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PL Omaha...how do you play aces

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  1. MetalGod MetalGod is offline

    Thomaston, CT
    United States

    Posts: 1,978
    Joined: Aug 05

    Jan 24th, 2006 (1/24/2006 11:19am)

    I'm just posting this out of curiosity. I consider myself to be a fairly good omaha player, but not great. Overall, I have made more from playing Omaha than at Hold'em. I have read that raising with aces in Omaha is usually a bad idea and people tend to lose a lot of money that way. I guess you could say that I've had a tendency to overplay them. If I'm dealt Ace-Ace-rag-rag with no suits, I usually make a 3x blind raise to stimulate the pot. If the flop is something such as 278 rainbow I'll bet it strong hoping for folds. If for some reason I wind up being raised, I'll kick it in seeing as I have no draws of any sort to bail me out if I'm against 2 pair or a lower set. If I have a suited ace or 2, I'll raise the size of the pot and play accordingly on the flop.

    Now...this is the part that I'm more curious about. You have the aces and there's a raise ahead of you...what do you do? Do you simply call and hope to flop a set or a draw of some sort or do you reraise? While it may not be a textbook play or logical to some, I come firing back with a pot sized reraise which clearly is a risky play. If for some reason you are against a good drawing hand such as K-Q-J-10, you are basically racing with AA-xx but technically you are still ahead with the aces. If the flop comes all low cards such as 567, you are now in great shape after the flop. I understand that aces are not nearly as valuable in Omaha as they are in hold'em, but I have won my share of pots with them by playing aggressively with them and of course having the discipline to lay them down if I think I'm behind in the hand. Feel free to post any opinions...if you believe this is a reckless way to play them, go right ahead and tell me. I'm simply looking to improve my game as much as I can.
  2. RandyLerch RandyLerch is offline

    Tampa, FL
    United States

    Posts: 2,490
    Joined: Apr 05

    Jan 24th, 2006 (1/24/2006 11:31am) in reply to MetalGod

    It all depends on your stack size. Lets say in 5-10 blinds you have 400 in chips. If someone raises to 40 in front of you its a no brainer to make it 150 and then you are committed after the flop to go all in if you got the pot heads up. If 2 others call I'd still proceed with caution even with my last 250. If you had 2000 in front of you then I might call the original raise and see what flops. People talk about overplaying them when you reraise to 150 and then bet say 450 on flop if you got 2 callers and then call their all in for 1500 which many people will do after the flop with just the aces. That is horrific play but you see it all the time.

    The short version is if you are short stacked just get your money in as fast as possible and if you have a big stack play it like a drawing hand like every hand in omaha essentially is.

    A.J.
  3. westtexasman westtexasman is offline

    Lubbock, TX
    United States

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    Jan 24th, 2006 (1/24/2006 11:37am) in reply to RandyLerch

    well said randy,good advice
     
  4. Randers Randers is offline

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    Jan 24th, 2006 (1/24/2006 11:42am) in reply to RandyLerch

    In the situation where you have 2000 in chips and an early raiser, you would have to repop with something like AsXsAdXd....

    At least from my experience, this hand is very powerful in a heads up pot, and a repop would definitely short the field coming in behind this early in a tourney.
     
  5. Groovykool Groovykool is offline

    Lawrence, KS
    United States

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    Jan 24th, 2006 (1/24/2006 11:45am) in reply to MetalGod

    I don't usually raise with them unless I'm short <7BB. Reraising with them is a very good play. Especially if you have players that raise with "Holdem crap" like JJ72 or QQT3 etc. After the flop, play passive unless you flop a set or a draw to the nuts. If the flop is coordinated, with possible straights and or flushes dump them to pot bets. An over pair is very weak in Omaha. Groovykool
  6. mattg1983 mattg1983 is offline buying action

    Round Rock, TX
    United States

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    Jan 24th, 2006 (1/24/2006 11:47am) in reply to MetalGod

    i agree with randy, i only raise if i am able to take pot odds away from my opponent. In tourneys this is often easy but in cash games where you are sitting with 100 to 400 blinds it is much maore difficult and sometimes just not possible. The last thing i wanna do is raise where i have not committed myself and just set myself up to be stolen from. One way to achieve pot committment is to limp and hope someone raises. that way your pot bet can be much larger than it originally could have been. the main point is that you dont want to just give money away which is basically what you are doing by raise without committing urself.
     12
  7. pokerisnice pokerisnice is offline

    Santa Rosa, CA
    United States

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    Jan 24th, 2006 (1/24/2006 11:48am) in reply to MetalGod

    First of all, i would not feel happy at all if the flop came 567 those are exactly the type of flops you dont want to see, Ideally you would like to see a completely uncoordinated board J72 or something like that. IMO how to play aces depends on your position and also on your supporting cards. In early position i would just limp with AA especially if they are naked aces. While your AA are technically a favorite over whatever hand your opponent might have, the disadvantage of playing them OOP on the flop and later streets is too great.

    If there is a raise in front of you, then whether to reraise is a tough decision. I look at several things:
    1. Will my opponent fold? You would prefer not to see a flop with AA unless you have some really nice supporting cards to go along with them.
    2. Can i lay down the aces if i get a bad flop and there is action? reraising pre flop is essentially playing your cards face up, it screams 'I have aces' therefore, your opponent will only give you action post flop if he has you beat. If you are going to reraise you MUST be able to know when to lay down ur hand post flop.
    3. What are my supporting cards? I hate naked aces. In most cases i wont reraise with them. There is just too much that can go wrong on the flop. Now if you have good supporting cards, a couple of 10pt cards, if your aces are double suited, etc then i re-raise just about every time.
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