a game that will do the steady, observant player well. But Omaha Poker can quickly bankrupt a poor player who feels that surely somewhere within all those cards they have to work with they can find a winning combination.
Even Roulette is a game that depends more on the system of wagering than any “luck” that may drop the ball in one hole rather than another. Omaha Poker is like that. Careful observation and wagering skill is the more dependable way to winning.
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Playing Omaha Hi/Lo Without Getting Stuck in the Middle
Posted on15. Apr, 2010 by admin.
A confusing aspect of Omaha Poker for the beginner is the concept of the Hi/Lo game in which you can win by having either the highest hand or the lowest. Since you are working both combinations from the same hand and flop, without being allowed to use a card in both hand combinations at the same time has send many new players screaming from the table. However, fining that happy medium for your best possible low hand without disrupting your high hand is really a simple task.
In both combinations you must use two cards from your hand and three from the board. Since most Hi/Lo games have an eight or better limitation, the worst possible low hand is 8-7-6-5-4 with the best low hand being 5-4-3-2-1. When determining which of your cards to use for the low hand it is a good idea to view them as a single 5 digit number with your highest card at the left and building down from there. Remember you must use two of your hand cards for the high hand and the other two for the low, no combining allowed. Thus you may have a 5, but if the combination from the flop does not allow you to descend from there, you may have to use a higher card to start your low hand run.
Ultimately the lowest “number” wins the low pot. If you cannot form a decent hand for either high or low, calculating from what cards are available to create the bets winning potential for one or the other pots will give you better odds of not finishing the hand with a total loss of your wagered investment.