Omaha players like to say that Omaha is the new Hold’em. While No Limit Hold’em remains the most popular game around the world, there has been a higher demand for Omaha games online and in live tournament series. To stay competitive in the poker world, players must do more than learn how to play Pot Limit Omaha. Rather, they must learn the primary Omaha variants and develop some strategies for each.

This is where poker players excel. They crave competition, and most of them enjoy the strategizing and analyzing that goes into improving play. Omaha provides the best opportunity to do this.

Omaha Poker Strategy: Key Tactics for Success

There are entire poker training websites dedicated to Omaha strategy. From drawing to the nuts to using reverse implied odds, there are detailed explanations from professional Omaha players regarding serious strategy.

For the purpose of maximizing your game with a few tips to improve in Omaha poker, we will list the broad points – the most important points – to keep in mind for Omaha players moving from the beginning to intermediate stage. 

• 1. Be mindful of your bankroll. PLO pots can grow quickly, and the necessity of seeing flops can present big decisions about betting pot after the flop. Make sure to budget for wild swings when allocating some of your bankroll for Omaha play.
• 2.  Position is of vital importance because of the potential to control the pot. With more hand possibilities for yourself and your opponents, being in position provides more opportunity to compare ranges.
• 3.  You may not be the only player holding the nut straight. Consider that another player may hold the same value hand, and decide whether or not to get involved based on past aggression.

Pot Limit Omaha can be a volatile game, so choose your spots wisely.

Omaha Hands to Avoid: Common Pitfalls in Omaha Poker

Players transitioning to Omaha from Hold’em frequently misread the strength of their hand. It occasionally even happens to seasoned pros, but beginners often see a flush or a straight where it isn’t valid. For example, there may be three of a kind on the board, and a player pairs one of their hole cards with another card on the board. The player can get excited to see a full house while forgetting that they must use two of their own hole cards for a winning hand. In the same vein, four flush cards on the board doesn’t mean the player completes a flush unless that player holds two cards to the flush. 

Sometimes, out of a desire to get involved in more pots, a player can overvalue a small pair or low connectors. Since many players start the action with high cards, they can easily make a better pair or higher flush or straight.

Beware of the worst starting hands in Omaha poker, specifically three of a kind or four of a kind, more than two of a particular suit, and hole cards consisting of four different suits. Medium-value cards from six to ten can also be dangerous for straight and flush draws that can be easily overpowered. 

Omaha Poker Winning Hands: Recognizing the Best Combos

The very best starting hand in PLO is double-suited A-A-K-K. From there, the best Pot Limit Omaha starting hands are, in order and all double-suited: A-A-J-T, A-A-Q-Q, A-A-J-J, A-A-T-T, A-A-9-9, and then all other A-A-pair combinations. 

After that list, the best hands veer into territory that players must simply memorize: J-T-9-8, K-K-Q-Q, K-K-J-J, K-Q-J-T, and K-K-T-T. All of these are double-suited hole cards as well.

Omaha Poker Variants: Exploring Different Game Types

As demonstrated by this and many other articles on the game of Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha is the most popular variant by far. PLO draws players in and entices them with big pots and all of the possibilities within the four hole cards. The potential strategies and the new challenges, especially for players transitioning from Hold’em, make PLO tough to resist.

While the many straight and flush possibilities are attractive in PLO, the frequency of holding the nuts is another draw (so to speak). PLO even provides more optimal opportunities for three-betting, enough so that there are entire articles on how to 3-bet in Pot Limit Omaha.

PLO is the king of Omaha variants.

Omaha Hi Lo

The next most popular Omaha variant is Hi Lo, sometimes written as Omaha Hi-Lo, Omaha Hi/Lo, Omaha Split-8, Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better or Omaha 8-or-Better, or even just Omaha-8 or O8. While PLO plays as a traditional game with ranking cards from high to low, the Hi Lo version offers two ways to win. The “Hi” part of this game plays as usual, but there is also the possibility of making a “lo” hand. This is an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower.

There will not always be a qualifying low hand in play. If no player has a low hand, they play for a single high hand pot. If there is a low, however, the best possible low will win half of the pot. And the best possible low hand is 5-4-3-2-A, followed by 6-4-3-2-A and 6-5-4-3-2. Low hands pertain to rankings only and do not include straights or flushes.

Players who want even more winning possibilities will want to learn how to play Omaha Hi Lo.

Five-Card Omaha or Big O

The change in Five-Card Omaha is obvious. Each player receives five hole cards instead of four. The other rules remain the same, as players must use exactly two of their hole cards and three community cards to make a winning hand. This is also always played as a Hi Lo game with the chances for split pots. 

Players have come to call this game Big O, as it is “bigger” than the traditional four-card Omaha game. And just as other Omaha games, players cannot get enough of another variant and want to learn how to play Five-Card Omaha.

Six-Card Omaha

It is unclear as to why this game isn’t called Bigger O because it is another step up from the traditional game. Omaha distributes four hole cards, Five-Card Omaha does it with five hole cards, and Six-Card Omaha unsurprisingly gives each player six hole cards. This makes it necessary to play with a maximum of six players. And players can learn how to play Six-Card Omaha with only high-value cards or as a Hi Lo game.

Courchevel

In a game that originated in France, Courchevel is yet another Omaha variant. This is a version of Five-Card Omaha but played only as a traditional game with rankings from high to low. The difference in this game is the betting. When the dealer provides each player with five hole cards, he or she also puts out a single community card. That opens up the first round of betting. And when the dealer finishes the flop with the other two cards on the board, another round of betting ensues. The turn and river play as usual. Note that there are other differences between Omaha and Courchevel as well.

Experience Top-Notch Online Poker at BetMGM

For players new to Omaha Poker, this is a lot of information to process. The best way to wade into the Omaha waters is to play poker online. BetMGM provides a legal platform for online poker that is easy to navigate and provides micro and low stakes Omaha games for beginners. Take advantage of the online poker welcome bonus at BetMGM, too, to make the most of your first deposit.