More Specific Ideas
Following are a few specific concepts that will contribute to playing a winning Omaha eight-or-better game against competition that is fairly weak.
Concept No.1: Don’t play middle-sized cards. This includes hands like
and
The problem with playing these kinds of hands is that you can’t make the nuts, barring an occasional exception.
Concept No.2: Middle straight cards are terrible.
A hand like is quite a bit worse than a hand like
This is because you make the nut straight with the first hand, the low is out there.
Four high cards aren’t terrific, but they usually are playable, especially if you also have a pair (which occasionally will enable you to make a big full house ).
Concept No.3: You don’t have to play two aces.
A pair of aces with nothing else going for it, such as two aces without even a flush draw, generally should be thrown away in early position.
However, if there is no raising, you can call with a weak two-ace hand, hoping to hit your set.
Concept No.4: Other hands to discard in early position are ace-trey and deuce-trey with nothing else.
Ace-deuce is usually always worth playing, although with nothing else, your hand frequently should be discarded for a cold raise against tight players.
In fact, a weak ace-deuce may not even be worth playing if a lot of tight players are in the game.
The weaker lows, when you have nothing else working, usually should be thrown away from early position, even if the game is fairly good.
Keep in mind that Ohmaha eight-or-better is a highly positional game, and a weak ace-trey or deuce-trey usually will cost you money in early position.
The exception is when the game has one or more extremely live players.
Concept No.5: Four low cards without an ace can be a good starting hand.
A hand like is not so bad, because if an ace hits, your lows are good.
But you must have an ace four your low. So if the pot is multiway and no ace flops, be prepared to throw this hand away. However, it depends on exactly what comes out.
Introduction / General Concepts / More Specific Ideas / Afterthought
