General Concepts
When playing in the lower limits, which I’ve defined as $10-$20 and below, there are two kinds of games.
The first type is a game in which people are playing too loosely, especially after the flop; the second is a game where the players generally know what they are doing.
In the first type of game, where people play too loosely, the main error is that many players draw to hands - especially low hands – that are not the nuts.
If you find yourself in a game like this, your primary edge comes from the fact that you won’t be drawing to less than the nuts.
That is, after the flop, you should draw only to the nuts. In games where people play approximately correctly, you must play not only correctly on the flop but also very tightly before the flop.
Notice that there are two different strategies. In a really good game, the primary strategy is to play correctly and tightly on the flop.
In a game that is not so good, you still have an edge as long as you play fewer hands before the flop than your opponents.
When playing low-limit Omaha eight-or-better, if you are simply the tightest player both before the flop and on the flop, you have a significant edge.
However, if the game is fairly good, you will cost yourself a lot of profit if you play too tightly before the flop.
For example, an ace-deuce in a loose game is almost always profitable, even if your other cards are nothing special.
This is because if the flop gives you a low or a draw to a low, other online poker players with ace-trey or deuce-trey will draw to the second and third nuts.
But if the game is reasonably tough, your ace-deuce loses most of its profitability, since other players won’t be drawing to the second and third nuts as often.
And when the low does come, you may have to split the low half, plus there will be fewer people to collect from. ( Even so, an ace-deuce is usually still worth playing.)
Because Omahs eight-or-better has the same structure as Texas holdem, and because even reasonably good players tend to find reasons to play certain hands, if you just play tight before the flop, you will beat even the toughest games. (This should change as more people study this text.) But remember, in the looser games, you will cost yourself some profit.
There is a lot more play to this game than there appears to be. For example, if someone bets, you might need to raise to squeeze another player off a low draw when you also have a low draw.
Even though it doesn’t seem that you can knock out an ace-deuce draw, sometimes it doesn’t pay for an opponent to draw after the flop.
Consequently, if he plays well, he just might throw away his hand. (This works against only a few very good players.)
Introduction / General Concepts / More Specific Ideas / Afterthought
