Farha on Omaha: Expert Strategy for Beating Cash Games and Tournaments by Sam Farha & Storms Reback

Author:Sam Farha & Storms Reback [Farha, Sam & Reback, Storms]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Card Games, Poker, Games
ISBN: 9781617499203
Google: cVcxgPfUy0AC
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2007-10-01T21:16:17+00:00

Part III. Pot-Limit Omaha

Basic Strategy III

If no-limit hold’em is the Cadillac of poker, then pot-limit Omaha is the Porsche. When you play limit Omaha, you can’t protect your hand. A single raise will never make anyone fold. When you play no-limit Omaha, an extremely rare form of the game, it takes away the play. Whoever moves all in has the nuts and will rarely get called. Pot-limit is the beautiful compromise between the two. Because you can bet up to the size of the pot at any time, you can protect your hand—once the pot gets as large as your stack, betting the pot becomes the same thing as going all in—but you can’t bet so much that no one will ever call you. This betting structure when combined with the fact that no starting hand has a very big edge over any other starting hand makes pot-limit Omaha the most challenging and exciting variation of poker being played today.

This is not a game for the meek or the timid. If you want to be a winner in pot-limit Omaha, you need to play aggressively. If you like your hand, you should bet. As in most poker games, calling is one of the worst plays you can make. I never limp in before the flop unless I’ve got a really weak hand. I try to see as many flops as possible because you can’t truly say you have a bad hand until you know what the flop is. The flop is the critical juncture in the hand. There is usually enough money in the pot at this point that any bet and raise could force a player to go all in. While it’s easy to decide if the flop improved your hand, it’s not as easy to figure out if it helped your opponent or not.

If I raise before the flop and the flop brings something like 5-3-2 or K-9-9, even if I don’t connect with that flop, I can continue to represent the kind of hand I was representing before the flop, a big pair like aces or kings. But if the flop comes 9-8-7 or J-10-9, I’m going to have to slow down because I know my opponent could have those kinds of cards. If he checks to me, I’ll check behind him. With a flop like that, you can’t represent a hand you don’t have. If I have any sort of hand, like top pair, I’d be happy to check it all the way to the river, but if I don’t have a hand—not even a pair or any kind of draw—I might take a stab at it and make a small bet on the flop trying to represent a big hand. If I get called, I’ll give up after that. I’ll make one attempt to steal the pot, and if it doesn’t work I’ll surrender.

To be successful at pot-limit Omaha, you need to show your opponents that you’re willing to shove your entire stack into the pot whenever you get involved in a hand.

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