Omaha for a living?

For a long time now I've been making very steady profits playing Hold'Em live and online. I've made damn good money doing it, although I still do hold a steady job at a casino dealing Hold'Em so I wouldn't consider myself a professional, I do make more money playing poker than I do dealing it at the casino.

In the last calendar year, from the time I went to the WSOP last summer in Vegas, cashed in an event and had very steady cash game profits during the trip, I can now basically give a rough estimate of my net profit in one calendar year from poker :

$55,000

Certainly it's not totally a life altering some of money, but coupled with a steady high paying job that gives me a ton of freedom to drop shifts whenever I feel like it and pick them up whenever I feel like it between co-workers, it's made the calendar year very kind to me financially.

With that said, the last month now has been very trying for me along those same levels. First of all, our casino walked out for a strike on June 1st(we just returned to work on Saturday) which took those paychecks from me. Couple that with what was easily the worst downswing of my poker career, where I felt like I was playing fine, and Hold'Em Managers EV rating for me during my sessions in this timeframe basically told me that same story, I could not for the life of me win any hands. No matter what I did, it was never good enough, and no matter how far ahead I put my money in, I never held. It was a very sour timeframe for me pokerwise.

I recently messaged a friend of mine who plays 5/10 NL online for a living, and we had a long discussion, because he had been telling me about a month ago that he had gone through a similar immense and terrible downswing of his own despite very high EV ratings during that timeframe. I asked him what he did to go about getting out of the swing and got some ideas. Now, I know I made a long post last year about dealing with downswings, and at the time I got alot of compliments for the way it was written. This isn't meant to be another one of those posts, it's just more a story of how I got to this point now :

One of the things my buddy suggested was I should try and play Omaha a bit, because he felt like most players play hold'em moderately decent, but there are still a vast majority of mid-limit Omaha players that won't play a single hand right in an entire session, and play nightmarishly bad. The edge a solid players has in Omaha is way higher than the edge a solid player has in Hold'em in mid-limit play.

So about a week ago now, I took him up on that theory, and started playing .50/1 PL Omaha cash games on Full Tilt.

He was right, I just had no idea how right he actually was. In truth, people actually don't have the slightest clue what they're doing at this level.

The truth is, the Omaha games in low-mid limits are hold'em players playing Omaha with no idea what the difference is, and they're just playing Hold'Em over here. The edge I carry in this game is VASTLY better than it is in Hold'Em, not that I don't hold an edge in hold'em...

So I'm starting to really consider, not necessarily never going back to Hold'Em, but playing drastically less Hold'Em than Omaha for the forseeable future. My downswing is almost all recouped in the last week playing Omaha. And I see so many fundamental mistakes in the way the players play Omaha on here that it's hard not to see this as a better long term option than Hold'Em.

One big mistake I see is the drastic overplaying of Aces/Kings/Queens if it has rag rag with it, as I mentioned earlier, it's like players see that and their hold'em mentality of "omfg AA allin" takes over. It's not necessarily that I'm saying AAxx should be folded preflop, but playing it slower unless it comes with something else is always a more sound way to play in my eyes. I actually frequently wonder, do you think players realize that in Omaha, AAxx isn't always a favourite? Or, like I said, are they all Hold'Em players playing Omaha with no idea that AA-rag-rag is an underdog against powerful drawing hands like 6-7-8-9 double suited? Hence my theory of taking it easy unless my AA comes with some draw cards also.

The other one that really puzzles me is XXYY, I've seen that overplayed so many times this last week it makes my headspin. All in preflop with 8/8/5/5 as if it's some kind of magic superhand. Infact, as I type this paragraph I shit you not, I'm playing Omaha and just saw a kid get into a $225 dollar pot all in preflop at .50/1 PL against As/Ah/Qh/Js with 8c/8d/3c/3h. Oh wow! Two opportunities to make a set! You've got, uh....4 outs. YA!

So this is where I stand now, Omaha is my game online until someone tells me otherwise.

My NL Hold'Em .50/1 or 1/2 winrate was about 4.67 BB/100 hands.

My PL Omaha .50/1 winrate is at 10.47 BB/100 hands for the last week and a half now.

Granted it's a small sample size, but it's also not like I'm running really hot, infact, my wins are actually still below my EV for the time I've been playing because of a few bad beats including one memorable massive pot for .50/1 PL where I had my Ah/As/Ks/Jh cracked by QQxx with a Q on the river for a nearly 480 dollar pot(buyin is 100 to the game, we got all in preflop...like I said, ruthlessly overplay their hands).

Here's a sample of one of the tables from the session I just played. Nothing fancy, but it gives you a small idea...

