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Ask away about the 4 card game. Use the Clinic for what it is intended.

TalonTalon Member Posts: 1,621
edited February 2012 in The Poker Clinic
  Hi all.
   I would like to start this thread to encourage people to ask questions about omaha and omaha Hi Lo. There are enough people on the site who will freely give very good advice on these games and it is time their knowledge was utilised.

    The game itself is very different from NLHE and new skills need to be learnt so feel free to come here and get the knowledge required to excel in these variants of the game.Omaha is a beautiful and brutal variation of poker and is a joy to behold watching great players sat at the tables.

   So please feel free to ask away about any aspect of these games and i am sure you will be impressed with the great feedback you receive.

    Wishing you luck at the tables  

      Talon(Colin)
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Comments

  • YOUNG_GUNYOUNG_GUN Member Posts: 8,948
    edited July 2010
    Bump for interest, haven't played it lately but if i ever need help i would speak to talon he is very good at analysing it and giving help
  • Sky_DaveSky_Dave Member Posts: 3,288
    edited July 2010
    Great idea for a thread, Talon. I'll pitch you with a subject to have a crack at...

    Omaha (High)

    Just how big a disadvangtage is it to have a third suited card in your hand preflop? If you have a hand like As-Kd-Jh-9s we're generally doing jigs around the room; how much does your feeling change if that hand becomes As-Ks-Jh-9s though?
  • The_Don90The_Don90 Member Posts: 9,814
    edited July 2010
    Had a game ealier and posted a hand mate, thanks for the advice made me think i played it correctly. Ive posted a little more on it for future referance and hope you wouldnt mind responding.
  • TalonTalon Member Posts: 1,621
    edited July 2010
     If we go purely statistically then if you do pick up a flush draw then your draw will be 11% weker due to having 8 outs instead of the normal 9. But if we look at the hand it self and count the nut drawing possibilities.

    With As Kd Jh 9s we have AK,AJ KJ J9 and A9 suited giving us 5 nut drawing hands.(K9 counts for nothing due to having AK)
     With As Ks Jh 9s we have AK AJ KJ and J9 giving us only 4 nut drawing hands.

      As we can see with the third spade being in our hand not only do we have less chance of hitting our nut flush but we also lose a nut drawing hand with the 9 become a less relevant card.

      It is never a good idea to have a card you are drawing to dead in your hand wether it be a third or fourth of a suit  or having pocket trips.
  • The_Don90The_Don90 Member Posts: 9,814
    edited July 2010
    Heres one Talon for a starting hand.
    PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance
    SBSmall blind  50.00 50.00 4600.00
    BBBig blind  100.00 150.00 1555.00
      Your hole cards
    • 2
    • 6
    • A
    • A
         
    The_Don90 Raise  400.00 550.00 1350.00
    Middle 1Fold     
    Middle 2Fold     
    DealerFold     
    SBFold     
    BBFold     
    The_Don90 Muck     
    The_Don90 Win  250.00  1600.00
    The_Don90 Return  300.00 0.00 1900.00
    If you take the AA its a very strong hold em hand and a mistake ive made a number of times since switching to Omaha is over rating it in this type of game. A6 suited gives me a few extra out in drawing to spades. the A2 and 62 are pretty much a load of old poo. Well 62 is ok if its a 345 flop but far from perfect.

    So not only for my benifit but to another of other hold em players who may like to play Omaha could you maybe give a little more talk on a starting hand like this, as i think it would help a number of people change their Omaha games better.
  • TalonTalon Member Posts: 1,621
    edited July 2010
      Well what can i say. AAxx is probably the most overplayed and badly played hand by most omaha newcomers.

      Yes preflop you will be ahead,but you are barely a favourite against a good drawing handlike 89Tj ds.You only have 2 nut drawing hands and any flop that doesnt contain an ace or 2 spades will leave you in pretty bad shape. Most people when they cross over to omaha from NLHE will see the AA and become blinded to any other possibilities.They will raise pre and auto c-bet any flop and then wonder why they only win a small pot or end up losing a big pot.

       In NLHE if you have AA you will be 80-90% favourite preflop to any possible holding your opponent could have. In omaha even with AAKK ds you are not guarunteed to be more than 60-65% favourite preflop.

      To use advice given in NLHE, you do not want to play big pairs in multiway pots because they become less likely to win.Well in omaha even heads up you are against 6 hands so you will always be playing multiway so you always need the back up of other nut drawing possibilities.


