Six Handed Omaha Poker
These days six-max poker is all the rage and six max Omaha is escalating in popularity. Short handed Omaha poker does not seem to have too much strategy attached to it although the coaching sites have the right kind of players for novices to learn from and learn fast. This will all change of course as theory with regards to Pot Limit Omaha poker will get more and more advanced.
I must confess that this isn’t my strongest game but I always found that I could get an awful long way just by playing poker and nothing else. I think that this is what many players fail to take on board in that all forms of poker are linked in ways that are not apparent. For instance if you are playing a “nuts” player who can be bullied away from mediocre hands then this is a weakness that can be applied to any form of pot limit or no limit poker.
It doesn’t matter whether this is hold’em poker, Omaha poker or seven card stud. You are merely playing the man and not the cards and this is where all round poker skill and watching your opponents comes in. Likewise if you know that your opponent in the cut-off is raising light then you can re-raise to isolate or win the pot pre-flop.
This tactic can be utilised in Omaha poker just like it can in limit hold’em and no limit play. More and more top players are switching to Omaha poker as a way to make money as the hold’em games start to dry up. I know some very experienced Omaha players who are finding the $1-$2 games very tough to beat. In many instances with the variance being far higher in Omaha poker then it often reminds me of limit play.
If for instance I have an Omaha hand like Jc-10d-8s-7d and I am on the button and an aggressive steal raiser raises the pot from the cut-off then I may just three bet this. This may create dead money and give me position on the player who raised as well as the initiative. I could play the hand like aces and I know that I am not up against a big hand.
If I am against a conventional player or even a rock then I will adjust my play accordingly. Against a rock in Omaha then I don’t want to three bet only to then get totally shut out by a four bet. If we are both deep stacked and I think that I may be up against aces then I will call here and try to out-flop them. This is especially the case if my opponent has a tendency to go for their full stack in an attempt to defend the aces.
Omaha poker is full of little quirks and nuances and six max Omaha is a very difficult game to play. Because it isn’t my strongest game then I don’t think that I can play Omaha on more than two tables at the most. In fact many break even Omaha players would do far better playing less tables.
Carl “The Dean” Sampson
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