Back door flush draws in pot limit Omaha

Pot Limit Omaha / Marcus Bateman / 24 March 2010 / Leave a Comment

As a result of this, thinking closely about back door flush draws is critical in Omaha, as it effects not only how you should think about betting your hands, but also about calling with them.

If you are a regular hold'em player, you will be aware that 'back door' flush draws, that is, flushes that are only completed by the turn and the river being of the same suit as a flop card, thus completing a possible flush, are pretty rare.

Although you will see them occasionally, on any given hand you usually do not want to be too concerned if a flush appears like this, because usually the likelihood of your opponent holding two of a suit in their hand is unlikely.

In pot limit Omaha though, this is not the case. Back door flush draws are a vastly more important thing to think about in Omaha, because the way the game is structured makes them much more likely. The first key reason for this is that there are vastly more hand combinations in play in Omaha. You can play double suited hands, which means that you will often have two possible back door flush draws on flops, thus doubling the likelihood of hitting one.

The second reason why they are much more likely to occur is that because of the extra hand combinations, it is much more likely that a player will stick around with hands that include back door flush draws. In hold'em, most hands that will call on flop and turn will not include many hands that would fill a back door flush (they need to have at least a pair to keep them interested), where as in Omaha there are many hands which will call big bets on flop and turn that also include back door flush draws, such as sets and two pairs.

As a result of this, thinking closely about back door flush draws is critical in Omaha, as it effects not only how you should think about betting your hands, but also about calling with them. Hands with two back door flush draws on a flop are substantially stronger hands than ones without.

Conversely, if a back door flush arrives on the river and there is heavy action, you can be pretty confident that your set or straight is no good - good Omaha players are masters of being able to save money in these spots, and if you want to take your game to a high level it is important that you understand these situations and react accordingly.

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