I've read that there is more genetic difference between chimpanzees in a pack than there is in the entire human race. So, although at a very basic level we are all the same as human beings, boy, are there some differences at our level of perception. Pot-limit Omaha (PLO) and pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better (PLO8B) are very much the same at a mechanical level, and to the uninitiated, they look, smell, and taste alike. But at a higher level they are radically different, to such an extent that a mediocre but a little unthinking PLO player could get creamed in a PLO8B game - as indeed I did when I first played the game against tyros who knew the game well. Perhaps, looking at how a PLO game evolves over time versus a PLO8B game, and, importantly,
how a player becomes successful, will shed some light - as will how to take advantage of some of the latter stages of a PLO8B game's evolution.
PLO:
Stage One: Blast-Off
Everyone plays the game like no-limit hold'em. Explosions are everywhere. Big pots all in before the flop are common. A wrap is eight outs, once the word is discovered. Bluffing is all but impossible except for rare grizzly (bare) ace moves. A winning player simply plays the nuts. It's that easy. Incredibly, some games do not move beyond this stage; for example, some of the live games in the North of England were like this seemingly forever.
Stage Two: Raising Has Been Outlawed
All the loose geese have been cooked. Play is ultracautious, with almost no raising preflop, even with aces (because then everyone knows you have aces!) A wrap is now 13+ outs and is understood to be OK, but better with a flush draw. Big pots happen only when a big hand hits a big draw. Winning players start to loosen up their game, making moves and raising with a range of strong hands and draws. Very loose but intelligent gamblers can blow these rock-fests apart. Paradoxically, good players start to see that they may have a point; you can't beat a tight game by playing tighter.
Stage Three: Equilibrium, but at a Hell of a Cost
Good players have realized that excellent players are putting moves on them and start to lower their standards. Bottom trips have stopped being a pass to a raise and become a reraise. Gambling, with skill, has become legal. Losing players, both tight and loose, will have enough good days that the game becomes sustainable. Unfortunately, the price for a regular game is variance that shoots through the roof.
PLO8B:
Stage One: Blast-Off
Looks familiar. Remember the gene thing. PLO8B is just as monkey-crazy insane in the early stages as PLO, sometimes more so, as players think any low is as good as the nut low. I remember in one game, at such a stage, when my opponent committed his entire stack with the worst possible low against my pretty obvious quad aces. "I've the low," he declared. It still was not enough versus my poor low, and he had effectively drawn completely dead.
Stage Two: Mug Murderers' Row
The power of A-2 is firmly understood. High hands are in their place. The penny drops on freerolls. The game becomes one of waiting for a mug to sit down and then for the sharks to descend in a feeding frenzy.
Stage Three: IGHN (I Go Home Now)
No more fish enter the pool … good players realize that there are better ways to spend their time and the game dissolves.
Because of this, there has never been a sustainable PLO8B game on the Internet. Admittedly, for a short time there was a great game on PartyPoker during the height of the boom last year, but there has been no sign of it since. This truly was an unforeseen anomaly.
However, PLO8B can still be a very profitable game. There is a kind of temporary stage, certainly when the stakes become meaningful, where players somewhat wise up but still make fatal errors. By adjusting your game, you can then take advantage of this better-but-still-bad play. What kinds of errors are they making? They fall into four areas:
Love and Marriage
A-A-X-X is routinely taken to the river, regardless of the board or danger; I have top pair, will travel.
High-Fear Syndrome
If there is a high out there, someone must have it. This is a common problem of tight PLO players switching games. I can think of players who have played up to the very highest stakes and simply have murdered the games because people are afraid to look them up when high hands come. Remember, high hands are significantly weaker in the eight-or-better version of the game.
I am Low, Therefore I Am
All nut lows must be played. All nut-low draws must be played, also, regardless of action and counterfeit protection. Passing a nut-low draw can be fairly routine - as can, depending on the action, passing the nut-low made. As this is big-bet poker, routinely stacking off with a one-way hand can become very painful, as being quartered is far worse than its limit counterpart.
All Draws are Created Equal
Drawing to nut highs on the turn is debatable in PLO; when there is a low present in PLO8B, it is financial suicide, unless you are getting 8-1 or so on the bet!
If all you are playing is freerolls, in which you are certain to win half of the pot and have a good chance to win it all, and the three-quarters pots, in which you will split the pot on the low but will win the high, you will simply be leaving a lot of money on the table that could rightfully be yours if your foes are making these kinds of errors. In live play, this stage can last quite a while, especially if it is dealer's choice, where the harshness of PLO8B is mitigated by the kindness of wilder games. Online, it does not last long at all, and you have to be careful that you do not take your looser game into one that has finally gone to a terminal rock-fest stage.
