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#2
08-17-2005, 06:49 PM
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Re: Starting hands
There are so many possible starting hands in omaha it is difficult to generate any sort of definitive list. Basically, look for hands that can flop very well, ie four cards that work together and don't have to hit miracle flops to win.
Some general categories: - Aces, obviously, almost always playable. The better your sidecards the more likely you are to hit the flop and have a good hand at showdown. AAJT ds is a premium aces hand while AA94 with no suits is more difficult to play. You need to flop an ace or have a donk opponent that will go to the felt with an overpair (or two pair on a paired board). This requires more skill than waiting for a big draw and shoving the flop, obviously. - Big pairs (pairs ten or higher). Generally playable regardless of sidecards if the stacks are deep enough and your opponents are fishy enough to pay you off with an overpair, underset, or two pair when you flop a set. As with aces, good side cards increase your chances of winning and remove difficult decisions later in the hand. - Double pairs. I like to play these in raised pots. Something like TT88 can make you a great deal of money if your opponents always assumes you have aces when you raise, and you can also make a nice chunk of change against players that overplay their hands when they raise preflop. Double Pairs with suits and small or no gaps will give you additional straight and flush outs or blockers. For instance, I had one hand a few weeks ago where I had KKTT double suited. The flop came two of one of my suits and three undercards with no straight possible. One of the other players flopped top set and another flopped a baby wrap, yet I was still a small favorite due to my two draws to a bigger set, flush draw, and backdoor straight draw. -Wrap hands. Four cards in sequence (eg. KQJT, 9876). You can flop big with these hands a lot of the time especially if you have some suits. Freerolls don't come around that often, but when they do you are usually risking almost nothing to win the entire pot. Fewer gaps are better, and the closer the cards are to the 8-Q zone, the better. JT98 can hit more straights than JT96. Again, having suits will give you freerolls or additional outs against sets and other made hands. There are further subcategories like Big Pair Wraps (KKJQ, for example), suited ace wraps (A89T with the ace and one other card of the same suit) but you will get a better idea of what hands play well in a given situation as you gain more experience. 
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#3
08-17-2005, 07:06 PM
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Re: Starting hands
On a related note, I have a feeling I see too many flops. Does anyone want to comment on an appropriate %of flops seen? I'm pretty sure my typical 44% is too damn hi (mind you I go out of my way to find low potsize / high see the flop tables so it's biased a bit by all those "free" BBs). I keep telling myself to call less but everyday it seems I'm at 44% at the end.
And take it from a guy who calls way too may marginal/poor SBs. If you're a beginner you should probably fold the SB more often than you think.
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#5
08-18-2005, 12:28 AM
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Re: Starting hands
[ QUOTE ]
44% is a touch on the high side. If you're a losing player seeing that many flops, tighten up. If you're maintaining a decent workrate seeing 44% of flops, what's the problem? [/ QUOTE ] I'm winning at the level I play at but I suspect it may become a problem on higher limits when I eventually/hopefully move up, not to mention if I start buying in for more than the minimum.
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#7
08-18-2005, 04:16 PM
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Re: Starting hands
There are so many players seeing 60% of the flops at $25 PLO on PokerStars that you will do well if your post-flop abilities are better than theirs. Your minimum buy-in ploy works for you right now, and that's great. At some point you are going to have to learn to make turn and river decisions, and that will require buying in for more than 20% of the max.
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