Australian Penthouse

James Potter reveals that there is more to poker than Texas Hold ‘Em…

By now, even the village idiot should understand the basics of Texas Hold ‘Em. Don’t get me wrong, I love this game – as I am sure you do. No-Limit Hold ‘Em has always been described as the Rolls-Royce of poker, and it will always have its place at the top of the tree. It’s the game that takes seconds to learn but a lifetime to master. It’s also the game that’s played in main events across the world, and it’s certainly the poker variant that everyone should learn first.

That said, the fastest growing variant is Pot-limit Omaha. The game is popular in America’s south, in the card rooms of Atlantic City and Texas, where southern gentry play for big dollars. The British and French have always played it, and it was only after the poker boom that Hold ‘Em challenged it in popularity. I’ve played plenty of Omaha here in Australia, and there was a time that it was the biggest game in any poker room. Interestingly, this year at the Aussie Millions there were almost as many high-stakes Omaha cash games going as there were Hold ‘Em.

The major difference is that in Omaha you get dealt four starting cards, not two. By the end of the hand, there will be five communal cards, just like in Hold ‘Em, and the process is the same, with a flop, a turn and a river. You must use two cards from the four you’re dealt combined with three from the communal set.

It’s pretty simple once you get the idea, and it’s especially easy if you have a background in Hold ‘Em. The winning hands tend to be much bigger in Omaha and you will find straights, flushes and even full houses winning most of the time.

The best strategy for a new player is to think of their hand as six different Hold ‘Em hands, as you really have six combinations of two cards. What you want is to get cards that work well together. So a hand like 7, 8, 9, 10 can be good, but one like 6, 7, 8, king not so good, as the king doesn’t really work well with the other three cards. Again, remember that you must use two cards from your private hand, so having the ace of hearts is no help when you’re chasing a flush unless you have another heart in your hand.

Pot Limit

The other major change is playing pot limit instead of no limit. In no limit, you can bet as much as you like at any time, which is pretty simple. In pot limit, you can only bet as much as is in the pot. In a casino, the dealer will count what is in the pot so you can bet or raise accordingly.

Once you get the hang of pot limit, it’s an excellent game. It suits Omaha well because you don’t get people moving ‘all in’ all the time, and it gives players more opportunity to chase their drawing hands. You’ll also find that Omaha can be a great game to play with your mates. There will be lots of action, as especially the bad players won’t be able to fold and you can patiently wait for a big hand to nab all their cash.

A good friend of mine and pro Omaha player ‘Action’ Dave Morton from England knows the game inside out and has made a fortune from it.

“I love the game,” he told me recently. “I play it online a lot and just love it in tournaments. It suits my style better than Hold ‘Em as there is more going on. The math side of the game is very important, like it is in all games, but once you get your head around that you should be right.”

Not everyone plays it as well as ‘Action’ Dave. He can play six to eight tables simultaneously for hours online, and at one stage clocked up over 50,000 hands in just one month. He went on to tell me that some of the big-game cash pros like Omaha as it attracts the bad players who really want to gamble. Bad players have a better chance in Omaha in the short term, but in the long run they can easily get crushed.

As with all new games, the best way to learn – and then hone your skills – is to play for low stakes on the Internet. Sites like 888poker.com are excellent places to start. You can play hundreds of hands cheaply before you head to casinos or card rooms and start competing against the big boys.

Give Omaha a go; I think you’ll really enjoy it. There are many different forms of poker out there, and they make a nice change from playing Hold ‘Em all the time.

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