General on Omaha

[Fiksdal]

I have been playing poker for half a year, only Hold'em. The game of Omaha has caught my attention, but it seems a bit hostile to me. I am wondering:

1. Do the best players have an even greater edge against beginners in the game of Omaha, compared to Hold'em?

2. What is considered the best possible Omaha hand before the flop?

[Voj]

1. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...e=1#Post6932056

2.
Prolly AAJTds (maybe AAKKds) but who cares ? Edges pre-flop are small in PLO.

[kurto]

[ QUOTE ]
I have been playing poker for half a year, only Hold'em. The game of Omaha has caught my attention, but it seems a bit hostile to me. I am wondering:

1. Do the best players have an even greater edge against beginners in the game of Omaha, compared to Hold'em?

2. What is considered the best possible Omaha hand before the flop?

[/ QUOTE ]

1) yes. That being said, a beginner can do well shortrun because pf holdings run closer together in value then they do in Holdem. Postflop analysis/play hurts beginners more.
2) I believe there is debate over whether its AAKKds or AAJ10ds.

[tempogain]

hostile? lol we try

1) personally i would say no--assuming you are comparing nl holdem to plo--because of the greater amount of open information available in an omaha hand, assuming the beginner has enough intelligence, poker sense and gambling sense to make use of it.

2)in a more general sense, the best hands are double suited aces with high cards, or highly coordinated hands like JT98 double suited.

[kurto]

[ QUOTE ]
hostile? lol we try

1) personally i would say no--assuming you are comparing nl holdem to plo--because of the greater amount of open information available in an omaha hand, assuming the beginner has enough intelligence, poker sense and gambling sense to make use of it.


[/ QUOTE ]

I think you're still wrong here. Because most players don't have the sense to make use of the information. (mind you, I play mostly PLO8... but same principle).

How often do you see beginners at an Omaha game cajole someone for playing a draw? Beginners (and frankly I am still surprised) how often a made hand is in bad shape on the flop. In PLO8- beginners don't understand how they continually quarter themselves. Or hand values pre or post flop. When they're being freerolled.

These situations (freerolls, megadraws) are when beginners lose their whole stack and have no idea what hit them.

Regarding the OPs hostile comment... I did notice that people who play Omaha are more hostile then Hold em players. I assume its because you lose to more backdoor draws and you can lose some pretty hefty pots consistantly to some boneheaded calls. Makes everyone cranky.

[tempogain]

you make a good point, there are beginners and beginners I guess. i had done a bit of homework for both games and i found plo to have a bit flatter learning curve to start.

actually i always found holdem players to be more hostile in that sense. i always figured omaha players get used to being outdrawn etc. as it happens so much. i meant hostile with the cards [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[RoundersRocks!]

Alot of info like this is available in faqs and stuff online.

IN MY HUMBLE AND FAR FROM EXPERT OPINION
I think the biggest problem I had learning the game was overthinking myself and straying from the advise I had heard and read. You can go a long time in omaha without getting any really playable hands. And then finally get some, raise pre-flop and miss every flop you raise completely.

In hold'em, if you dont play a hand for an hour, you can raise 67s from late position and count on your tight table imagine to help you steal pots. You can do that to keep your self floating and to keep yourself not completely bored. Omaha is so much more value based that until you have been playing for awhile, expect alot more boredom and try to learn to enjoy sitting around and patiently studying a lot of players you probably wont even get involved in pots with.

Once you get in a situation when you triple up when you have a mega-draw and your 2 opponents are calling you down with bottom set and a non-nut flush draw, you start to enjoy the value of patience and get the tempo of the game. It's all about winning that one giant pot.

I don't know if I am making my point clearly, but resist the temptation to play a rainbow hand with 3 face cards and a deuce when you havent seen [censored] in an hour and you are light years ahead of where I was when I started.

[CrushinFelt]

I agree with this for the most part. This is how I play when I am being consistently successful. However, there is a lot to be said for playing... well almost the opposite way of this. If you can get a loose table image and play lots of hands and THEN get a run of nice preflop hands that hit, you are going to make A LOT more money in a given night that you will sitting back and playing patient.

I think the higher you go in these games the more aggressive you have to be other wise someone will fold to you every time you repot them, and you're only doing it when you have a monster and they know that.

At lower limits, people just see their cards and the board and usually do a little betting a some crossing of the fingers. It is these players that you must be patient against because they won't EVER know to lay down certain hands and if you're playing aggressive you're wanting to make people laydown a lot of hands.

my $0.02

[PokrLikeItsProse]

It matters more to develop a tight or loose table image in post-flop play than in anything before the flop.