advice for playing omaha h/l online

Atticus22

Atticus22

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online omaha h/l

1. patience and time is necessary at this game where the goal is to scoop the pot

2. bluffing doesn't work as well as it does in hold'em, so beware.

3. AA rarely wins in this game.

4. stop raising LOW because you may get quartered (you split low and high hand gets half the pot)

5. you can be dealt A23 and think you are golden for low....you chase...but low won't qualify online a good percentage of the time!

good luck!
 
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watchtowel

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Is a good move to bluff with the nut low. Like if you shove and they don't have a good low, and don't have the nut high then in puts them to a difficult decision? problem is if they have the nut low they get 3/4 of the pot. So when to make this move and is it just a newb move lol?

Also should you play hands that can't give you a low?
 
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TheWall

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In tournies I find it works best to be relatively passive before the flop, especially in the early goings. This is a game where you really need to have a hand, so there is no sense in getting overly committed when your hand might be junk post-flop.
 
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TheWall

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Also should you play hands that can't give you a low?

On this I would leave it up to your discretion. For instance I would definitely look into playing something like AAKQ double suited as you still have a good chance of taking down the pot. Just be conscious of what your playing for, if there is a low out there and your heads up, you can't take more than half in all likelihood.
 
doops

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Good points, Atticus. All true. Especially the bit about raising the low. The low pot is often a shared pot, and if you keep raising it, you may actually lose money. That's unpleasant. Raise if you have the nut high (which will change by the river most of the time) or if you can scoop.

And The Wall is also right. Don't get into a raise war preflop -- the flop is when you find out if your hand is going to have a shot.

I love OHL. But it can be frustrating. You really need to wait for optimum hands.

And there's nothing really wrong about playing a hand that's only good for a possible high. Often enough, there is no low, and that high hand is golden. Many players stick around hoping to hit their low, so more money when there is no low. But when you have an all-high-card hand and the flop comes all low, you need to be able to fold those losers. Someone is going to have a straight, at least.
 
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c9h13no3

c9h13no3

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1. patience and time is necessary at this game where the goal is to scoop the pot
Yes.

2. bluffing doesn't work as well as it does in hold'em, so beware.
No.

3. AA rarely wins in this game.
This advice isn't helpful. Instead, maybe list the conditions where AA *does* win, and how to get those to occur (heads up, low draws, paired boards, ect.).

4. stop raising LOW because you may get quartered (you split low and high hand gets half the pot)
No. Emphatically, new players don't jam low hands enough.

5. you can be dealt A23 and think you are golden for low....you chase...but low won't qualify online a good percentage of the time!
Wat?
 
dj11

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Some of the advice here will also be valid for stud8, or any split pot poker.

There are many hands where PF it is worth seeing a flop, hi runners for example (T,j,Q,K) hopefully double suited are a hand you want to see a flop with, you don't want to get agressive early, but with all split pot games there will, by nature, be a certain amount of chasing involved.

So the T,J,Q,K hand will often play well. If the flop comes low, easy enough to muck the good looking but now useless pretty big cards.

Lo runners (ex 2,3,4,5) will be gem hands, and if you have an Ace all the better.

But it never ceases to amaze me how many people play middle cards in a HI/LO split game. Granted every now and then those middle hands will hit, and hit hard, but more often when they do hit, they will be counterfeited somehow, i.e. higher str8, bigger flush, lower low, along with the ever present danger of a paired board producing a boat.

IMHO, the split pot games can be profitable if a cautiously aggressive style is used. You need to watch what is going on, in the stud games you need to figure out what can win, what you have, and if there is really any way villain can take the low given what cards are shown.

Then there is the rake issue. If the board is ugly, and is 2,3,4,5,6, and 3 people are pushing, you can figure that the one with the higher str8 or flush will be encouraging the betting while one of the low nuts will be reciprocating. You, (nut lo) should be trying to stop the betting because you know you are splitting the low and for every buck you are putting in, there will only be 95 cents to take out (rake).

If you are sure you have a single end of a pot, meaning you are the nut high hand, and don't figure anyone else duplicates you hand, and you have 2 or more contending for low, then you must push hard.

If you think you may match low, then you want to stop the betting from getting out of control.
 
Atticus22

Atticus22

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of course, I played an omaha hl tourney the other nite with doops.

we did not cash

oh well, you cant do anything if you dont get the cards.

no luck that nite
 
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