by M. Thomas

Winning Omaha players understand the power and beauty of drawing. They welcome certain drawing hands over made hands. Even if you flop the cold cut nuts you can easily can get drawn out on. Say you hold Kh-Th-Tc-Qc and the flop comes 4d-5d-Ts. You have trip tens but your opponent has come out betting pot, going all-in. You call and he shows 3d-6c-7c-8d. He has a wraparound straight draw and a flush draw. If he hits a 2, a 3, a 6, a 7, an 8 or any diamond he wins the pot. he has 20 outs: 9 diamonds, 3 none-diamond twos, 3 non-diamond 3s, 2 sevens, 3 eights. Using the rule of fours we give him an 80% chance to beat you. His is a 4-1 favourite and he doesn't even have a hand yet! He would of course we absolutely right to push all-in with this type of hand: this is huge. Think about like this, your opponent has 20% chance of surviving: the equivalent of drawing to five outs on you. You would love your opponent to draw to five outs!

Play these types of hands to death, bet them, raise them, re-raise and do whatever it takes to get as much money in there as possible. Don't wait to hit with a hand like this: that is fundamentally wrong. Bet it to death: until you force everyone out of the pot or you have a lot of chips in the middle. Put the pressure on. You may win it there and then: that's fine, you aren't made quite yet. But if they do decide to get involved, they are dominated by this monster. Too many Omaha players prefer weak made hands than draws to monsters. This is why many omaha players tend to lose cash: give me a wraparound straight and a flush draw over top two pair any day. In the not very long run, it will win.