Omaha Position

Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 28 July 2008 / Leave a Comment

With the most important aspect of pot limit Omaha covered- that of good bankroll management (click here if you have not read the piece explaining why this is so critical), we can move on to the actual ins and outs of the game. Of the various critical concepts involved in playing Omaha, position is arguably the most important - and will be covered here.

Having position is clearly useful in all variants of poker, yet in Omaha it is particularly important to be regularly playing in position. This is because Omaha is a game where there are so many hand combinations that the nuts will typically be out there a lot of the time. As a result of this, it is very hard to steal pots without a hand like you often can in hold'em - your bets in Omaha will usually have to have some kind of hand to back them up.

Being out of position drastically exacerbates this effect, as your opponent can gain a much better idea about your hand strength. If you miss the flop and check, a skilled opponent will nearly always use this as an opportunity to either steal the pot through a bet, or take a free card if they believe you are trying to check raise. As it is nearly always wrong to give free cards in Omaha (due to the large number of hand combinations and the backdoor possibilities they bring) this is clearly a lose-lose situation.

Leading out without a hand is also dangerous. You will haemorrhage money if you continuation bet out of position at the same frequency as you would in hold'em - players simply hit flops far too often, whilst checking leaving you open to the problems above.

All of these problems are solved by consistently playing in position.

You become the player able to steal pots, take free cards, and call bets in the hope of bluffing on later streets. As the board can deteriorate very easily in Omaha, being in position allows you to evaluate your standing in the hand much more easily. If my opponent hit their back door straight on the river why did they check it? Are they not feeling comfortable about their set now that there is a possible flush out? Can I steal this pot with a value bet on the river? All of these are questions you can think about when playing in position, yet cannot when out of position.

As a general rule in Omaha, you want to think about your position in the hand as at least as important as the cards in the hand itself. A strong hand out of position is really only as strong as a medium strength hand on the button, and must be played as such. Play in position, mess with your opponents, and watch the money roll in.

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