Four Steps to Winning at Omaha High-Low
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by: george
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Winning at Omaha high-low may seem like a bewildering ambition to beginners, but there are actually just a few simple steps you need to take — steps that will serve as a quick-fix for profit. Here they are...
LOOSE GAMES: Play only in “loose” games. One simple measure of the looseness of a game is the average number of callers before the flop. “Cappelletti’s Rule” states that an Omaha high-low game is loose enough for you to make a profit (think of it as money floating around available to be won) if there is an average of more than five players seeing the flop. If an average of four or fewer players is seeing the flop, only very good poker players can expect to show a profit (especially with the house taking its usual cut).
2. STARTING HANDS: In early seat play only hands containing an A-2, A-3, A-4-5 (with ace suited), 2-3 plus another good holding, four high cards all 9 or higher, most pockets aces, and certain four “all good cards” hands such as pocket kings double suited with two prime low cards. In late seat you may add slightly lesser hands such as hands containing an A-4 or A-5 if the ace is suited. Note well that many high point-count hands with eights and sevens, which play very well at straight high Omaha) should be avoided at Omaha high-low (when there are corresponding cards on the board, usually a low hand will be taking half of the pot).
If you occasionally stoop to playing mediocre or marginal hands, do not expect to make money on those hands in the long run. As you gain playing experience, you might occasionally play a marginal hand in late seat for image adjustment and/or psychological momentum purposes.
3. AFI’ER THE FLOP: After a two-way flop (with two or three low cards), play “tight conservative” and try to get more callers (“loved”). After some one-way high flops (two or three high cards), play aggressively unless most of your opponents are also playing play poker games very aggressively (and are routinely playing hands worse than yours — in which case you can tighten up). With either type of flop, if a starting pot is unusually large because of preflop raises, the odds change significantly, and it is often correct to fish in after the flop (“take one oft”) if your hand can improve significantly with one good card.
If you acquire a tight image from playing tight on the two-way high-low flop hands, then it is even more advantageous to play very aggressively after a high flop (but try to maintain your tight image in these one-way pots because you would prefer less competition when you have marginal values).
Note also that a bet after a flop having only one low card forces the low hands to fold or chase at bad odds. If you have two low cards when there is one low card in the flop, you will make a “backdoor” low (on the last two cards) about one time in six1.
4. LAST TWO ROUNDS: Play very conservatively after the fourth and fifth cards (double size bets). Do not chase (especially if raised) without at least a nut draw. Do not chase when your best prospect may be second or third best if it hits. In low situations, with two low cards on the board, the two lowest cards (example ace-deuce in hand with a four and a six on the board) constitute what is called the “nut low draw” sincefour other cards (in this example, a three or five or seven or eight) give you a nut low Note that even though the first-third or second-third lowest cards (example ace-three or deuce-three) might make the nut low, only one card actually gives you the nut low hand (like an inside straight draw), and hence the odds of your hitting the nuts on the last card are greater than ten-to-one against. Unless you have additional prospects, 10-to-I odds for only half of the pot are not worth pursuing.
Even if you lack experience and expertise, if you have enough smarts and self discipline to 1) play only high percentage starting hands, 2) to avoid heavy loss situations and 3) to compete mainly when the percentages are on your side, you certainly can win at Omaha high-low.
You should understand that the reason why you are winning is not because of your (perhaps even less-than-average as opposed to skillful) play, but is because the mathematical advantage you get from playing high percentage starting hands, is large enough to compensate for some amount of less-than-optimum subsequent play (especially since in Omaha high-low, less than optimum plays sometimes win).
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