Omaha - The Pointless Poker Game

As you might have noticed from the title of this topic, I hate Omaha/Omaha Hi/Lo with a passion.

The way I see this game is that it is 95% luck and 5% skill. I find it ridiculous.

Example. If you are playing Limit Omaha Hi and 2 of your 4 cards are aces, and you raise the pot up and get several callers. If the flop then comes something like K 5 5 you are most PROBABLY up against a set of 5s or possibly quads, or possible even kings over 5s.

That is why I think this game is ridiculous, and that you could just call with any old hand preflop and then you rely on luck, every time.

That's all Omaha is, luck.

Does anyone else agree with this?

I do not agree even 1% Omaha is a different beast than holdem. But both require skill and luck.

In Holdem, you can get a very good judge on your hole cards. In Omaha, you can also judge which hands are playable, but not in the same way. 1 pair doesn't mean as much. 2 pair does. 4 to a straight means a lot and if you can pull off either of those while being double suited (2 Club

s & 2

s or whaterver) then all the better.

In holdem you want your good cards to stay good or get better. In Omaha isn't the same game, you want to play good card that have the possibility of getting a whole lot better. Just get your mind into an Omaha game and out of a Holdem game.

I think Omaha does involve more luck than Holdem, with more hole cards, meaning more draws and cards that weren't even a factor in your preflop decision possibly hitting. But obviously there's still skill in the game.

omaha is all about what hands you play and getting away from a flop that doesn't fit. and i find it much easier to know where i am relative to the other players.

if i have a2xx in my hand, and the board has a low, i have the nut low hand. it's just a matter of whether it'll get quartered.

if i have the nut straight, and the board pairs and i either get bet into or check raised, i'm very sure my str just got sunk by a boat.

what makes omaha so nice (especially limit) is that most players will chase way beyond what they should.

Fishstick just made the point that is why i hate the game so much.

Some players will just chase and chase hands so they can make absolutely anything.

I disagree with Humphrind about saying that Omaha is no different to Holdem. You can never apply the same tactics used in Limit Holdem to Limit Omaha, you will just get outdrawn so many more times because so many more players will chase hands which makes the chances of an opponent hitting something so much higher.

I just see it as a Crazy Poker game where ANY hand can and WILL win. No-one can put anyone on a hand because there are so many different hands that player can have, there is little skill and a lot of luck in Omaha (ESPECIALLY in Omaha Hi/Lo).

I've played a few Mixed Games Tournaments on BugsysClub.

The game changes between Limit Holdem, Limit Omaha Hi/Lo and Limit 7 Card Stud every 10 minutes.

But the more I play Omaha Hi/Lo the more I come to hate it.

You very rarely win pots with 2 pair of 3 of a kind in Omaha, you need a QUALITY (full house and above) hand to be sure of winning a pot.

I find straights and flushes too seceptible (is that spelt right?) to be outdrawn in Omaha, I will even go as far as thinking that if you flop a straight you will win the pot just under 50% of the time.

Of course this could be biased because I seem to get outdrawn in Omaha ridiculously more than anyone else...ever. Confused

*Last edited by heatman on Tue, 10 Aug 2004, 12:14pm; edited 1 time in total*

All this talk of quartering the pot brings up very good point about the value of a made high hand and some ideas about playing it.

Alot of the chasing in Hi-Lo is done by people with an A234 kind of combination. They're hoping for those other three low cards so they can take half the pot. Sometimes there are a couple of these guys in the pot and you can keep them calling raises all the way. Throw in a strong second best high hand, and you've got the making for a typical Omaha pot.

With a made high hand you have to raise to build the pot with the calls from the low hands. Ideal example, you hold 789T of and the flops makes your straigh with no flush draw (like 78J). Now you've got the nut straight, and only two cards to the low. Great chance to get as much money in the pot as possible. Often you'll get A2 to add a few raises in the hope he gets the low.

Its a no lose situation for you, provided your hand holds up. If a low comes, you split a nice pot. If it doesn't, you scoop a very nice pot.

Its because of the fact that its so profitable to take that high hand that I like the big target straight draws, like the one above, and hands where all of the cards are T or higher.

Also, you've got to be aware of the fact that your low hand players often will help you build the pot with a made low hand. Sometimes you'll mis-read this to think this guy is raising against you, when in reality he's raising with you. If you've got a strong hand, but not the nuts, consider those re-re-raises as potential low hand pot builders, and not competition for your high hand.

Moving away from all of this Omaha Hi/Lo quartering talk, time to talk about Omaha Hi.

This game is the game that I hate the MOST (the most!) out of the two. That is because it is so difficult to apply a strategy as to which hands to play and which hands not to play.

Example. If you play a hand with two aces in it, you will end up losing to a straight/flush/full house or better (Note I said you WILL end up losing to a better hand).

That is why (and I'm sure you will disagree) I think that any hand is playable in Omaha high because with 4 cards to each player, anything can hit on the flop.

i really like omaha hi pot limit, i played a tourney a few nights ago with around 275 players, and was able to come in 20th i beleive very good for my first time, audi also played for first time and came in 30th or so, it was a really fun experience and a nice change, and in pot limit starting hands are everything!

Well put Fishy.

This is all gold. Are we getting through to you Dwarfman?

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