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Branching out from no-limit hold’em

I’m always amazed by the number of people who play poker – both online and in home games – who play no-limit hold’em exclusively. I’ve even seen people sign up for low buy in non-NLH tournaments who apparently didn’t mean to (“I thought this was a hold’em tournament”). And they’ll proceed to either ask the rules of the game or simply go all in or bet the pot until they earn a big pot or go bust.

No limit hold’em is certainly a great game. But it’s not the only game out there. There’s certainly something to be said for specialization, and becoming very good at just one type of poker. But there’s also good reasons to diversify. And after I tell you why you should play outside of the NLH universe, I’ll give you a very basic tutorial on how to get started playing another game – Omaha hi/lo – without reading an entire book about the subject.

So, why should you play games other than NLH?

Variety is the spice of life

Sometimes I’m playing poker my 10th consecutive 5.50 tournament, and I’m treading water, getting some seconds and thirds and some no cashes. And at that point, sometimes I’m pretty sick of poker.

That’s the best time to play something different. If you’re ever at the point where you say “This isn’t fun,” then you should either take a break. Or play a different game. Of course, I don’t recommend playing another game without at least some basic knowledge of strategy. But mixing up the games you play will keep you sharp in the long run.

You never know…

…when you might need to know how to play other games. If you play online poker exclusively, this may not be helpful, but if you’re like me, you’re always on the lookout for home games to play (and kill). Some home games are just NLH and nothing else. Some play different games every week, and some are dealer’s choice. If you learn how to play more than NLH, you give yourself an advantage over the rest of the players in the home game. Most of them might like the idea of playing other games for fun, but they might not really know the correct strategies behind the games.

Anyway, if you have a chance to join a new home game that plays more than hold’em, don’t shy away from it. I’d even suggest if you are a core member of a home game that you try to push toward dealer’s choice games…once you learn how to play those other games, of course.

Sharpen your analytical skills

No-limit hold’em has a lot of math and reasoning behind it, but it’s still a lot about reading people. Other games are less about reads and more about the math and odds. Sure, reads still play a part, but you really need to be sharp on strategy to do well at most other poker games (other than draw poker, which is a lot about reading opponents, as well).

Anyway, the point is, you can take what you learn (at least somewhat) and apply it when you go back to hold’em. Games like Omaha and razz force you to constantly evaluate your odds, your outs, and the likelihood of what your opponents may have. Being able to quickly size up the odds and outs of a hand will give you more time to make reads when you’re playing NLH.

An Omaha hi/lo primer

Omaha hi/ho, or Omaha eight or better (I’ll call it O8 for short from now on), is my favorite poker game. I’m really not better or worse at it than I am at NLH, but I really enjoy playing it.

But it is a daunting game for a first timer. But that also makes it a good first step outside the world of NLH. Get your feet wet in O8, and nothing else will seem that hard. Well, maybe triple draw 2-7 will. But not much else.

The basics

The biggest different between O8 and NLH? You get four cards to start. But you can’t ever use all four cards to make a poker hand. You have to use two and only two of the four cards you receive to make a hand. You have to use two cards only to make your high (traditional poker hand) and two cards only to make your low hand (more on that later), The two cards you use for each hand can be different.

The next difference? The game is a split-pot game, meaning half goes to the high hand and half goes to the low hand. If two or more people tie on a hand, each half of the pot is split accordingly, which is very important to remember.

The high hand should be easy to figure out …you use two of your cards and three from the board (there is a flop, turn and river just NLH) to make the best five-card traditional poker hand. The low hand is also pretty easy to figure out…you use two of your cards and three cards from the board to create a hand of five cards, all of which are eight or lower, with no duplicates. The nuts low is A-5, the worst possible qualifying low hand is 4-5-6-7-8. Your hand is only as good as the highest low card. So A2348 looks good, but it gets beat by the hand 34567.

The average winning hand is also much better in O8 than in NLH. While pairs and two pair can win at showdown in NLH, it’s rare when two pair, or even trips, will hold up in an O8 showdown. Because you have more cards and more possibilities out there, it’s likely that the nuts, or something close to the nuts, will win most hands of O8.

So, that’s the basics. But you need to know a little more before you are ready to wager actual money on O8. I’m going to give you the bare bones O8 strategy that should keep you from donking away all your chips. Most of the time.

AA isn’t that great

Some players new to O8 will get a pair of aces and think they are going to dominate the hand. Think again. If aces are two of your four cards, even with the best possible combinations, two aces are not a huge favorite. Only part of that edge can be attributed to having a pair of aces. The edge comes in many of the other advantages of having aces in your hand. If you have another card suited to your ace, you can make a nut flush. Combined with other low cards, you have a strong draw toward a low. You can also make straights on both the top and bottom.

