OK, let’s say you have a good draw, something like a gutshot straight draw and the nut flush draw with a small pair in Omaha.
That’s a pretty good hand, but not the kind of hand that makes you want to lose all your chips. So what do you do? How much do you bet? Or do you bet?
Don’t you want to see what your opponent does first? Ah, now we’re talking position.
But position is important in any game, not just Holdem, and you’ve just seen why.
Many think Omaha is a game ruled by the cards. So many of the cards are out by the time the river drops that it can’t be anything but a game of draws against made hands.
Omaha is a game where the cards rule, that’s true, but position determines how you get there.
Omaha is not a profitable game for gamblers. As funny as that sounds, given that Omaha is such a draw-driven game, no form of poker rewards gamblers over the long session of life.
So that’s why you always need to ensure you’re getting the right price for your draw. And when others don’t worry about that, that’s how you make your money, whether they are betting to give you the right price to call or when they are calling when you’re charging them hefty bets to get there.
Position helps determine that price.
Remember, Omaha is commonly a pot-limit game, and given that, it’s much easier to control the pot size as the cards come out. If you’re first to act, you can try to control the pot size by checking, but your opponent can simply fire a pot-sized bet back at you and, more often than not, ruin your draw.
But if you are last to act, you control the pot, and therefore your price, for your draw. Or you can price your opponent out of his draw, especially if he tries to price himself in with a tiny bet on the turn. That’s what the raise button is for.
Position is important in many other ways. If you’re last to act, you’ll also have a much better idea on how good your made hand is against a scary board.
You should be able to determine how much you like your middle set, your flopped straight or even a middling two-pair against your opponents if you’re last to act. In fact, you can probably figure that out by the turn. If you’re first to act, well, good luck trying to figure out what a call means if your opponent chooses do, and many times an opponent will only call because one card can change everything.
You can even bluff effectively in Omaha if you have position.
Yes, you can bluff in Omaha. The power of position makes everything, even what many call the impossible, easier.
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