Pot-Limit Omaha: The Guy (or Gal) to Your Left

Virtually anybody who has ever played much deep-stacked pot-limit Omaha (PLO) understands the importance of keeping the big-stacked players, maniacs, and otherwise loose players on your right-hand side, as well as the benefits of having smaller stacks, and tight and passive players on your left. With a crazy player directly to your left, you might be able to comfortably play one hand per round — your button. But with two or three nits on your left, you can pretty much have your way with the table.

This idea is so crucial to the life of a PLO player that — with some experience — you learn to snap-profile the player to your left and quickly identify the crazies, and thus make the proper adjustments, which could mean changing seats, tightening up, or simply picking up and leaving the game.

The Aussie

Back in March, my buddy Aaron and I paid a visit to Aria in Las Vegas and sat down in the $2-$5 PLO game, which at the time was played with $200 mininimum and $1,500 maximum buy-ins. (The minimum buy-in has since been raised to $400.) The game was four-handed when we sat down, with stack sizes in the $300-$700 range — a small $2-$5 game. Aaron — a certifiable maniac — took the eight seat, and bought in for the $1,500 max.

Not wanting to get stuck on Aaron’s right for the night, I took the two seat — next to a player with an innocuous-looking $700 stack — and also bought in for the $1,500 max. That player’s stack was the biggest stack at the table other than Aaron’s, and there was an empty seat to his left; but generally, players who sit down with $700 at $2-$5 PLO tend not to be particularly tough.

If you’re any good at this game, you generally sit with at least $1,000.

Of course, within basically a single hand of us sitting down, the player to my left whipped out a stack of bills, and now he too had about $1,500 on the table. That was the first clue.

I struck up a conversation; I asked him where he was from. Speaking with a funny accent, he said he was from Australia, and that he was on vacation. I asked him how long he was in town for. He said he wasn’t sure. That was the second clue.

I asked him how long he had been in Las Vegas. He said he’d been here since January.
That was the clincher.

At this point, I hadn’t even played a hand, but I already knew this guy sitting to my left was a professional, and was probably at least a semi-crazy, loose-aggressive (LAG) player. My plan was to take seat six, two seats to Aaron’s right, which I figured was the lesser of two evils — at least I’d get the button twice with the short-stack nit to my left in seat seven.

Taking seat four to the left of the Aussie was not an option, as it’s generally poor practice to openly target another pro.

We made quick friends. As I write this in June, the Aussie is still in Las Vegas.

The Asian Gal

Fast forward to a Saturday in May, a little more than a week before the WSOP began. It was another $2-$5 PLO game at Aria, this time with a $400 minimum buy-in to go with the $1,500 max. It was a little after midnight, and there were two $2-$5 PLO games going — both short-handed at that point, but one apparently far crazier than the other. I was in the not-so-crazy game.

I was sitting in the one seat. A little while later, my buddy Alex (a.k.a. “Ukraine”) came over from the other game and took the eight seat. Now, Alex is a bit of a crazy himself, but coming from the other game, he looked dazed and humbled. You’ll see why in a minute.

Maybe an hour later, the other game broke, and an Asian girl came over and took the seat to my left. The first thing she said was, “I came over from the other game. Do I have to put my whole stack on the table?”

That was the first clue. Nobody asks if they have to put their whole stack — which turned out to be about $2,000 — on the table, unless it’s because they want to put their whole stack on the table. Now, at this point, I had about $2,100 on the table, but nobody else at the table had much more than $1,000. I must have been the fish.

A minute later, another guy came over from the other game and took the six seat. He had a full rack of green $25 chips, plus a few stacks of red $5 chips — probably $2,800 or so total.

So, now the table looked something like this:

This was the very first hand after they sat. I was in the big blind and posted $5. Asian Girl ($2,000) straddled under the gun like it wasn’t even a question. She didn’t bother to ask if she had to post to come in, because clearly she knew she didn’t. That was the second clue.

Three players limped. New Guy ($2,800) insta-potted to $70, and the next guy folded.

Without hesitation, Alex ($1,000) said, “I bet the pot.”
Asian Girl: “$270.”

New Guy: “No, it’s $260.”

That whole exchange took place in less than the time it took you to read it. There was no counting up the pot to see what the reraise size should be — just “$270.” “No, it’s $260.”

Now, I’ve been playing this game a relatively long time, and even I didn’t know off the top of my head that three limpers, a pot-sized raise, and a pot-sized reraise in an under-the-gun straddled pot was $260. So, either these were the two smartest people on the planet, or this exact situation came up roughly every hand at the table these guys came from.

So, that was the third clue.

Well, anyway, it folded back to Asian Girl, who insta-called — the fourth clue. Another player called all in, and the New Guy called, as well.

So, there was about $1,100 in the pot, and the flop came down with three clubs on the board. The flop got checked around.

The turn was a blank, and that street got checked around, as well.

The river was another blank. Asian Girl now bet $315. New Guy thought about it for a minute and finally called. Alex folded.

Asian Girl showed down 10-10-5-3 with 10-high clubs, which took the pot. The New Guy mucked, picked up, and left.

I didn’t need any more clues. My buddy Tommy came by to take the open seat. I told him he could have mine, and I took the open seat. ♠

Jeff Hwang is a semiprofessional player and author of Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy and the three-volume Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha series. He is also a longtime contributor to the Motley Fool. You can check out his website at jeffhwang.com.