Pot Limit Omaha Guide Part 1
Poker Verdict felt it time to give our readers an insightful guide on the biggest and most consistently played games in Poker...
28 November 2007 by Philip Tuck
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Pot limit Omaha has exploded in recent times. Right now it is the biggest and most consistently played game at the highest stakes. PLO is a game of skill, nerve, and knowledge. Here at PokerVerdict we felt it was time to write up a decent guide to how to approach this action packed game...
PLO is a game of flops.
This is the platinum rule of PLO. If you forget this, ignore this, or fight this, you will lose. To win a pot in PLO you will nearly always have to see a flop. This has many consequences both to the types of hands you should play, as well as how you should play them. This concept is so important that this half of the guide is completely dedicated to the flop - ignore it at your peril.
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The pot limit nature of the game makes the flop critical. It is very hard to get it all in pre flop in PLO (unlike in hold’em). This means you will have to see a flop nearly every hand you choose to play, usually against many opponents. The big money in PLO can only go in after action on the flop, turn, and river - the pot had to be built in stages due to the pot limit betting structure.
Because you will have to see a flop, build the pot slowly, and deal with multiple players in each hand; you will need the strong hands in poker to win the pot. Unlike in hold’em where a big pair, or even ace high is frequently good for the pot; In PLO the big hands will often be out there. It is a game of straights, flushes, full houses, quads, and straight flushes - these are the hands you are looking to get your money in with.
The reason you need the big hands (and the reason people fold much less frequently pre flop than in hold’em) is that every hand in PLO has many combinations to it. Having four cards in your hand completely changes pre flop equities. Where as in hold’em, where you can often be 70-80% favourite too win before the flop, in PLO you will nearly always be at best 55-65% favourite. This means many more hands can be played - the game is dictated much more by the flop than by your starting hand.
This leads us on to the second key point about PLO:
Play hands that flop well and have nut potential.
This should seem obvious - but players seem too just consistently ignore it. AcAs8d2h does not flop very well, 8h 9h 10d Jd does. Yet you will often see players getting all their money in with rubbish aces, yet just passively calling with their hands that hit the flop hard. PLO is a game where the nuts are often required in order too win the pot. This means that the hands you play need to have the potential to turn into nut hands. Suited aces, three of four card connectors (567 or 89J10 etc), big pairs - these hands are all powerful because they flop well and can become nut hands - be it the nut flush, nut straight, top set, nut full house, or even quads and straight flushes.
Because you are looking to hit the flop in some way, the best hands will be ones that have numerous possibilities. A hand like AcAsJc10s can hit the flop in many ways - two possible nut flushes, many nut straight combinations (remember all straights J10 can make will be the nuts), and the possibility of an overpair/topset with the aces. Hands like Ad5d6c7c are also powerful - you can flop absolute monsters with hands like these, imagine the flop comes out 3d4dQc - on this board you are actually a slim favourite over top set. You always want as much of your hand as possible working together.
Now you have your multi combination, flopping machine of a hand, we can move onto the next key point.
Play the flop well.
Again this might sound obvious, but you see so many awful mistakes from players on the flop in PLO. People stacking off with naked aces on a 6d7d8c or 8c8d9c boards after lots of action in front of them, or checking their nut straight on the flop only to stack off after the flush come on the turn, the board pair on the river, and two guys in front of them got it all in. Many new PLO players have mastered hold’em and assume the tactics are the same - just adopting their regular playing style to PLO. This often leads to tears.
Many of the plays which are very strong in hold’em are not appropriate in PLO. Perhaps the best illustration of this point is the continuation bet. In Hold’em it is often correct to bet again on the flop regardless of whether you have hit your hand or not - other players miss the flop so often that this is clearly a successful strategy. In PLO, players hit the flop often, thus the core principle of the continuation bet is over ridden. The continuation bet is still a valid play in PLO sometimes (in heads up pots in particular) - but should not be used anywhere near as much as it is in hold’em - there are just too many players in the pot, and too many hands out there, for you to be able to steal as frequently as you can in hold’em.
You should also rarely give free cards in PLO. Unlike hold’em, where it is often correct to check with big hands in the hope your opponent will catch up a little, in PLO this is nearly always a big mistake. If you have a big hand you need to drive the other players out as soon as possible - especially with straights, sets, and flushes - these hands are just too easy to out draw. Most of the money in PLO will come from players with lesser hands, calling bets on the flop, turn, and river, when they should have folded.
Why disappoint them? If you have a good hand go ahead and bet out. Remember that you can’t make that monster all in move on the river like in NL games - you have to build the pot up in stages. To get the big money in you will usually need to bet on both the flop and turn. In PLO you should be firing away constantly when you flop a good hand - both to force out hands that could out draw you, as well as building a juicy pot.
In the next part of this guide I want to look at some interesting hands in PLO, and try and illustrate these concepts, as well as some others, as they go on in real life hands.
22/02/08
