Z Poker

I have been playing in the 4/8 Omaha 8 or better games at Canterbury park in Shakopee, MN. These games are usually pretty good. They are loose passive with 5-7 players out of nine usually seeing the flop. Normally there is not much raising pre-flop and on any street the most you will usually see is a bet and a raise. Capped betting (5 bets) is a once a night occurrence at best. These are not great games but there is certainly enough poor play to make a tight/tight pre-flop/post-flop strategy profitable. I use the Hutchison point count system for starting hands. I usually do not raise pre-flop unless I am in the blind or on the button or one to the right of the button. I do this because many players will not call with the same horrible hands that they usually play when it is two bets cold and I don’t want to drive out these players. I wonder if I am being a bit too conservative however. Would you raise with a hand like As2s3c7c in early or middle position if you knew that raising would reduce your callers from 6 to 3? Or is it best to limp early and save your raising for situations when you won’t push many people out of the pot. How about high only hands? Would you raise with a KsKcQsJc in early position in hopes of driving out mediocre high hands and scooping the pot if the flop comes high instead of low? I don’t usually raise in any position with a high only hand because they just don’t play very well in O8. Finally, the Hutchinson system recommends raising with hands that total 30 or more. This is very few hands. It seems to me that you could profitably raise a lot more hands, say any hand that garners 24 points or more. Is this reasonable or too aggressive?

Answer 1:

Raising pre-flop in Omaha, especially the loose low limit games, really is not too profitable of an idea. I think Ray Zee explained it best in his book when he states that most Omaha hands run pretty closely and thus pre-flop raising is more likely to result in high fluctuations rather than increased profits. Zee later explains raising as a move primarily done to buy the button and establish position. I think that this philosophy applies well to most Omaha games. Examining your specific hands, the KKQJ and the A237, I’d suggest that you almost never raise with the KKQJ (unless your trying to provide some deception in your play which should not be necessary in most poorly played Omaha games) as the KKQJ is basically a gamble to see a high only flop. It is rather rare that you will scoop a multi-way pot with this hand, and even rarer that you will get heads up in a loose game. Thus sticking to a get in cheap and jam it when favorable philosophy is probably best with that hand. The A237, on the other hand, you don’t mind putting in a lot of money up front, since you will probably lay claim to at least half the pot. Again though, it is a long shot to scoop as you will likely need to make a flush with the ace to grab the high. If your opponents are willing to stick around and draw, don’t bother chasing them out with early raises. Let them in and let them draw to their second nuts. Besides, if you raise and build a big pot before the flop, they may even be correct to chase to their mediocre lows or high hands, and who wants to create opportunities for your weak opponents to play correctly?

Answer 2:

I play in the same games at Canterbury (often waiting for bigger hold- em). I raise every hand I play, and I announce this when I sit down. I figure I have at least one of the best hands at the table, given that I raise the pot every time. On high hands I would prefer to thin the field, though since I raise every time it often does not happen. Oh well. I’ll have to out flop them. Often I raise and fold an unfavourable flop while everyone else is still in, in these games most of your profits will come from advantageous lay downs. Because I am seen as action I often get up to 5 callers on the river. His advice is not the advice I think Ray Zee would give you because you
have to change your style to suit the game. If you have the best or second best hand raise. If you don’t, wait for a better hand.
Answer 3:

A237 is a raise. I don’t worry about knocking people out. Most will groan and throw their two bets in because the truth is that in Omaha the weak players (i.e. most players) will pay 2 bets on the same garbage they’ll pay one bet on. After all, “you don’t have anything ’til you see the flop”. A basic rule in poker is that you can’t generally go wrong wagering more money against a guy with a weaker hand. Just be aware that because of increased variance, you will need a much bigger bankroll to harvest those
extra profits.