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Omaha Hands You Want To Avoid
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When you are trapped in an Omaha Pot-Limit or No-Limit hand and cannot get away from the flop it is frequently the most expensive and costly of all poker mistakes, and if you could only avoid these hands to begin with it would surely be worth plenty in the long run.
The Omaha hands to avoid whenever possible are those hands that seem very good pre-flop but can easily make you a second-best hand. These are the types of hands than can cause you to lose your whole stack in Pot-Limit Omaha and No-Limit Omaha. There are three types of so-called trap hands in Omaha:
Small Pair Hands
Small Flush Hands
Low Wrap Hands
Hands with pairs below Jacks are dangerous to play, which is not to say you shouldn't play them, but they must be approached with a lot of caution. The problem occurs when you flop a set with a small pair. First of all it is very hard to get away from the hand and lay it down, but unless you can dramatically thin the herd on the flop you are vulnerable to any overcard on the board. This can mean you're suddenly facing a bigger set, and now the bad news is that you are drawing to one out. When you hold a hand like 9s-9h-8s-Th you are going to play it, and so you should. But when that flop comes 6d-5d-9c, you may find yourself in big trouble down the line. Flush draws will still be alive, someone could have flopped the straight, and you mistakenly think that you are entitled to a big bet with your Hold'em mentality. The truth of the matter is that you shouldn't bet out here because the turn can bring so many bad cards for you, just thinking of overcards like Q,K,A never mind that they could likely be a diamond as well.
The moment to play small pairs is when your back is already against the wall, or where a big bet on the flop could potentially take down the hand right now. Think of flopping a set and betting out big to be the Hold'em equivalent of a semi-bluff. You have some back-up, but you will need luck to end up with the best hand. Of course if you hold double pairs like Q-Q-8-8 or K-K-6-6, then you should always play these starting cards in the hopes of flopping the bigger set. However, you must always think twice before you commit a lot of money with bottom set on the flop.
The types of hands that are very deceptive and dangerous to play are four connected cards of middling to low value. These hands are dangerous because it is easy to flop or draw to the low-end of a straight. When the flop comes 9-8-6 and you hold 4-5-6-7 your initial excitement is often tempered by the sickening realization that someone else holds 7-T-x-x and has flopped a higher straight. In Omaha even the latter hand is vulnerable because another player holding T-J-x-x is still likely to stay in this hand and has plenty of outs to make an even higher straight.
Hands that can only make small flushes are extremely risky hands in Omaha. For example, if you hold Ts-9s-x-x and the flop comes 4s-3s-6s you have a difficult decision to make. You have flopped a small flush, but you cannot commit much of your stack to this hand, and if you were to get any action at all you would most likely be beat. There are many higher flushes than your T-high, and there is a straight flush option as well. These hands are not infrequent in Omaha, and you must abandon your Hold'em mentality. Play nut-flush hands with lots of aggression, but tread warily with other flush draws.
Related Poker Articles And News Items:
> Starting Hands In Omaha
> Basic Strategy For Pot-Limit Omaha
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