Living Large in Online Omaha/8’s Land of Opportunity

Wednesday, June 18, I wrote a post entitled, “Is Omaha/8 Poker’s Land of Opportunity?” In it, I wrote, “Online poker players have changed Texas hold’em—particularly no-limit and tournament hold’em—dramatically in recent years, and if you don’t keep up with the game, you won’t recognize it. Newish concepts, such as “floating” and the use of Independent Chip Modeling are attributes of Texas hold’em that weren’t commonplace as recently as three or four years ago.

They raise way too often before the flop, call raises with hands that look to be one-way only, play draws in the face of bets and raises that are not draws to the nuts, and that sort of thing. It seems to me that Omaha/8 is the Land of Opportunity in online poker right now.”

Yesterday I confirmed my suspicions. I played two tables of Omaha/8 simultaneously and they might as well have been the same game. While the majority of the players were different at the two tables, the level of play, and the kind of mistakes the players made were so similar you would have thought that they were all following a recipe in a cookbook.

Then I had to get up and run a few errands. When I got back, no Omaha seats were available so I played hold’em. What a difference. The skill levels were so much better that there really was no comparison. Far fewer players saw the flop, and the majority of players brought it in for a raise instead of coming in with a call, and there was very little—if any—dead money at my table. A quick check of other tables told a similar story. Few players saw each flop, and those who did, played aggressively.

I quickly put myself on the waiting list for all the Omaha/8 games, treaded water playing hold’em, and felt like a kid in the candy store when a seat finally became available in Omaha/8.

The message is clear to me: Online Omaha/8 is right now much more beatable than limit hold’em. So do yourself a favor. Take it easy, and take it.