If you really want to stand the best chance of winning at Omaha poker, here are some really useful tips that will help you to get the better of other players around the table.

1. The best tip you can have is that of knowing when you should see the flop, basing your assumption on the opening hands. The best hole cards to be dealt are two pair of high cards, especially aces and kings or aces and queens, as these can potentially form three or four of a kind with the flop. Next best and still very useful are a single high pair plus closely ranked cards, for instance a pair of kings with an ace and a queen or jack that can be used to create a straight from a helpful flop. Naturally, it’s best if your cards are suited, but it’s not the be all and end all.

2. It is a futile gesture to hope to be lucky on the river as more often than not you need to have already established a potentially winnable hand before that if you want to be a long term winner.

3. Remember that you are only playing two of your hole cards and three from the flop and as such you actually don’t want to be dealt a really good hand in your hole. To be dealt four of a kind is a disaster, because it means you are stuck with either two pair or a full house at best as you effectively have to discard two of your hole cards. If the flop produces another pair or three of a kind, everyone else at the table can use them so unless you have aces or kings in your hole, chances are you’ll be beaten.

4. Play for the nuts. Remember that when playing Omaha, the possibilities for a producing a flush or straight are higher than for Texas Hold’em, due to the additional hole cards. It means that if you can make a low flush with your cards plus the flop, chances are other players can too and it could be higher than yours. So where a chance of a flush or a straight exists, draw for the highest you can.

5. Look out for bad or novice players. You can usually spot a fish on a table as they tend to gravitate to tables with lots of hole cards out, which is something you should not make a habit of doing. They’ll play weak hands right up to the river, draw for a weak flush or low straight and bluff on bad hands at all the wrong times.

It may sound harsh to hear, but you’re playing poker to win money and there are no friends or compassionate winners in this game. The easiest poker players to take money from are fishes, not other experienced players. So when you join a table full of novice players give them some hard lessons and take all their chips. Remember, if you don’t take it from them, another experienced player will.