Dealing with AA Preflop
Unlike Texas Holdem, having pocket aces in your hand is not an overly strong combination for a preflop Omaha8 hand. Many players make the mistake of throwing their tournament on the line when they look down at the two aces in their hand. Sure, its better to have them than not but you must take many more things into consideration than you would during a holdem game.
As Omaha8 is about using two of your four hole cards, the value of the AA drops dramatically. if you are in a heads up situation preflop, you have a good chance of winning the high pot. The more players in the hand, the less chance it will hold up. There are too many other hands out there which can upstage your pocket AA. Having 2 pair is extremely common in Omaha8 games, as are straights and flushes, so even if you land another Ace on the flop, you are still not assured of collecting the high pot.
In a multiway pot situation your AA hand is extremely uncertain. If you are in this situation and have a hand such as A-A-9-J, you do not have the luxury of making the low pot. you are basically holding out for flop to add value to your AA. Even sitting with A-A-6-J, if a 6 lands on the flop, you can pretty much say goodbye to your low hand.
Taking the above into consideration, you are probably best to drop the hand in a multiway pot or flat call if you think you will get the opportunity to see a cheap flop. If you are at a pretty tight table and the action has folded around to you. You may take the option to raise and hopefully steal the blinds. if you get called you still have the option of landing, or in a heads up situation, the other player fails to land at least two pair. you are hoping that the board produces no opportunity for a low hand.
Most players seem to assume that having AA in their hand is worth raising in multiway pots. If you call with your AA, not only will you reduce the amount invested into the pot but you will have a deceptively strong hand if you do land on the flop. If the action kicks off, you may take down a massive pot.
At a tighter table, when someone raises before you, you are holding something like A-A-5-Q, you may be best to raise again. Hopefully this will isolate the other player putting you into a heads up situation, giving you a decent chance of collecting.
Premium hands using the AA would be A-A-2-3 or A-A-2-4, especially if two suited. If you get a hand like these you want to raise as much as possible. You want a big pot preflop. Hopefully at worst, you will have the nut low with the possibility of landing the high also.
To conclude. AA is not always a powerful starting hand in an omaha8 game. You need to weigh up the options, you need to take account of your other two hole cards, and you need to balance your options against how many people are in the pot.
Ready to Play Online?
Click to Register at FullTilt use the bonus code
HORSEPOKER
FullTilt Poker have regular Omaha Hi/lo games at all levels of play, from play money to high stake pot limit games. You can also play heads up Omaha Hi/lo games, Single or multi table tournaments. There is also several satellites tournaments where you can work your way through the stage to get into some of the high roller tournaments with big payout's.
Horse At FullTilt Poker
Full Tilt offer all the components of Horse on an individual basis but also offer plenty of horse tournaments. Unlike many other sites which may offer these games, FullTilt is fairly unique in the industry, in that the tables usually fill up fairy quickly 24/7.
