The Omaha Way

Read a simple strategy for Omaha Holdem by Swiss Poker, full with recommended starting hands and advice.

Omaha Poker is a much more flexible variation that Texas Holdem, in that it allows players to choose their best hand out of several possibilities. Such choices, however, do impose on them a different approach when it comes to strategy, so we will try to overview some basic aspects of Omaha strategy for you here.

Before we begin, let it be known that in poker, the “nut” or “nuts” refers to the strongest possible hand in a given situation. In Omaha poker, the nut hand is usually anything below a straight flush or quads (which are pure winners), and it is vital that a player aims for the nut hand at all times. Let us explain why…

When a player is dealt 4 hole cards and must use 2 of them to complete a 5 card hand with the community cards on the table, there are always 6 possible ways of choosing those 2 cards. This means that when you are in a game against 4 people or more, there are at least 24 different hole card combinations (usually more), so that by the time you make it to the River, there is a more than likely chance that your 2 cards will be beaten by a better combination. Even a pair or trips can easily be beaten when there are so many possible combinations, and it is for this reason that it is so worthwhile pursuing only the nut hands – the ones that will guarantee (or close to it) that you will not be beat.

As such, we recommend you play the following starting hands (in order from best):
- a high pair (king – 10)
- a suited Ace and high card
- 2 suited high cards
- 2 middle pairs (6-9)
- 2 high cards (Ace-10)
- Ace and a middle card
- 2 suited consecutive middle cards