Game of Draws
A fundamental situation in poker is when a good hand meets a hand that is not as good but has the potential to improve. Typically, the made hand bets out and the drawing hand has the choice of calling or folding. To make a well-founded decision, the player on a draw would then compare the size of the pot and the cost to continue playing to his chances of winning the pot.
Risk reward ratio for drawing hands
As you know, the winning chances of the drawing hand depend on the number of cards that would improve the hand, also known as ‘outs’. In pokerroom.com/');" href="http://www.pokerroom.com/" target="_blank">Texas Holdem, the made hand is usually a favorite to win the pot after the flop. The standard draws are flush draws (9 outs) and straight draws (8 outs) which both give the made hand winning chances of 35%. This is not the typical case in Omaha. The draws in Omaha are of a completely different caliber. Let’s look at an example. Your hole cards: Th-9s-6h-5s Flop: Ac-8c-7d You have a straight draw, but it is a very different animal from your usual Texas Holdem straight draws that we discussed above.
Look out for huge draws
As a matter of fact, here you have no less than 20 cards that fill up your straight! Four fours, three fives, three sixes, three nines, three tens, and four jacks will all make your straight. Given that a straight is good enough to win, this increases your winning chances to almost 70%. Because of the big straight draws in Omaha Poker, the drawing hand may actually be a favorite over the made hand.
Of course, it is not certain that all your possible straights will be winning hands. Often enough the opponent with a made hand, such as a set or two pair, will have some drawing possibilities that interfere with yours, such as a flush draw that ‘kills’ some of your outs. Some of your straights may also not be the nut straight, so that you risk losing to a better straight. Nevertheless, big draws are an essential part of Omaha. If you learn to recognize them and to play them just as hard as made hands, your Omaha will improve.
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