Help with Omaha

[novacaine]

A couple of days ago I began to play omaha for the first time. I was playing at royal vegas poker at the $0.25/0.50 no limit table. I sat down with $20 and after a few hands had doubled my money and then about an hour into it I won $100. I came back the next day hoping to win more but I ended up losing it all. The problem I'm having trouble understanding is the hands I lost with. I lost all of my money on either straights, flushes, or full-houses all of which I hit on the flop. The hand I lost the most money on, $32, I had 8h,10h,Js,Qs. The flop came down 8d, 10s, 10c. There were only two other people in the pot besides me at this point. The first guy bet $18 and the second guy folded. Since I had the boat 10 over 8 I re-raised all-in and he called. He had a pair of aces and that was it. The turn came down as a 2c then the river which was an ace giving him aces over tens.

Did I play the hand wrong? All of the other hands were pretty much like this one where I had the best hand at the flop but would always lose on the turn or river. I tried to bet big but I always got a caller so I stopped doing that cause I was just losing money. What could I have done differently?

 

[nateofdeath]

sounds like a bad beat to me. lot of donkeys in omaha it seem like. was the guy with the aces on any draws? if he was any kind of an omaha player he wouldn't have thought the aces alone were good. all i can say is stick with it, it was just a bad beat. you might want to try hi/low. personally i prefer it at least. there's a good hi/low strategy article on it here in articles section. you also might want to try playing limit, or at the very least pot limit. NL omaha is crazy. good luck

-n

 

[novacaine]

I don't really remember him having any other draws. I thought it was just a bad beat too but like I said it has happened more than once and it's always the same thing. I have the best hand on the flop which is at least a straight and I lose on the turn or river. If it happened every once in a while I would say bad beat also but these hands, at the least five of them, happened in the span of an hour and a half. Maybe I'm just over reacting from the amount of money I lost in such a short period of time but I find it hard to believe that I could not win a single hand where I had either a straight, flush or boat.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

From your hand and the board, you can determine he has at most 6 good outs (any A or K assuming he has AKT in his hand) to beat you, and probably has even less than this (with AAxx assuming the other cards are irrelevant he has 2 good outs after the flop).

So you got all your money in with your opponent drawing to 6 possible good outs, and more likely to 3 or less (ATxx, KTxx, AAxx etc). Looks fine to me. Just add "overvalues big starting hands after bad flops" to notes and carry on.

 

[novacaine]

Okay but what about getting those people out of the hand? Like I said this has happened more than just a few times where I flop the best hand but then lose on turn or river. Last night I flopped an ace high flush and lost to a boat on the turn. When the flop came down there was a little over $10 in the pot and I bet $10 when it came round to me. I got 3 callers. Should I stop betting on the flop cause it seems no matter how much I bet someone is always willing to chase. It's just annoying when I keep losing all of my money with good hands.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Okay but what about getting those people out of the hand?

Personally in almost all circumstances I'd prefer someone to call my push while drawing to at most 6 outs than to fold.

Just keep getting your money in as favourite and in the long run you'll come out ahead.

 

[nateofdeath]

just play limit. the swings aren't as bad. omaha is a game of nuts. seems like the same things happens to me, but i manage to profit from it

 

[starfall]

One other thing to remember is that in Omaha you can have lots and lots of outs... so the person with the nut hand on the flop may not be the favourite to win...
Hands like the one you described is a bad beat, because you had the nut full house then, and you'd be the favourite against any other hand.
In a situation similar to that, the worst situation I could think of would be you being against AKQT, which would give the 3 remaining aces, 3 kings or the 2 remaining queens as hands that would beat you, giving 8 outs (with 2 outs from queens being to split the pot).
You mentioned losing money on straights and flushes which hit on the flop. A straight can be particularly vulnerable. If there are 2 cards of one suit on the board, then you're looking at a flush hitting fairly frequently as well as potentially having several cards potentially able to make someone else a better straight - with something like 256, the 34 could potentially be against someone with over 20 outs that would have them beat. The 34 would then not be the favourite to win the hand against the player with strong straight and flush draws.
Flushes should also not be played too strongly unless they are the nut flush, as in many games of Omaha I've seen 2 or 3 flushes at showdowns.

 

[bigjace]

Just unlucky there mate,as was already mentioned read the omaha article.Its invaluable for understanding the strength of your hand.