Omaha?

My buddy in San Antonio talked me into venturing into a game I am not at all familiar with, pot limit Omaha. Playing a game for money at a disadvantage is something I usually discourage but I let myself get talked into it. So, for the last two evenings, along with a few tables of NLHE, I have also been playing a table of Omaha. Interestingly enough, I have done fairly well. It seems to me, in my overly simplistic manner, Omaha is a game of draws and making a big hand by the river. So, what do you suppose my primary strategy has been? Don’t let the villains see the river. I usually bet pot pre-flop and on the flop if I have a decent starting hand. This works well since everyone always wants to limp in. I take down plenty of pots pre-flop and some on the flop, too. This creates an image of a maniac to the table and really helps me get paid off when I do make a big hand. Overall, for Omaha, I have netted 4 buy-ins for the last two nights.

For my “bread and butter” game, I have had a good week, too. I am up 7 buy-ins. This despite the fact that my pocket Kings keep getting cracked by pocket 9s flopping a set. Normally, this would not bother me at all but in both the hands this week, the guy with the 9s HAD to know by the way I played my hand that he was up against a massive overpair. Imagine this pre-flop, four limpers and I raise 4xbb, guy with 9-9 re-raises to 12xbb and I re-raise all in. If I were him, I would fold my 9s since you would need approx 8 to 1 pot odds to set mine and I am not giving that to him. But of course, he makes the donktastic call and f’ing hits his set. Then, I also get the usual coolers like running my J-J right into Q-Q. I bet pot pre-flop after a couple of limpers and get called by 2 villains. Flop is all undercards to my Jacks and since the pot is now about half of my remaining stack, I move in. Only the guy with Q-Q calls and neither one of us improves on the turn or river so I get stacked - just another typical evening on PokerScars for our hero. Nonetheless, I am up for the week and looking forward to the weekend.