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Omaha High Raising Before The Flop

In all of the popular poker variations, there are only three types of things that you can do during a betting round: call, fold, or bet/raise. In a game such as Omaha High, your decision on which when to do is crucial, and the strongest of all three of the decisions is that to raise/bet. By doing this, you are making yourself the aggressor in the game, and you automatically have a step ahead of your opponent when doing this. After saying that, I must warn that there are some consequences that can come with raising, such as been trapped and losing a lot of money.


Deciding to raise/bet prior to the flop is a very aggressive move that many beginner players are intimidated of. When doing this, you haven't even seen the possible 5 cards that are going to make your hand, so essentially you are making a bet blind in a sense. By doing this you show a great sign of strength, and thus there are only two reasons why a play should raise/bet preflop; when bluffing, or when having a strong hand.


When Bluffing
In order to understand how to bluff with a raise/bet before the flop, you first have to know what a bluff is. In an easy definition, a bluff is a deception of your cards where you depict the illusion that your hand is stronger then it really is. With that being said, you are only really bluffing when your hand is weak, however, there are occasions where you are betting with a weak hand that has the potential to be the winning hand. This method of betting is called semi-bluffing, but that strategy won't be discussed more until later articles.


There are a couple reasons why a player would want to bluff at a pot, and in order to execute them well, a raise/bet before the flop is suggested. The first reason why one would bluff is in order to try and steal the blinds. This usually occurs when a play is in the big blind, and he has a couple of opponents who have only called the blind. This is known as limping in, and when this happens it is good to occasionally raise the pot when it comes to you in order to show strength and cause the other players to fold. If you have any callers, then you have to hope the flop benefits you. If everyone folds then you have successfully stolen the pot, however, if a player raises you then you have to determine if your hand is strong enough to call. If you have a mediocre hand it is better to fold, and take the loss, then try and draw out on the flop.

The next reason that you would try and bluff is in order to mix up your play. It is not good to always bet when you have hands, and fold when you don't, because then obviously players will know how you play. A good poker player has the ability to slow-play KK, bet AA, and re-raise with 7-2. Trying to make your play as untraceable as possible is difficult, yet bluffing is a great way to do it. If you decide you want to bluff on a hand, it is important to raise/bet before the flop to show your strength. Then if a nice flop comes with high-cards you will be able to make another bet in order to show strength. These scare cards will get rid of any mid or low pairs, but if you get any callers watch out for the monsters and slow-players.


When Playing a Strong Hand
Although it is a pretty obvious move to bet/raise when you are dealt a strong hand prior to the flop, there are so important strategies to follow when doing it. The reasons for raising with a good hand is to get out all the garbage hands so they don't beat you if the flop comes with low cards, and to get more money in the pot for you too win it. If you are going to decide to raise with your strong hand, make sure that if it is called that you will have a good chance to win if the flop comes strong. That is, don't raise with high cards, if you know that if your high cards come you still might lose because of a kicker. Another suggestion that I have if you decide to raise/bet before the flop is to try not to play AA and KK so strong. These are two of the best hands, and sometimes you need to take the risk of slow playing them. This goes a long with mixing up your play, since if you always raise with them, then players will stop calling you and you will win minimal money with great hands.


Applying this to Omaha High
Now that you know the basic strategy for betting/raising before the flop, it is important to understand how those tactics apply directly to playing Omaha High. Since you receive four cards in Omaha High, you obviously have a better chance of being dealt a good starting hand. Being that this is true, you have to scale your hand strength, since your opponents also have a better chance of being dealt a good hand. Along with that, you need to limit how many times you attempt to steal the blinds, since so many players are tempted to call their starting hands in Omaha High no matter there strength. This is due to the fact that for some reason, players automatically assume that with the addition of two cards to your starting hand, that they will always hit something on the flop. This is of course not true, however, it makes players call when they shouldn't, and thus making it harder for you to try and bluff and steal the blinds.


In this article, I concentrated on betting/raising prior to the flop in an Omaha High game. Although I focused just on Omaha High, all of these strategies can be used in Texas Holdem as well except for the last piece of information entitled, “Applying this to Omaha High.” With that being said, I am going to try and create a detailed article describing the application of these tactics in each of the games, that way, no matter your variation of choice, you will be well informed. Good Luck.


Resources
Play Play Omaha Online
Omaha High Low Strategy