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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