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In these series of articles we will explain some basic ideas and concepts to help you play the fastest growing game of poker and hopefully prevent you from falling into the many pitfalls that can halt an Omaha player’s progression. We will be focussing on the most basic form of Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha Hi (PLO) – where only the best hand wins.
Baisic Pot Limit Omaha rules:
Each player is dealt four cards face down that only they can see. These cards are then used together with the community cards to make the best five card hand. However, for all the Texas Hold’em players out there, you have to use exactly two cards from your hand and three from the table. Once betting is completed the best hand wins.
Caution Texas Hold’em players:
Many players who look at Omaha for the first time will be coming from Hold’em and will see many similarities and will often find themselves in the most trouble. This is because they see their cards not as a four card hand with six possible permutations but more as two two card hands. This is extremely flawed thinking and over this series we will explain why.
Understanding the fundamentals:
This series will concentrate on the basic concepts when playing in relatively low stakes cash games. We want you to turn a profit from PLO and the best way to do that is to play within your limits with a good understanding of the fundamentals. It is absolutely vital to understand the importance of position in PLO and to understand the importance of your starting hands and how these will affect your play.
Pot Limit Omaha is a game of aggression, it is vital that you control this aggression and are ready for other players who will just keep firing at the pot until you fold or turn over your monster. This aggression, coupled with the changing value of winning hands compared to Texas Hold’em means that if you are involved in a big pot it is unlikely that the opposing player has anything less than a very good made hand like top set or a big draw such as the nut flush and a straight draw.
Before the start of the hand visualise how the hand will play out. If you want to raise consider what will happen if you’re faced with a reraise, will you be willing to call? If you miss the flop and have only back door draws, are you going to be happy to walk away? If you hit how will you try and build the pot? Is your hand vulnerable to redraws i.e. do you potentially have the low end of a straight?
This week’s tip:
Try to imagine the consequences of your initial pre-flop actions all the way to the river to give you a better idea of whether to bet, call, re-raise or fold.
