Tip #10: 6-max Pot Limit Omaha Part 2

This is the second article of our six-max omaha poker series, about aggression on 6-max PLO.

You could say that poker is a game of aggression, and playing a loose-aggressive style may be good to you on holdem, but you have to adjust to six-max pot limit omaha.  First of all, stealing pots are not that easy on omaha, specially pre-flop. People love to see a flop on this game, and you won’t see a lot of people who give up their hands easily pre-flop.  Once the board is built you have much more chances to try a bluff, but you have to be careful. For instance, if a third card from a suit hits the board, most of the time someone will have completed flush. Paired boards make trips and full-houses much more frequently than in holdem.

Aggression should be used when you do have made hands or excellent draws. If the opponent hit some part of the flop he will be eager to continue in the hand, so take the opportunity and bet strong. If you feel he has some game, re-raise him and make him pay for over evaluating his hand.

Pre-flop aggression should be tailored depending on the table action so far. Do the players fold to pre-flop raises? Do they play 50%+ pots? Are they calling-stations? Sometimes the right action should be to open-limp, what would be considered a weak play on holdem.

Facing raises, you should try to determine the raise-range of the opponents, knowing that some of them will only raise with AAxx or AKQJ. Others, specially newbies, will raise with JJxx+ and low sequential cards (like 7654) too. If you get a good read, calling in position could be good, because you would play the hand knowing almost exactly what they have.

3-Betting on omaha

If you play No Limit Holdem you probably know something about 3-betting light, a semi-bluff pre-flop to try and steal the pot from a pre-flop raiser. In pot limit omaha, 3-betting as bluff is much more rare, because it is not very efficient. Since the game is pot-limit, most of the time the pre-flop raiser (pfr) will have odds (or be close to it) to call your re-raises. This is even more frequent in pots where some people will act after your 3-bet.

Because of this, you should avoid three-bets as a bluff most of the time, and use this weapon for value when you have a decent hand. If you have position, 3-bets and get called, you may have a chance to steal the pot when you hit the flop strongly or partially. You can even try to bluff the pfr out of the hand if he checks to you on the flop. It will depend not only on how you hit the flop, but your reading about the opponent, of course.

If you are a Holdem Player and want to excel on omaha, I strongly suggest the book: Transitioning from NLHE to PLO. It is not a book for beginners, as you can check for the pricing tag. But if you play mid to high-stakes, the book will pay itself many times.

Tip #9: 6-max Pot Limit Omaha Part 1

This article series focus on six-max Pot Limit Omaha (PLO), a variety which is widely played online nowadays. Our aim is to provide you with a basic understanding about the difference between six-max and full-ring games of PLO, and how to adjust properly.

If 9 player PLO is a game with big hands, known as the “game of nuts”, you could assume that six-max is a little different. It is actually true that smaller hands can win in 6-max PLO, but your opponents will loosen up their hand requirements, and in many situations you will have no clue about the quality of their hand.

Hand Requirements

In pot-limit omaha, the best hands are the ones that can hit strongly many types of boards. When you are talking full-ring, this includes hands with high connectors, preferably mono or double suited, or big pair plus big connectors, for example. On six-max you have to loosen up a little bit, but that doesn’t mean playing weak or one-option hands. A good rule of a thumb is to consider playing hands with three good cards, specially if they are double suited or in position. Also, smaller connectors can be more valuable in six-max. Drawing for the lower end of a straight in six-max omaha is much more smart than it would be on a full ring game.

Position

Position is important in any poker variety. In six-max pot limit omaha, where hand ranges are much more difficult to determine, position is critical. By playing more hands in position, you will be able to steal more pots, to win more chips when you are ahead, and lose less chips when behind.

In a good position, you can limp on multi-way pots without much fear of being raised-out of the pot. You can also call pre-flop raises from players that you have a good read on, or make a big steal-raise on multi-limped pots. After the flop you can use floats or try to steal pots that opponents checked to you.

Aggression

Check the next part of this series: aggression on six-max pot-limit omaha.

If you are a Holdem Player and want to excel on omaha, I strongly suggest the book: Transitioning from NLHE to PLO. It is not a book for beginners, as you can check for the pricing tag. But if you play mid to high-stakes, the book will pay itself many times.

Tip #8: Bluffing in Pot Limit Omaha

The first thing you usually learn on PLO is that bluffing is not as profitable as in Texas Hold’em, because each player has 4 cards, what increases the chances that someone connects with the board. This may be truth, but you do have opportunities to bluff on omaha, and it would be a mistake not to take them. But you have to be more selective of course than you would on holdem.

