Browse » Home » Poker Strategy » Pot Limit Omaha: General Tips and Strategies for Beginners Part 2

Pot Limit Omaha: General Tips and Strategies for Beginners Part 2

February 9, 2008

A rundown of playable Pot Limit Omaha hands
Pair of Aces with a High Wrap DS or suited (double suited): A :-s A :-d J :-d 10 :-s
Pair of Aces with another face card pair, DS or suited: A :-s K :-s A:-d K :-d
High End Wraps suited or DS: 9 :-s 10 :-s J :-h Q :-h and 10 :-d J :-d Q :-s K :-s and A :-d Q :-d 10 :-c K :-c
Middle Wraps: 6 :-d 7 :-c 9 :-h 10 :-s
Middle Wraps with a pair: 8 :-c 8 :-h 7 :-s 10 :-s and 7 :-h 7 :-d 8 :-c 9 :-h
Low End Wraps: 3 :-s 4 :-d 5 :-c 6 :-d
Other Hands: Face card pair with connectors, K :-s K :-d 10 :-s J :-d , Face card 2 pair: J :-s J :-d Q :-s Q :-h , Bare Aces, preferably single or double suited: A :-s A :-h 2 :-s 9 :-h

Of course, other hands are playable in certain situations, but these are some of the most common hands you will be playing in pot limit Omaha. Here are some ways to play the different hands:

Aces are generally a reraising hand, not a raising hand. In PLO, the first raise is usually not very large because the pot isn’t very large. Also, by opening with a raise, you are generally tipping off the strength of your hand. But, if you let someone put in the first raise, you can isolate that player by reraising a significant amount .You don’t want to be playing bare aces up against multiple opponents. The Aces with the high wrap double suited can stand up against a few more opponents, but with aces, in general, it’s better to thin the field down to as few as possible.

High End Wraps: You can stand a raise with these hands. In position, you can raise with a hand end wrap.

Middle Wraps, Middle Wraps with a pair, Low Wraps: Try to play this hands as cheaply as possible. If there is a raise, consider limping if 3 or so people have already called the raise. What you are trying to accomplish with this kind of hand is to spike a low straight, or possibly a low full house. If you put your opponent on aces (many players will not raise preflop without aces in PLO), you can sometimes take a flop with a wrap to try and hit a straight and pick him off.

Two pair hands: Hands like 9988 are vulnerable, but you can take a flop to them cheaply. If you don’t flop a set, full house, or the nut straight with this hand, muck it. These hands are only good if you get in cheap, or got in through a blind. Hands like 2233 aren’t even worth playing in most situations, because if you hit your set, it will be bottom set, still leaving you vulnerable.

2. Determining what you have

Sounds pretty straight forward, doesn’t it? What I mean is, you have AA23, and the flop comes A-10-6, what do you have? You have a set of aces, easy. But there is a common mistake in Pot Limit Omaha that beginners usually get confused about. The number one situation I am talking about is if the board comes with a set on it. For example, you have AK35, and the flop board 10-10-A-10-3, what do you have? If you are familiar with hold em, you probably thinking you have a full house, 10s full of Aces. But in reality, your hand is garbage and all you have is 10-10-10-A-K. You have to use EXACTLY 2 cards from your hand. Another common mistake is when the board comes with a 4 flush. Say you hold As-Qd-10h-Jh, and the board reads: 9 :-s J :-s 3 :-s 2 :-s 6 :-h . You have a pair of jacks – not a flush. (We’ll later discuss how a similar situation could be used as a bluffing opportunity) The same thing is true for a 4 straight on board and only one in your hand – you don’t have a straight. Now let’s say the board reads: J :-h J :-c 10 :-d 10 :-s 2 :-d . You hold J :-s A :-s 9 :-c 3 :-h . You don’t have a full house. Your hand is A-J-J-J-10. The last thing I want to address is a 3 flush in your hand and a 2 flush on board – you don’t have a flush. You are using exactly 2 cards from your hand. Although this seems easy to understand, many people misread their hands and it leads to costly mistakes.

3. Times when you would fold the nuts or play them slow

In a hold em game, you would never fold the nuts at a given point, or at least not correctly fold the nuts. However, in Omaha, you can fold the nuts at a given point, correctly, too. Let me illustrate with an example where you could consider folding the nuts.

You are dealt JQ107. The flop comes 8 :-s 9 :-s 10 :-d . You don’t have any spades in your hand. Now, suppose there is a bet in front of you, and then a pot sized reraise. Now you are stuck in between 2 guys going to war with each other, but you have the nuts! Guess what – you’re probably a dog to win the hand. First, you have the nuts, but you can’t improve your hand to anything better. You don’t have a high end wrap, so you can’t make a straight 9-K. You’re likely up against top set (with or without a flush draw), and the nut flush draw with some sort of hand like a lower set or 2 pair. You really have to know your players when it comes down to a hand like this. You could also be up against another QJ, but he might be freerolling the flush or a higher wrap. If you decide to call this bet, and the original raiser pops in another pot size reraise, you will usually fold. You are probably up against the current nuts who is freerolling. Now, let’s say that the original better just flat calls behind you. As long as the turn doesn’t come a J, Q, a spade, or pairs the board, you can now play the hand strong. You are now the favorite against 2 players to win the hand with a set and a flush draw.

4. Bluffing in Pot Limit Omaha

Let me be the first to tell you, as much as you might think, Omaha is not a game of bluffing. More often than not, you are going to have to show down the nuts, so it is best to not get any funny ideas about throwing money into the pot you are probably going to lose. One reason you don’t want to bluff is that it is very expensive: By the river, the pot is probably quite large if there has been any significant action. If someone has been betting or calling down to the river, chances are, they will call the river either because of the big pot, or because they have the nuts. I’m going to give you 2 situations where you may attempt a bluff in Omaha.

Heads Up: In heads up play, you don’t have to show down the nuts nearly as often, obviously because there isn’t as many hands out that could beat you. So if your opponent is playing passively, or if he has checked to you once or twice, you may try to fire a bet at him to get him to fold.

2. I said earlier in the “Reading your hand” section about an opportunity where we could bluff with a flush draw out there. Suppose you have As-Jd-10d-Qh. The board comes 9s-3s-6s. You have nothing and no draw. You don’t have the Ace high flush draw because you have to use two cards. However, this could be used to your advantage. Because you are holding the card that is used for the nut flush, no one else could have the nut flush. So, by you holding the key card, you can represent you have the ace high flush. However, this bluff can’t be used against everyone. To successfully use this bluff, you have to be playing against fairly good players, capable of laying down a high flush. You also have to make sure a pair isn’t on the board, or you’re going to get nailed by a full house, most likely. Do not try this bluff against weak players, at low stakes (generally because of the weak players/calling stations), or against calling stations. If you have someone that would call you down with a 9 high flush, you’re not going to force them out of the pot. Don’t overuse this bluffing technique, but against the right opponent, if you represent significant strength, it can be used to your advantage.

One last point I want to say in this article is this: Very, very seldom show your cards. If you win a big pot with a royal flush, I don’t care how much you want to rub it in their face, don’t show your cards. You can’t afford to give this information away. You don’t want to give them any information you don’t have to. Definitely never show your cards if you win on a bluff; you want them to think you had that Ace high flush if you run the Lone Ace play. Keep them guessing, and don’t give information for free, make them call that bet on the river to see what you have.

Part 3 will follow soon.

- Thomas Hardy

Written by Tom · Filed Under Poker Strategy |  

Voice Your Opinion