I’ve never even been to Omaha…
…but I managed to finish a hit-and-run session up about 40BB in 45 minutes last night at PokerStars.
I’ve recently begun to become intrigued by Omaha, specifically Omaha Hi, as it seems more difficult a concept than Hold Em, and could add another skill to my small repertoire. So, with my entry fee paid for
Iggy’s next WPBT event, I had a few bucks in my account left to blow over there.
Why not give $.25/$.50 Limit Omaha Hi a try?
At my peak, I was +55BB. I was judiciously choosing good starting hands, flopping the nuts or draws to the nuts, and hitting card after card. With the combination of low limits and passive players, I was sweeping small pots with two check/calling me to showdown almost every time.
Except one.
I was dealt 2255 down, and saw a board come out K82 rainbow on the flop. Bottom set scares me a
little bit, especially with five other players seeing a capped flop. With six dollars already in, I helped two others cap this round too. The next two cards were effectively blanks, but again, in Omaha bottom set is a scary proposition. All three of us left in the hand basically check/called at the large pot to show down for $13 or so.
Amazingly, my set of deuces held. Unreal.
Al sat down with me briefly, and the second he did I started showing nothing but second best hands all the way down. From my peak of +55BB, I was happy to get up from the table +40BB. By the way, at one point a few hands in for Al he was aggressively pushing a hand to showdown that proved to be a loser. I missed what he mucked, and he typed in Yahoo chat to me, “You didn’t tell me this wasn’t Hi/Lo. I flopped the nut low.” Oops.
I obviously still have the training wheels on, but I learned a few things about Omaha.
>> Bottom set is scary.
>> If you don’t hit your set on the flop with Aces down and multiple players in the hand, it might be best to lay it down.
>> If the board pairs something you’re not holding, and you haven’t made a set (or more realistically, top set), you’re screwed.
>> If the board shows three of one suit you don’t have two of down, you’re screwed.
>> If there’s a double gutshot looking board and you don’t have the gap cards, you’re screwed.
In other words, it seems like there were more full houses, straights, and flushes shown than in Hold Em, so two pair isn’t going to get you much of anywhere.
I’m really intrigued, and can’t wait to give it another shot.