A Critical Omaha Poker Pre-Flop Strategy

The important thing to remember for a more profitable Omaha strategy is to have the profits coming in right at pre-flop stage of the game. This is most crucial, and most Omaha players neglect this.

Most players start calling really frantically on the turn and this is the time we make more profits most if we had gain a foothold with our pre-flop hand. This is the wise way of taking full advantage of the favorable nature of a strong pre-flop Omaha hand. But unfortunately, this fact is seldom exploited. In Omaha, far too many players keep trash hands from first to last and miss a lot of action when calls come on the turn. They play unbelievably weak hands like 23QJ, or a 789T—and can we believe a J965 selected pre-flop? These are utterly wasteful hands that render pre-flop plays practically void.

We're supposed to be making money in Omaha poker, and the best time to start is pre-flop. And pre-flop means we choose the hand to play before we come to the flop part. We can't decide our pre-flop hand on the flop or post flop. They take any starting hand and just limp towards the flop, hoping for a better turn out on the flop.

Raising should be similarly weighed carefully. For instance, a hand A234 that is in early position is a bad idea for a raising hand. This is a dangerous hand to bluff with in raising, too, as an early player. So we rather limp and drag some more players with us to the hand. It would be great to be raised as we do so. The idea is to bet using an A234 at least two amounts to challenge 23QJ, J965, and 789T. However, if we raise and they muck so that we do a head-up play versus AQ65, we're beat.

Lots of Omaha players see pre-flop raising as nothing but up bankroll moods because all they see pre-flop hands all the same. Suppose our hand and the big blind have almost the same values and both win the pot half the time. If such play occurs pre-flop, there's no sense playing a hand during a game that is raked.

Eventually, with a play like this in Omaha poker, both we and the big blind will be beat. Hence, it is necessary that a pre-flop strategy is in place for betting to be supported right at the start.