I only play holdem poker, but I would like to learn how to play omaha too. I know the rules and stuff but I would be absolutely clueless what strategies or books do you guys suggest so that I could learn how to play omaha? I understand general poker rules such as limited limping and bluffing at lower levels and to play a TAG like style against not the best players. But what does that even mean? What hands should I be aggressive with? There are unlimited hands you could have almost, so I dont know what counts as a great hand or whatever. Huge thanks to anyone who helps me out. Im starting with just Omaha Hi, and then maybe move to hi/lo afterwards.
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Almost nobody raises preflop at Replay. If you do see a raise, itās usually AA, somethimes KK, but this kind of hand is usually over played. Omaha is a game of the nuts, one pair hands are hard to improve and rarely win the pot if you get action.
You really need the nut flush or better to have any confidence. Straights often play to a chop, flushes never do.
Double suited hands are good. Having at least 3 Broadway cards is good.
One situation unique to Omaha is the wrap, which is a straight draw with more than 8 outs. The best wraps have up to 20 outs, so almost half the deck will complete your straight! With wraps, you want to count nut outs and non-nutted outs. For exampleā¦
On a T93 flopā¦
QJ78 will have 20 outs, 14 of them to the nuts, but KQJ8 will have 16 outs, and all of them will be to the nuts. Itās not just about how many outs you have, itās about the quality of those outs.
Obviously, there is a lot more to Omaha than the few points I made here. Itās a complicated and nuanced game. In general though, if you push and get action, you better have the nuts because if you donāt, odds are good that somebody will.
Good luck!
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To get your feet under you with Omaha or Omaha Hi/Lo play freerolls. You only use up your time and no chips.
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(copied from my RP profile): āThere are several good books by Sklansky and/or Malmouth on Holdem and several more on Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo by Mike Cappelletti that are very much worth reading.ā
Though older, these books are easily found on line and usually low priced, especially if used. It isnāt as if the information āgoes out of codeā with time.
Good luck.
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If flopping the nuts and losing is upsetting to you I wouldnāt advise this game. It happens way more often than in other forms of poker. Because of the wrap-around factor that SPG mentions one can feel confident after flopping a big set or a straight and when the right card comes on the turn one can often experience that sinking feeling of having lost control of the hand without having really done anything wrong. Itās the most brutal and unforgiving form of poker in my opinion.
When no one raises pre-flop itās called bingo. Iāve noticed that thereās a lot of that recently in some games. Which is okay with me in a way. I can outplay my share of players on the flop but itās still bingo. I always raise with premium hands and sometimes down to 88 in middle position. Iāll also slow-play AJ and AQ in small blinds etc. Just playing āby the bookā and never mixing up oneās play leads to a very stagnant and uncreative player. They are called grinders. Very predictable.
I played five card draw in L.A. (only game that was legal there up until1984) in 1983 and if one were to have the misfortune to be sitting at a table with seven rocks and you get stuck for a Franklin you are mostly sol getting it back. You can rarely create action by oneself without being targeted. However, if one or two other young guys sat down we could make those old farts gamble! Like myself and Illcallall do when we are at the same table. If the other players donāt join in then he and I just have our own private game until one of us knocks the other one out. And then youāve doubled up early. We get a kick out of jamming it up. The rocks hate it!
I know you know all this. When the game is dead sometimes you have to wake it up. Which means raising before the flop!
I always thought ābingoā play is when someone else repeatedly goes all-in. And, they usually pick up only the blinds and anyone elseās chips who just call and no one calls their all-in bet.
Bingo refers to what you see a lot of at RP. That is 6-9 players that all call to see the flop in a usually un-raised pot. In other words the skill factor goes way down and is akin to playing bingo.
I also shouldāve added that these all-in players only rely on āluckā to win the hand.
I still think youāre incorrect when labeling ābingoā players. JMO.
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You are correct about the definition being (unskilled) players that play any two cards all the time. When there are many of these players at the same table a lot of ānormalā players also call with almost any two or four cards because the pot odds get close to being correct to call. Thus the skill level goes way down and everyone is simply playing bingo.