The Math of Omaha Poker

Omaha poker is really a very mathematical game. If you play only good starting hands and bet intelligently you can win money. Bad players can get lucky a lot more playing Texas Holdem and that is why you see more of them than you do playing Omaha.

Omaha is a game of edges. Holdem is a game of betting. Low limit Omaha poker games are the easiest poker games to have success at, if you play well. Low limit Holdem games are much more difficult to have success at. A big reason is the simple fact that Holdem is more exciting and Omaha is sometimes a game of waiting. For the less experienced players Omaha is not a good game to play. Discipline is everything in Omaha and that is always the downfall of the new player.

One thing that you have to remember with Omaha poker is that you get a higher percentage of your hand much sooner than in Holdem. After the flop you already know 7/9ths of your hand. In Holdem it is only 5/7ths and the difference is even greater before the flop.

In Omaha poker you already know nearly half of your hand at 4/9ths. In Holdem it is only 2/7ths. Since we know this in advance it is very important to only play good starting hands in Omaha. This is far more important than in it is in Holdem.

When you are playing Holdem a lot of things can happen to cause you a ton of problems. In Omaha things are more certain. You know your outs and you know how many cards make you the nuts. There is not a lot of guess work in Omaha. You usually know exactly what cards will make you the winner and which ones will not. That is why Omaha poker is very much a mathematical game.

Omaha poker is very much a game of information. Holdem is sometimes a game of luck. Loose Omaha games usually have someone holding the nuts. Loose Holdem games could have the winner holding just about anything. Sometimes because the math is more a part of Omaha people get the wrong idea.

There are going to be some bad beats in Omaha, but they were mathematically known. What matters most in Omaha is the probability of winning, not who is in the lead. That is exactly the opposite of what sometimes happens in Holdem.

Omaha is a game of math. Sometimes you do get unlucky but far less often than in a game like Holdem. Omaha poker is also a game where starting hands are very important and the biggest key at being a successful Omaha player is to only play good starting hands and to raise with many of them before the flop.