Danglers in Pot Limit Omaha
Marcus Bateman
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Marcus Bateman /
26 June 2009 /
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Do not fall into the trap of seeing illusionary hands everywhere when you look down at the weaker Omaha hands. You want all four cards working together for the most part, especially when playing in full ring tournament games
The term 'dangler' simply refers to a card in your hand that does not combine well with the others. The six of clubs in a hand like KhJhAs simply does not work with any of the other cards in terms of building straights or flushes, and thus becomes a dangler, compared to say the queen of spades in this hand, which would make this a very strong hand (lots of straight draws, one nut flush possibility and one second nut flush possibility).
The dangler cards are of particular importance in Pot Limit Omaha, as they radically change the value of your hand, and understanding how much they weaken your hand is critical to success in Omaha over the long run.
Most weak players address Omaha in a fundamentally wrong way, particularly in regard to dangler cards. They look at hands with three or even two good cards and try and see flops constantly with them, thinking that any possibility in their hand has potential. This is no doubt due to most player's experience being in hold'em, so any two cards that they would play in hold'em start to look good in an Omaha hand. Just as in hold'em though, consistently getting involved with marginal hands against people who are playing strong hands is a recipe for disaster in the long run.
Each and every dangler in your hand in Omaha considerably reduces the possible combinations of hands you can end up making. Because Omaha is a game where the nuts is out there more often than not, it is crucial that you play hands that give you as many chances to make as many strong hands as possible.
Do not fall into the trap of seeing illusionary hands everywhere when you look down at the weaker Omaha hands. You want all four cards working together for the most part, especially when playing in full ring tournament games.
Keep an eye out for the rogue dangler and carefully consider the consequences of it on the action in front of you, as over the long run that one card can easily end up costing you a fortune.
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