Heads Up
Omaha Poker Strategy
When playing headsup Omaha
poker, there are key changes you must make to
your strategy in order to be a long-term winner.
Just like headsup Holdem, your starting hand
range must open up considerably but beware of
opening that range up a little too much. The
temptation in Omaha is to play almost any
starting hand because of the perceived “luck”
factor being so much higher in Omaha. In reality
the math doesn’t change when you’re heads up or
playing a full table game, hands that are
statistically low probabilities to win, are
still low in probability to win heads up.
However, there are tactical considerations to
your playing style that, pre-flop at least, can
impact how many pots you win.
First of all, do away with
the “luck” mentality when heads up. Call too
many pre-flop raises and miss and before you
know it, you’re near broke and ready to rebuy. A
better idea is to get away from the truly weak
hands and focus on a range of marginal to
premium hands pre-flop. For easy reference, a
quick example of a poor starting hand in Omaha
heads up would be 2x 6x 9x Qx with no suited
cards or any hand where there are gaps between
connectors. The same logic applies to any hand
where you don’t connect on the flop. A pot sized
bet from your opponent should elicit an easy
fold from you here. Even if you hold overs,
there’s a chance your opponent may connect on
the turn in a hand where you shouldn’t have
chased to start with.
A much wiser approach to
heads up Omaha play is take command of hands
where you are dealt a decent starting hand.
Let’s assume you’re holding 4d 5d Jh Ks and the
flop comes: 10d Qd 5s. You made a pair of 5’s
here and have an open ended straight draw
coupled with a flush draw. If you’re fist to act
in this situation there are really two options –
bet out your draw with a pot sized bet or check,
hoping that your opponent bets. If the latter
occurs and your opponent bets you want to hit
him hard with a pot sized re-raise. The goal in
any hand of Omaha is to build big pots where you
have big draws and this is a prime example.
Hitting your hand here on the turn or river will
likely cripple your opponent, especially if
they’ve made a poor read on you.
Overall, the game of Omaha
when played heads up is mental battle. It’s very
difficult to put any sort of read on your
opponent unless you’re very advanced so playing
YOUR cards and the board are the best method.
Continuation betting even when you miss and the
occasional well-timed check raise are all
powerful weapons to be employed when locked in
heads up battle. That and a little bit of luck
are the recipe for success for the long term
winning Omaha player.
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