Omaha Sit and Go Tournament Strategy - The Basics

Although they are very different games, much of thelittle.
same strategy from Texas hold'em sit and goBlind steals gone wrong
tournaments can be applied to Omaha sit and goOne thing you might be a little limited by is the ability to
tournaments as well. Fundamentally you should beonly make the 3.5x raise pot limit allows when you
taking the same approach - play tight early, avoidwould like to go all-in and maximize your fold equity.
calling for all your chips, and try to push to win potsThe truth is that there is little difference because the
without a showdown.two because if one calls for such a big percentage of
Early game adjustmentstheir stack preflop they should usually put the rest in
The fact that busting out means you lose all of yourafter the flop, but most of your opponents don't
equity in the prize pool, while doubling up does notrecognize this. Against bad players, often times you will
double your equity, means that to play for a lot ofget called and have to take a flop in a bad situation
chips early on, you need to have a big advantage. Inwhere it is likely you will have to play for all your chips.
Texas hold'em sngs such opportunities come up fairlyThe key on these flops is if it is checked to you, bet
often, such as with having a big pair preflop, or hitting athe maximum (which will usually be all-in) with any
set on the flop, making a flush, etc. But in Omaha mostpiece of the flop. Many players will make some very
hands are only about a 6:5 favorite preflop and evenbad folds in this spot and these steals alone can give
after a favorable flop for your hand has hit youryou a big edge. But don't take this too far. If you raised
opponents will usually be drawing very live. The resultwith A24J, for example, and flop comes QJT, just
is that you should play very tight early on, even tightercheck behind and hope for a free showdown.
than in hold'em sng tournaments, waiting for only theThe endgame and heads-up play
most absolute premium hands like a pair of aces withAfter the bubble has burst and you have made the
a wheel card, or A23x. This can be quite boring andcash, you should ramp up your aggression even
would be easy to take advantage of in a cash game,further. Especially since these tournaments tend to run
but is the correct Omaha sng strategy.long as there are a lot of split all-in pots, blind stealing of
The bubblethe relatively large blinds is the key to victory. Usually
The bubble is also affected by the concept that inyou should raise on the button or small blind with any
Omaha, hands run close together in value. Manyfour cards, except for maybe trips and other absolute
players make the mistake of waiting for a "premium"trash hands. When your blind is raised, consider the pot
hand to push with, like those containing an ace deuceodds carefully and almost never fold getting 1.5 to 1 or
or a pair of aces. But the truth is that hands that wouldbetter. For calling with longer odds, the best hands to
be trash with a big stack like KT53 are just about ascall with are two aces, ace + low + face card, and big
good as A234. The only dominating hand is indeed apair + two low cards. In general at the end you should
pair of aces, but against a hand with both low andlean toward calling very loose, as well as reraising all-in
straight possibilities even it can be as little as a 55-45often against opponents that may make a terrible fold.
favorite preflop. With aces and a short stack of 10Heads up, you should be raising the button with almost
times the big blind or less, you should either push all in,all of your hands and betting aggressively after the
or in pot limit, make the maximum raise - and youflop as well. More than any other form of poker,
should be making the maximum raise in later positionaggression gets the money in Omaha sit and go
with other hands as well. The hands to look for aretournaments. Since you are never in that bad of shape
any hand containing an ace and at least one low cardeven if called, the game revolves around who can get
- these actually all run very close in value, hands withtheir opponents to fold the most.
both low and straight possibilities, double suited hands,Omaha sit and go strategy is some of the simplest in
and hands with both a pair and the ability to make apoker, yet many players play very badly. This makes
low. It matters little whether your hand is JJ75 or A234,these tournaments extremely profitable, especially if
and in fact the sort of hands that are likely to call youyou can combine these basic tips with experience in
will actually have you in worse shape if you push withfundamental Texas hold'em sit and go play. Above all
the "better" A234 hand. The main point of all this is thatremember that in Omaha, hands are very close
you should be pushing very aggressively in late positiontogether in value, so bet more and call less.
on the bubble of an Omaha sit and go, and calling very