J
janark
Rising Star
Bronze Level
Couple of days ago I wrote a piece of advice to my friend who started playing Omaha Hi/Lo and now thought of sharing it with all of you guys as well. That's some main concepts of the game:
1. Only play strong starting hands which can make both high and low. The best staring hand in hilo would be AA23 double suited. The hands which cannot make both high and low can only be played when:
* You have four extremely good hi-cards, such as AAKK, AAQQ, AAKQ etc.
* You have four lo-cards and they contain A2 or A3.
2. Aim for the nut or the second-nut low. A low hand not containing A2 or A3 isn't usually enough to win the pot (except when the board shows, for example, A24xx, when hole cards of 35xx will make the nut-low).
3. Never raise with only a low hand. It is very often that the pot is split three ways and you will only earn one quarter of the pot if someone else has the same low combination. If you have only a low hand and are sure that your high hand is beaten, try check-calling until the showdown. An exception is when the play is heads up and/or there's a good way that your opponents would fold to your bets. In that case, bet big.
4. Don't make a mistake of calling big raises (and reraises) with a low-draw (even if you draw to the nut-low). That's because:
* The pot odds usually aren't in your favour. Its basically a 50/50 situation that another low card comes - meaning that maximum you can call with a low-draw is half the pot bet.
* If you don't have a strong high hand as well, then even if you complete your draw, you will only get a half of the pot. That reduces correct call to max. 25% of the pot.
* Also, there might easily be somebody else on the pot with the same low-hand as yours, thus both of you will get only a quarter of the pot. This will reduce the correct call to max. 12.5% of the pot.
There's a lot more in hilo, but that's probably something to get you started with. GL!
1. Only play strong starting hands which can make both high and low. The best staring hand in hilo would be AA23 double suited. The hands which cannot make both high and low can only be played when:
* You have four extremely good hi-cards, such as AAKK, AAQQ, AAKQ etc.
* You have four lo-cards and they contain A2 or A3.
2. Aim for the nut or the second-nut low. A low hand not containing A2 or A3 isn't usually enough to win the pot (except when the board shows, for example, A24xx, when hole cards of 35xx will make the nut-low).
3. Never raise with only a low hand. It is very often that the pot is split three ways and you will only earn one quarter of the pot if someone else has the same low combination. If you have only a low hand and are sure that your high hand is beaten, try check-calling until the showdown. An exception is when the play is heads up and/or there's a good way that your opponents would fold to your bets. In that case, bet big.
4. Don't make a mistake of calling big raises (and reraises) with a low-draw (even if you draw to the nut-low). That's because:
* The pot odds usually aren't in your favour. Its basically a 50/50 situation that another low card comes - meaning that maximum you can call with a low-draw is half the pot bet.
* If you don't have a strong high hand as well, then even if you complete your draw, you will only get a half of the pot. That reduces correct call to max. 25% of the pot.
* Also, there might easily be somebody else on the pot with the same low-hand as yours, thus both of you will get only a quarter of the pot. This will reduce the correct call to max. 12.5% of the pot.
There's a lot more in hilo, but that's probably something to get you started with. GL!