One of the most common mistakes made by players learning Omaha poker, especially if they come from a Hold'em background, is being tempted to play far too many hands preflop. Each four-card starting hand looks like it has many possibilities to make a variety of hands but in truth you should still play relatively tight, especially in early position.
Omaha is a game that runs far larger than Hold'em in all respects, including the hands that are most profitable. In Hold'em two-pairs and sets are usually strong enough hands to win the pot at showdown but in Omaha it is straights, flushes and full houses that will make you the most money. With this in mind it makes perfect sense to play starting hands that allow you to improve to these types of hands.
Whilst pairs are good to have in Omaha, you really need another draw to go with them. A hand such as AcQcQd6s may look strong but it has many pitfalls. Hitting a bare ace will almost never be enough to get to showdown and flopping a set will often put a possible straight draw on the board. The 6s is a dangler, in that is in almost useless as you cannot make a straight with it and unless the flop comes AdAs6d or similar, you are never going to be in good shape once the big bets start coming in.
Compare the above hand to a “rundown” one such as Td9d8s7s and it is easy to think of flops that really improve your hand. Flopping two pairs with a hand like this will always mean you have a redraw to a straight, often the nuts. For example, say the flop comes down Kd8c7h then you will still have good equity against someone who has played KKxx.
Although AcAcQd6s is a slight favourite against Td9d8s7s it performs very poorly against an overpair such as kings or aces but the rundown hand actually performs well against overpairs, something weak players frequently play, especially in the lower realms of online poker. You need to remember that you are not playing a hand that is good preflop or one that can hit flops hard, you are looking to play hands that you are happy to to take to showdown with, and this means hands that can make big hands and the nuts.
