If you started playing poker within the last 10 years, chances are you probably started out by playing nothing but Texas Hold’Em. The overwhelming popularity of that game has led to numerous poker publications and Internet web sites that provide information and speed up the learning curve for the new player.
This makes the games available much harder to win at because you will constantly be facing people who are making the correct decisions and not making mistakes. Winning at poker is all about getting people to make mistakes and if people are playing well, it can be an awfully hard grind to turn a profit.
Something you can do if you are struggling to make a buck in Hold’Em is to consider a game like Omaha High Low. This is a great game to learn if you are a Hold’Em player because the concepts are similar and most people who play Omaha 8 or Better do not have a good understanding of the game. They often treat it as if it were just like Hold’em and overplay hands they shouldn’t be playing in the first place.
One similarity between Omaha 8 and Hold’Em is that the best five card hand will still be the best hand. In Omaha High Low, however, you are dealt four cards instead of two and you have another way of winning the pot if you don’t have the best five card hand. You can win ½ the pot with a qualifying low hand (a five card hand with all cards lower than an 8).
One thing that Hold’Em players have a hard time adjusting to is the fact that you MUST use two cards from your hand. In Hold’Em, it is not uncommon for a player to use one card from their hand or even play the board (using all five cards that are on the table).
In Omaha 8, that is not possible. If the board is 9-10-J-Q-K and you have A-5-6-9, you do not have a straight using your nine or ace. If you have K-K-K-K in your hand, you do not have quad Kings, you have a pair of kings.
If there is no qualifying low hand, then the player who has the best high hand will win the entire pot. Despite this, it is very important that you understand split pots and how they work. The fact that there are two ways to win the pot provide you with not only alternative ways to win the pot, but they provide you with countless ways to get outdrawn and lose the pot.
For example, if you have A-K-Q-Q double suited and the flop comes K-Q-5-2, you would seldom lose this hand in Hold’Em. In Omaha 8, however, there are countless ways for you to not only lose half the pot to a low hand but the whole pot as well. Someone holding a great low hand like A-3-4-6 could win the low with any low card and rake in the whole pot if a straight card arrives.
Knowing how to adjust to the increased losing probability that exists in Omaha High Low is crucial if you are going to be a winning player.
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