Poker Strategy

“Naked Aces” in Omaha Poker

When playing Texas Hold’em Poker, a player would literally feel a bit of adrenaline rush when he sees pocket aces in his hands.  This holds true when playing Pot Limit Omaha Poker.  On the other hand though, it does not always follow that all hands which contain aces are that strong.  Let us discuss a bit about the “naked aces” or the uncoordinated aces.

A lot of people who plays Pot Limit Omaha know that the best way to start is to hold A, A, K and K double suited.  This is considered to be a very powerful hand.  In preflop, this would always be ahead.  Accordingly, hands which have aces with a couple of cards which are coordinated are also very powerful.

It is a common scene that players would always get into traps with aces.  This happens when the aces which they are playing are not suited or coordinated.  They would almost always get into that “holdem Poker mentality”.  This mentality is when players would treat starting hands with two aces as if it were like the nuts.  If the aces do not have any backup whatsoever, you would be relying on the aces alone to win.  With only these to win, you would need to be very lucky.

There was once an Omaha Poker tournament a year ago where a player who is very well known to be aggressive opposed to one who is a loose player from the middle position and another player.  The pot had been raised again by the player on the button while the LAG player with all-in reraised and was called.  The LAG player has A, A, 9 and 4 with not suits at all.  On the other hand the opponent has Qh, Jd, 10h and 9s.  The player with the aces would only have 58% chances to win.  It was a coin flip situation almost.  The aces became an underdog when the flop fell 8s, 10c, 2d.  At this point, the player who has the wrap had 57% chances of winning.  Eventually, the player with the wrap hit a straight while the aces were busted.

In this scenario, you would clearly see that you need a wrap to hit and it also demonstrated that a backup for the aces is needed to win. Having a couple of aces at hand is indeed a favorite but to stay ahead, the hand must hit.  Most of the times uncoordinated aces falls behind and does not hit the flop.

How then should you play with uncoordinated aces in hand?  Playing with “naked aces would depend on a lot of factors.  These factors are the type of players, the limits, position and most importantly your stack.  Players with “naked aces” are almost always behind those who pick up a draw. Always bear in mind that you must lightly tread if you would not hit the flop.

Tags:
Omaha, Poker, Pot Limit Omaha, Texas Holdem