Basically, just remember that AA (or KK or QQ, for that matter) offers nowhere near the dominant edge you get in NLH. Don’t get me wrong, it’s better to have two aces than not. But just don’t bet your house simply because you drew a pair of aces.

Don’t play for half the pot

If you learn nothing else before you play O8, learn this concept. You want to have a hand that has a chance to win both the low and the high hand. There are certainly times when you can play for half the pot (for instance when you’ve made the nut flush on the flop with an unpaired board) But getting a lot of money involved when you can only win half the pot is not a winning strategy in the long run. Winning half the pot does not build your winnings significantly, and playing for half the pot can put your chips at risk even when you have a good hand, or possibly the best hand, either high or low.

So, preflop, you want to pick hands that can win both the high and low pots. Above all else, you almost have to have at least an ace in your hand. And you need at least one low card to go with it and preferably two (any two cards 5 or under are generally acceptable). If your low cards are connected, even better, because it gives you better odds of hitting a straight ( i.e. A23x or A45x). If your cards are double suited, even better, but at a minimum you should hope your ace is suited, so you can draw at the nut flush. You can also play starting hands with two low cards and two high cards; once again, suited and connected are preferred (ie As2sKcQc is a great starting hand)

Let’s get more into why you don’t play for half the pot, particularly the low half. Let’s say you are playing that As2sKcQc against four other players and the flop comes 6d7d8d. Hopefully, even without any O8 experience, you can tell you have no chance of winning the high pot here. Right now you do have the nuts low. Your instinct might be to bet here. But that would be a big mistake in a lot of cases Let’s say you’re on the button and the pot has been raised and re-raised in front of you. You might think it’s a no-brainer. But at this point, there’s at least a pretty good chance that someone else might have A2, because anyone who has that combination will pay to see a flop. If you get to showdown, you won’t win the high pot, and you may only win a quarter of the pot. By playing for half the pot in this instance, you’ve cost yourself a lot of chips.

The same problem can manifest itself on the high end, though not as frequently…you can make the same straight as your opponents in a lot of instances.

There are cases when you can play for half the pot, and it doesn’t make sense to fold when you have a good high or low made hand or high or low draws. And you’ll figure that out eventually, or you can read more extensive books on the subject. But to start, remember you want to win all the chips in the pot, not half of them.

Avoid middle cards

A hand with a bunch of middle cards is generally an awful hand to play. I hand like 7s8s9d10d looks really good to a beginner: double suited, and all four cards connected.

However, you are probably playing for only half the pot. The chances of winning a low hand are almost nonexistent. And to win the high pot, you need some specific kinds of boards. You can make the nut straight with this hand, but you can also make the back ends of straights, which will often be dominated by a better straight. And if you make a flush, there’s a pretty good chance someone made a better flush. You can certainly play this kind of hand and win, but it’s not a good idea to play these kinds of cards when you are first starting out playing O8.

Middle pairs have a similar problem. The pair itself is obviously almost never good once you get past the flop, Even if you make trips with something like 99 in your hand, if there are over cards to the board, your trips could be dominated. And if any flush or straight possibility is on the board, you have to face the likelihood that you need to make a full house to win. And even full houses have their dangers. Let’s say you had 99 and the board is 9 K K 10 A. You have a full house. But your full house is beat by a lot of hands (1010, AA, K9, K10, AK).

Simply put, you’re better off tossing hands full of middle cards.

Play for the nuts

This can also be stated another way – don’t chase after a hand or call with a hand that isn’t the nuts.

As I said earlier, in O8, someone in the hand will have the nuts more often than not in a normal game where lots of people are seeing flops. You won’t always hit your hand on the flop, but you may have a draw. Let’s say you have As5s10c9c, and the flop is 2d7d8d. On first glance this hand may look pretty good. You have a low hand, and a draw at a straight. However, there’s a pretty good chance someone has a better low than you (A3, A4, 34 all have you beat). And there’s a pretty good chance someone already has a flush made. If anyone else is betting this hand, you may be throwing money away.

Don’t bluff

It’s possible to bluff in O8. Just don’t do it when you are playing your first game. It should be obvious why bluffing is bad from the rest of this article. O8 is about drawing to hands, and with multiple players, it’s more than likely someone has a good draw toward some kind of hand.

So bluffing to win pots isn’t very effective in a lot of cases, because the odds of you not getting called are pretty small. Save your bets for good drawing hands or hands that are already made.

Just Try It

The idea of this article is simply to try something new. Maybe you’ll hate Omaha hi/lo. Or maybe you’ll love it. Either way, you’ve broadened your poker experience, and that should help any level player.

So the next time you feel like you need a break from hold’em, expand your horizons, and try a new game.

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