question on omaha

never played this game before but since watching two tournaments on t.v i have become interested in learning the fundamentals of the game.

I noticed that the pro,s were folding hands i thought were good starting hands i.e two pairs,4 runners and 3/4 suited cards as hole cards.i know that position and stack are as important as in holdem but it seems rather confusing.the biggest percentage of wins came from set,s or full house,s infact many hands were full house,s up against each other.

the best thing about omaha for me is that its not a game for people to play draws to its simply play what you think the best hand is at any given point.
so my question is what are the best starting hands with omaha and why? thank you.

Gordo,

I play a bit of Omaha.......really prefer omaha hi/lo myself but still learning both.
I got ahold of Lou Kreiger's book "The Poker Player's Bible" and it shows that there are 41 Very Best Omaha hands.........not going to list them all I would be here all day typing this but the utmost hand is AAKK double suited and the lower end of the scale is QJT9 rainbow.
Aces and faces double suited are what you want but in the midst of these hands paint pairs and 2 other faces work out well also. In Omaha and hi/lo preflop raising can go to extremes. I haven't played a buyin tourney yet on these I play mostly freerolls on these 2 games since I am still leaning alot and I have seen more than person go all in preflop with a great starting hand only to burnout by the river.

Unplayable hands example:KQ76 rainbow. You wouldn't want to bet out of position with this hand(maybe catch a flop in the blinds) But most likely would lose to a flush or a boat. Another example of worst case scenario hand is QJ65 double suited. Looks good but more than likely get you into trouble.
Double Small pairs like 4433 can produce low sets and baby str8ts that will cost you alot more than you are apt to win if you get "lucky"
7s7c4c2d: All your possibilities are weak. A set of sevens is no guarantee of winning the pot. Making a seven-high flush or a str8t using your four-deuce or seven-four combo will produce hands that can easily be bested by others.

Like I said before I am still learning and I think I like Omaha 8b myself better than Omaha. Now that's a way different game and stratedgy than Omaha I hope I was some help to you.

Omaha is a big favorite of mine but it is tricky. For example TJ Cloutier and others favor AAJ10 double suited over AAKK. And some computer simulations bear this out! Cloutier's (I hope I spelled that right) book on Omaha is a good one as it covers limit, pot limit and Hi/Lo.

Think of it this way, you have six starting hands. You want as many of the hands to be quality ones. With two pairs, say 8877, you have just 8's, 7's and 8-7. All suited are terrible since you can only use 2 cards and 2 other cards of your suite are out.

But I love the game, especially H/L because it's phenomenally easy to read players. Players tend not to make a move until they have something. Once they do they go for it; otherwise they just check and call. And the game is complex enough that players can justify calling with any hand; and they often get a piece of the flop to keep them in. A good Hi/Lo player can often find easy pickings.

To the poster, Omaha Hi is nothing more than a draw game. Sure you may have the best starting hand or even flopped the nuts. If you go all in with the nuts on the flop and catch some callers, you will almost always go bust. Omaha is a game of drawing to the nuts. It is a game that very large hands bet big and get mowed down. If anyone would like to play top set vs my draw, I would love to give you the opportunity to bust me. Omaha is a game where you try to make the NUTS, with Move ups. Such as, Flop of KJ2 offsuit and you have KKQT. Also, I love crushing sets with hands that i have a open end straight draw (or better) and a flush draw to kick.

Dream flop of Omaha

8h, 7h, 2d

Best hand to get paid off on this flop is NO PAIR

9d, th,5d, 6h (be weary when you raise with this hand because low pl games get players that will go all in on A high flush draw....
I would give anyone top set vs my hand, and we will move all in....

Omaha is a game that money is made without a pair, ive seen the nut boat killed by quads many many times, and if you play top set, you will learn the pain.....

I like to play big draws though... But I am the favorite in the hand vs top set.... Be weary omaha will change the way you play cards

[21:19] <Qhr1s0> same as holdem really, big pairs good heads up, big drawing hands good multiway

...and 2 pair isn't necessarily good. 8833r is an awful hand, for example, as you're drawing to only 4 outs to improve your hand, and you will very rarely win with that hand unimproved. Something like 7766 isn't much better because it's still unlikely to improve on the flop or hold up if unimproved. And 3 suited cards are less valuable than 2 suited cards because you actually lose a flush out if you have a third card of the suit in your hand (remember you use 2 and only 2 of your 4 hole cards in Omaha).

That's basically the limit of my knowledge on Omaha (High). I need to play more. :/

no thinking on it two pairs has to be considered the minimum hand to play but it should always be mindful about get hit by a set.i thought something around high pkt pair with say 10/j suited would be the ideal hand.

i read the article on omaha on the site but i would like to hear why people play certain hands personally.

also can anybody tell me of sites that have a good player base that would also allow play money omaha game,s as most of the site,s i,m on have the game,s there but no players.

in response to kidhavok
like i said i don,t play it but with all those cards delt surely then playing to draws must be kinda crazy, but i want to learn.

AAJD double suited holds a slight eaquity over aakk doublesuited due to the extra straight draws. They are both soooo solid get as much money as fast as you can.

Bill

Pokerstars, but be prepared for a total all-in fest !!

Gordo,

JetSet is another good one but I think their customer base hasn't grown enough for their play tables. I sometimes try to get on a play table over there and they have so few people on them or none or the so few tables they do have are full.

played my first omaha sit&go at r.v.p today and wow what a great game ,action from the off most pots had between 5/6 players at one time and it has changed my view on this game.Before i could,nt see why you would play to draws with so many cards delt but in the end you had so many variations to play to you could draw to many different hands.Finished 6th of 15 which i though was very good although 3 place,s outside the pay structure.

one thing that still allude,s me is how much to bet and when to raise the pot,it was easy when i flopped a couple of straights and just bet large which caused a few folds but in the end there was always someone to call to the showdown.