Pot limit Omaha is quickly becoming a popular form of poker, and for good reason. It’s maybe the most complicated poker variant available at most online poker sites, but that’s what’s so great about it: your opponents at the lower limits will play badly. By learning some of the basics of Omaha, and applying them, you’ll be able to turn a profit both at poker tournaments and at the cash game tables.

Let’s look at an example of a premium starting hand: Ah-Ad-Jh-Td. This hand has a lot going for it. For one, it has a pair of aces. Unlike in Texas Holdem, that’s not very strong by itself, but it gives you a good opportunity to make top set or a full house. Next, it’s double suited, which means you have two ways to make a flush, in this case the nut flush. Finally, it gives you a few ways to make a straight: AJ, AT, and JT. To recap, these are the things you’re looking for in an Omaha hand: pairs, with two pairs also being good, because of the extra chances to hit sets and full houses; suited cards, especially if one of them is an ace, and better still if you’re double-suited; and connecting cards, (cards that are right next to each other in value), to give you a chance to make a straight.

Be careful to avoid especially bad starting hands. Four aces may look good, but it’s a horrible hand, because you only get to use two of your aces, and another ace can’t possibly come on the board. When you have three or four cards to a suit, your odds of making a flush go down, because there are fewer cards in your suit left to come on the board. Remember, if your cards don’t give you several ways to make a good hand, throw them away.

Once you enter a hand, if you don’t get the nuts, be careful. Your can form big hands more easily in Omaha than in Texas Hold’em, but so can your opponents. When the board shows connecting cards, worry about straights. When it comes three to a flush, worry about flushes. And when the board pairs, worry about full houses.

If you understand these basics of poker game, you should know enough the beat the low stakes games for some good money. Get in a game, and claim your chips.