      I would not suggest not playing these types of hands but it is best not to commit too much of your stack preflop. Also you need to be able to lay these hands down when you miss. Strange as it may seem sometimes the best move in omaha is to lay down the nuts, and this is the major lesson that NLHE players need to learn.


  • YOUNG_GUNYOUNG_GUN Member Posts: 8,948
    edited July 2010
    Right at the moment im playing dym sit n gos to build my bankroll and doing well so far, just thinking do you think it would be easier to play the same level omaha? because of the lesser understanding aslo can imagine would be quicker to get in the money what do you think? i have a basic understanding and have done alright in the past and normal omaha so what would your approch be for DYM format? only play nut drawing hands and if you dont hit the nut nut fold
  • TalonTalon Member Posts: 1,621
    edited July 2010
    In Response to Re: Ask away about the 4 card game. Use the Clinic for what it is intended.:
    Right at the moment im playing dym sit n gos to build my bankroll and doing well so far, just thinking do you think it would be easier to play the same level omaha? because of the lesser understanding aslo can imagine would be quicker to get in the money what do you think? i have a basic understanding and have done alright in the past and normal omaha so what would your approch be for DYM format? only play nut drawing hands and if you dont hit the nut nut fold
    Posted by YOUNG_GUN
      In my opinion i would think that you would be less successful in the omaha DYMs. My reasoning for this is that omaha is a form of the game that has a much higher variance. Also you can not just sit back and wait for the good hands because they are never that far in front anyway. DYMs as we all know  quite quickly turn into shove or fold fests and this is not ideal when you are never guaruteed to be better than 2 to 1 favourite preflop.PLO8 would be even worse in this format with the much higher proportion of split pots available.

     In NLHE DYMs you can play a good solid formulaic game and be very successful but i know not of any similar style that can be utilised in the omaha version.If someone knows of one i for one would be glad to hear about it

     So as i  said due to the variance and nature of the game i think it is harder to be consistently successful there so i would personally stick with what you are successful at.
  • YOUNG_GUNYOUNG_GUN Member Posts: 8,948
    edited July 2010
    Thanks Colin i appreciate your help in this, did think could go either way due to variance but thought would be a softer game, still doing ok in holdem ones so why change it? was just seeing if omaha was a quicker way to take down
  • LOL_RAISELOL_RAISE Member Posts: 2,188
    edited July 2010
    In Response to Re: Ask away about the 4 card game. Use the Clinic for what it is intended.:
     If we go purely statistically then if you do pick up a flush draw then your draw will be 11% weker due to having 8 outs instead of the normal 9.

    so losing 1 out makes it 11% weaker. therefore if we have all 9 outs we are 99% to hit our flush draw. sweet.
  • MereNoviceMereNovice Member Posts: 4,364
    edited July 2010
    In Response to Re: Ask away about the 4 card game. Use the Clinic for what it is intended.:
    In Response to Re: Ask away about the 4 card game. Use the Clinic for what it is intended. : so losing 1 out makes it 11% weaker. therefore if we have all 9 outs we are 99% to hit our flush draw. sweet.
    Posted by LOL_RAISE
    That is clearly not what he said so I have no idea why you feel the need to post that.
  • LOL_RAISELOL_RAISE Member Posts: 2,188
    edited July 2010

    it was merely a humourous way of pointing out that what he said is incorrect. i am very sorry if you did not appreciate my post

  • MereNoviceMereNovice Member Posts: 4,364
    edited July 2010
    In Response to Re: Ask away about the 4 card game. Use the Clinic for what it is intended.:
    it was merely a humourous way of pointing out that what he said is incorrect. i am very sorry if you did not appreciate my post
    Posted by LOL_RAISE
    What Talon said was not incorrect.

    The value of the draw was decreased by 11%. He did not say that the chances of winning the hand decreased by 11%. It was clearly stated.
    You obviously mis-interpreted his post.

  • TalonTalon Member Posts: 1,621
    edited July 2010
    bump
  • YOUNG_GUNYOUNG_GUN Member Posts: 8,948
    edited July 2010
    Talon i've been playing alot last few days only low stakes, done well on two occasions and lost a buy in yesterday so overall doing ok, what i wanted to know is how do you react if you have constant raises pre flop? it really frustrates me as i have resorted only to raising mega draws but others seem to do it with junk! occasionally if i have 2 + draws i will call but i just wondered the best way to combat these and then you find a few people will play all the way with two pair so i know there is a chance to be profitable here but struggling pre-flop against these as i seem to be the only one who will fold to a raise unless i have a hand
  • TalonTalon Member Posts: 1,621
    edited July 2010
      The best thing you can do in these situations is to begin with is only call pre flop raises with 3+ nut drawing hands within your starting hands. Then start to work out what people raise with. Is it pocket pairs, good drawing hands or just plain aggro. When you can start to range these playersthen you will find their money easier to take.

