Poker Plays With Pokerpeaker – Picking a plan, and sticking with it, in Omaha

Hey. Welcome back. We're bringing back this weekly feature, Poker Plays with Pokerpeaker, where I go through my thought process of playing a hand and try to present some lessons along the way.

Because it's poker, I'll never say I played the hand perfectly. In fact, it's my hope to present hands where I believe I made mistakes, so we can both learn something them. Of course, I'll also give you some good hands, so you don't think I'm a complete idiot.

I am primarily a low-limit, no-limit or pot-limit player, and my three favorite games are Hold 'Em (of course), Omaha and Razz, so that's usually what you'll see here. I am not a math player, though I do know some basic percentages to help me figure pot odds. I am a winning player, mostly because I play small pots unless my hand warrants it, I pay attention to position and rarely, if ever, tilt.

OK, I think the best way to kick this off is with an Omaha hand because while Hold 'Em is certainly poker's most popular game, Omaha is its fastest-growing.

Why? Well, I've recently started playing a lot more Omaha because I'm tired of all the nits at Hold 'Em. It's 2009, and we're deep into the Unlawful Internet Enforcement Gaming Act and a crushing recession. All that means the players are more educated and unwilling to put all their chips in unless they have a great hand (a hand, in other words, that can beat yours). The fish are out there at the Hold 'Em tables but in much lower numbers these days.

However, few people at the lower limits know how to play Omaha well (and, to be honest, I'm one of them). They'll make the kind of mistakes Hold 'Em players were making back in the good old days of 4-5 years ago. They think hands that are golden in Hold 'Em, like sets, are golden in Omaha too. As my following hand shows, they aren't.

OK, I'm playing a six-handed, .10/.25 game at PokerStars. I've got K♣ – K♥ – J♣ – A[h}.

This is a hand worth raising in Omaha, and that's exactly what I plan to do. I'm also on the button, so I'll have position throughout the hand. Omaha, like Hold 'Em, is a lot more difficult to play out of position.

But someone already raises the pot, to .85, in first position. This is a six-handed game, and so first-position raises don't always mean what they would at a full table. But I'm willing to just call here.

Why wouldn't I re-raise? Well, you could here, definitely, but remember, this is pot-limit, not no-limit, so it's tough to re-raise to an amount that will drive out any callers. At this limit, I've found that most are willing to come along with anything.

Plus the first big mistake beginning Omaha players make is they overvalue big pairs. Yes K-K is an awesome hand in Hold 'Em, but in Omaha, if your kings don't improve after the flop, they're probably beat, especially if there's more than one other player in the hand.

I call, a third player calls, the blinds fold, the pot is $2.90 and we're three-handed for a flop of 3♠ – K♠ – 5♥.

Sweet. Right?

Well, kinda.

This is a classic situation in Omaha. You've got the best hand on the flop, for sure, but you have no redraws to a flush or a straight, so unless the board pairs, you might actually be behind!

Not only that, but, as usual in Omaha, there are obvious straight and flush draws out there. So unless the board pairs, we're most likely behind on the turn.

Someone bets the pot, $2.90. The other player calls, and I just call.

The 6♦ falls on the turn. The first player again bets the pot, $8.70. The second player calls. OK, that means I have enough to go all-in if I want to, as I had right around my buy-in of $25 in front of me when the hand started.

I go all-in. I really thought I was good here. I was a fool.

Both players call fast enough to break the sound barrier, and when the board does not pair on the river, one player shows a 2-4 for a straight, and the other player shows a 4-7 for the higher straight.

It's the third time that day that my top set goes down in Omaha.

Where did I go wrong? In Omaha, you have two choices when you have a great hand on the flop – like top two pair, a set or even a straight – but you're faced with a tough draw (or two) that can beat you.

I think either choice is correct.

The first choice is to keep the pot small. That means calling if you're facing a bet or betting half the pot if it's checked around to you. Checking isn't a terrible play here either.

It might seem like a weak play to just call when you've got a big hand in Omaha. But it's also a smart play because hands change every time another card drops in Omaha. You can almost guarantee that someone has the straight or the flush or a full house when the board completes a draw. And if that draw fills, you've got to fold your two pair, lower set or, sigh, even your top set.

But if you do decide to just call with hands like the ones I described above – in other words, like my set of Kings – you have to be willing to fold when a draw is completed on the turn and the players bet into you. Here an obvious straight fell, and the guy bet the pot and the other player called him. I needed to fold, and instead I jammed when I was far behind.

There's another way to play, too, and that's to push back and hope you can force players off the hand.

Had I wanted to play this way, I should have raised the players the pot on the flop and made them pay dearly to draw against me. Then I could have crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I don't know if either one of them would have folded. The pot odds would have been pretty good for them to call, which is the obvious downside to pushing with your hand in Omaha.

If you do this, you have to just hope that they don't call or they don't get there on the turn. But at least you know you're making them pay for their draws, and you're being aggressive, which is never a bad thing in poker.

I think the best play in these situations is to just call the flop or bet half the pot, and then, if the turn blanks out to any draws, jam as hard as you can on the turn. That way the chances are higher that players will fold because there's only one more card to come, and you're probably ahead of any draws anyway.

But I did the absolute worst thing in Omaha. I just called, and when the board completed an obvious draw, that's when I pushed. Since I called, I needed to fold on the turn. And if I planned to push, I needed to push on the flop. Don't ever just call and then push when the draw gets there and you're way behind on the turn or else you're fish food.

Omaha, in a way, is an easier game to play. If a draw gets there, and a player bets the pot, you can fold because he or she probably got there. You're never quite sure in Hold 'Em, but in Omaha, you can be a lot more sure.

But I didn't follow through on my plan. I didn't fold, and I paid the price dearly.

Fortunately for all of us, there are many other players at the lower limits in Omaha playing the same way right now.

It's up to us to take advantage of that before they know better.

Boot Camp – Pay Attention To The Game

Once you know that calling an all-in pre-flop after a raise, a re-raise and another re-raise when you're holding 8-5, even if it is suited, is probably not a good idea, what's the advice you can expect to hear from top players the most?That's right. Pay attention.You must pay attention to your opponents, how they play, what they play and when they play it. Jun 12, 2008

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