The large majority of the online poker world doesn’t start out playing Omaha. Instead, they play Texas Hold’em for a while, then branch off into other games like Omaha later. Interestingly enough, playing Hold’em first can cause a few problems for new Omaha players in the beginning because there’s a lot of poker strategy differences here. That said, here are some nuances that you should keep in mind when moving to Omaha.
Preflop Importance Decreases – The first thing worth noting about about Omaha strategy is that preflop importance drops slightly. And I emphasize “slightly” because preflop play is still crucial to winning in Omaha; it’s just that you can make up for weak preflop skills with strong postflop play here better than in Hold’em.
The one major preflop skill that you should keep in mind with Omaha is being able to determine what hands maximize your chances of flopping the nuts. For example, AK67 looks like a good hand to many Hold’em players, but it’s actually a bad Omaha starting hand. Sure the AK combo is strong, but the leftover 67 has very little chance of helping you flop the nuts. In contrast, AKJT gives you more potential to make a great hand by the flop or turn.
Position Importance Increases – Just like preflop play, having position is important no matter what poker game you’re playing. However, it is even more important in Omaha because there are so many dangerous-looking flops, and players have more hole cards to connect with.
This being said, a lot of players will check or make small bets on scary-looking boards because they don’t want to risk too much if somebody did connect. Assuming you’ve got position in these instances, you have a huge advantage over other players who are unsure of their drawing hands or marginal holdings.
Drawing to the Nuts is Crucial – In Hold’em, you can be comfortable in more instances where you’re chasing the second or third best potential hand. In Omaha, it’s usually suicide to draw towards second best hands because so many players will have great draws.
For example, if you have Ks-Qh-Ts-8h on a board of 7s-Kc-3s with several players in the hand, you really have to be careful playing for the flush here. After all, it’s more likely that somebody will have an ace of spades and beat out your king-high flush. As you can see, there are several different areas where you need to view things differently when moving from Texas Hold’em to Omaha, so keep this in mind.
