Omaha Poker Starting Hands For Beginners

Online poker players have discovered Omaha as an alternative to Texas Hold ‘em.  As it uses the same basic betting and play rotation, the main differences between the Omaha and Texas Hold ‘Em are purely strategic and require players to learn an entirely different way of thinking.  In Omaha, players receive four hole cards rather than just two as in Texas Holdem.  When playing in the showdown, you must use exactly two cards from your four and three cards from the community cards to create a hand.  This means that even if you had four aces, you could only use two of them as part of your final hand.

Having four hole cards makes a huge difference in your preflop betting because it’s no longer just about having pocket rockets or KA suited; there’s other things to be considered.  We’re going to talk about two hands to review the difference.

HAND ONE: AsAh2d7s

You might be tempted to go “Pocket ROckets!  Yes!”  We wouldn’t blame you, but you have to look at the whole hand to really get an idea of how it can be played.  The 2 and 7 are offsuit and you can’t make a straight, which means you are vulnerable to straights, flushes, and two pair coming from your opponents’ hands.

HAND TWO: 9s10hJsQh

This is a fantastic starting hand in Omaha.  Your cards are all close in rank and they’re double suited (you only have two suits on display.)  You can hit the flop in many ways, making straights or flushes using the cards in your hand and the community cards on the deck.  The way to look at this kind of hand is that you have 6 ‘Holdem’ hands working for you, 9-10, 9-J, 9-Q, 10-J, 10-Q and J-Q. With the aces hand you really only have A-A as the other combinations are unlikely to help you after the flop.

Starting hand selection is important in Omaha poker because of the fact that everyone has multiple ways of hitting each flop. A good way for a beginner to think of this is that each opponent has up to 6 Holdem hands! In a multi-way pot on the flop the chances that at least one opponent has hit the flop hard enough to call a bet is high. Your hands should include cards that work together in different formats. Suited aces (and ace with a second card of the same suit), pairs and cards close in rank can all be played.

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The subtle art of Blackjack

To the uninitiated and the unfamiliar, Blackjack seems like a pretty straightforward and simple game.  Just get as close as you can to 21 points without going over and if you are getting close don’t take any more cards.  It seems so effortless; unfortunately, the reality of Blackjack is significantly more complicated than the scenario above.  If it was that easy and you could be successful more or less by trusting your luck, wouldn’t more people be better at it?  Or is the balance of probability that everyone has their lucky day at some point?

For those of us with a more genuine appraisal of the merits of Blackjack, the truth is somewhat different.  It is a game of skill that cannot just be taught in an afternoon; it takes practice, patience and perseverance.  To be successful at Blackjack you also must have an ability to be flexible, aware enough at a moments notice to alter your strategy according to how your opponents are playing.  This might mean spotting an opportunity to win, or equally as important, understanding when an opponent has you beaten and when the correct time to fold your hand might be, thereby minimizing your losses.  As gambling is essentially about maximizing profits and minimizing losses (whilst obviously having great pleasure doing it), that could be one of the most important lessons that you will ever learn, not just about Blackjack, but across many games.