Making the Transition From Limit to Pot-Limit Omaha

Rolf,

I am a successful limit Omaha player who is trying to make the transition to pot-limit. I had a terrible outing in Tunica a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to e-mail you for advice. I dropped about $2,300 in side action, most of it on one hand. And I dropped $1,800 in the rebuy pot-limit Omaha tournament. It's not that I can't play poker. I did take second in the no-limit hold'em championship event, and won $20,000.

I thought I would start by asking some specific questions, and maybe engage you in a dialogue about my play, if you have time.

Question No. 1:

Could my losses reflect an intolerance for the normal volatility in pot-limit Omaha? That is, do I just need to bring more money to the game?

Rolf: Well, while it's true that pot-limit Omaha is a highly fluctuating game, it is also a highly skillful game. I would say that if you're still down after 150 hours of play, you should be a little bit worried if you are in fact a winning player, and if you're still down after 300 hours of play, you should be VERY worried. While I'm glad to hear you are doing well in limit Omaha, in my opinion, the pot-limit aspect (versus limit) is much more important than the kind of game you are playing. To be more specific, while there's a big difference between limit hold'em and limit Omaha, there's even more difference between limit Omaha and pot-limit Omaha. Your (poor) results may possibly be a result of your inexperience with big-bet play.

Question No. 2:

Here's a typical scenario. I flop a set, bet aggressively, and someone draws out on the turn or river with a straight or flush and I lose the hand. Am I misplaying these hands?

Rolf: Pot-limit Omaha is a great game. It is also a drawing game. Sometimes draws can be the favorite over made hands on the flop, even when the hand to beat is as strong as top set or even the nut straight. Draws can and should often be played aggressively. Don't think that if you hold Q-9-X-X on a Q 9 3 flop and your opponent, holding K J 10 8, wins the pot, you were unlucky: His hand was a favorite over yours on the flop, even though you had top two pair and he had nothing. That is, don't overestimate the power of draws, but don't underestimate it, either!

Question No. 3:

I am avoiding tricky plays that I normally make in tournaments and limit games, because I am trying to avoid people drawing out on me. Do you rely on tricky plays more?

Rolf: Well, it depends upon your definition of tricky plays. In this game, you should be willing to back a good hand with all of your money, but good hand doesn't necessarily mean good MADE hand. If I have a big draw and think the nuts (most likely top set) is not out there, I might very well try to make my opponents lay down their hands, even though I have nothing yet. In fact, I might even bet a huge draw aggressively even if it is quite likely that the nuts IS out there. Here's one more thing: In big-bet games, it's very important not to be too predictable. Lots of players coming from a limit hold'em background try to play ABC tight, raising with the big cards and the high pairs, and folding everything else (as they are used to in limit hold'em). Pot-limit Omaha is a LOT different because it's a game of implied odds, and of playing the players. Knowing who will pay you off, and who can be bluffed out if a certain card comes, is often much more important than the cards you are holding. Deception, reading hands, and heart and courage are the name of this game, in addition to knowing how to handle your stack. The weakest players in this game are the predictable and timid players, who play their own hands rather than their opponents'.

As you probably know, I have devoted a lot of time and quite some effort into making pot-limit Omaha as popular in the United States as it is in Europe. It is not a game to be feared, neither by the casinos nor the players. When I discuss poker strategy with even the best money players in the United States, some of them still seem reluctant to take on the game, fearing its swings. In my opinion, professional players should not fear these swings. They should simply pick the game in which the most money can be made in the long run – and there should be no doubt whatsoever that pot-limit Omaha is the biggest moneymaking game for top professionals at this moment. And casinos should not fear the game. OK, in pot-limit Omaha, it is entirely possible for players to lose big-time, and, yes, it sometimes happens that one player cleans out the entire table, taking away almost everyone's money. But the beauty of this game is that the next day, almost certainly, someone else will be the big winner, and on the next day, yet another person will have the chips. More than this, the game tends to attract new players to the cardroom, most of whom are gamblers who can afford to lose big-time once in a while. It is exactly these characteristics of the game that will ensure that the game will still be there tomorrow, next week, and next month. Even though pot-limit Omaha games are highly fluctuating, the danger of the game dying out is not nearly as big as it is for pot-limit hold'em – especially if the size of the blinds and the amount of the buy-in are not too high.