Review of Omaha Holdem Poker
- Title:
- Omaha Holdem Poker
- Author:
- Bob Ciaffone
- Publisher:
- Harris Printers, Inc.
- Date:
- 1984
- ISBN:
- -
- Pages:
- 69
- Price:
- $15.00
Note: The edition of Omaha Holdem Poker reviewed here is out of print.
A second edition which is expanded and updated exists, and a
review of
this version is available. This review remains as part of the
historical record.
May 12, 2001
There was a time during the 80's when many people felt that Omaha
(both High-Low and High only) were the games of the future, and that
the poker community would make these two games the most popular in
the world. This hasn't come to pass, but Omaha High-Low is still
quite popular in many card rooms, and even Omaha High has made something
of a comeback in recent years. However, there isn't a lot of information
in print about this game. One of the few books is Ciafonne's Omaha
Holdem Poker which was written during the game's heyday.
After some introductory remarks,
this short book begins with an explanation of the rules of the game,
information about the structure, and discussions on reading the
board. Ciaffone then gets in to strategy questions covering small
sets, flopping two pair, playing draws, and evaluating starting hands.
These chapters culminate in a starting hand quiz and
cover just less than the first half of the book. This information is
pretty reasonable, but obviously fairly sparse in places.
The rest of the book covers pot limit information, calculating insurance,
tournament information, and another quiz on playing hands. There are
five pages that cover Omaha High-Low Split, which is far too short to
do the game justice, especially because even though the game structurally
looks quite similar, I believe that in practice the games are quite
different. Similarities between these games are illusory, and sources
that try to make strategy for one game a simple variant of the other do
a disservice to their readers.
Overall, I found the strategies in this book to be quite good, although
limited. Certainly,
a lot more could be said about the game, so I wish Ciaffone had spent a
little more time covering other situations or presenting more examples,
but the information that is present is worth reading. The biggest plus
for this book, however, is the lack of good Omaha information I've found
from other sources, which makes this the best book I've read on the
subject, but by default. In my opinion, the price tag is steep for
a book that doesn't weigh in at 70 pages, but if you're new to Omaha High
and want to learn how to play, at the time of this writing, Omaha
Holdem Poker is probably your best choice.
Capsule:
This brief book contains good information on how to Play Omaha High
poker. Despite its brevity for the price, it's probably the single best
source of information on playing this game. However, there's no reason
to buy this book unless you're specifically interested in learning how
to play Omaha High. It's too short to merit consideration on general
poker strategy grounds, and the miniscule section on Omaha High Low
doesn't warrant consideration by the serious player.
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