2 Pair on Omaha

    • VheroM
      VheroM
      Bronze
      Joined: 24.11.2009 Posts: 138
      I've noticed that there are a lot of situations where I manage to stack off with two pair and lose it. Usually this is because I'm playing either against a set, when I'm usually througghly screwed or try to dodge cards when playing against an oesd, fd or both.

      Do you usually try to head for showdown or what do you do? Personally I've noticed that controlling the size of the pot is usually the best way, as most people dont want to play their fd to the max from turn.
  • 3 replies
    • Jackalof
      Jackalof
      Bronze
      Joined: 08.06.2008 Posts: 1,462
      There are a lot of different two pair situations. In some it's clearly not worth it to stack off, in another it's a standard move.

      If you have a limped pot, you're OOP and flop top two on relatively dry board, bet/fold is usually the best play. It all depends on the board of course. If it has some draws and you get called and turn is blank, its pretty safe to bet again and fire blank river.

      If, in limped pot, you're IP and flop top two and get checked to you, betting out is a no brainer. However, if a guy in front bets out - it depends. If he bets lets say half or 2/3rd pot into a board that has 2 cards of the same suit - it's usually a flush draw or a straight draw. Raising and calling are both good I guess. Of course you have to give up if flush or straight comes. If he bets pot - I prefer a fold if no draws come along with my two pair. Fold is safer here because I don't want to call pot bets on all streets with just two pair which will hardly ever improve.

      In raised pot, two pair is usually nice, but again, it depends alot. Lets say you have AK76 rainbow and flop is 567 two hearts. If opponent bets pot or raises you - obviously you have to fold. There are a lot of different situations, but the main idea is not to go broke with them without redraws.

      In general, it's hard to clearly outline the standard two pair play because it's very board, opponent and situation dependant. Safest way is to fold them because clearly two pair is not what you should be looking to flop, so you can think of them as missed flop ;)
    • VheroM
      VheroM
      Bronze
      Joined: 24.11.2009 Posts: 138
      You're right about 2 pair being a "missed flop" in Omaha, as they really arent a hand that really is that strong with them flushes straights and sets out there.

      I guess I should just keep on playing them less as I'm feeling that over a long period of time I'll end up losing if I keep on playing them strongly. Thanks for the tip.
    • Jim9137
      Jim9137
      Bronze
      Joined: 13.11.2007 Posts: 5,608
      You should really play top two like you would play a top pair with a good kicker in Hold'em - focus on small pots. You can even check fold them in multiway pots when you are out of position and there's bet and a call; for a limped pot, you just don't want to get involved.

      Typically I bet these kind of hands once and depending on the turn, either check or bet. I also think that you should check top two a lot on the turn in position, even if the villain will call with a worse hand. He will very rarely make a huge mistake though, since even if you bet pot, 33% equity is enough to call, and there are very few drawing hands that don't have at least 30%. And if villain is calling with weaker two pair, it's easier to extract value on the river than on the turn.

      So definitely don't play them too strongly against weak players. Even if they'll stack off with weaker hands on an occassion, I've rarely seen players go broke without at least something. And if you got K5 on K5:s3 without the flush draw, you rarely are ahead when the money goes in. This holds less true for AK:s5 flop, but that board is a whole lot more scary, so if people are pushing money in they typically are beating AK at the least.