Omaha Strategy – Part 1
Omaha has grown in popularity in recent years, as more players have started to enjoy the blend of action and strategy that this complex game provides. Omaha cash games and tournaments are increasingly widespread both online and in casinos across the world and polishing up your skills in this game will yield lots of opportunities both for enjoyment and to make some profit. In this guide, we’ll look at some of the areas you can focus on in your bid to master this exciting game.
It Pays To Be Connected
Having four hole cards as opposed to the two you may be more used to if you are a Hold’em aficionado means a huge increase in the possibilities of hands you can make post-flop (you have the equivalent of six combinations of two cards to play with.)
This increase makes it tempting to play every single hand, but remember, everyone else has the opportunity to make many more hands too, so the average hand at showdown will have to be much stronger.
You should tend toward playing cards that offer good drawing potential post-flop as this will mean you will flop many more hands that draw to strong and nut hands, which should be your aim.
Suited Connectors
Hands with sequential ranks such as 7d 8d 9s Tc fall into this bracket of strong drawing hands and being single and double-suited adds some further value, although post-flop, you should be wary about drawing to second best hands with these sorts of hands. With the above hand, if the board fell Qd 5h 2d, you should be throwing your eight-high flush draw away very quickly to any action, as you will so often end up with the second-best hand when you hit, and extracting good value when you make your flush and it is the best hand will prove very difficult.
Instead with these sorts of hands, look for flops where you have a strong straight draw, especially on rainbow boards (a board where all three cards are of a different suit.) Flops such as 5h 6c Td are strong boards for your hand as you have a pair and a “wrap draw” (see below) and by playing connected cards, your chances of making these combination draws increases.
Observe more caution when flopping wrap draws with a flush draw out as often many of your “outs” will be no good if they complete a flush.
The suited nature of small connectors such as these should be used more as a backup for your hand, so don’t go chasing those 8 high flush draws, but recognise they can increase the equity of your made hands or draws by adding back-up protection for when a backdoor flush or similar comes in on turn and river.
Combination and Wrap Draws
The increased numbers of cards in Omaha open up a new type of draw, not available in Hold’em, called a “wrap straight draw” or simply “wrap draw”. A “wrap draw” is where three or more different ranked cards can complete a straight for example if you hold 5c 6c 8h 9h on a 7s 4s 2c board then a 3,5 or 6 or 8 of any suit will complete your straight.
A full wrap is where up to six different ranked cards can complete your straight draw, e.g. 5d 7s 9h Th on a 6c 8s Jd board. Here a 4 5,7,9,T or Q of any suit can complete your straight draw.
When you combine wrap with flush draws, your hand equity often shoots up, meaning you can flop draws in Omaha that are favourites over made hands even as strong as a set.
In the second part of this Omaha strategy guide, we’ll look at some further strategies you can use to bolster your Omaha game.