Bluffing with outs

Avoid bluffing in pot limit omaha if you don’t have any chance to win the hand if you do get called. For example, your opponent raises pre-flop with most likely aces, and you call in position with 78JQ. The flop comes 2 3 5, and your opponent bet the pot. In this case, you know you are beat, and has a pretty small chance to make some sort of hand. Unless you know your opponent is capable of making big folds, this is not a good spot for a bluff.

Knowing the opponents

Unexperienced players usually play too loose on PLO, calling with small flushes, trips, two pair in coordinated boards. You will profit from these guys when you make a good hand, but don’t try to bluff them out a hand! Tight players, on the other hand, are the perfect targets for bluffs, specially when the board has possibilities of hands like low straights, which are most likely out of their range.

Position

Bluffing out of position is dangerous in any form of poker, and more so on pot limit omaha. Omaha is a flop game, and the information you get on the flop is highly valuable to make your decision. If you are out of position and bets the flop with nothing, you might as well be donating chips if the opponent has a strong game. If you check, the opponent bets and you call, what will you do on the turn? Avoid these tough spots by bluffing only when in position.

Table Image

All the bluffing skills are not enough if the opponents consider you a loose player. If you take stabs at every unraised pot, they will notice it, and fight back eventually. If they recognize you as a tight player, then you do have more chance to be successful in your bluff attempts.

Tip #7: Pot-Limit Omaha Heads-Up Cash Games

There’s a good reason why pot-limit Omaha heads-up cash games are so lucrative right now. It’s a heavy action game and therefore attracts a lot of maniacs. Maniacs are loose-aggressive players that seem to raise every hand before the flop, always bet and raise after the flop. With their aggression, they are able to maneuver you out of the pot because the pressure becomes too high. So you will lose some pots but you will also win a lot of big pots if your pot-limit Omaha strategy is good.

First of all you should not adapt to his high speed. The maniac will play very fast and you should not play as fast as he does. Sure, you can call |with more hands before the flop than usual because he will raise with very weak hands, but you should still choose hands with “big hand potential”. These are hands that can make the nuts or a big draw. For example a hand like T987 double suited. This hand has a lot of potential even though it’s only a ten high hand so far. So you don’t have to wait for AAKK or hands like that.

Once you know how to select your starting hands it won’t take long to understand the fundamentals of post-flop play agains maniacs in pot-limit Omaha heads-up cash games. You want to stack him. You want him to move all-in while you have the nuts or a very strong draw. You don’t want hands like AAKK on a flop like 865 where you could be drawing dead already. That’s not the kind of spots you want to be in. I’d rather take a nice draw with a lot of outs to the nuts than a somewhat weak made hand like an overpair or maybe bottom set. Even maniacs can hit the flop and don’t forget: you’re playing Omaha so big hands are way more likely.

Tip #6: Straight Boards in Pot Limit Omaha

When playing pot limit Omaha, many newer players tend to get themselves involved into hands where they end up being 2nd best which, obviously, is not any good. This will generally stem from their starting hand selection and over valuing hands that seem extremely valuable, but actually should be played with caution if at all.

One of these common scenarios is when players play connected-unsuited starting hands or 1-gap connectors. For example, connected starting hands would look something like 7-8-9-10 while a 1-gap starting hand would look something like 5-6-8-9. Provided below are our tips on how to avoid many common pitfalls that players face with hands such as these and how a player should go about playing them.

Straight Boards in Omaha

Probably one of the biggest mistakes players make when choosing hands is just simply not being selective enough. Now, a starting hand such as 7-8-9-10 is solid, but it needs to be pointed out that this hand is much better being double suited as it will give ‘re-draws’ to potentially better hands.

For example, if you were to have 7d-8h-9s-10c and the flop is Jc-Qs-Ks then you have just caught the bottom end of a straight which is a good hand. However, the issue here is that it is very possible, if not likely, that an opponent has an A-10 for the nut straight. With a hand like this, you were simply drawing to second best all along.

On the other hand, if you were to start with 7-d-8d-9s-10s, then now you have a much better starting hand because it is double suited. This now allows you to ‘re-draw’ to a better hand like in this case, a straight flush or K high flush. Making sure your 4 consecutive hole cards are suited or double suited will provide you with other outs in attempt to keep you from having to be only ’2nd best.’

Another big mistake that is commonly made is over-playing gapped connecting hole cards such as 5-6-8-9. This hand is definitely playable if it is double suited; however, it is not nearly as valuable as say 5-6-7-8 or 6-7-8-9. The reason for this is that one missing card can easily open the door to a higher hand.

For example, if you have 5-6-8-9 against your opponent’s 6-7-8-9 then your hand is extremely vulnerable. The reason being is that if a flop brings 6-8-10, that gap that you have simply will not help. But it helped your opponent. You have a two pair, but only four cards can make your hand better than your opponent’s.

