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(Continued from Part 1)
In Omaha the lowest likely winning hand will usually be three of a kind, two of a kind will not cut it in most cases. Logically three of a kind is bound to occur in many hands, as, just like in Texas a pair (somewhere) in the pocket is a strong starting point, and if most people play hands like this, it only follows that someone is going to find a third card. If a pair is all you have though after the flop, and, someone is chucking chips in the pot, count your losses and get out. And similarly, you don’t really want to be the person betting on 333, when someone could be betting on AAA.
If you do have low cards in the pocket what do you hope to make. Maybe you are dealt 2 3 4 5, to a novice this may look good, but where will it go? You can only use two of those cards, and as you already nearly have a straight in your hand, what is the likelihood that enough of those cards are going to be replicated on the deck? Answer - not much. If you are playing low hands - you need to focus on a combination such as:
A 5 A 5
This isn’t an ideal hand, but actually it is still worth playing - but - to a point. If you decide to call on a hand like this, make sure you have a reasonable position, or are playing with a nice stack and have some room to manoeuvre ( or preferably both).
In Texas Hold’ Em an A5 hand can sometimes be a safe enough, but, wider hand to play. As the Ace is high and low you could slot it into a low or high straight. The five is there as the highest kicker in a low straight, so is technically better than playing with the 2, 3, 4 - depending on the flop.
e.g. in Texas Hold’ em:
Flop: A 2 5
You: A 5
Joe Bloggs: A 2
With a hand like this it is always better to try and match suits for obvious reasons. Even if you have one matching suit and two un-matching the extra chance of flush is always good. Of course in the Omaha hand Joe Bloggs could only have one ace if the flop shows an Ace and you had a hand like A 5 A 5, so here’s a scenario:
Flop: A 2 5
You: A 5 A 5
Joe Bloggs: A 2 2 10
Now as you may have seen in earlier articles, we know that neither of you have full house. Currently your hand is either three of a kind Aces or three of a kind fives! Obviously unless a fourth five comes up you will probably be relying on the three of a kind Aces as the back bone for a decent hand.
Joe’s three of a kind 2’s is beaten by both your possible three of a kinds, so he has lucked out in that respect. But he may be extremely lucky and get his fourth two, and, should a 3 and a 4 come up, you will split the pot with straight. Clearly neither of you are really looking at flush, as the very fact that the hand comprises mostly of Aces, twos and fives means you will have a spread of suits.
It just goes someway to help illustrate the importance of looking for hands that work well together. Joe has gambled on the Ace and a low pair essentially. It’s not a silly hand because A 10 is a strong combination, but perhaps a better hand to play pre-flop, might have been A A 2 10. This way the pair is the strongest it possibly can be, should a 3 4 5 come up, it creates straight, and he has a high card alongside the Ace in the other end of another possible straight - A K Q J 10. I would argue that the 2 and the 10 are still loose, and a hand like this should only really be played in a late position and after winning some tighter hands when you can afford to play a wider range.
Mike @ Power Poker Course.
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