Tips For Me: Pot-Limit Omaha

My previous column explained that after a poker session, I frequently write tips for myself to follow. Now I am passing these tips on to you. Last column, I covered some more no-limit hold’em tips. This column is devoted to pot-limit Omaha (PLO), which is the game I play most often these days. I will first talk about the character of the game.

PLO is a vastly different poker form from what a lot of people think it is. The typical observer sees a game that has drawing hands so strong it is frightening. The last session I played before starting to write this, I picked up a 17-way straight draw combined with the nut flush draw. I missed on the turn, but picked up another flush draw with the new card. That is 14 flush cards (four cards that complete a flush pair the board and lose for me). I have 17 straight-making cards, but many of them have already been counted as flush outs. There is no question that I am the favorite against a set even with only one card to come. On the actual hand, I won the pot because I bet the hand so strongly that my opponent with a small set thought he had run into top set and folded.

People look at hands like the one I talked about here and think it is hard to get the kind of overlay they want. Perhaps so with a made hand against a draw, but there are many deals where you have a made hand versus another made hand or a draw against a draw where you have the opponent dominated or are in a complete freeroll when you both have the nuts.

The advantage of a good hand against a mediocre hand is not as great as in hold’em, so a lot of people will play a weak starting hand when they are stuck in the game. Perhaps the biggest mistake I see at Omaha is people calling raises once they call the opening bet.
It is the character of PLO that good position is even more important in that game than in hold’em. As you will see, many of my “tips for me” have to do with tightening up in early position, especially when holding a draw-builder type hand. Here are some tips.

PLO

At PLO, do not play micro-pairs (4-4, 3-3, 2-2) even on the button. Bottom set is the number one sucker hand at PLO. Much of the time, you will either win a small pot or lose a large one.

A 4 7 7 is a longshot hand, hoping to flop a set using the 7 for both the set and nut flush draw. This hand and a lot of similar hands are not playable, except in late position with an unraised pot.

Do not play the ace-high flush draw combined with a smallish pocket pair; the pair should be at least 8-8. Remember that even though you can flop top set with 8-8, unless you flop a boat, the rank of the cards are so heavily compressed toward low that there will be many more straights available than usual.

Do not overrate pocket two pair hands. If the bigger pair is not worth playing by itself, muck the hand, especially when out of position. Once again, small sets are a sucker hand.
Do not raise preflop on a suited ace and three potential straight cards. You need a very specific flop to continue after the flop. This is an overrated hand because your two pair hands for aces up are of too low a rank. A-10-9-8 is much better than A-6-5-4
The hand of A-K-Q-x is not a good raising hand without the nut flush-draw to go with it.

Reraising preflop without an ace is too risky. K 8 K 8 does poorly against aces.

If first to act at PLO, do not bet top two pair into a large field, even on a ragged flop. Bottom set hardly ever folds in these games where more than half the field sees a lot of the flops.

Top set is a tough hand when there is a three-flush on the flop not of your set. My recent action of passing when in the cutoff seat worked out very poorly when the button made a pot-sized bet on a small flush and there was so little money left that I had no fold equity by raising.

Three pair on the flop is an overrated hand. You have no guarantee that pairing the board will give you a winning hand, and you have at most, six outs to start with.

When I am the preflop raiser and a small pair with another low card comes on the board, and I have a big overpair, do not bet more than three chips if the field is large. A lot of people slowplay trips in this scenario.

A small flush draw with a made straight or straight draw is not so great in multi-handed pots. Take a card off on the flop if the field is large before committing a large sum of money to a hand that will need to fold if a scare-card comes.

Don’t bet top pair or an overpair into a large field, even if the flop is ragged.

Don’t bet into a large field if you would be unhappy with a lot of callers.

If you bet on the flop with three parts to a wheel on the board (including the ace) and get called, do not make a big bet on the turn when a blank comes, because it is too easy for someone to have smooth-called on the flop with a straight.

When a three-flush comes on the flop, if you wish to bet, three chips is fine whether you have it or not. There is a huge difference between four opponents and eight opponents.

Do not call a bet on middle set or bottom set when there is a made straight or flush on the board, because it is too hard to identify whether anyone has top set. Drawing at a loser is bad poker.

Holding a big straight draw in position but fearing a killer card, use your position to just call on the flop betting round rather than playing for all your money. If you hit on the turn, you will have a much sounder base to get involved from.

I am losing a lot of chips when a small pair comes on the flop. Especially be aware that on checked flops that have a lot of players in for the flop but no one bets, quads could be out.

Without nut hands or draws, many-handed pots are to be avoided. Much of the time, you will get caught between the nut flush draw and a better made hand. So do not lead out in early position into a large field, as you have no assurance that there will be only one opponent.

The play of leading at the flop with the lone ace and then betting big on the turn representing the nut flush needs leverage to work. It also needs an opponent who thinks you are a nuts peddler. ♠

Bob Ciaffone’s new poker book, No-limit Holdem Poker, is now available. This is Bob’s fifth book on poker strategy. It can be ordered from Bob for $25 by emailing him at [email protected]. Free shipping in the lower 48 states to Card Player readers. All books autographed. Bob Ciaffone is available for poker lessons.