Two pair in Omaha

Pot Limit Omaha / Marcus Bateman / 03 December 2009 / Leave a comment

This hand - particularly bottom two pair - seems to get weak players in more trouble than any other hand in Pot Limit Omaha, except perhaps overplaying aces.

Like many situations in Omaha, players used to hold'em tend to drastically overvalue hands which are strong in hold'em, yet often extremely weak in Omaha.

Conversely, many weak players miss out on a lot of extra value with their two pair hands, as they go from one extreme - that of massively overplaying all their two pair hands - to the other, that of consistently underplaying them. Omaha is usually a much more complex game than hold'em, simply because hand reading skills are much more important against your opponents than they are in hold'em, and as a result, understanding the situations where two pair is good and bad is critical to long term success.

Because most people will put a great deal of money in with top pair in hold'em, getting it in with two pair consistently is usually a good thing in hold'em (obviously there are specific opponents/situations where this is not true), but this is not the case in Omaha, where players rarely get it in with just top pair unless a very specific situation arises (say you hit top pair against an opponent who obviously has aces and you are priced into calling with your eleven out draw to two pair or three of a kind).

As a result, the strength of two pair drastically decreases in terms of being a hand to immediately try and play for stacks with, particularly in unraised pots. If you start getting a lot of action in a multi way or unraised pot in Omaha, you are nearly always going to be getting in your money behind (and often close to dead), simply because of the number of extra hand combinations and the fact that most astute players will have either sets or huge draws.

Conversely, if you are in a re-raised pot against a weak player who obviously has an over pair, hitting two pair of any kind is a great situation to get it in. Omaha is a very relative game, where often quite weak hands should be gone all the way with, and sometimes absolute monster hands folded. This is perhaps best illustrated by two pair, as it is a hand that ranges from being an absolute monster if the action has gone a certain way, all the way to being total junk in another situation.

Think closely about the action and your opponent's likely range and try and make the best possible decision when you flop one of the more marginal hands of Omaha.

Related Entries

River bets in Omaha
Pre flop initiative in Pot Limit Omaha
Small pairs in pot limit Omaha