     The game is played from the flop so judge your hand from there and throw away bad hands and bad draws at this stage and do not be tempted to call pre flop with any 4 and hope to get lucky.

      The players you want are the ones who raise pre flop and auto c-bet. These guys will win small pots and lose big ones so be ready to pounce when you hit a massive draw or big hand.A lot of players will put in big raises with AA or KK without realising how fragile these hands are even if they hit.

      NLHE is ruled by the three b's (bully,bluff and bluster) and a lot of people will transfer that to omaha but it doesnt cross over well.Preflop raising and c-betting is the perfect example of this.They seem unable to see that people have more chance of hitting the flop in omaha so they can not be so easily pushed off a hand.


      The only rule i have found so far is that if you see 3 and 4 betting preflop then it is most likely AA vs KK and a lack of understanding.

      So keep you starting range to 3+ nut drawing hands and you should be fine. Just remember the more nut drawing hands you have then the more chance you have of hitting the flop and the more chance of winning the pot.
  • YOUNG_GUNYOUNG_GUN Member Posts: 8,948
    edited July 2010
    Thanks Talon appreciate it, some good advice there

    Yeah i do find its either someone whos ridiculously aggro any 4 regardless of suit and connectors, or someone with a jj+ pair. I have been folding alot to them unless i have several draws and was just double checking this is the correct way, im not actually losing to these players but its something which frustrates me alot as on your advice i realise raising isn't the best way in omaha.

    Thanks mate will pop in if i need any more help
  • TalonTalon Member Posts: 1,621
    edited July 2010
       A further point needs to be made on the reason and importance of preflop raising.

      Firstly a preflop raise is only used to build the pot up and to make it more worthwhile winning.It does not indicate amazing strength because the strength comes after the flop.
     Secondly, the point of a preflop raise is to remove the any4 card merchants. These players should not be involved in a pot that has been raised and so you should be down to players that only have good drawing hands.

      When you do raise pre flop you should not be auto c-betting but only doing so when you hit the flop nicely, When playing good hands this is much more likely. If you hit the flop nicely after calling a preflop raise then you should be betting out and under no circumstance should you be check-raising because in a pot limit game you are leaving value behind by not betting especially if your opponent checks behind you.

      Hope this clears up some points about preflop action in omaha.
  • TalonTalon Member Posts: 1,621
    edited July 2010
     bumping again to keep this up there.
  • YOUNG_GUNYOUNG_GUN Member Posts: 8,948
    edited July 2010
    right this may be standard but i dont play much omaha, didnt feel a raise here pre would be good even though i had a very good hand with 2 nut flushs, 2 straight draws and 2 aces

    I knew it was a good hand but should i have raised pre?? or fine just flating

    also i have bet out flop as 2 diamonds is this good play? tell me what u would have done different here if anything

    thanks in advance mate
    YOUNG_GUN Big blind   £0.04 £0.04 £3.88
      Your hole cards
    • 4
    • A
    • Q
    • A
         
    jayburke86 Call   £0.04 £0.08 £3.29
    barry1935 Call   £0.04 £0.12 £18.64
    BANDICOOT Call   £0.04 £0.16 £0.75
    BEACHBABY Fold        
    YOUNG_GUN Check        
    Flop
       
    • 4
    • 3
    • 6
         
    YOUNG_GUN Bet   £0.12 £0.28 £3.76
    jayburke86 Call   £0.12 £0.40 £3.17
    barry1935 Fold        
    BANDICOOT Call   £0.12 £0.52 £0.63
    Turn
       
    • 2
         
    YOUNG_GUN Bet   £0.39 £0.91 £3.37
    jayburke86 Fold        
    BANDICOOT All-in   £0.63 £1.54 £0.00
    YOUNG_GUN Call   £0.24 £1.78 £3.13
    YOUNG_GUN Show
    • 4
    • A
    • Q
    • A
         
    BANDICOOT Show
    • 10
    • 5
    • 3
    • 9
         
    River
       
    • J
         
    YOUNG_GUN Win Flush to the Ace £1.65   £4.78

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