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Humphrind

09-15-2004, 11:46 PM Post subject: Starting hand selection

#1 (permalink)

4-of-a-Kind

Join Date: May 2004

Location: Kansas City

Posts: 1,887

This is the first thing I have ever seen to help with starting hand selection in Omaha. According to the site, it was based on work by Mike Caro.

http://www.thepokerforum.com/omahasystem.htm

STEPS IN CALCULATING POINT TOTALS

FIRST, to evaluate the contribution made by suited cards, look to see if your hand contains two or more cards of the same suit. If it does, award points based upon the rank of the highest card. Repeat the procedure if your hand is double suited.

If the highest card is an ACE award 4 points
If the highest card is a KING award 3 points
If the highest card is a QUEEN award 2.5 points
If the highest card is a JACK award 2 points
If the highest card is a TEN or NINE award 1.5 points For any other combination of two suited cards award 1 point.

If your hand contains four cards of the same suit, deduct 2 points.

SECOND, to factor in the advantage of having pairs,

If you have a pair of ACES award 9 points
If you have a pair of KINGS award 8 points
If you have a pair of QUEENS award 7 points
If you have a pair of JACKS or TENS award 6 points
If you have a pair of NINES award 5 points
If you have any other pair award 4 points

Award no points to any hand that contains three of the same rank.

THIRD, when your hand contains cards capable of completing a straight (that is, when the cards do not have more than three gaps), award points as follows:

An ACE with a King, Queen, Jack, or Ten earns 2 points
An ACE with a Two, Three, Four, or Five earns 1 point

Any two cards from TWO through SIX receive 2 points Any two cards from SIX through KING receive 4 points

Any three cards SIX and above earn 7 points

Any four cards SIX and above earn 12 points

From the above totals, deduct 1 point if a one or two card gap occurs and deduct 2 points if a three card gap exists.

FINALLY, a determination must be made as to which hands qualify as playable. This becomes a function of how many points one decides are necessary before entering a hand. My suggestion would be to only play hands that earn 15 points or more. It can be argued that, ignoring the rake, any hand with more than a 10 percent win rate is potentially profitable in the long run. Still, I have the prejudice that most players, and especially those who are relatively inexperienced, would be better advised to forsake marginal hands and to focus on those that earn 15 points or more. Recalling that a random hand will win about 10% of the time in a ten-handed game, it can be seen that playing only premium combinations of 15 points or more, insures that you will always have a hand that is 50% better than a random hand. The point total required to raise or to call someone else's raise must also be determined subjectively. I feel that 20 points is the appropriate level, but, obviously, others may render a different judgment. So, in summary, a safe generalization is

YOU SHOULD CALL WITH 15 POINTS OR MORE AND CONSIDER RAISING WITH 20 POINTS OR MORE

SOME EXAMPLES FOR CLARIFICATION

The hand that has the highest win percentage in Omaha contains two ACES and two KINGS and is double suited. A hand containing the AS, KS, AH, and KH would earn 27 points under this system--calculated as follows: under step one above, the two double suits headed by the two aces earn 4 points each for a total of 8 points; step two awards nine points for the pair of aces and 8 points for the pair of kings, or a total of 17 more points; under step three, the ace-king combination earns 2 points for its straight potential. The resultant total of 27 points closely parallels the actual win percentage for the hand which is about 26.65.

Assume you have the 9S, 8S, 9D, and 8D. Step one awards a total of 3 points for the two double suits headed by nines. Under step two, the pair of nines earns 5 points and the pair of eights earns 4 points. The last step awards 4 points for the 9-8 combination. The total of 16 points is the same as this hand's actual win rate.

With the QS, QD,8H, and 8C, no points are earned under step one as there are no suited cards. Step two gives 7 points for the pair of queens and 4 points for the pair of eights. Step three awards four points for the Q-8 combination but then calls for a deduction of 2 points because of the three card gap that exists between the two cards. The final total is 13 points and this is, again, the actual win percentage for this hand.

A hand consisting of two aces, a deuce, and a seven--all of different suits--earns 9 points for the pair of aces, and 1 point under step three for the ace-two combination. This total of 10 points indicates that this hand has no better prospects than any other random hand. In fact, the actual win percentage obtained through simulation analysis is 10.6.

Consider a hand consisting of the KS, KD, 3S, and 6D. Step one awards a total of 6 points for the two double suits headed by kings. Step two gives 8 points for the pair of kings. The 6-3 combo gets a point under step three, making a total of 15 points.

An example of a hand that tends to be somewhat overrated by novice players is AS, KD, QH, and TS. Under step one the hand receives 4 points for the suited ace and ten. Step two is disregarded as the hand does not contain any pairs. Step three awards 12 points for the straight potential of the four connected cards, before deducting 1 point for the one card gap that exists. The final total is only 15 points, making this a marginally playable hand.

NOTES

To state the obvious: many skills other than initial card selection are essential to maximizing your profits when playing Omaha. Unfortunately, these other skills do not lend themselves to easy quantification, and are thus beyond the scope of this simple mathematical approach. I do hope, though, that this system will be of help to the novice player in making the important decision about which starting hands are worthwhile.

This system was devised by Edward Hutchison of Jackson, MS, who invites your comments and suggestions for improvement or clarification.

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FyrFytr998

09-16-2004, 04:18 AM

#2 (permalink)

Full House

Join Date: Jun 2004

Location: Milford,Ct.

Posts: 1,412

Cripes sake! It's like Pre calculus.

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