I see many players play pairs and even raise with them. Pairs alone, even AA, is not a good hand in Omaha Hi-Lo. Please note though, I speak of low-limit Omaha Hi-Lo, as that is usually the most popular Omaha that is spread.

In Omaha Hi-Lo the high is usually won by a straight or better. If you have a pair in your hand you have only two outs in the deck to make three of a kind. On top of that, you now need to pair the board in order to make your hand.

You can double your chance of making a full house if you play two pairs, but never come in with just one pair alone. The odds are not worth it.

There is a hand in Omaha that is so powerful I always raise with it. The hand consist of four cards in a row. For example, 4-5-6-7, or 7-8-9-10.

If the hand has some suited cards that’s even better.

No Limit Hold ‘Em has swept the nation. I’m still figuring out why. I used to play the game all the time but have since abandoned it for Limit Hold ‘Em.

Maybe I have the game all figured wrong. Here are some of my observations.

1> When you sit down, there is usually a maximum buyin (unless you play high stakes). This seems to put you at a disadvantage to other players already there who may have 10x or more than you. You are definately a candidate to be bullied.

2> The game seems to favor luck over skill. The last 13 times I went all in, I had the best hand 12 times. So I must have skill because I know when I have the best hand. All 13 times I lost all my money. Maybe I shouldn’t go all in with the best hand, in which case I’m not as good a player as I think.

3> You can play this game for hours and build up all your chips, then lose them all to some guy who chases a flush (roughly a 14% chance of catching) and hits on the river. Yes, I did go all in and make it hard for them to call. Yes they were only getting 1-1 on their money. They call anyway and they get there.

Compare the above to Limit Hold ‘Em where you can buy-in for as much as you want. You can’t be bullied. Yes you do get bad beats there also but at Limit Hold ‘Em you have to suffer quite a few bad beats in order to lose all your money, not just one.

My conclusion thus comes to be that if you are a lucky player, No Limit is your game. You’ll build chips faster. If you are a skillful player, Limit is better off because if luck isn’t on your side, you can still come out ahead over the short term.

The first thing I like to establish when I sit at a new game of No Limit is the amount of bet required to steal the blinds.

This is important because you don’t always get cards and to stay alive, you’ll need to keep up with the blinds. This is also important in No Limit Tournaments.