Something else to keep in mind with gapped starting hands is that you may have the same nut straight as your opponent, but if another card comes on the turn or river that allows your opponent to play a card in his starting hand that you do not have for a higher hand, you again just became 2nd best.

Playing Straight Boards in Omaha – Final Words

When playing pot limit Omaha it is really important to realize that not all hole cards are created equal. What we mean by that is, is that hands such as 6c-7h-8d-9s is ok but not nearly as valuable as the same hand but double suited such as 6h-7h-8c-9c. Additionally, any 4 connectors will be much more valuable then connectors with a gap in it such as 6-7-8-9 vs. 5-7-8-9. Once a player realizes these points, they can go about trying to avoid the common pitfalls associated with these types of hands and work on having the best hand as opposed to coming up short and only being 2nd best.

Tip #5: Paired Boards in Pot Limit Omaha

One of the most important things a poker player can learn how to do is learn how to properly analyze a board in relation to how it may have helped them, and more importantly, how it may have helped their opponent. This is especially true in pot limit Omaha considering the fact that there are more potential hands possible with 4 starting cards.

A common situation in pot limit Omaha that a player faces which requires careful analyzing is paired boards. This is because paired boards can result in much stronger hands such as sets, full houses and four of a kind. Players need to understand how to properly play these types of flops so that they keep their losses to a minimum while still trying to exploit their opponent’s tendencies to maximize their profits.

With that in mind, we would like to present you with some tips on how to properly play paired boards in pot limit Omaha.

Omaha Hi-Lo adaptations

If you are playing Omaha Hi-Lo, paired boards have similar meaning, and you should be aware that these flops will decrease the chances of a l

High-Paired Boards

High-paired boards in poker are boards that will consist of cards such as A-A-x, K-K-x and so forth.

What is important to consider when playing boards like these are that cards such as Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks are a staple in solid starting hands so players are more likely to have these cards and catch flops such as these. In the scenario that you have missed the flop, it would be a good idea to tread lightly and check-call or check-fold depending on what other draws you may have and what you may think your opponent has. It is very important to consider the idea of a full house and that your flush or straight draws may be no good and in this case, it may be best to minimize your losses and fold to any bets.

Now, where most players tend to get into trouble is when they choose poor starting hands and catch flops such as these. For example, if you were to start with A-K-J-10 and your opponent had A-2-7-9 with a flop such as A-A-8, you have your opponent dominated with only two cards to come. Of course, they still can catch a 2, 7 or 9, but if they do on the turn you still have 9 outs yourself to beat them.

The bottom line is, when facing a high-paired board you will want to definitely get out of the way if you missed and by starting with solid starting hands you are ensuring that when you do hit, you will often be in the lead.

Low Paired Boards

Low paired boards are going to be the complete opposite and will look something similar to 2-2-X, 4-4-X or similar. These can be tricky to play or profitable depending on your opponent.

The tricky part to boards such as these is that if you are a solid player, chances are slim that you would have caught a piece of this. If your opponent is rather loose, then it is possible they did and you are beat and should fold.

On the other hand, if your opponent is rather solid as well, there is a good possible that he or she missed the flop. In this situation, it may be best to bet on position or check-raise your opponent in an attempt to steal. There is a very good chance you can take the pot down with little resistance.

Paired Boards in Pot Limit Omaha – Final Words

When playing paired boards in pot limit Omaha it really comes down to how well you know your opponent so that you can exploit them to either minimize your losses or maximize your wins. By knowing your opponent, you have made any decisions that you need to make that much easier.

Tip #4: Six-Max Pot Limit Omaha Strategy

If there were any money to be made when playing pot limit Omaha, it would be in a 6-max PLO cash game. The reason is that many players just do not know how to play Omaha well, especially at the lower limits.

So what does this mean for you? Well, it simply means that if you follow a few of our tips below you can easily crush many of the fishy pot limit Omaha tables that can be found online.

6-Max PLO Strategy

Starting Hand Adjustments: In any six max game, it really is important to make slight adjustments to what starting cards you play with. The reason is that the blinds will come around much sooner eating at your stack causing you to lose money. Or, you will just be bullied by other players.

For example, hands that are unsuited such as 6-7-8-9 or even gapped such as 5-6-8-9 will become more playable and in fact, it is highly likely that your hand is not even all that far behind pre-flop.

Players need to realize that in 6-max games less cards are dealt out which means that most times often then not, most players will be starting with average or less than average starting hands.

Position: Position will go hand in hand with starting hand requirements to help keep players from loosening up too much.

Not only that, but being in position will also allow players to steal blinds more often and take stabs at pots that are uncoordinated with little to no resistance.

