Omaha Hi-Low Session

Though Hold Em remains the most popular poker game on the planet, it is not the most profitable. Games that require multiple disciplines tend to attract a greater number of new players these days. A patient and educated Omaha player, for example, can earn a lot of dough from the greener, more rash competition. I've been in live games where a third of the table didn't understand that they had to use 2 cards from their hand, and no more than 2. A lack of preparation is always the most expensive way to learn a new game.

I'm sitting at a Cap Pot limit, 0.50/1.00, Omaha Hi-Low table with a 40 dollar maximum buy in. This means that, no matter what your actual stack is, once your total bet meets the Cap (40 dollars in this case), you are considered all in with no further chips at risk. This table seats 8. The night starts with a lot of folding. The cardinal rule of Omaha Hi-Low: Unless you have a premium high hand (AAJT suited, KKQQ, etc.), a good speculative hand (AT98 double suited, for example), or a hand that has good chances to take both high and low (AK23, AA34, etc.), you shouldn't even enter the pot.

40 is about average for this table, with 2 smallish stacks of 15 dollars, and 3 larger stacks in excess of 100 dollars. I take down a couple of small pots with aggressive betting, bringing my 40 dollar buy in up to 52. Then the first big pot of the night. I have As 2d 5s 5h and call a late raise to see the flop along with one other. It comes 3d 8h Kh. With 6 in the pot, the raiser raises 3. At this point I need to consider. I have almost no shot at high, with a king on the board and a flush draw that I don't have. I'm probably splitting low IF it hits at all. Hi-Low is a game of having the nuts. I grumble and muck it. A flush and A2 split the pot on the river, and I avoid a quartering. I'm at 50, it could have been much worse.

I lose another 5 seeing a couple of speculative hands, and am at 45 when lightning strikes. Ad As 2s 4d and I raise it up to 1.50 one off the button with three, count them, three callers (and the button folded). The flop is Ah 7d Td. The player in front of me leads out for 4 and I go into the tank. It's just for show, I'm at least going to call. I want to keep everyone in, with a decent low and nuts high with multiple nuts high draws! One fold one call, and the pot is at 18. The turn is bingo – 3s. Better yet, I don't have to do a thing. Pot bet, the other player caps, and I happily call. Poor bastard to my left caught trip 7's and a King high flush draw, and my right is sharing nuts low with me. The river is a jack, and I pick up three quarters of the pot, for a little more than 90. Having invested 40, my stack is now at around 95.

This hand, my biggest pot of the night, is EXACTLY why you play hands that have a shot at both high and low in split pot games. The scoop (which is what winning both the high and the low pot is called) is where real money is made. You might get lucky hitting on a high only hand, and you might catch a wheel (A,2,3,4,5) with a low hand. But spending a few bucks up front on a decent book that will cover the starting hands is a much better investment of your time and money than blind speculation.

After catching an improbable three way low split in a medium sized pot, and some ups and downs, I finished with 84 and change for the night. That's above average for a couple of hours at Cap Pot Limit, but not unheard of. The most important things to remember: Wise starting hand selection, tight post flop play that takes implied odds into account, and understanding the likely hands that your opponents are holding.


Bill Ricardi – Internet Gaming Guru

__________________
Use Bonus Code: PKRN50 with your first PKR deposit and get $250 free.



Visit our other websites...
Casino Games - Online Slots - PKR Poker Bonus Codes - Poker Forums - Cake Poker Rakeback -- PKR Casino - Carbon Poker - Casino Forum