Omaha Holdem Poker

Bob Ciaffone Reviewed by TwoGun on Feb. 10, 2005. Overview Bob Ciaffone's Omaha Hold'em Poker: The Action Game is a decent resource for an aspiring Omaha player. While Ciaffone's book covers most of the popular Omaha games, it is especially useful for Pot-Limit Omaha. There are very few books written about Pot-Limit Omaha, and Ciaffone's is comprehensive enough for a person trying to learn to play this action-filled game. However, the book's most glaring deficiency is its lack of depth. Containing 106 pages subdivided into 36 chapters, the book is clearly too short to cover so many topics. Poker Advice Ciaffone is an experienced Omaha player and gives solid advice. For new Pot-Limit Omaha players, the book is very good at teaching someone the basic strategies of Pot-Limit Omaha. It certainly will not make you an expert but will help someone make the transition from No-Limit Hold'em or Limit Omaha to Pot-Limit Omaha. The articles on Limit Omaha Hi-Lo are decent but does not cover this game in nearly as much detail as other books, such as Zee's High Low Split Poker. The book will leave you wanting to learn more about all of the games presented because it dedicates no more than 20 pages for any one game. Presentation The book is an easy read. It's short and the presentation is simple and straightforward. However, Ciaffone seperates some general Omaha strategy from the specific Omaha games (such as Pot-Limit Omaha High). While he does this to avoid repetition, I think it sacrifices some of the detail necessary to explain key concepts such as how to play tenous holdings like small sets.