Omaha hi/lo as a bankroll builder

Poker Variants / Marcus Bateman / 09 February 2010 / Leave a Comment

Particularly in full ring games, Omaha hi/lo is awash with players who call too much, and in any genre of poker these are by far the easiest players to beat.

One of the best games to play if you have a small bankroll and are looking to grind it up is Omaha hi/lo. Omaha hi/lo has a unique place in the low stakes of poker, as it is both very low variance (due to so many pots being split), and full of very weak players. This is a juicy combination to those with a small bankroll, and Omaha hi/lo provides one of the easiest ways to spin up a bankroll if approached correctly.

Omaha hi/lo is a classic example of a game where weak players look down at their hand and believe that nearly any four cards are playable due to the huge number of hand combinations and ways the pot can be split, so call far too much and misplay their hands hugely post flop. Sticking to a tight, scoop orientated strategy of playing suited hands with ace two and ace three in them provides an efficient and easy tactic against these players, and due to the structure of the game minimises the swings inherent in poker.

Particularly in full ring games, Omaha hi/lo is awash with players who call too much, and in any genre of poker these are by far the easiest players to beat. Weak players get fooled into thinking that they are playing well in Omaha hi/lo, simply because they frequently win part of the pot, which makes them habitually play too many hands. The problem with this is that the money is actual won by the odd scoop of the whole pot (much like no limit hold'em is decided to a large extent by the odd massive pot), and this is where weak players constantly trip up - winning little bits here and there but frequently losing very large pots over the course of a session.

You only need a few scoops a session to be able to make sizeable profits in Omaha hi/lo. If you stick to playing the very solid scooping starting hands, you will hardly ever get scooped yourself, while picking up at least a few big pots all to yourself along the way. If you are thinking of the best way to run up a small bankroll try checking out the low stakes Omaha hi/lo games - it may be that you are missing out on some of the best low variance games around.

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