Omaha-8 Starting Hands

Beyond understanding the basic rules and how to play, there are few absolute rules that you must follow to become a winning Omaha/8, or as it is often called, Omaha high low split, player. Starting with the basics, much of your profit will come from playing a solid straightforward game and your opponent’s mistakes. Notice that I didn’t mention any fancy plays or bluffing, check raising, etc. Especially at the lower limits where there are many more poor players than good ones, if you master solid starting hand selection and learn to understand the board and your outs, you can be very successful.

Every decision that you make before the flop should concentrate on allowing you to have a chance to win both halves of the pot, or “scoop”. Remember that you can scoop by winning both the high and low pots, or winning the high pot when there are no low hands. When I went from a below average Omaha/8 player to an above average one was when I started looking for reasons to fold a hand pre flop instead of looking for reasons to play it. All four hole cards should work together in some way to maximize your opportunities. Here are some general starting hand guidelines. This is not a list of “play this, don’t play that”, because understanding what hands to play and when it is correct to play them changes with each game.

• Strong low hands, especially those containing an Ace and Two, are always good starting hands as you will often have the best possible low hand when one qualifies and will sometimes scoop the pot with a straight or when your other cards form part of the best high hand.
• Suited cards, especially those with a suited Ace, in combination with an otherwise strong starting hand give you additional chances to scoop pots.
• Four cards Ten and higher, suited or not give you the best chance to win high only pots.
• Combination hands like A 3 J Q will often fit a flop whether it is a high or low flop. These hands are even more valuable when they are suited.
• Low hands with counterfeit protection not only give you the best chance at a winning low hand, they also help create straights. Examples are hands with A 2 3 and A 2 4, etc.

There are many factors when deciding to enter the pot or not. These include your position, the number of players already in the pot, your opponent’s playing style and ability and your table image. The only way to learn the correct decisions in all situations is to gain a large amount of experience. While you are gaining this experience, if you concentrate on correct starting hand guidelines you should be able to hold your own while improving your game. make sure to check other sites about Poker and the game of Omaha.

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