How to play Omaha HoldEm 8 or Better.

Rules:

Each player is dealt 4 cards face down, and the rounds of betting take place exactly like Hold Em. With the UTG being the person to the left of the big blind and the button being to the left of the small blind, and betting taking place preflop, flop, and then big betting takes place on the turn and river.

How do you use the 4 cards and the 5 cards on the board in Omaha/8? Well you must use 2 cards in your hand and 3 cards on the board. You can use 2 different cards in your hand for the low as well, and a low must be 5 cards under 8 that are unpaired, so if the board comes off with 3 over 9 cards then you and your low hand should pack the bags and leave. This has some far reaching implications, and can be confusing and costly to Hold Em players. Here are some examples of mistakes and things to look out for.

You have A234 unsuited and you have the Ace of Spades. The board comes to the river with 4 spades, and you think back to the old Hold Em days and say,"Weee I got the nut flush!" And in fact you don't have jack squat, you MUST use 2 cards in your hand and 3 cards on the board. So unless you have a suited card in your hand, you will not see a flush by the river. I've made others pay for that mistake before when they thought their ace would complete the flush.

You have A234 again but this time the ace is suited. The board comes 44558 and completes your flush. The flush is all you have in this hand, but you may wonder, but wait I have a fullhouse right? Wrong. You have to use 2 cards in your hand and 3 on the board, so your 4 makes trips, and you have used 1 card in your hand and 2 on the board, and you can't use the other 5s to complete the fullhouse. However in this hand you have the nut low, and the nut flush if no one has a fullhouse either. And this should be called down to a showdown.

You have A224. The board comes A2478. First thought for many beginners is that, hey I hit the fullhouse right? Wrong again. You have trips on your 2s and you can't use the Ace or the Four in your hand to complete the fullhouse with the board. Just like Hold Em, you must have a paired board in order to have a fullhouse possible. You do however have a horrible low hand with A-2-4-7-8, but chances are someone will have Ace-3, 3-5, 3-6, Ace-5, Ace-6, and even 5-6 has you beat for the low here.

So now that we are past the rules and some practice hands of situations that people can get into trouble with, I'll get into the most important part of Omaha/8 which is picking your starting hand. You'll want to be tight, because there are only certain hands that can be profitable in this game.

The object of making money in Omaha/8 is to "scoop" pots, or take the low AND the high. How do you do that? With the Ace of course. Have one or even two suited aces gives you a great chance at the nut flush and when paired up with a couple low cards under 5, can win you the low as well.

So here are my requirments for starting hands. A2xx A3xx 234x A45x and High hands that you can choose could use the blackjack point system. Don't play with anything under 40 in your hand, 10 through king counts at 10 points and the ace is 11 points. And be prepared to throw this away if any 2 low cards hit the board, not counting the ace.

The importance of "backup" cards in Omaha/8:
Lets say you have A289, not a great hand, but you may not know why, and I'll explain here. Lets say you have this hand and the flop comes 378, wonderful right? You just hit the nut low on the flop with your A2. Turn comes a King, you're still in a good shape. Then the river comes down with a deuce, and ruins your low. We in the Omaha Biz call this a counterfit card, when a card pairs our low card and totally screws us. Now we still have a low, but it is a horrible low now. Ace-4, Ace-5, Ace-6, and 4-5, 4-6, 5-6, all have us beat now. Why do they have us beat you may ask yourself?

Ace-2 (our hand) = A-2-3-7-8
Ace-4 = A-2-3-4-7
Ace-5 = A-2-3-5-7
Ace-6 = A-2-3-6-7
4-5 = 2-3-4-5-7
4-6 = 2-3-4-6-7
5-6 = 2-3-5-6-7

So this should explain how low is calculated. They go from highest card to lowest card, if someone is tied they go to the next card, and if they are tied to continue down the line until someone wins or they are tied.

So how do we try and avoid these bankroll busters? With backup cards, that's what! So lets take our hand and now turn it from A289 and turn it into A234, the best hand for picking up a low. Flop comes 268, you hit the nut low again. But how? Didn't we counterfit our 2? Yes, but we have a backup, the 3 and the 4. Now we have A-3 and that still gives us the nuts. Turn comes Ace, oh no that counterfits another card right? Yes, but now we have the 3-4 which still gives us the nuts. The river comes with the 5, now we have the best possible low at Omaha/8 with the A-2-3-4-5. And we have the 2-3-4-5-6 straight. However with a board like this the best possible high hand is going to be the 9 high straight if someone has the 7-9. And this brings me to the next part of my lesson, the dreaded and hated 9. You may not hate it right now, but you will begin to hate it after I tell you how evil it is.

Having a nine in your hand doesn't seem so bad right? It connects with several cards in your hand if you wanted to make a straight with it, so it can't be all that bad right? Couldn't be more wrong, the 9 is an evil and sneaky card that can snatch away profit before your very eyes. Why?

Well if you use a 9 in your hand to make a nut straight, then a low or fullhouse is possible on the board. And you either split the pot with a low, or you give up all your money to the fullhouse.

If you use a 9 in your hand to make a straight and no low or fullhouse is possible, then a higher straight is possible with the board.

These reasons are enough to tell you not to chase after straights that use the 9 in your hand. If you do have a chance at a nut straight, you are chasing after half the pot. Or drawing dead to a higher straight or fullhouse.

So I hope this helps "prime" those newbies looking to break into this fabulous game. Remember this game is full of fish that haven't a clue about the strategy above, and will be throwing away their money to you. So if you play good tight poker, then you should profit regardless of what happens. And a major reason this game is so wonderful to unlocking bonuses is that fish like to call and make monster pots. Seeing the pots in these games reach 2 to 3 times bigger than they would normally be at those limits in Hold Em isn't uncommon.

So enjoy, and any comments, questions, suggestions or whatever are greatly appreciated.