How Bluff Strategies Work in Omaha Poker

Few players in Omaha poker are able to bluff their way into the pot. Nonetheless, bluff strategies are important in the game when timely and where necessary.

Definitely, bad Omaha players cannot bluff and be successful at it in Omaha. Bluffing needs to be supplemented with very good hand play. Bluffing and even semi-bluffing strategies are important to know in this game. For instance, we play an average pot amounting to 6 huge bets. A hundred twenty dollars. It's a $10/20 Omaha game. And let's say we try some bluffing strategies and actually win once in three bluffing tries. Now, if this happens just one out of three, one game per week and four times a month, we win a total of $4160 a year.

If we ambitiously try to target a huge bet per hour and play 4 hours, how much would that win for us in a year? If we win this much with bluffing strategies, though used sparingly, the win figures are hardly negligible. Of course, traditionally, Omaha players seldom bluff. However, it's exactly players who don't believe that bluff will work in Omaha who are perfect targets for bluffing.

Hence, it will add to our losing odds if we rigidly hold on to the idea that we should not bluff in Omaha. The few players who do believe and actually bluff now and then would have the benefit over those who never do and thus become victims without their knowing it. This is the best bluff strategy principle in Omaha.

However, an important fact ought to be considered with the bluff principle above: be sparing with bluffing. Nut hands in Omaha can pop out of nowhere anytime. In few moments when nuts seem impossible, bluffing may be warranted especially against players who least suspect bluffing in the game. It is favorable to bluff when the flop shows something like queens of clover and spade, with jack of heart, or a king and queen, plus a 9, all suited of clover. It's very likely that everyone at the table holds something non-threatening, but we still consider that their hands are higher than ours. Flops that favor small pots provide opportunities to bluff in Omaha when we are in early position, not when we're in late position—which poor players would often opt for.

But don't expect too much from bluff strategies. Winning small pots now and then with bluffing should be good enough. The rest of the games, resort to good hand plays.