Pot Limit Omaha Poker Basics

Pot Limit Omaha is an action-packed poker variation in which players are dealt 4 cards each instead of the two of Texas Holdem. At showdown players must use exactly two cards from their own hand and 3 cards from the community card board. The large number of combinations of hands possible make Pot-Limit Omaha play ‘big’ with strong made hands often going to war with big draws.

Here we look at some of the Pot-Limit Omaha basics which players used to Texas Holdem games should bear in mind. While the betting sequence and flop, turn and river are the same – Omaha involves many unique strategy considerations.

Firstly, starting hand strength is determined as much by the way your 4 hole-cards work together than just pair or high card strength. While aces are great to see in any poker game, an unimproved pair of aces will not win that often if the betting gets big on later streets. When your hand is coordinated, containing suits and closely ranked cards, you have a multiple ways of hitting a flop hard – great for taking the stack of an opponent who over plays those unimproved aces.

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A key strategy difference is that drawing hands can be big favorites over made hands in Pot-Limit Omaha. It is even possible for a strong draw to be favorite against a flopped set, for example if you held 9-10-Q-K with 2 hearts on a 7-8-J 2-heart flop you have half the deck to complete your draw on both the turn and river – making you a favorite against a set of jacks.

Pot-Limit betting means you can only bet or raise the size of the current pot. If someone raises ahead of you then you add your ‘call’ of their bet before calculating the amount you can raise (the poker sites do these calculations for you). This has a big effect on the pot-odds you can offer your opponents, and often prevents you from pushing an opponent off of their hand. Pot-Limit betting makes position even more important in Omaha than in Texas Holdem, since you can effectively manipulate the size of the pot when playing last.

New players like to see the flop cheap in Pot-Limit Omaha, determining how they would like to proceed with their hands based on the texture of the community cards. You will find this leads to a common mistake, raising only with very strong hands before the flop – especially the ‘only aces’ raise. Pot Limit betting ensures that these players give away their hand with the vast majority of their money still to be bet. What is more, it if often these same players who refuse to fold after the flop with their ‘premium pair’. This creates a great opportunity to call the initial bet and see if you can spike a strong hand on the flop – the rewards can be worth it those times that you do.

Pot-Limit Omaha is a game of strong hands and strong draws. Another common mistake is to draw to a hand which turns out to be 2nd of 3rd best, for example the queen-high flush. If you are going to pay to draw then make sure it is to the strongest possible hand, or you could be in for a nasty shock at showdown. Starting hands can be assessed on their ability to make the nuts too, especially when facing a pre-flop raise.

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