Omaha Hi Lo
July 27 2008
One of the hardest things for Holdem players to change when they switch over to Omaha Hi-Lo is the overvaluing of aces. If you thought players overvalued aces when playing Holdem, just wait until you see how bad it can be in Omaha Hi-Lo.
I’ll agree that in Holdem, pocket aces is a monster hand. You’d be a fool to think otherwise. But in Omaha Hi-Lo, it’s only a small piece of your starting hand. How good your two aces are depends entirely on how good your other two cards are. The best starting hand you can be dealt in Omaha Hi-Lo is A-A-2-3, double-suited. This gives you great potential to make both a winning high hand and a winning low hand. The best way to gauge the value of your A-A-X-X hand is to compare it to A-A-2-3 double-suited.
Look at a hand like this:
This is a hand a lot of beginner Omaha Hi-Lo players would play even though they likely shouldn’t. By playing a hand like this you’re likely setting yourself up for a big fall. First of all, you have no chance of making any kind of winning low hand. When was the last time you saw a person with an 8 in their hand make a winning low hand? Likely never. All you have is two aces that will likely need a lot of help to make anything close to a winning hand. Remember, Omaha Hi-Lo is a game of straights and flushes, with anything lower than a three of a kind hardly ever winning. Don’t get fooled into thinking your aces are more powerful than they are. Playing aces without help from your other two cards will cause you to lose a ton of money in the long run.
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