Omaha Strategy

To understand the best strategy for winning Omaha, let’s discuss some of the hands that win, and some that rarely if ever win. Unlike holdem, pairs and two pair hands, no matter how high, rarely win at the showdown in Omaha. The types of hands that you see the winners holding are full houses, flushes, straights and occasionally a set. When the board is paired, especially in the lower limits where 65% or more of the players see the flop, there is a good chance that someone has a full house. So if you have a flush or straight it’s a good idea not to invest too much money further in the pot.

So it would make sense that the types of starting hands we look for will be hands that have Suited Aces, high cards and hands with two pair, preferably of high cards. All four cards should work together in some way. A hand like A K Q 6 has a problem, as the 6 will rarely help you win a hand. A few examples of good starting hands are:

AKQJ
AAQQ
AAxx (The x’s represent any card) With both Aces suited.
KKJT

The single biggest mistake I see in Omaha, beyond holdem players who don’t even know the rules, is players entering the pot more than 30% of the time. The conception is that because you have four cards you have a better chance to improve on the flop. While this is true, so do your opponents. Omaha is about having the best possible hand, or at the worst, the second best possible hand. The third and fourth best will rarely win. Just like solid Texas holdem strategy, the best Omaha players play around 25% of their starting hands. The same mathematical concepts apply as in holdem, that if you enter the pot with a better hand than your opponents you will win more often than they will.

One last concept you should think about while playing Omaha is that the best hands after the flop are not only the hands that are the best at the time, but can also improve to an even better hand. An example would be As Ah 3s 5h with a flop of Ac 9h 6h. You have a set of Aces, which is the best hand at this time, but you also can improve to the top full house if the board pairs or the best flush if another Heart hits. Though it won’t happen often, when you have a situation like this and one of your opponents is interested in betting and raising with you, you are in position to win a great deal of money. Look for these situations and capitalize on them.