A situation occurred at the World Series of Poker Europe on Thursday that reminded me the power that a big drawing hand can hold in Pot Limit Omaha.  David “DevilFish” Ulliott had flopped a set of kings holding Ks-Kh-7c-2s.  The flop was Kd-Jc-5d.  His opponent, Markus Golser, was holding Ad-Qd-10c-4s.  He had both a nut flush draw and a wrap on the nut straight.  He held 17 outs to make his hand.  (The reason it wasn’t 18 was due to the fact that the Jd would give Ulliott a full house.).  At this point, Golser was around 70% to make his hand.  Unfortunately, Ulliott was behind.

Omaha is a game of big cards and big draws, and this situation was a big example of how a big draw can actually be better than a made hand.  Golser ended up catching a 9 on the turn and Ulliott was unable to fill up.  In this case, Golser had a hand that had multiple straight and flush draws, and as a result was able to knock out a player when his draw got there.

A wrap is hand that has at least 3 coordinated cards that can help make a straight.  For instance A-Q-10-4 was a wrap.  Hands such as J-10-9-8 are also very powerful hands as they can make anything from a nine high straight to broadway.  Hands that are also suited and coordinated add even more value.  Golser’s hand had the A-Q suited for the nut flush.

There are many players that will raise preflop with a big wrap such as A-Q-J-10 or J-10-9-8.  This is not necessarily a bad play.  Unless the board flops low or paired, you will usually have some type of a straight draw with many flops.  There are also good chances for flopping high pairs and even sets when the board comes paired.   If your wrap is suited you give yourself added outs when you catch a flush draw.

Many people get confused how to play a wrap when they do flop a solid draw.  Many players recommend pushing your draws, much the same way Golser did his.  This is a solid play as in many cases you will have a lot of outs to hit your draw.  Be careful pushing when you only have a gutshot draw.  At that point you only have four outs.  You want at a minimum an open ended straight draw, which is at least 8 out.  When you have a straight and flush draws, you are looking usually at 18 outs.  When you have that many outs, go crazy as much as you want.  You are usually a favorite in that spot.

Be a little more caution pushing a wrap on the turn.  Your odds are reduced by half due to the fact only one card can come.  At that point, it becomes important to look at pot odds.  In the case that you have 18 out, you have 36% to hit your hand.  In most cases you will still have odds to draw, but if you do not, you may want to fold your hand.

In Texas Holdem Poker, when a player looks down and sees pocket aces, the player typically does a little leap inside their head.  Many players will tend to do the same thing in Pot Limit Omaha Poker when they look down at pocket aces.  Unfortunately, not all hands that contain aces are strong.  Let’s talk a bit about uncoordinated aces, also known as “naked aces.”

As many people know, the best starting hand in Pot Limit Omaha is A-A-K-K double suited.  This is a powerful hand.  Preflop, this hand is always ahead.  Hands that have aces in them and a couple of coordinated cards are also very power hands.

Where a lot of players get into a trap with aces is when they play aces that are not coordinated or suited.   Players sometimes get into a holdem poker mentality and treat any starting hand with two aces in it like the nuts.  The problem with playing a hand with aces that does not have any backup is that you are relying on only the aces to win the hand.  Otherwise you need to be incredibly lucky.

I was playing an Omaha Poker tournament about a year ago and a player that is known to be an aggressive and loose player raised from middle position.  A player on the button reraised the pot.  The LAG player reraised all-in and was called.  The LAG player showed A-A-4-9 with no suits.  The opponent showed Qh-Jd-10h-9s.  If you run stats on this hand preflop, the aces are only 58% to win.  This is almost a coin flip situation.  The flop fell 8s-10c-2d and the aces all of a sudden went to an underdog.  The player with the wrap had a 57% chance to win at this point.  The wrapped player actually hit his straight and the aces were busted.

Granted, the above scenario required the wrap to hit, but it also demonstrated the need for a player to have backup with their aces. Any random hand with two aces in it is indeed a slight favorite before the flop, but the hand must hit in order to stay ahead.  There will be many times uncoordinated aces will not hit the flop and then fall behind.

How should a player play a hand with uncoordinated aces?  This depends on several factors including position, the type of players at the table, the limits, and of course your stack.  This type of hand is one hand that you may even want to consider limping into a pot with and seeing if you get lucky on the flop.  Limping with aces seems counterintuitive, but Omaha is a drawing game.  Players that pick up a draw on the flop actually are ahead against “naked aces”.   If you are on the button against only limpers and you know that a raise will knock some players out, you may want to put in a raise.  Keep in mind that if you do not hit the flop that you may want to tread very lightly.  Otherwise, you may end up giving your chips away.

