Bad & Good Starting Hands

DTWBANDIT

     hi all have played Omaha 4 times now in DYM'S have had some success but i still don't know what difference is between a good & bad starting hand so i tend to play them all til i see flop also have no idea on what sort of hand you would raise on pre-flop


    What may help would be if some of you guys could post some Starting hands you would class as Bad or Good


   much appreciated

   dtw

MereNovice

See this thread

DTWBANDIT

In Response to Re: Bad & Good Starting Hands:

See this thread
Posted by MereNovice

    cheers for that mere very helpful

dtw

Talon

  The main thing in an omaha starting hand is quantity rather than quality. Firstly look at your four cards and work out your 6 2-card staring hands. Then you see how many of them are nut drawing hands. If you have 3 nut drawing hands then you have a good hand any less and it is marginal.Hands that get people into trouble are AA92 rainbow. They have trouble seeing past the AA and fail to realise that they have only 1 nut drawing hand which makes this a very weak hand. Great hands are ones with lots of possibilities like 10JQK double suited which has 6 nut drawing hands.Any hand no matter how good can be destroyed on the flop so resist the urge to big preflop raise and c-bet even if you miss. In omaha the hand truly begins after the flop so be ready to bet big or fold at that stage dependant on what you have hit.

penguin7

Talking of good and bad starting hands I rarely play 3 of a kind (wrong to call it a set or trips I think !!) Earlier today I was dealt the following under the gun: QQQ8. I folded and the others all limped in. The flop came Q88 !

One big bet and two calls and then the turn : the last 8 !

Never saw a river (it couldnt possibly have affected my hand anyway) as pot size bet went in and all folded.

I suppose the winner must have been  playing a mid to high pocket pair with no preflop raise, but it made me think. Should I be playing this type of starting hand ?

MereNovice

In Response to Re: Bad & Good Starting Hands:

Talking of good and bad starting hands I rarely play 3 of a kind (wrong to call it a set or trips I think !!) Earlier today I was dealt the following under the gun: QQQ8. I folded and the others all limped in. The flop came Q88 ! One big bet and two calls and then the turn : the last 8 ! Never saw a river (it couldnt possibly have affected my hand anyway) as pot size bet went in and all folded. I suppose the winner must have been  playing a mid to high pocket pair with no preflop raise, but it made me think. Should I be playing this type of starting hand ?
Posted by penguin7

No. It's an awful starting hand.

Talon

In Response to Re: Bad & Good Starting Hands:

Talking of good and bad starting hands I rarely play 3 of a kind (wrong to call it a set or trips I think !!) Earlier today I was dealt the following under the gun: QQQ8. I folded and the others all limped in. The flop came Q88 ! One big bet and two calls and then the turn : the last 8 ! Never saw a river (it couldnt possibly have affected my hand anyway) as pot size bet went in and all folded. I suppose the winner must have been  playing a mid to high pocket pair with no preflop raise, but it made me think. Should I be playing this type of starting hand ?
Posted by penguin7

  The question is simple to answer. Judge a hand by the texture of the flop that you want to see. With QQQ8 you are only looking for a Q88 or 9TJ flop. When you are limited to such a small range of flops that you can like then you should not be getting involved in the hand. The biggest key to being a successful omaha player is knowing when to fold and with a hand like that preflop is the time to fold.The only exception would be in HU play

penguin7

In Response to Re: Bad & Good Starting Hands:

In Response to Re: Bad & Good Starting Hands :   The question is simple to answer. Judge a hand by the texture of the flop that you want to see. With QQQ8 you are only looking for a Q88 or 9TJ flop. When you are limited to such a small range of flops that you can like then you should not be getting involved in the hand. The biggest key to being a successful omaha player is knowing when to fold and with a hand like that preflop is the time to fold.The only exception would be in HU play
Posted by Talon

Exactly the answer I expected Talon.I was not seriously considering changing my policy. But I often see this type of hand played. Another hand which falls into same category is four unconnected suited cards, which look pretty but in reality you are only playing with half a hand.
I believe a common mistake amongst developing omaha players (including me) is overvaluing flush draws.Often in omaha you will have a family pot,and may be holding two medium suited cards (eg 98 spades), when two spades appear in flop. From my experience the chances are that someone will have two bigger spades, and even if I am holding Kx I proceed with caution unless the ace is on board. I wonder if Talon , Mere Novice or some other genius can comment on the odds of this ?

DTWBANDIT

In Response to Re: Bad & Good Starting Hands:

  The main thing in an omaha starting hand is quantity rather than quality. Firstly look at your four cards and work out your 6 2-card staring hands. Then you see how many of them are nut drawing hands. If you have 3 nut drawing hands then you have a good hand any less and it is marginal.Hands that get people into trouble are AA92 rainbow. They have trouble seeing past the AA and fail to realise that they have only 1 nut drawing hand which makes this a very weak hand. Great hands are ones with lots of possibilities like 10JQK double suited which has 6 nut drawing hands.Any hand no matter how good can be destroyed on the flop so resist the urge to big preflop raise and c-bet even if you miss. In omaha the hand truly begins after the flop so be ready to bet big or fold at that stage dependant on what you have hit.
Posted by Talon

  cheers 4 advice Talon it has helped my omaha game 100%  many thanks  dtw