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Playing High Cards in Omaha Poker

It seems to be pretty conventional wisdom that players should play low cards that are coordinated in an Omaha high/low game. This a pretty solid strategy, especially in the low limit internet poker games. The inherent difficulty with this strategy is that it is hard to gain an advantage against your opponents unless they are making mistakes.One of the things that you will notice once you get a few hands under your belt, is that you don’t get to scoop a lot of big pots in this game when you play by this strategy. Here is an example of a spot where it would be wise to play some different starting hands than usual. Consider a multi-way pot where your opponents are all holding the following hands;

You Have; K-K-J-10
Player 1: A-2-3-6
Player 2: A-4-5-7
Player 3: 2-4-4-6
If your opponents are all holding these hands…the flop is probably coming with a bunch of high cards anyway, so your gonna have a good chance to scoop the pot.

But let’s assume that the flop comes down 7-8-Q.

The odds are against you being outdrawn in this pot, but because of the low draw that is out there you should be able to get plenty of money into the pot. What you have done is create a situation where your opponents are basically just trying to draw out on you just to try and get their money back. This is the whole premise behind un-subscribing to the theory of only playing A-2-3-4 type hands.

The power of having 1 over-pair in high/low is debatable in. The implied value of these hands depends largely on who is holding them and what kind of hands their opponents are holding. Spots like the one described above are not easily recognizable with much certainty. Players will often wind up in sticky situations and it takes a lot of experience to make the right decisions.

It’s best for new players to shy away from playing these types of hands. As you gain more experience and become more comfortable with the way the game is played, you can start to open up your hand selection a little bit. When you are just starting to learn the flow of the game and how it is played, you should stick to solid low hands, almost like a game of Razz. This style is most likely to give you an opportunity to lock up half of the pot…and freeroll while you try to scoop the rest of the pot. I learned a lot of what I know about Omaha from listening to Barry Greenstein, so if you are interested in hearing more you can head over to his new website; www.pokerroad.com. Or, check out this article I wrote on Moving from Hold ‘em to Omaha.