Pot limit omaha is the fastest growing poker format. In the last couple years poker players have learned to love this game that involves lot of big decisions, loose play and luck. It is easy to predict that while the popularity of texas holdem poker might start to decline in the future the popularity of pot limit omaha will grow in the years to come. For this reason we have created a basic pot limit omaha guide for the players just getting started in this game.
If you are not familiar with the rules of pot limit omaha I suggest that before reading this article you check out the learning poker article from where you can find them. And if you are looking for a good place to play this game see play omaha poker online.
Which stakes should I play when I start playing pot limit omaha?
If you haven’t even watched the game on ESPN for an example you should play for a while the play money games. After that you should have a small idea about the dynamics and such things. After that if you don’t have lot of experience in poker I suggest that you play the smallest real money games that you can play and still concentrate. There is nothing wrong with playing 0.05€/0.1€ games, but obviously if you find it impossible to concentrate on playing in them and thus you are not improving when playing them you obviously need to play bit bigger games. However I have to say that it generally speaking a really bad idea to play the same size pot limit omaha games than the no limit texas holdem games that you might be used to playing. For an example if you are regular 1/2€ NL texas holdem player you absolutely shouldn’t start from the 1/2€ pot limit omaha tables. There is two reasons for this: first of all even though the blinds are the same the PLO actually has much bigger swings (= wins and losses) than the NL game because of the loose nature of the PLO tables. Also even the 1/2 € PLO tables are these days filled with good players and thus you will get most likely crushed when you start playing in them.
If you are a winning 1/2 NL player and your goal is to be able to beat the 1/2 PLO games as well I would try to do the following progress:
Play 10,000 hands at 0.1/0.2 PLO if you are up after them move up to 0.25/0.5
10,000 hands at 0.25/0.5 if you are up after them move up to 0.5/1
20,000 hands at 0.5/1 and if you are up after them move up to 1/2.
If you at any level you are down significant amount ( = 10 buy ins) after you have played the hands move down a level and start again from there.
How big buyins should I do when I start playing PLO?
From personally point of view I really hate the short stackers (=people who buy in for the minimum amount allowed). However the truth is that majority of the players who are now playing the biggest online PLO games began their PLO career by using the short stack strategy, thus it might be a good idea to buy in for the minimum amount when you are just starting out. However because the minimum buyin strategy also has some disadvantages (such as missing value with good hands and not being able to take the maximum advantage of the bad players) your goal should be to switch to the full buy in strategy as soon as you are certain that you are a winning player
What are the common leaks new PLO players have in their game?
Drawing to losing hands is the biggest leak new PLO players have. Generally speaking it is a very bad idea to for an example call with hand that only includes a non-nut flush draw. To give an example lets say you are holding J of hearts 9 of hearts 8 of clubs and 6 of spades. The flop is 10 of hearts 3 of hearts and 2 of clubs and there has been a pot sized bet and one call, in this spot you should let your hand go almost 100% of the time. Yes you have a decent flush draw but it really isn’t that good of a hand in pot limit omaha and worst of all if you happen to hit the flush you will most likely lose more money to better flushes than you would win in the case that you were against worst flushes.
The same theory can also be applied to straight draws.
The second common leak lots of PLO beginners have is overvaluing big pocket pairs and especially aces. In texas holdem pocket aces win quite often when not improved, however in PLO it is very rare to win a multiplayer pot with unimproved aces and most of the time if you get significant action even from just one player after the flop your aces are crushed. Thus you should treat the big pocket pairs and aces almost just as any good drawing hand in PLO. With aces you really have two options: either get all the chips in before the flop (you are a favourite against pretty much every hand except other pocket aces) or improve on the flop. The biggest mistake you can make is signalling before the flop that you have pocket aces (for an example if you are making the mistake of re-raising only with them) and then after your opponents know that you have pocket aces still getting lot of money into the pot after the flop.
The third most common leak players have is overvaluing the made hands. I touched this a bit in the first leak, however to explain a bit more: hands like bottom two pairs, bottom set on river when there is a possible straight out, straight when there is a possible flush on the board simply are not good. In texas holdem all those three are quite often value hands and your goal is to figure how to get the most action from your opponent who is most likely holding a worse hand. In PLO all those three hands are most of the time nothing more than bluff catchers. It will take some experience to understand the relative hand values in omaha which is just one more reason why you should start from the small stakes games when you start playing pot limit omaha.
We hope you found this beginner’s guide helpful, if you are looking for actual PLO strategy tips please see: pot limit omaha poker strategy tips
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