Omaha Hi/Lo Beginner Tips
For the past couple years there have been a lot of Holdem players on PokerStars that have decided to start playing Omaha Poker. The most popular Omaha Poker game played is Omaha Hi/Lo as it’s a big change from Holdem and very entertaining too play. In Omaha Hi/Lo both the high hand and the low hand can potentially win a share of the pot. In every pot there will be a high hand that wins, but in order for the low hand to win a share of the pot it needs to qualify. In order to qualify for a low hand you need to have five cards that are eight or less and aces can be used as both a low card and high card.
If you don’t know how to play Omaha Hi/Lo yet, I would recommend reading over the rules. After going through the rules you should read over these beginner Omaha Hi/Lo tips.
* You can play a wide range of starting hands in Omaha Hi/Lo, but make sure you don’t limp into every single pot as it can cost a lot of chips. You should try playing hands that give you double flush options and double straight options. If you have a high pair such as queens or better then you can also play these types of hands to the flop to see if you hit trips.
* If you’re the type of player that likes to play a lot of hands on PokerStar.it to the flop you’re going to need to make your decision after the flop as to whether you’re folding or not. If you have a nut draw or a made hand that you think is strong enough to hold out for the rest of the hand then you should continue in the hand. Don’t continue in the hand if you only hit a small piece of the flop. There will be many more hands where you have better odds of making money.
* One thing a lot of new players don’t realize when coming over from Holdem, is that the hands in Omaha are much better on a regular basis. In Holdem you might see a pair of aces win a lot of hands, but in Omaha poker you’ll rarely, if ever see a pair of aces win the pot. If you’re playing down to the showdown in Omaha you should have a nut straight or better at minimum. Trips won’t usually win when you end up going down to a showdown.
* It’s very hard to try and bluff your opponents out in Omaha HI/Lo simply because most hands always have lots of options right down to the river. In Holdem it’s much simpler to bluff because there are way less options in the player’s hand. You generally want to wait until you have a made hand before you start betting a lot of money into the pot. You’ll typically get paid off well in this game so you don’t need to build the pot up as much I find.