Omaha! Omaha! Omaha!

I really have come to respect the poker game of Omaha for what it takes to play it well. I would also say it’s potentially lucrative since the corollary to that is the ploppy type is definitely going to play it poorly, creating a lot of fish… minding that if you don’t take playing it well seriously, the fish, well, that’s you. A player has to pay just as much attention to the community cards as his own cards, since though high hands like flushes and full houses are likely winners since you have 9 cards to choose from, very quickly certain such hands become unlikely or impossible. Though luck always can make bad play shine, this game is sure to punish loose play sooner due to the above. A bad player can easily think he has a hand he doesn’t actually have, and a good player checks to see if someone is trying to use 3 cards, or just one card, in his hand.

I was thinking about this since I only recently surmised something. I was introduced to this game years ago and have, I hope, been playing it better steadily. Yet only a few days ago I realized that when you have a pair in your hand, how quickly it can become garbage, especially when 3 of a kind is unlikely to win due the number of players. What can fool you is having one of your other cards pair up with something on the board. You first have to dismiss that you now have two pair. Since you can only use 2 cards, you have instead a choice between which you will use … you have *one* pair still! I’ll call this situation ‘the hole card pair with the alternate pair’ .

When getting this situation I then thought “something good can still come of this” without realizing that the odds were against it. A pair in your hand before the flop wins frequently when it becomes trips and something on the board pairs, giving you a boat. Or, maybe trips shows up on the board and you have the top pair for the smaller part of the boat [beware of someone's 4 oak]. But it does you little good to develop 3 oak with your existing pair or the alternative pair in this particular situation I’ve described, though you may become heartened and call some big bets. In the case of it being the pair in your hand that develops this on the river, clearly you have to be lucky to see a pair come next… one, btw, that helps no one else more than you. And it’s going to be the river when you see the alternate pair become trips…. with only one card to go to make something of it. A more likely development is a straight or flush winning the pot; do you have the cards to participate in that? And beware of the straight up against the possilbe flush, and the higher-than-you straight or flush. If your only out is that you develop into the boat, the nuts or not, probably best you fold against someone aggressively betting. I for one am changing my game on this.

It'll be interesting to me to see if this thread has longevity

Just yesterday I did a Google Gemini search on how often an Omaha board allows for a straight or a flush.

It’s like 75% for a straight and 30% for a flush. (AI percentages always seem to change)

Which game would be the most lucrative in Vegas/AC in terms of making money off of bad players? Texas HoldEm, Omaha HoldEm, or 7-Card Stud?

Quote: harris

Which game would be the most lucrative in Vegas/AC in terms of making money off of bad players? Texas HoldEm, Omaha HoldEm, or 7-Card Stud?
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I would think it was Omaha since so many players don't have the skills needed. However, maybe bad players shy away from it? My experience is with home games, and have not played in casinos.

Quote: odiousgambit

Quote: harris

Which game would be the most lucrative in Vegas/AC in terms of making money off of bad players? Texas HoldEm, Omaha HoldEm, or 7-Card Stud?
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I would think it was Omaha since so many players don't have the skills needed. However, maybe bad players shy away from it? My experience is with home games, and have not played in casinos.
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You do know to frown and whine when dealt 4 aces? No straight. No flush. No 3 of a kind. Maybe top full house if 3 of a kind on board and wins if no one makes 4 of a kind.

Quote: SOOPOO

You do know to frown and whine when dealt 4 aces? No straight. No flush. No 3 of a kind. Maybe top full house if 3 of a kind on board and wins if no one makes 4 of a kind.
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Yes, that's a fact, and trips is almost as bad. Immediate fold is usually the right move, especially if a lower rank involved

In Hold'em the best starting Hands (AA, KK, AKs, etc) are much stronger than the worst starting hands (72o, 32o, 73o, etc.) We say that starting hands have a wide range of equity. In Omaha, the starting hands have a more narrow range of equity and there are a significant majority of hands that are playable for at least one round -until you see the flop.

Historically players developed the strategy of going all-in (or 'jamming') on the opening round of Omaha betting to discourage other players from participating in the action (they instead folded.) The rules evolved to forbid this practice of jamming on the first round by making the game pot limit.

Omaha-8, or Omaha Hi-Lo significantly increases the fraction of pre-flop hands that are playable! Suddenly, opening hands with a 3 to 4 unpaired cards in the range A,2-8 become playable.

Quote: gordonm888

Historically players developed the strategy of going all-in (or 'jamming') on the opening round of Omaha betting to discourage other players from participating in the action (they instead folded.) The rules evolved to forbid this practice of jamming on the first round by making the game pot limit.
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I think poker games that are no-limit are played in complete violation of the Kelly Criterion ... however, everyone violates it so it's an even-steven violation

for some reason, to be the only one who doesn't go all-in at times is not a strategy that works