Online Poker Forum - Is Omaha a LuckFest??

UltraGambler II · Pair Joined: 08 Apr 2009 Posts: 22

Every time I attempt to sit at an omaha table, (low stakes) I always find that players are pushing every hand and that people turn up nothing.

Also, how is the strength of the hole omaha cards is determined?

paul_mcc1099 · Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:43 pm Post subject:

dont know much about omaha but ur looking for straightening and suited cards to start off with, easy to bust ppl with them

g_420man · Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:58 pm Post subject:

your looking for a good start hand. First you must know that you have to use only 2 of the 4 cards in your hand and have to play 3 cards on the board.

Then your looking for hands that are double suited for example Club

not

then the diamond will not come into play if a flush hits.

Look around this section and read more about omaha. you will find some helpful advice here and there. good luck

francois8 · Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:37 pm Post subject:

I'd say its way less of a luck fest long term than HE... the poor players inevitably end up broke more often in PLO than most other games. Read up on it a bit more and play some more, you might like it.

HuJwang · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:17 pm Post subject:

there is a lot more swingyness in omaha than holdem. PLO is known as an action game for a reason. a lot more hands are playable, and people tend to flop much stronger draws (in fact it's possible to have a straight draw so strong that you're a favorite against a set). this is why pots tend to be bigger with a lot more raising and a lot less calling.

as a general rule of thumb the stakes of PLO you play should be around half what you play for NLHE, that's how swingy it is. if you play 1/2 NL holdem, .5/1 PLO would be about the same level of risk.

Zophar · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:52 pm Post subject:

I think of it as an understanding equity and pushing minor edges fest.

UFO1947 · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:08 pm Post subject:

Any game is a luckfest if you want it to be.

keegs22 · Message Board Junkie Joined: 03 Apr 2008 Posts: 1279

francois8 · Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:28 pm Post subject:

keegs22 · Message Board Junkie Joined: 03 Apr 2008 Posts: 1279

JustPooOnDaFlo · Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:22 am Post subject:

Robert Moore1 · High Card Joined: 22 Apr 2009 Posts: 1

bailey1986 · High Card Joined: 12 May 2009 Posts: 1

In omaha AAKKds is the nuts as far as starting hands go, or debatably AAJTds because of the more probable staright possibilities... Personally I'm always happy to wake up with a hand like AKQT or AKJT, doubles suited obviously, but basically you want to be playing hands where all four of your cards will work together, and are likely to give you a massive draw should you see a flop in the same range as your hand.

Say for instance you're holding 5d,6d,7h,8h

bit idealistic here but say the flop brings; 3d,4c,Jh

You're now a huge favourite against most holdings. Any 2, 5, 6, 7 or 8 makes your straight, so that is 16 outs on the flop... and even if your opponent is holding a set of jacks you are still like 45% to win the hand.

So basically you want to be playing hands where all four cards will compliment each other, but in answer to the original question; there is about as much luck involved with omaha as there is in hold'em, just a lot of people don't know how to play it properly and you see a lot more trash play, and a lot more people raising with marginal-weak hands and because of the sheer volume of bad players playing bad hands you generally see more suck outs and a lot of bad play being rewarded. It can be pretty sick!

francois8 · Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:54 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the forum, always good to have new people talking omaha. One small mistake in your post...

drtre1987 · Forum Farmacist Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 3217

PLO being a shove fest on every drawy flop whenever you have top two, wraps, flush draws, sets, combo draws, etc is like MTT tournaments on TV when they show AA vs KK and AK vs QQ. Thats all that gets the attention on TV are the huge coin flip hands in a tournament and there is so much variance, omg omg omg!!!!

OP's view point of PLO is like the TV's view point of NLHE. But every experienced NL player knows that NL tournaments involves stealing blinds, small pot poker, cbetting, and running and catching bluffs. NL has so much more play behind it than just the cooler all in hands. PLO is no different. Just because everyone concentrates on the big pots where you are flipping, don't forget that cbetting and bluffing are an important part of PLO too.

if you understand hand ranges, then there isn't really too much luck involved in PLO. just like when you have to laugh when some nit loses QQ to AK in a MTT and claims that he was just unlucky when he lost despite playing horribly tight and c/f 10 flops in a row and thats how he got shortstacked in the first place, you can't say that you are unlucky in PLO when your set gets outdrawn on when you are playing horribly postflop in every other pot. most of your time and effort into PLO should go to understanding hand ranges and how to take down the smaller-medium sized pots with cbetting the right boards, double barrelling the right cards, c/r good flops w/ air, and c/c when draws miss and they have no SD value.

Online Poker Forum at Full Tilt Poker