Omaha hi/lo - the importance of check raising

Poker Variants / Marcus Bateman / 28 July 2010 / Leave a Comment

Limit is an endless game of trying to squeeze extra bets out when ahead and lose a few less when behind, and check raising in the correct spots makes this task much easier.

Often when players used to big bet games try their hand at limit games, they fail to adjust their check raising frequency enough to suit the limit games. Check raising is much more important in limit games than in big bet games, and nowhere is this more the case than in Omaha hi/lo.

As Omaha hi/lo is a game that frequently features multiway pots and lots of drawing hands, numerous opportunities arise where check raising is by far the best strategy, and it is crucial that you learn to spot situations where you squeeze extra bets from players through check raising.

Say you call a raise in a four way pot from the big blind with a hand like Ah2h4cKc and see a flop of 2s3h7h. With the nut low and nut flush draw in a four way pot, this is often a great situation to try and check raise. As the pre flop raiser will probably fire again, and at least one of the other two players will call with either a made low/low draw, or high hand/draw you will be able to often get two or three callers of a check raise as each player become priced in.

Compare this effect to if you lead out and the pre flop raiser decides to raise your bet. Now people with a hand like Ax2x5xKx may often just fold, facing a poor price for their hand and considerable action putting them off drawing to the second nut low. However, calling one bet from a pre flop aggressor is a much more attractive proposition, and after the check raise they will basically be forced into calling through the great price they are now getting.

In this spot if you raise and get re-raised by the pre flop aggressor, the later players will be getting only 3 to 1 on their money; where as if you check raise, they will often be getting upwards of 8 or 9 to 1 - a price which effectively forces them to call even with quite marginal hands - clearly a huge result for your hand. By building the pot big in this way early, you also force players into getting attractive calling odds on the later streets - a point which allows you to win many more big bets on the turn and river in the long run.

If you are used to big bet games, your first instinct will often be to lead out when you hit a big hand, but often in limit this is wrong. Limit is an endless game of trying to squeeze extra bets out when ahead and lose a few less when behind, and check raising in the correct spots makes this task much easier.

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