Omaha is Holdem on Steroids and other Revelations

I have not posted in a quite awhile as I have been on a major downswing and have not had anything good to post.
Don't worry though as I haven't had to sell off anything and still have my fancy watch and car.

I haven't been posting for a variety of reasons. Mostly because I haven't gotten any love from the game lately.
I have even moved back down in stakes. As long as I have a dollar in my account I refuse to deposit as depositing can be habit forming and that is a habit I can do without.
I will try and resurrect this thread by posting more often from here on in. But only the good hands.
Every once in a while a hand comes up that makes me think things will turn around.
Here is today's.

One of my opponents made a mistake by missing a raise making it to expensive for my inside straight draw. When he missed his protection raise I stayed and hit on the turn.

Nice.
I don't know about Omaha, but I'll stick around a while with an inside straight if I think that by hitting I can get a stack.

When I started this game only 5 years ago, implied odds were much higher. Villains fold to aggression more than they used to, which reduces the value of such hands. I'm surprised you got stacks out of sets, but then, the straight is extremely well disguised.

Good to have you back!
VS

I said I would start posting more hands so here are 2 more.
I should have quit after this hand as I gambled and got lucky.
I was in for way to much money pre-flop to fold for a few more dollars.

Hand 1-

I turned into a chip transfer station today. When you gamble like I did on that hand you and you keep playing that style then the chips go as fast as they came.

After giving back all that profit I once again got lucky on this hand to finish the day up an issue.
Hand 2-

I had position on the raiser in both hands and that played a big part in my decision to play these hands like I did. Also some day you just feel like gambling and Omaha is a gambling game.

I am determined to get back every dime I've given back there last 2 months. My friend said to me the other day that I shouldn't worry about it as it is all profit and not my money anyway. I told him he was wrong as once it is in my possession it is my money not theirs.

Phil Laak said it best when he called it being upstuck: which means you are crying for not being up as much as you once were

Reply,
I don't have an Omaha equity calculator, but it seems to me that pre-flop in Omaha, equities are all fairly similar. After the preflop $4 raise gets called, almost any 4 cards have sufficient equity to have pot odds to play.

When you see what the $4 raiser actually had, it appears to be a bluff that failed.
I'm no Omaha master, but I hate going multi-way pre-flop with mere AA, because it seems to me that of the other players, Aces figure prominently in their ranges, so I'm less likely to be seeing any more of them.

Your hand at least has straight and flush possibilities preflop, and you hold cards that won't clash with opponents ranges too much.

I don't know if I would have played it though

Of all the poker variants I've played, I do the worst at Omaha Hi.

Cheers,
VS

Here are a couple of hands I played the last 2 days. Both are very similar in nature and I decided that after playing the first one one way and losing I would play the 2nd one differently to see if I could have a better result.
I'm still wondering if I played them correctly, especially the first one.

Hand 1-
With 4 people in and the board being so draw heavy I though it best to raise the pot hoping to shorten the field. But by doing this I also lose control of my position.
Unfortunately the only hand that called out drew me.

Hand 2-
In this hand instead of raising the turn I thought I would play this hand different then the 1st hand by only calling and letting the hand behind me in. The good of this is that it makes a bigger pot but the bad is I am letting another hand in that couldbeat me. Oh the dilemma.

The results aside I'm still not sure which way is the best way to play these hands.

Here are a few hands from Sundays play.
I seem to win enough these days to keep me going. Still stuck for the month but a lot closer then I was.

This game is so much easier to play when you are hitting.
Here I flopped top set and check-raised. Bet the turn and when my hand converted to the nut flush I checked. I figured he was either on a flush draw or would bluff the river. I was right and check-raised the river for value. This is why my check-raise was a little low. I wanted a call.
Hand 1-

On this hand I decided with 3 of us in and 1 guy in the middle of the better and myself I would raise my flush draw. I did this to accomplish either one of 2 things.
1- If they both called and I missed the turn I could get a free river card or
2- I was building the pot if my draw hit.
Imagine my surprise when it went re-raise, re-re-raise back to me. Pot control be damned, I shoved for a few dollars more.
Hand 2-

Here is an example of why you must re-raise with hands other then just A-A and must mix up your play.
I re-raised with A-A here and mu opponent called making a pot of over $5. I flopped quads and bet .25 cents into a pot of over $5 (1/20 of the pot) and my opponent instant folded.
Hand 3-

Merry Christmas all.
I love Al Bundy.
This youtube video sums up my life perfectly.

Thanks,
and a v Merry Christmas to you and your gang!

VS

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Reply,
I don't have an Omaha equity calculator, but it seems to me that pre-flop in Omaha, equities are all fairly similar. After the preflop $4 raise gets called, almost any 4 cards have sufficient equity to have pot odds to play.

When you see what the $4 raiser actually had, it appears to be a bluff that failed.
I'm no Omaha master, but I hate going multi-way pre-flop with mere AA, because it seems to me that of the other players, Aces figure prominently in their ranges, so I'm less likely to be seeing any more of them.

