Rookie Omaha Player Seeks Advice

So the guy who runs the weekly game I am in decided to branch out and do a WSOP format - every week a new game or new structure, points going to players based on how they finished. It's been fun learning new games. I did okay at Razz, not so good at Omaha Hi-Lo, but thanks to two big finishes I am in first place!

Next week we have Omaha High and I am trying to cram. I feel that the Hutchison Omaha Point System will be valuable for me to study since it seems to do a nice job of condensing the relative strength of a hand for a novice like myself. Do you Omaha vets agree?

I am expecting it to be an extremely very loose game; experience with this group at the esoteric games tells me that everyone will want to see a flop and people will raise with middle pairs and the like. In the Omaha literature I've been reading, it all seems to say that the key to winning at Omaha is to be really selective pre-flop. It's almost never correct to raise pre-flop and you fold a lot more often than not.

Of course, being a tight player in Hold 'Em is advantageous as well, however in my Hold 'Em experience you have to adjust to the table. I try to see more flops than I do sticking to a "tight agressive" Bible at the loose table and that has been a winning formula at the low limits but I can do that because I know enough about Hold 'Em odds and I'm disciplined enough to throw away hands that the flop doesn't really hit.

From what I've read, Omaha is less volatile than Hold 'Em because you almost have to have the nuts to take down a pot and the stronger starting hands have a greater chance of winning than in Hold 'Em where even the worst starting hand will win 1 out of 5 times against anything.

What should I do when I get down to playing with really loose, bad Omaha players? Should I open up like I do in Hold 'Em, mix it up, see more flops, or does the relatively more-unforgiving nature of Omaha dictate that in such a setting it's better to stay tight?

All feedback is welcome...

Hand selection is vital in Omaha. You want to go in with hands in which all 4 cards coordinate with each other in some way.

A Diamond

K

A

K

is probably the mother of all Omaha high starting hands.

8 Heart

7

6

5

is good as well

And personally I like hands with J-10 combinations, even if the other two cards aren't coordinated.

Basically you're not looking to flop the nuts, you're looking to draw to the nuts. As you're drawing you build the pot (which is why Omaha does well as a pot-limit game) and when your nut hand hits you take it down.

You don't want to get trapped in hands, so hands with small pairs and nothing else to go with them are bad. You could flop a set and someone else has a bigger set (or 2 pair that turns into a boat when the board pairs).

Hope this helps, at least to start off with. I'm sure others can add to it, since most of my experience is with Omaha8 hi/lo.

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Rookie Omaha Player Seeks Advice

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Rookie Omaha Player Seeks Advice