Poker Update: Omaha

We mixed it up tonight with a little Omaha. Omaha is identical to Hold ’em, except for two things.

  • You have four hold cards instead of two.
  • You must use exactly two of your hole cards. No more, no less.

That last one is really hard to wrap your mind around. For example, having four aces isn’t so great. You have a pair of aces and you can’t improve it.

It was like going back to being a poker rookie again. I wasn’t trying to read people’s hands. I wasn’t trying to figure out when I could push people around. I was just trying to figure out if I had something good or not. And so was everyone else. In a typical hand tonight, most of the players limped in pre-flop. The flop came out and every player started looking at their cards, mentally deciding if they had a playable hand. 75% of the hands went all the way to the river. With four cards, you always have a draw. Winning hands were sets or better. A straight was, well, it was ok.

I misread two of my own hands. I lost two huge pots because I messed up the second rule. That was enough, I was knocked out in 7th place out of 8 people. Ah well, it was a lot of fun.

Tonight: -$20

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