Your hand at least has straight and flush possibilities preflop, and you hold cards that won't clash with opponents ranges too much.

I don't know if I would have played it though

Of all the poker variants I've played, I do the worst at Omaha Hi.

Cheers,
VS

Yes, villains will often turn AAxx hands and Hero can't be profitable playing hands that have smaller pockets into them. He is just burning money on the long run with only 25-35 equity.

And I see alot of limping preflop in the hands you posted after that. And don't know how good is that but maybe at FR tables is something common in Omaha.

Good luck!

And I see alot of limping preflop in the hands you posted after that. And don't know how good is that but maybe at FR tables is something common in Omaha.

I limp a lot preflop. In full ring games the money tends to get in the middle no matter how you play it. Also I am a post flop player and prefer this style.

Here is a hand I played yesterday. I got just about the best flop I could for my hand. When I hit a flop that hard I don't mind getting all my money in the middle. By pushing the draw I think my opponent thought I had flopped a set, which is the other type of hand you would push on this board.
Hand---

Still lots of problems with my game these days as I can't seem to get my foot off of the accelerator when I need to. I am playing like a bull in a china shop.
Still after self destructing once again in the cash games I did manage a second in the Omaha Hi-lo $27.00 progressive knock out.
When we were heads up I played very badly with a 3-1 chip advantage. Oh well at least I got $80 in bounties to go along with the second.
Not a bad way to start the year.

It's been a while since I last posted.
It's not that I'm running bad these days, although I could be running better, as much as it is that I am playing less then optimal. In other words my game still sucks. Below are a couple of hands I think I played reasonably well today for a change.

In this first hand I checked raised the flop. I had flopped the nuts with a redraw to the nuts. When that happens you need to get the money in A.S.A.P in my estimation. My opponent also flopped the nuts and then turned a redraw to the nuts as well. We both missed and chopped.
Hand 1-

In this hand I flopped the nuts out of position to my two opponents and wanted to peel a card before making a move as there was a flush draw out there so I only check-called and the opponent behind me also called.
The turn is where things got interesting. I checked, player 2 checked and the player in position bet again. Now I decided to check-raise for the following reasons.
1-I wanted to protect my hand against the player behind me. He could have anything from a set to a flush draw. I tried to make it to expensive for him to play by an elimination raise.
2-If I could get heads up with the better I had a redraw to a higher straight and was hoping he did not have a flush draw to go along with the nut straight that tied my hand.
Both opponents called and we went to the river.
Hand 2-

Here is a hand I played earlier tonight that I found interesting.
I hope you do as well.

I flopped the nuts with 2 pair for a full-house redraw. There is a diamond redraw on board so I need to tread lightly as I am out of position which seems to be the norm these days.
1st- I bet out 2/3s pot and promptly got raised. This is OK as it helps define his hand. I only called the raise because of my position and wanted to play a waiting game and have some sort of pot control.
2nd- The turn was a safe card and I checked the nuts again as I figured we were tied. No sense betting and getting raised as my redraw to the full-house was only 4 outs. My opponent bet pot on the turn and I only called. If I had of check-raised all the play would be over.
3td-The river completed the diamond flush draw and I did not have a diamond draw. But because I had kept my hand concealed there is only a small chance he would figure we were tied. I bet the rest of my money because I had decided I was going to pay off his bet and if he had the flush then so be it. If he did not have the flush he may fold thinking I was on a flush draw when in actuality we were tied.
The other possibility is that my opponent was on a stone cold bluff and I missed out on his river bluff bet. We will never know!!!!!

Hand-

When you are going to pay off the river bet by your opponent when you think there is a good chance you are tied, it is never wrong to get your money in first. Good things can happen when you bet.

Indeed I enjoyed your hand (and those before) and how you describe them!

For no apparent reason I say he hoped a set would be enough and was willing to bluff on the river. But you have the better insights how a very deep stack at FR at PLO25 thinks.

For me sometimes such a huge stack makes me suspicious against them. On the smallest stakes I often experienced players who were willing to flip with their stack with everything and just had the longer breath than their opponents and use their stack to intimidate them. But then lost their complete stack in a few hands and instant left without reloading. And yes it also maybe the complete opposite and this description fits to an other player at the table and villain was able to take advantage of them.

Please keep your valuable posts coming! And of course good luck at the tables!

Originally posted by Rhodriguez
Indeed I enjoyed your hand (and those before) and how you describe them!

For no apparent reason I say he hoped a set would be enough and was willing to bluff on the river. But you have the better insights how a very deep stack at FR at PLO25 thinks.

For me sometimes such a huge stack makes me suspicious against them. On the smallest stakes I often experienced players who were willing to flip with their stack with everything and just had the longer breath than their opponents and use their stack to intimidate them. But then lost their complete stack in a few hands and instant left without reloading. And yes it also maybe the complete opposite and this description fits to an other player at the table and villain was able to take advantage of them.

