Like Texas Hold'Em, the key to winning at Omaha is to play tighter than your opposition, but to get your money in when the situation is most profitable for you. The following assumes a rudimentary knowledge of the game's mechanics, though if you need a primer on how to play, go here.
While the ideal scenario in any Hi/Lo game is to "scoop" both the high and low pots, in Omaha Hi/Lo your best bet is to spike the nut low. You want to play hands that give you some shot at the high pot, but really, most of your money will be made by making the nut low. It's far easier to make the best low hand in Omaha Hi/Lo than it is to make the best high hand.
- First of all, rarely, if ever, should you raise preflop. Raising in Hold'Em makes sense because winning hands are easier to come by. A pair is typically enough to drag the pot. Pocket aces are worth raising with because no matter what the flop brings, you at least have top pair. In Omaha, you must use 3 cards from the board with 2 hole cards to make your hand. You can't know how strong your hand is until you see a flop. And with everyone getting four cards in Omaha, best hands are far stronger. Straights, flushes and full houses are typically required to win the high pot. Low cards require help from the board to make winning low hands. Raising preflop usually makes no sense in Omaha because you never know the strength of your hand until you see the flop. If someone else wants to raise and you have a strong starting hand, go ahead and call. Let them build the pot for you.
- Play any hand with an Ace and a 2 in any position. If you have other "wheel" cards as well (a 3, 4 or 5), that's even better. If you have another card whose suit matches your Ace's, even better. If you have high cards like a King, Queen or Jack to go with your Ace, even better. The more potential your hands has, the more willing you should be to raise and build a pot if you get the chance, though again, you typically don't want to.
- The reason you play Ace-2 no matter what is because, when the flop brings 2-3 low cards, you almost always will have the inside track on a nut low, guaranteeing you at least a share of the low pot. On rare occasions, another player will have Ace-2, meaning you will get quartered: you get half of one half of the pot, usually a loss overall. Sometimes, an Ace or 2 will hit the board, counterfeiting your Ace-2 low if you don't have backup low cards. But this happens infrequently and typically isn't worrisome enough to stop you from playing Ace-2.
- If there isn't a lot of raising, you can open up your range of playable hands. Hands with an Ace-3 can also be playable, or Ace-4, or 2-3. If you don't have other cards in your hand to go with any of these, try only to play these from the blinds or in late position... or you can play them anywhere if your table rarely sees a raise. The more potential your hand has , however (suited to the ace, other low cards, other high cards, all four cards having potential together), the more willing you should be to play it in earlier position, against a raise and so on. But no matter what, the flop needs to hit you just right. 2-3 needs an Ace to flop (plus at least one other low card) to have at least a draw to the nut low.
- Unless it's an Ace-2 hand, dump any hand that has a 7, an 8 or a 9. These are the worst low cards, and not much in terms of high cards.
- This is a play suggested by Mike Matusow and Sammy Farha: play strong high only hands, especially when there's a lot of preflop betting. King-Queen-Jack-Ten is an example, as is Ace-King-King-Queen. As long as no card is smaller than a 9 (and this is the only time you'd play a hand with a 9), you can play it for one or two bets. Your chances improve if you're in late position, there's an early raise and a lot of callers to that raise. This indicates a lot of players have low hands like Ace-2, meaning there's a greater chance the flop will come with 2-3 high cards, missing their hands completely... and hitting your's. If there is no low hand possible (3 cards on the board 8 or lower), the best high hand wins the whole pot, and if you at least have a strong draw to the best high hand, you've got a great shot at winning a big pot. And if the flop comes with low cards or misses you, you can just dump your hand after the flop. All it cost you was 1-2 small bets. The payoff potential alone makes this a worthy play.
- Play any of these hands from the blinds, even for a raise. But don't let having a bet or half a bet in the pot tempt you to play garbage like 7-6-5-3. These hands are still long term losers. Consider your blinds a tax: let them go if you don't have the cards, and you'll save more money in the long run.
- Even given this, you're going to fold roughly 80% of the time when you're not in the blinds. Don't get impatient. Most players will play hands far worse than your's time and again, and will not draw to the nuts. You will, and when you hands hit, you will get paid off more often than they will, while losing less money than they do.
