Playing Omaha hi lo can be intimidating, especially for beginners. Hands offer so many combinations that even experienced players and dealers can miss things. And not only are there six combinations of hole cards to look at when determining your hand, you also have to look for the high hand and the low hand. So playing Omaha hi lo with a winning strategy becomes even harder.
Consider this an introduction to the most basic of Omaha hi lo strategy basics: hand selection, concentration, and position. You can find more detailed analyses of specific Omaha hi lo strategic concepts in other sections.
Hand Selection
The biggest tactical mistake that most new Omaha hi lo players make is being too loose. A tight player plays only a limited number of hands, folding when the odds aren’t in her favor. A loose player, on the other hand, plays lots of hands and stays in action quite a bit. Since each Omaha hi lo player receives four cards preflop, there’s a tendency to see a lot of potential in a hand, and players tend to start with too many weak hands.
If you’re playing in low limit Omaha hi lo games, you can probably be a winning player by using a single strategy: player fewer, but better, starting hands than your opponents. Be selective. Make your starting cards prove to you that they should be played. And when the flop comes, make the combinations in your hand prove to you that you should continue in the hand.
Concentrate!
Not only do you have a lot of combinations to think about, you usually have to consider the possibility of a low hand getting half the pot. To keep up with what’s going on in an Omaha hi lo game, you must be able to concentrate. And sadly, schools don’t teach classes in concentration, and television has systematically lowered the attention span of most people. So here are some Omaha hi lo poker tactics related to maintaining your concentration:
- Get enough rest. If you’re sleepy, you can’t concentrate. In fact, missing four hours of sleep in a night can have the same impairment as being legally intoxicated.
- Stay sober. Drunks can’t concentrate any better than the sleep deprived. So if you’re going to drink something while playing Omaha hi lo, stick with coffee or water.
- Meditate. This might sound a little Zen and new-agey, but nothing improves someone’s concentration skills like practice. And meditation is the ultimate form of practicing your concentration skills. Continue reading