Introduction to Pot Limit Omaha

Pot Limit Omaha is a community card game, similar in many ways to Texas holdem. Initially the game was mostly played in Europe, but in recent years it has gained worldwide popularity for its tendency to generate big pots and high-octane, exciting hands.

It is now the second most popular online poker variant. In many ways, it is a more complex game than holdem. The betting rounds and community card format is the same in holdem with the flop, turn, and river being dealt in order. However preflop, players are dealt 4 hole cards of which they must use 2 to make their final 5 card poker hand.

For example, if you hold and the board reads , you do not have the ace-high flush, but a mere pair of kings with an ace kicker. This can cause a lot of problems for beginning Omaha players. You should get lots and lots of practice in reading the board, what the current nuts is on the flop, what possible drawing hands there are, how the nuts will change if a certain turn card comes, how strong your hand will be if a certain range of turn cards come, and so

on…

For example, how many outs to a strong hand do you have if you hold on a board?

Hands are much closer in value preflop in pot limit Omaha than in holdem, so you will find that more players will see the flop during each hand, and pre-flop re-raises will be called much more often than in no limit holdem. Similarly, because the difference in pre-flop equity isn’t as significant as in no limit holdem, there will be less of a tendency for players to try and get all-in preflop. The pot limit nature of the betting structure means that you can’t just go all-in with strong hands and immediately price out your opponents drawing hands, meaning play on later streets and reading your opponents hand range is an important skill.

For example the very best starting hand in Omaha, AAKK double suited, has less than a 60% chance of beating 5678 double suited when they are all-in preflop. Think about this in comparison with holdem, where AA is a 94% favourite to win against AK! You can check out more Omaha equity comparisons at this link.

Because each player effectively holds 6 holdem hands preflop, the winning hand in Omaha is generally much much stronger than in holdem. Omaha is a game of making, and drawing to the nuts, and believe it or not, in certain circumstances it can be correct to fold the nuts on the flop, and it’s even possible to flop the nuts and be drawing dead! I’ll leave you to figure out how as a brain teaser.

Bluffing in Omaha Poker

Bluffing in Omaha is not as common as in holdem and is more subtle, relying on things such as ‘blockers’, which are cards you hold which mean your opponent is less likely to have the nuts, for example if you hold 77xx on a 5684x board.

The most important thing to know when starting off in Omaha as a beginner is to understand the value of playing connected hands. That means 4568 is a much better starting hand than AKJ6. The 6 does nothing for your hand, and if you play such hands you are volunteering, in effect, to play 4 holdem hands, while your opponents are playing 6. The reasons why this is not a favourable situation should be clear. Note: if the 6 is suited to the ace, this improves your hand somewhat, but it still should be played with caution.

Beware of small pairs in Omaha. If you call a raise and with 66xx and the flop comes AJ6, you’re in a precarious position if a lot of money is going into the pot. The chance your opponent has a higher set and has your hand completely crushed will be very high. Contrast this to holdem where you would be doing a little jig as you pressed the all-in button. In fact, there are many times in Omaha where a set can be thought of a full-house draw.