The Poker Mag

When it comes to amateur players and Omaha, there are several mistakes that tend to get made. When I talk of amateur players, I do not simply mean players who are unskilled at poker in general, merely ones who are new to Omaha. I personally know a player who is an excellent Holdem player, but has difficulty making the transition to Omaha. On two seperate occassions I have seen him move all in with a big pocket pair in his hand and nothing to back it up. He lost both times, and I guess you can say we all have to go through a learning curve, with each game we play.

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Pairs in Omaha are not really any sort of hand, whether you have top pair, a pocket pair, or two pairs even. of course you can argue that this depends on the texture of the board cards and the interest shown by other players involved, but we can certainly say that generally speaking, you will need more than a pair or two pair to win a pot in Omaha.

Consider these types of hands building blocks towards making a strong hand, rather than contenders to win a pot.
As far as pocket pairs in Omaha are concerned, I feel they take up good space in my hand that could be used for cards which open up many more doors for straights or possible flushes. This may sound strange, but the fact is that if you go into an Omaha hand with (A,3,8,A) as your hole cards, and you are not suited, you are looking for mainly an Ace to make your hand strong enough to perhaps win the pot. Even then, a straight or flush could easily outdraw you.

So without one of two Aces in the deck, or some sort of miracle (8,8,3) combination appearing, this hand really doesn’t hold much scope for improvement. It is important then in Omaha, to understand what makes a hand, and what makes a potential one.

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This aspect of poker is relatively new to the game as far as I know, and in my local game, has become an almost weekly occurence. Players who are left in the latter stages of the game will often decide to split the money and end the game without having to play heads up at all. To my way of thinking, I can agree that they are entitled to split the prize money if they please, but they should play on regardless, in keeping with the spirit of the game.

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The game of poker is about surviving and battling away long enough to eventually win all the chps in play, and until that has been done, no player has emerged the victor. I believe that if any player wants to be able to claim to have won a tournament, they need to have the skill to go on and win the heads up battle too.
My suspicion is that there are too many players out there who are very weak at playing heads up, and so they simply want to split the money and end the game with two players left, still being able to claim that they both won the tournament. In actual fact they didn’t, they both came second, because neither had the courage to fight for the outright victory.

If points are beig awarded in a league situation too, it would be very unfair indeed for both players to receive points for 1st place. Because in actual fact, neither of them have the strategy, or the inclination, to play heads up poker and rightfully claim those points by winning. I think that in this situation, both players should be awarded the points for second place. If you happen to be one of those type of players who likes to stop the game and not have to play heads up, then that’s your choice. Personally though, I feel these players are far less worthy winners than those players who can switch styles to play heads up, get stuck into a duel with their opponent, and ultimately, finish the job.

First of all, I would say for any players starting out in the game, make yourself aware of the hand rankings by playing poker for fun. I started out with Five Card Draw which helped me grasp the general rules of the game, and understand how the betting worked.

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If your ultimate goal is to play Holdem well, then there is no harm starting off in an online poker room playing for 1 and 2 cent blinds in a cash game either. Once you understand the basics however, I would not advise immediately moving up to bigger tables, because there is much more to poker than originally meets the eye, and you could find yourself losing chips fast. Do not feel worried about having to read up on the finer points of the game, as we all need to give our learning curve a boost sometimes. Most online sites offer tips and poker schooling for new players, and I would spend some time watching poker tournaments on television too. In this way, you will begin to see how very basic Holdem is played, and the contrast with poker at higher levels.

As most poker players will tell you, when you are starting to play the game seriously, it is better to play too tight than too loose. If you go to a local tournament as a beginner, I would say fold anything preflop that isn’t, either pocket sixes or higher, or (A,J) (A,Q) (A,K) (K,Q). The (K,Q) and (A,J) are marginal, but on the whole, these hands should be fine to see a flop with, as long as there isnt a big raise preflop. Other than that, raise when you hit the flop, and never be afraid to consult books or other players for advice.