Customer Reviews

The Winner's Guide to Omaha Poker

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Man, having been pleasantly surprised by the amount of useful material that was in Ken Warren's first two Hold'em books, I was extremely surprised by how little he packed into this book about Omaha. I think it was ridiculous having so many pages devoted to reading both hi and lo hands. The examples took up so much space, no wonder he was able to get so many pages out of so little material. He had very little advice on what specific hands to select, how to play pre-flop, how to play post-flop, not to mention very little on play at the turn and after the river. I really enjoyed his second book on hold'em, but I want to warn anyone that is thinking about getting this book not to expect very much out of it. I really wish he had used the same format as his previous book, with assignments at the end of each chapter to apply what you have learned, but he did not.

Although the title is a bit misleading, this book is a good intro to Omaha. I would have given it 4 stars, but I feel the title is a bit misplaced... Better would something like 'Introduction to Omaha'.

That being said, I think that the author does a good job of trying to hammer home the differences between Hold'em (where most players are coming from) and Omaha. He does a great job of providing dozens of examples of reading the board in relation to hand - a topic that can be very confusing, especially in the beginning.

What this book lacks however, is more meat on post flop play. Also, some firmer numbers on how Omaha can be more profitable than Hold'em. He talks about how the pots are bigger, but also how high/low and low splits can eat into your win rate. Additionally, he makes some strong aurguments for why 'better' players will not have as much of an edge in Omaha, but doesn't really get into how to be a 'winner' beyond the topic of starting hand selection.

All and all, I think that this book used in conjunction with one of the other books out there that are lacking some of this fundamentals would deffinately lead to a solid start in Omaha.

I've been playing Omaha for the better part of two years now and am constantly on the lookout for new books on the subject (of which there are very few right now relative to the volume of hold'em books). When I ran across the "Winner's Guide" I immediately picked it up.

The book is basically divided into two parts - a very basic, introductory part, and the rest of the book which is a little more in depth. The first half of the book will be very useful to poker players who are new to Omaha or wish to try Omaha the next time the hold'em list at the casino is 40 people deep. The first half covers the very basics of Omaha - how it is different from hold'em, how it is not different from hold'em, what is a good starting hand in Omaha, and of course how do you read an Omaha board - particularly the low (i.e., what is the nuts?).

The second half of the book will be somewhat useful for more serious Omaha players and goes into more depth about Omaha strategy - when to try and draw out a low, when to pre-flop raise, when not to raise on the low, etc. However, if you are a player who already understands the basics of Omaha play and are looking for something a little more advanced, go with the Zee book on hi/lo poker (Omaha and 7 stud).

So the upshot of this review: a good intro to Omaha, but not all that useful to the experienced player.

While this book has some basic information, it's not very comprehensive and certainly isn't a "Winner's Guide." Most of the pages are filled up with examples and while they are useful, it could have been better filled with more strategy tips.

A very good section of the book is "Ways Omaha is Different From Hold Em" That section is a must read for Hold Em players wanting to make the switch to Omaha. However the other sections in the book (Odds and outs, reading hands) could have been pared down greatly and condensed. The remaining space could have been used for more decision making advice.

Most of the information in the book you can find free on the internet. The advice is good and sound, but there's not much of it for the number of pages in this book.

This book assumes you are coming from hold'em and does a good job of showing the difference between hold'em and Omaha hi-lo. It shows you winning high and low Omaha hands by showing you different card combinations. It does a good job of showing you how to figure out the outs you have, and generally what to look for in starting hands without being specific. What it doesn't cover is the play of the hand. The book uses big font and has a lot of card graphics that take up space. The two chapters at the end are filler on tournament play in general that applies to both Omaha and hold'em, and internet poker. Then there is a glossary, and several pages of advertisement for other books.

OK book for reading hands but not really much after that.

It has a large number of examples of hands and a very good section on comparing Omaha Hi'Lo (LO8) to Hold'm. this is not really a BOOK but more a group of pages with lists.

It also covers Pot Limit and sort of confuses the two at times.

This was a disappointing book. It is poorly organized, with little structure and little substance.

The first chapter goes on and on about the differences between Hold'em and Omaha, but with little substance. Most of the differences wind up going back to the same few simplistic points. The entire chapter could have been condensed from 61 pages to 5 pages with no loss of information. Yeah, yeah, more people will call in Omaha because their hands have so many possibilities; somebody will have the nuts; don't bet or call on the river unless you're the one with the nuts. Repeated ad nauseum.

From there he goes into two long chapters on how to read your hand. He presents graphic representations, showing your cards and the board cards and then analyzes what makes up your best hand. Incredibly, the graphic has the correct cards outlined in bold, preventing you from analyzing the hands yourself before reading his explanation. This wastes what should have been a useful practical exercise for beginners. What was he thinking?

Overall, the book has almost no theoretical foundation. It's just a quick bunch of random thoughts stapled together, There are far better Omaha books on the market.

Next to Texas Hold'em, Omaha is acknowledged as the second most popular tournament poker game -- and often rivals Texas Hold'em in popularity among European players. A complex, high-action 'flop' game, Omaha Poker is one of the premier tournaments in the annual World Series of Poker. Now Omaha poker expert Ken Warren draws upon his many years of experience to write the "Winner's Guide To Omaha Poker: The Smart Player's Guide To Winning At Omaha". Warren deftly covers the rules and basics of play; provides more than one hundred illustrative sample hands, has compiled expert tables of Omaha odds, features forty hand selection guidelines and tips, includes forty-one tournament play tips, even offers applicable information on internet play! Of special note are Warren's comments on fundamental and money-making concepts for those seeking to become professional Omaha Poker players. There is even a useful glossary that will prove invaluable to the novice Omaha player. Ken Warren's "Winner's Guide To Omaha Poker" is a fundamental and strongly recommended addition to personal and community library Gaming & Card Playing reference collections.