DOs and DON’Ts

Do

• Be selective with your starting hands. It is imperative to choose the correct starting a hand based on your situation.
• Be selective when choosing a table. You should only play in games where you have an edge. Also, you want a couple of weak players at the table.
• Play the players. It is important to immediately evaluate the opposition.
• Pump it or dump it. Either fold or bet/raise. Avoid calling unless you have a valid motive, like trapping an opponent.
• Be respectful of a majority of big bets and raises. Most players do not bluff in Pot-Limit Omaha.
• Bet your best drawing hands. This will enhance the deception in your game and you will win more hands without a lot of opposition.
• Draw to the nuts in multi-way pots. However, avoid committing to draws without additional value.

Don’t

• Get married to the nut flush draw. Unlike Texas Hold’em you can not win the pot by pairing your ace or with a flush even though the board pairs.
• Get married to an eight-way straight draw. Since it is possible to flop 13-way, 17-way, and 20-way straight draws in Omaha, you should wait for one of those draws before committing yourself to the pot.
• Overplay unsuited aces. There is little you can flop to improve your hand.

Trap Hands

Hands that appear to be very good but easily can turn into second-best hands are known as trap hands. Always watch out for trap hands since they can make you lose your whole stack. There are three types of trap hands in Pot-Limit Omaha: small pair hands, low wrap hands, and small flush hands. These hands are discussed in detail below.

• Small pair hands are hands with pairs below nines. These hands are dangerous to play because it is very hard to escape the hand if you flop a set. If you are up against a bigger set you are drawing to only one out. The time to play a small pair is when you are running low on money. At this point it can be the right move to commit your whole stack if you flop a set.
• Low wrap hands are lower four connected hands, for example 5c-4s-3d-2s. The danger lies in risk of flopping or drawing to the low-end of a straight.
• Small flush hands are risky hands. You cannot commit a lot of money with a small flush hand and, if you were to get any action, chances are good that you are already beat.

Whether to Raise or Limp before the Flop

One tricky aspect of playing Pot-Limit Omaha is that no matter what cards you hold, your opponent usually has a good chance of beating you. Case in point, a double suited hand of A-A-K-K is only a 3:2 favorite to win against a double suited hand of 8-7-6-5. This begs the question of whether or not to raise when you hold a good starting hand. One strategy would be to only raise when you hold aces. However, this routine quickly becomes predictable. Another strategy would be to always limp in. Even though this is a better strategy than only raising with aces it is not the best strategy. You do not make other limping players pay enough to see the flop when you have strong hand

The optimal strategy is instead to raise on a wide range of hands. Here are some of the advantages to raising on a variety of hands before the flop:

• You become unpredictable.
• You make the pots bigger because you make players pay to see the flop.
• You will have more bluffing opportunities.
• You will have more fun

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