Please keep your valuable posts coming! And of course good luck at the tables!

Thank you.

I hate playing Aces hard in a multi-way pot. They never seem to hold up. Here is one of the few times they did.

I raised under-the-gun with Aces, 1 of them suited. The Button re-raised and the BB came along.
Now I am thinking of what to do. Aces do not play well multi-way. The Button has $25 so either he has just gone broke, reissued, and is looking to double up to get even or else he is new to the game and is looking to gamble. With the BB in and having 50% more chips then the Button I was hoping to trap him in the middle. Therefore a shove was out of the question as I did not want to lose him. I decided the best course of action was to min-raise and hope the Button would take the bait and 4-bet. That way I could shove and trap the BB. If I lost the hand, I hoped to at least win the side pot.

Hand-

A quick update as I have not posted in a while.

On a personal note.
My right leg had been acting up again lately. After testing at the hospital- 1st a stress test with ultrasound and then a C.T scan it was found that the artery was plugging up again. Last Thursday I had another angioplasty done on the main artery of my right leg. This makes 2 angioplasties and 2 operations for a total of 4 procedures in the last 5 years. It's a good thing we have OHIP in this province to pay for all this or else i would be broke. All together my leg has cost the Ontario Provincial Government close to $200,000+ with the 2 weeks I have spent in the hospital ( 1 week for each operation) and the 2 angioplasties. Who says walking is overrated. Back to work on Monday.

On the poker front.
I just can't seem to get over the hump and right the ship. Because I have sucked so much in cash games lately I have been focusing more on MTTs.
I played a total of 6 MTTs over the last 3 days. All of them were forms of NL/PL Omaha Hi-Lo with varying buy-ins. Friday I finished 5th in the afternoon NL Omaha Hi-Lo $2.20 rebuy and add-on tournament for $200.
Today I finished 11th in the $27.00 NL Omaha Hi-Lo progressive knockout tournament for $38 and had $13 in bounties.
One of these days I am going to break out and play a tournament error free from start-to-finish.

Originally posted by TheMarxBros3
One of these days I am going to break out and play a tournament error free from start-to-finish.

Hi, TheMarxBros3,
Hope the leg improves!

On the poker front, I too have hit some sort of weird space where everyone sucks out on me.
Either that, or they have what I'm representing.
<sigh>

As for playing a tournament mistake-free start to finish, there are several problems.
 If it was a mistake to fold, you'll never know.
 If it is the right move to play the hand, and villain sucks out, you still win.
 If it was a mistake to play the hand and you suck out -- you win!

I'll take door #3, Monty.

I've been playing Double-or-Nothings and it is astounding the number of hands that are won by the hand that is behind at the start.

I don't know if I mentioned it in my blog, but I un-retired myself in January, so I've been super busy for the past two months.

All the best,
VS

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by TheMarxBros3
One of these days I am going to break out and play a tournament error free from start-to-finish.

Hi, TheMarxBros3,
Hope the leg improves!

On the poker front, I too have hit some sort of weird space where everyone sucks out on me.
Either that, or they have what I'm representing.
<sigh>

As for playing a tournament mistake-free start to finish, there are several problems.
 If it was a mistake to fold, you'll never know.
 If it is the right move to play the hand, and villain sucks out, you still win.
 If it was a mistake to play the hand and you suck out -- you win!

I'll take door #3, Monty.

I've been playing Double-or-Nothings and it is astounding the number of hands that are won by the hand that is behind at the start.

I don't know if I mentioned it in my blog, but I un-retired myself in January, so I've been super busy for the past two months.

All the best,
VS

Being un-retired must suck.
My leg is feeling good right now. The specialist says the operation on my leg is good for 3 years or 60,000 miles. May it last a little longer then that.

Poker has not been kind to me lately I'm afraid.
If anyone is interested I can post 100 bad-beat stories. Don't worry I won't as I hate telling them as much as I hate hearing them.
I have been playing a lot of knockout tournaments lately and I have noticed/ and have the hand histories to prove it, that the short-stack is almost always outdrawn by the big stack in all-in situations not matter how far behind the big stack is pre-flop. Makes a person wonder!!

I decided to gamble tonight and play some Omaha zoom. I had been getting my ass handed to me earlier today and started off the session by being down a buy-in after 3 hands.
BUT every once in a while a hand comes along that keeps your bank roll going. I hit one of these after re-issuing.

Sorry if the hand history is hard to follow along but weak-tight has not renewed their certificate so firefox would not let me use that site. I don't know of any other site to use and I don't know how to convert the hand history into a readable form from pokerstrategy. Can't get it to paste to the clipboard in windows 10. I did however try to clean it up so it is readable. I really should learn how to use a computer for more then poker and porn. ♦

Hi !
Nifty hand.
I used to use feral cow for 5-Card Draw -- maybe it would do Omaha too.

Later,
VS