|
How to play Omaha 8 part 3: Post-Flop considerations
Omaha 8 is a game that requires you to ‘fit or quit’. In other words, if you don’t have the nuts (or the most likely nut-hand) or don’t have a draw to the nuts, you should be folding in most situations. Although many people feel
Omaha 8 is just a game of the ‘nuts’ (which it is) you will find that it’s the betting that will make you the money post-flop; and the game is very intricate.
In this installment I will detail three very common situations in Omaha 8 where players make mistakes.
Pushing and Pulling
Pushing and pulling refers to whether you want to force other players out of the hand, or entice them into the pot. Obviously this concept is very situational, but I will give you some general guidelines for pushing and pulling.
When to push:
• When you have a nut draw, and a strong hand the other way. For example you have A2KJ and the board is 3-6-K-J. In this case you have top-two pair (which is likely good on this board, and the nut-low draw.
• When you have a lock hand one way, and a decent draw to a strong (but most likely non-nut) hand the other way. For example, you have A245 on a 3-6-8-K board. In this case you have the lock low (with backup) and quite a few straight out for a high hand, but only the 2 would give you the nuts.
• When you have a marginal two-way hand, and think you can get the pot heads-up against an opponent who has close to zero chance of having you beat both ways. For example, you have A25K on an A-3-7-K-9 board. In this case your opponent would have to have specifically 24 with a set to beat you both ways.
• When you have the nut low and a marginal high, and are up against another nut low hand, and what appears to be an ok high hand. By raising and re-raising in this situation you are looking to fold-out the decent high hand, so instead of getting quartered, you are getting three quarters of the pot.
For example, you have A26Q on a 3-5-Q-8 -J board. If you had a strong feeling one opponent had an A2xx, and the other had a two pair type high hand, a raise may fold out the high hand (obviously the low is never folding). Even if the high hand ends up calling you will only lose a small amount, but winning ¾ of the pot would be huge: So this play doesn’t have to work all that often to be profitable.
When to pull:
• When you have a lock one way, with no chance for the other ½ the pot. Since you are getting only ½ the pot (and possibly ¼) you want to entice as many people as possible to continue on with the hand: When you are getting ½ the pot, more customers equals more profit.
• When you have the nuts both ways, and don’t want to lose any customers on the flop. In this case you’d wait until the turn top start ramming and jamming the pot.
Heads-up one way draw
When you find yourself heads-up in Omaha 8 the first thing you need to realize is that unless you can scoop the pot (or get ¾) you will win very little money. So when you have something like the nut-flush draw on a 3 low board, and have no low potential you should just fold.
When you flop what is possibly a good high hand on a three low board you should also fold; unless you have some type of low potential.
The nut-low, no backup
This hand is trouble, especially if other players are in a raising war. You are playing for ½ the pot, so your profits are already going to be minimal, and there is a good possibility you are getting quartered or worse. Without some type of high potential (or at least 4 or 5 opponents) this hand is a fold. If players are going to war with their hands, they likely have the nuts, and most likely have backup to go with it.
An even more egregious error is when you only have a draw to the nut low and call multiple bets. In this case you are about 50% to make your nut low, and from the betting it appears you are only getting a quarter of the pot.
These are just a few of the post-flop situations you will find yourself in when playing Omaha 8.
Don't wait any longer. Try out these skills. Play Omaha 8 on Full Tilt Poker! |