Full Tilt Poker Game #7546261584: Table Peartree (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 8:36:02 ET - 2008/08/07
Seat 1: ufl1279 ($100)
Seat 2: manychoicezrong ($60.95)
Seat 3: ice2601 ($102.95), is sitting out
Seat 5: crystal_donkey ($100.85)
Seat 6: FeiereiAlda ($182.60)
FeiereiAlda posts the small blind of $0.50
ufl1279 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [8s Kh 9s Qh]
manychoicezrong calls $1
crystal_donkey raises to $4.50
FeiereiAlda folds
ufl1279 calls $3.50
manychoicezrong calls $3.50
*** FLOP *** [9c 2h Qc]
ufl1279 bets $10
manychoicezrong folds
crystal_donkey calls $10
*** TURN *** [9c 2h Qc] [Jc]
ufl1279 has 15 seconds left to act
ufl1279 bets $10
crystal_donkey calls $10
*** RIVER *** [9c 2h Qc Jc] [9d]
ufl1279 has 15 seconds left to act
ufl1279 bets $10
crystal_donkey has 15 seconds left to act
crystal_donkey raises to $76.35, and is all in
ufl1279 has 15 seconds left to act
ufl1279 has requested TIME
ufl1279 calls $65.50, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $0.85 returned to crystal_donkey
*** SHOW DOWN ***
crystal_donkey shows [8s Kh 9s Qh] a full house, Nines full of Queens
ufl1279 mucks
crystal_donkey wins the pot ($203) with a full house, Nines full of Queens
ufl1279 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $205 Rake $2
Board: [9c 2h Qc Jc 9d]
Seat 1: ufl1279 (big blind) mucked [As 2c Qs Ac] - a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: manychoicezrong folded on the Flop
Seat 3: ice2601 is sitting out
Seat 5: crystal_donkey (button) showed [8s Kh 9s Qh] and won ($203) with a full house, Nines full of Queens
Seat 6: FeiereiAlda (small blind) folded before the Flop

A pretty good first example, anyone who stacks off an entire buyin with a flush on a paired board in Omaha cash game play is playing badly. There's not a single thing I can push there that a flush has beat on that river. Not one.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7546280814: Table Peartree (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 8:39:23 ET - 2008/08/07
Seat 1: ufl1279 ($104.15)
Seat 2: manychoicezrong ($50.95)
Seat 3: ice2601 ($102.95), is sitting out
Seat 4: suktej ($20)
Seat 5: crystal_donkey ($206.55)
Seat 6: FeiereiAlda ($180.10)
FeiereiAlda posts the small blind of $0.50
ufl1279 posts the big blind of $1
suktej posts $1
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Ts 7d 5s Tc]
manychoicezrong calls $1
suktej checks
crystal_donkey has 15 seconds left to act
crystal_donkey calls $1
FeiereiAlda calls $0.50
ufl1279 checks
*** FLOP *** [6h Js 4s]
FeiereiAlda checks
ufl1279 checks
manychoicezrong checks
suktej bets $5
crystal_donkey raises to $12.50
FeiereiAlda foldsufl1279 has 15 seconds left to act
ufl1279 folds
manychoicezrong folds
suktej has 15 seconds left to act
suktej has requested TIME
suktej raises to $19, and is all in
crystal_donkey calls $6.50
suktej shows [2d Th 6d Jh]
crystal_donkey shows [Ts 7d 5s Tc]
*** TURN *** [6h Js 4s] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [6h Js 4s Td] [Qc]
suktej shows two pair, Jacks and Tens
crystal_donkey shows three of a kind, Tens
crystal_donkey wins the pot ($40.85) with three of a kind, Tens
suktej is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $43 Rake $2.15
Board: [6h Js 4s Td Qc]
Seat 1: ufl1279 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: manychoicezrong folded on the Flop
Seat 3: ice2601 is sitting out
Seat 4: suktej showed [2d Th 6d Jh] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Tens
Seat 5: crystal_donkey (button) showed [Ts 7d 5s Tc] and won ($40.85) with three of a kind, Tens
Seat 6: FeiereiAlda (small blind) folded on the Flop

Pretty standard hand Omaha hand, gigantic draw against a made hand. I got my outs but not the ones I was expecting. I am a favourite when the money went in though, 52-48.

From the other table I was playing...I'm not sure if I like my play on this hand, the flop looked real good for me though flopping top pair and the flush draw...

Full Tilt Poker Game #7546292371: Table Cecile (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 8:41:22 ET - 2008/08/07
Seat 1: crystal_donkey ($155.15)
Seat 2: kern3 ($106.20)
Seat 3: Udaff76 ($133.60)
Seat 4: maugiu ($41)
Seat 5: dritto ($100)
Seat 6: Goro_78_ ($61.65), is sitting out
Udaff76 posts the small blind of $0.50
maugiu posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Th 6c 7h Ac]
crystal_donkey raises to $3.50
kern3 folds
Udaff76 calls $3
maugiu calls $2.50
*** FLOP *** [2h As 8h]
Udaff76 checks
maugiu checks
crystal_donkey bets $10.50
Udaff76 folds
maugiu calls $10.50
*** TURN *** [2h As 8h] [Ks]
maugiu checks
crystal_donkey bets $31.50
maugiu calls $27, and is all in
crystal_donkey shows [Th 6c 7h Ac]
maugiu shows [Kh Jd Qs 3h]
Uncalled bet of $4.50 returned to crystal_donkey
*** RIVER *** [2h As 8h Ks] [8c]
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Aces and Eights
maugiu shows two pair, Kings and Eights
crystal_donkey wins the pot ($83.50) with two pair, Aces and Eights
maugiu is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $85.50 Rake $2
Board: [2h As 8h Ks 8c]
Seat 1: crystal_donkey showed [Th 6c 7h Ac] and won ($83.50) with two pair, Aces and Eights
Seat 2: kern3 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Udaff76 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: maugiu (big blind) showed [Kh Jd Qs 3h] and lost with two pair, Kings and Eights
Seat 5: dritto is sitting outSeat 6: Goro_78_ is sitting out

So ya, those are a few of the hands I played this last session, I ended up making $350 for the session, I was only on two tables and only put in 2 hours, so in that timeframe I made almost 2 buyins an hour...

I would highly recommend if you have a grasp on Omaha play, start playing it cash game style, the play is a whole lot weaker than Hold'Em crowds. Not that the Hold'Em play is spectacular, but people literally don't know what they're doing in Omaha.