Omaha Hi Low Pot Limit Common Mistakes. Part II
Posted on June 3, 2008
Game Tactics in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. The 2nd Part
See beginning of the article in Pot Limit Omaha High Low Strategy. Part I.
Here are some tips to help you avoid the most common errors in pot limit games:
1) Don’t stick to closely to nut flush draw!
Nut flush draw is a good hand in holdem. If a pair appears on the board you have chances to win anyway if you draw the flush. A pair to an ace is usually a winning combination as well. In Omaha forming a pair with board cards is usually fatal and two aces win a pot seldom.
A starting hand like A
J7
3 has a small potential to straight. It’s better to have a hand like A986. Before you decide that you received a through ticket you need to get straight draw and nut flush draw in your hand.
2) Don’t overestimate your eight-sided straight draw!
Straight draw is not threatened by three-card flush or a pair appearing on the board. Players used to pot limit poker consider straight draw as an automatic playing combination if there isn’t flush or full possibilities on the board.
In pot limit Omaha the game price with such a weak hand can be wrong. In Omaha there appear quite often possibilities of thirteen-sided and seventeen-sided straight draws, so why tie up with only eight-sided combination?
3) Let the key cards help you to define the bluff.
For example, if there is Q64 on the board I have more chances to try and take the pot by making if I had ace of trumps (A) or a queen than on the contrary. Possessing of one or two key cards improves your chances to steal the pot.
4) Ask yourself a question: Is your opponent likely to stand the pressure?
Does your opponent have a hand strong enough to stand a serious pressure? This question defines your tactics on playing a drawing hand either you will play it fast by raising or slow by calling.
Don’t try and force a player which made bets and drove a trade with a combination missing one card to fold his cards. If you have reasons to think that his hand is not very valuable then your chances to win by aggression are doubled. The opponent may fold his cards or you can draw something yourself. Just for your information – online video poker strategy that helps to develop your analytical skills.
5) Bet the pot but only if there isn’t the possibility of straight or full.
If on the board there is something like K
96 then you can’t possibly feel safe with any hand. If you want to bet anyway do it with the complete pot. You must make your opponent play at as worst chances as possible. If there is a pair on the board like 10102 or three suited cards Q84 you play on the principle “either – or bet” (You’re demonstrating a specific hand and either you have it or you’re bluffing). Half a pot bet or two thirds one seems to be the right decision. Pots with such a flop can often be taken easily by a modest bet.
If you make small bets on your good hands your bluff of the same size will be more convincing. You may be called more often in the cases when you have claimed values and you won’t have to risk so often trying to steal the pot.
Read next: Part III.
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