Omaha

On a superficial level Omaha and holdem seems like to very similar games, but looks are deceiving. If you are new to the game of Omaha there are several pitfalls you need to avoid in order to increase your chances to beat the game.

Particularly at the lower stake games, you regularly encounter Omaha players who only really re-raise big pairs, and isolating who they are and how to respond to them is fundamental to maximising your win rate in these games.

It's a common occurrence for players in a PLO eight or better game to get caught up in playing a pretty expensive hand, based only on getting the low. While this is not completely true in higher stakes, players seem to be making it more of a habit in low/mid stakes.

Most Pot Limit Omaha players know that Omaha is a game of "the nuts." In a multi-way pot, the winning hand is, more often than not, the best possible hand out there. When you start with four cards, you have six different possible two-card hands. This increases the chances that someone is holding the nuts. What many beginning Pot Limit Omaha players do not understand is that Omaha is really a game of redraws.

Most of the money you make in all forms of poker actually comes through folding. By discarding junk hands, you put your self in a position to frequently be ahead of those people playing poor hands, which over the long run turns to profit.

Most people who first start playing Omaha simply look down at all the possibilities in their hand, think something along the lines of: 'Well I have to see a flop with so many options' and simply flat call a large percentage of hands.