Omaha Poker is a game that is played very much like texas holdem poker but has two unique differences in overall rules.  First, each player is dealt four cards.  From that point, the game is played much like holdem with a flop, turn, and river.  Betting occurs after each round as in holdem.  At showdown, players must use two cards in their hand and three cards on the board to make their best five card hand.  The best hand wins the pot.  Omaha is primarily played in two forms, limit and pot limit.  Pot limit Omaha is the most popular form and the form we will use for this article.

Omaha is a game of big cards and big draws.  The best starting hands are those that include two aces in them.  You also would like one or both of the Aces suited with other cards.  For example, the best starting hand in Omaha is A-A-K-K double suited, which means that one A-K is of one suit and the other is of another suit.  Not all hands with Aces are created equal.  Hands with two aces but two cards that do not coordinate are speculative hands at best.  Ac-Ad-8h-5s would be one such example.  You have aces, but nothing else really.  There are a couple of straight draws, but ones that can easily be outdrawn.  Hands such as A-A-K-Q, A-A-Q-10, A-A-J-10, etc are all fantastic starting hands.  Not only do you have a pair of aces, but you have multiple straight draws. If your cards are suited as well, especially suited with the aces, that gives you even more outs to win.  Most of the time you will raise the pot pre-flop when you start with a hand containing two aces.

Other great hands include hands with two kings and two queens as their top pair.  The same holds true for hands with big pairs as it does with aces.  Not all hands are equal and the hands with straight and flush possibilities are superior.  Hands that contain two pair are also strong hands.  Again, the higher the two pair and the more coordinated they are, the better.  For example, Qs-Qh-Js-Jh is much stronger than Qs-Qh-7c-7s.  Both are playable, but the bigger the cards, the harder your opponents fall.  These are hands that are can also be brought in for a raise pre-flop, but only call if someone else has raised.

If someone says that they have a wrap in Omaha, they are not talking about their lunch.  A wrap in Omaha is four consecutive cards that can make a straight.  The strongest wrap is J-10-9-8 double suited.  This hand will allow you to make any straight from a 9 high straight to broadway.  That is six different hands.  Lower wrap straights need to be played with caution as they can be trap hands.  A hand such as 3-4-5-6 can be easily outdrawn.  While you are learning to play the game, these are limping hands.  You can typically call a raise pre-flop with these hands, but I wouldn’t recommend calling more than one raise.

Not all coordinated hands should be played, at least not while you are learning the game.  Hands with two low pair (3-3-2-2), low wraps (A-2-3-4), two medium cards and two low cards (Q-J-5-6) , and suited hands with medium suited cards and two low suited cards (Qc-Jc-5h-4h).  Also, large unsuited wraps and hands with two pair that are totally unsuited are hands that can be potential losing hands.  I would recommend only playing unsuited wraps and big pairs either in the blind or in a very loose game.  If the flop does not improve your hand, get out.

Betting in Pot-Limit Omaha is a little different in most games.  First, the first player to open betting can raised up to seven times the small blind.  In a $1-$2 blind pot limit Omaha game, the player can raise to $7.  After the initial raise, each subsequent raise is the amount of the pot.  While other bet amounts are allowed, a lot of times players will tend to bet the full amount of the pot to either protect their hand, or to get more money into the pot.  Also, you will find that Pot Limit Omaha is an action game.  Due to the drawing nature of the game, many people will see a flop and stay in a pot after the flop due to the different possibilities their hand possesses.  In fact, more money typical goes into a pot in a pot limit Omaha game than does in a No-limit holdem game.  In many part of Europe PLO is more popular than holdem.

You need to pay careful attention to the board in Pot Limit Omaha and know where you hand stands at all times.  If you flop a set, is there a straight or a flush draw out there.  When you are on a straight draw, is it the nuts and are there any flush draws?  The board just paired.  How does that change the hand dynamic?  In Omaha, you need to be drawing to the nut or holding the nuts or you will typically be the loser, especially in lower limit games where fewer people will fold pre-flop.  If you hold a straight and there is a potential flush, get out.  If the board paired and there is more than one opponent in the hand, then it’s typically time to get out.  When your hand is 2nd nut or lower, you need to consider getting out of the hand.  Obviously, there are exceptions to this, but as a beginning player, you need to start paying attention to other possibilities.  This will save you money long term.

Omaha is a high action game that is not for the faint of heart.  The swings in this game are unlike any game that you will play, including No-limit holdem.  Developing a solid strategy is imperative to maximize your winning and to minimize your losses when you have a losing session.  With the above tips, you should have a great start in learning pot-limit Omaha.  Now it is time to go out and put these tips to use.  Good luck and I hope to see you at the tables.