Poker Dot Com

Bill Boston has devoted years of his life to playing, studying, and analyzing Omaha High-Low and gives readers the benefit of his time and effort in his newest book, "Omaha High-Low For Low-limit Players." This relatively short, easy-to-read book is packed with all the advice, strategy and raw data to get you started at becoming a successful low-limit player at one of poker´s most confounding games.
It has been said that Omaha High-Low, also known as 8/b, or Hi-Lo, is a game made by sadists to be played by masochists, and there is some truth to that. There are various combinations of cards to keep in mind while trying to make both the best high and the best low hand, and it´s one of the rare games that goes to the flop with multiple players and where drawing is the norm. You need a much stronger hand to win the pot and, for someone used to Hold´em, learning to read your hand and the board takes a little practice. But Boston has a way to make the transition to the game relatively smooth.
Thanks to hours and hours of computer simulations, Boston has broken down all the possible starting hand combinations - all 5,278 of them - and determined their rank. Based on these hand simulations, he can tell you what starting hands are worth playing and what are only going to get you into trouble.
Boston starts with the basic premise that, more than Hold´em, Omaha is a hand driven game. The ability to read your hand and reevaluate its strength as the community cards are dealt is crucial. It may be hard at first, and that is why he recommends practicing either the old fashioned way, with cards spread out before you, or the easier way, on online free games. You have to deal with two major differences from Hold´em: the requirement that you use exactly two of your hole cards and the fact that you are trying to make two polar opposite hands - the best possible high and the best possible low.
Knowing these basics, it is easy to realize that having an ace-deuce in your starting hole cards, gives you the draw to the nut low. It also helps you to realize that having four of the same suit, or three or four of the same rank of cards is actually bad as it reduces the chance of your hand improving. While we can assume 2008 WSOP Omaha Hi-Lo World Champion David Benyamine knows these little facts, and hundreds more, low-limit players who are taking their first foray into this game may be learning this for the first time.
Boston gives the reader a few starting hands to give practice in reading your hand. And as Boston goes through all these basic rules, the novice He identifies certain "profitable" starting hands - those with the best potential preflop - that the new player should focus on in order to become a winning player. And he warns that of the over 5,000 possible starting hands, 4,000 will be unprofitable in the long run.
As important as recognizing good starting hands, Boston realizes that avoiding problem hands is just as important. One chapter is devoted to those hands that look deceptively strong yet can cost you at the table. Another is spent on how to play the ace-deuce starters for fun and profit based on the other cards in your hand and the community cards. The bottom line, while ace-deuce is a great starting combination, you will lose in the long run if you consistently chase after a bad flop. Reevaluating your hand is the mantra.
A reality for new Omaha Hi-Lo players to face - by the turn, there will be a possible straight, flush or full house on the board. With each of your opponents having six different hole card combinations, the "possible" becomes likely. That is a scary proposition for the novice and Boston takes you through the turn and how it might affect your play in its own chapter. Also tough for the novice - learning to let go of your hand on the river if you´re beat. You won´t make money in low limit games if you pay off with second best on the river.
Boston discusses how to play marginal hands and how to play high hands, and then wraps up the discussion with how to avoid mistakes, possibly the most important chapter. Playing trap hands (cards that will seldom make the best hand), chasing after the flop, and playing too many hands are all particularly costly mistakes in Omaha hi-lo. But Boston includes other mistakes that will cost you in whatever game you´re playing - playing drunk, playing too long, letting your emotions get in your way, and not leaving when you should.
The second half of the book is an indispensible tool for the new players. It is a chart of all possible starting hands and their rank from best (A-A-2-3) to worst (K-K-K-K). In this simple fashion, Boston steers you to the best starting hands so you can maximize your chances at the table. While, as your game improves, you might tweak your starting hand list, the chart is a great way to get you started in being able to evaluate your hole cards so you don´t invest in hands with low value.
There is no guarantee that you will be at next year´s Omaha Hi-Lo World Championship final table after reading this book. But you will be a more knowledgeable player, more aware of the value of your hand and more cautious about chasing bad hands.