I share with you a hand I recently played in Omaha High. Why is it so interesting? The example shows you exactly why you should only draw to the nuts. In cases you make loose calls or play speculative but not great hands in Omaha, you can find yourself in a very tough and often uncomfortable situation.
The game was six handed Pot-Limit Omaha High with $0,50/$1 blinds. The Cutoff and Hijack both folded and I got QdQs4c3d. I bet pot $3,5. The button raised to $7, the small blind folded but the big blind bet the pot and raised to $26. This was the point where the stack sizes needed to be taken into consideration to decide whether I should make the call or not. I had $123,50, the button had $168 and the big blind $148. This means we were all sitting with deep stacks and if I hit my hand I could have won a large pot. I found the pot odds good, the only problem wss that I did not know what the button will do. In case he only calls then I am more than happy to make the call. On the other hand if he uses the squeeze play and 4bets then I will most likely have to fold my hand. I decided to make the call and so did the button. The pot was $78,50.
The flop came: 5d6cJd. The big blind bet the pot, $78,50.
I pushed all-in with $97,50 but the button also pushed his stack in the middle with $142 and the original bettor made the call with his remaining $43,50. I was playing for the main pot of $371, and the other players for the $49 side pot.
Then came the shock. It was clear that the first player had aces, but he had it with the flush draw: Ad2dAc9h. This already reduced my chances. The second shock came when I saw the other player's holding: QhThJsJc. This meant I had to hit the remaining one queen or the straight but the board could not pair or a flush card could not hit the turn or river. This means the set had 51%, the aces with the nut flush draw 28% and I had 21% chance. I had a horrible chance of winning the hand. The turn was the 8s and the river was the Kd meaning the pair of aces hit the nut flush.
This time I had to pay the price. Keep in mind that Omaha High is the game of the nuts. I probably should have folded right away preflop, or on the flop because of the squeeze play option against two opponents. As you have seen, a "little bit of this and a little bit of that" is not good enough to win in omaha (I refer to having the non-nut straight and non-nut flush draw).
When you make big preflop decisions try to only play hands which do not give tough situations post-flop where you can lose big pots.
The game was six handed Pot-Limit Omaha High with $0,50/$1 blinds. The Cutoff and Hijack both folded and I got QdQs4c3d. I bet pot $3,5. The button raised to $7, the small blind folded but the big blind bet the pot and raised to $26. This was the point where the stack sizes needed to be taken into consideration to decide whether I should make the call or not. I had $123,50, the button had $168 and the big blind $148. This means we were all sitting with deep stacks and if I hit my hand I could have won a large pot. I found the pot odds good, the only problem wss that I did not know what the button will do. In case he only calls then I am more than happy to make the call. On the other hand if he uses the squeeze play and 4bets then I will most likely have to fold my hand. I decided to make the call and so did the button. The pot was $78,50.
The flop came: 5d6cJd. The big blind bet the pot, $78,50.
I pushed all-in with $97,50 but the button also pushed his stack in the middle with $142 and the original bettor made the call with his remaining $43,50. I was playing for the main pot of $371, and the other players for the $49 side pot.
Then came the shock. It was clear that the first player had aces, but he had it with the flush draw: Ad2dAc9h. This already reduced my chances. The second shock came when I saw the other player's holding: QhThJsJc. This meant I had to hit the remaining one queen or the straight but the board could not pair or a flush card could not hit the turn or river. This means the set had 51%, the aces with the nut flush draw 28% and I had 21% chance. I had a horrible chance of winning the hand. The turn was the 8s and the river was the Kd meaning the pair of aces hit the nut flush.
This time I had to pay the price. Keep in mind that Omaha High is the game of the nuts. I probably should have folded right away preflop, or on the flop because of the squeeze play option against two opponents. As you have seen, a "little bit of this and a little bit of that" is not good enough to win in omaha (I refer to having the non-nut straight and non-nut flush draw).
When you make big preflop decisions try to only play hands which do not give tough situations post-flop where you can lose big pots.
