Free Poker Strategy: Playing Pot-Limit Omaha

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General Concept: Pot-Limit Omaha Strategy

— Ted Lawson (Pot-Limit Omaha Interview: 2009)

“I do a little less bluffing. Unless the hand is set up a certain way, then I will bluff for a certain reason, but not just to toss the chips in at the end. I find that if you just wait for quality hands and get your money in right, then you have the best chance. I’ve placed in four WSOP Omaha events, and won a bracelet in one, as well. I’ve got a set way of playing it. I think some people were more aggressive when we got down to fewer players in this event, but it’s actually smarter to go the other way. Get your money in right and be strong.”

— Brian Rast (Pot-Limit Omaha Hand Analysis: 2010)

“Well, in PLO, people oftentimes have enough equity with their semi-bluffs to warrant semi-bluffing in situations where their fold equity is quite low. This is a spot where I had decent equity when called. In fact, I felt that my hand had enough fold-equity so that my hand was more than good enough in this spot to warrant a bluff. I felt like the way the hand played out, my sell of 10-8 in this spot is gold considering my image at the time. I had not been getting out of line post-flop. Also, there was the fact that the way I played the hand on the flop made it likely that I have a straight draw. I would say that sometimes people will bluff in a spot where they are repping a made hand in a way that is not believable.”

— Brandon Adams (Head Games: 2010)

“There are two key lessons. First, as the number of opponents increases, the probability that someone has a strong hand increases dramatically, and the value of bluffing goes way down. If you open with a strong hand like A-A-X-X and don’t connect with the flop, you usually should not continuation bet if up against two or more opponents. Second, card removal turns out to be very important in PLO; the main consequence of this is that straights are out there far more often than new players suspect.”

— Andreas Torbergsen (Head Games: 2010)

“People don’t fold draws easily, so drawing to the nuts is a very simple rule that new players break all the time. This is oversimplified, and, obviously, there are exceptions. In many cases, if you are out of position, I would strongly advise being tight on the flop and not betting without a plan. Also, taking free cards with draws can be very deceptive in position in multi-way pots.”

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