Advanced – Omaha Table Selection

Strategy and Tips for Selecting the Right Table in Online Omaha Games

Whether you intend on playing Omaha, Holdem or Stud Poker you need to make sure you have a firm grasp on table selection. This is vital for any player especially when determining if the game is going to be relatively soft or extremely difficult. There is nothing worse than sitting down at a table only to find out the majority of opponents you’re up against will eat you alive. You want to find games you can beat and to do this you need to be able to have an understanding of good table selection, especially in Omaha.
Using Lobby Statistics

The biggest benefit the online poker sites provide you over brick and mortar card rooms is statistics. You can’t walk into a card room and know which tables have the weakest players without sitting down and testing it yourself. You can however choose your table online and the statistics the poker rooms offer you are absolutely critical for analysis. Before you even begin to join a poker game, pay close attention to two pieces of data the room provides you – the average size of the pot and the percentage of players who see the flop. With this information you can quickly asses the table and conditions which will allow you to determine if the table is full of loose or over aggressive players, passive players and tight players. The styles of the players your up against is one of the best pieces of information you could ever receive. A table with a high viewed flop percentage but low pots is likely to be passive opponents who will likely fold pre-flop or on the flop when they feel their hands aren’t quite strong enough. A table with a low viewed flop percentage and an above average size of pots is likely seated with aggressive and experienced players. Finally, a table with a high viewed flop percentage and big pots is more than likely players who are weak in Omaha and can be pegged as aggressive or loose players.
Choose the Table That Suits Your Game

Most strategy articles advise players to adapt to the game and play the opposite of what their opponents are. This usually means if it’s a tight table you can generally loosen up your starting hand requirements and most likely take a few blinds, where as if it’s a loose table you should tighten your starting hand requirements. In Omaha this is absolutely critical. You’ll win more hands, and bigger pots over the long run if you tighten up your hand requirements in a loose table and loosen them in a tight table. While you need to use the statistics above, its critical to watch how the table plays out before diving in to take your seat. Likewise you should also pay attention to the open seats at the table and the players to the right and left of you. You want to be able to push your opponents off of a hand, not have them push you.
Review The Table Again

Suppose you found the perfect table and after 45 minutes the game seems to have changed. Playing poker online means you’ll be playing hundreds of players and it’s not uncommon to have played at least a dozen different players over a 15 – 20 minute session. They come and go quickly and it’s because of this you should continue to pay attention to your surroundings and the players who are new to the table. Although the table was great five hands ago doesn’t mean it’s going to be great in the next 20 hands. After two or three new opponents you’ll find the game can change drastically. If you find your winning session is now turning into a losing one, and it’s not necessarily due to you, our best advice is to move tables. The games constantly change and there’s no reason you have to stay at one table.

Once you’ve found your table, remember to use good starting hand strategy for Omaha games so you’ll be one step ahead of the game when it comes to playing on the flop.

Related posts:

1. Advanced – Playing the Flop in Omaha
2. Beginner Omaha – Omaha Hi Lo Myths
3. Beginner Omaha – Omaha 8 Starting Hands
4. Beginner Omaha – Omaha Pre-Flop Strategy
5. Advanced – Pot Limit Omaha Cash Game Strategy

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Posted by Senior Editor on Feb 10 2011. Filed under Poker Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.