And above all, being in position will allow players to simply lose less when behind in a hand and win more when they are ahead.

Opponent’s Images: By understanding how your opponent’s play whether it is tight, loose or maniacal, you can then switch gears as needed when playing each kind of opponent. Maniacal and loose opponents are the types of players that will build a pot for you if you want in attempt to push you off a hand. If you have a monster here, you can simply check call and even check raise on the river to get lots of value out of your made hands. At the same time, if one of these players slows down all of a sudden, then you know to get out of the way, as something smells a bit fishy.

While playing against tight players, you will want to be very aggressive and keep raising them out of pots. You may not make much but the blinds, but it is more than what you had before. Tight players are great for giving out warnings as well. If one re-raises you, then you know they have something solid.

Slow Playing: In almost all cases, slow playing in Omaha is not recommended for the reason that there is a good chance you could be out drawn on. However, since in most cases players will be playing with mediocre hands, it is possible to get a little bit more money in the pot by slow playing an opponent on a very dry board. Just be sure to have the nuts or close to it for obvious reasons.

Six-Max Pot Limit Omaha Strategy – Final Words

Players will find that pot limit Omaha is extremely profitable if the proper adjustments are made from the transition from a full ring table. If players can slightly adjust their starting hand ranges, play well in position and exploit their opponent’s then it is very possible to make a killing while playing 6-max PLO.

Tip #3: Position in Pot Limit Omaha

Hands down, position in poker is absolutely key to becoming successful as a player. Every hand, every move that a player makes is based on position and whether they feel as if what they are doing outweighs the disadvantages of being out of position.

Below, we have listed the top 3 advantages to understanding position in pot limit Omaha, or any poker game for that matter, as well as the disadvantages for being out of position.

Position in Omaha

Information: The biggest reason to consider position when playing poker is because information is power, the more you have the better off you are. For example, if you wanted to play a hand like A-K-4-5 double suited from early position and just limped in, you would not know if someone is going to raise behind you or limp in as well. However, from late position, you can see all the action unfold in front of you. So, if you have A-K-4-5 and noticed everyone folded to you, you can then precede to raise. But, if someone raises in front of you than you know your hand is probably no good and can fold it. Utilizing position and playing hands while having position on an opponent will allow you to make more money and lose less money as you will know what everyone does before you have to act.

Pot Control: Being able to control a pot is an excellent tool for a poker player to utilize and will generally only work while in position. For example, if you were in early position and maybe had a small pair that you were not too fond of but wanted to see a turn card with, you would check it. However, since you are out of position you have no idea if you are really going to be able to see a turn card free.

On the other hand, if you were in position your opponent would be first to act and if he checked it to you, then you can accomplish keeping the pot small by checking behind him.

Now, if you had a monster in position and someone checked or even raised in front of you, you can then build the pot by raising or re-raising. This would be difficult to do out of position because if you were the first to act and checked in hopes your opponent would lead out, it is not guaranteed they will and if they do not, you lose value on your hand. And if you lead out with a monster in early position, it is possible your opponent will fold or just play passive and just call.

Simply put, being in position will allow you to keep the pot small with mediocre hands and attempt to build pots with monsters. Being out of position makes that much more difficult to achieve.

Stealing: Stealing pots and pushing players of their hands are going to be much easier to do while in position. And this is simply because you are the last one to act and can bet when it is checked to you, check raise player’s bets and get more aggressive and get away with it.

Out of position, this will be more difficult because you are going to have a harder time putting your opponent on a range of hands. If you were trying to bluff an opponent are check raised as we mentioned above, you would have to fold your hand because you did not have anything. It will not even matter if your opponent has anything or not.

Playing Position in Pot Limit Omaha – final words

The bottom line is, is that information is power and the later you have to act in a hand the more you will get. By playing in later positions, players are able to play a wider range of hands that will all be more profitable then if they were played out of position. When a player has a firm grasp on how position is beneficial to their poker game and bases their actions off it, they will prove to save money from not playing in early position and will make more by waiting for ideal spots in later position.

Tip #2: Pot Limit Omaha Starting Hands – Part 2

Solid Starting Hands

Solid starting hands in Omaha are what will keep beginning players out of trouble when trying to play on the flop. The idea is to start with hands that will allow players to make as many different hand combinations as possible, with all of the different combinations leading to having the nuts.

The very best hand that a player can start with is K-K-A-A double suited. Double suited means that both A-Ks are of the same suit. This will provide players with the opportunity to play for the nut straight, two different nut flushes and two different set opportunities. Also, notice that there are only two cards of each as we mentioned on the previous page (pair of Aces, pair of Kings, 2 flush cards of each suit).

Of course, other pairs such as AA-QQ, AA-JJ, KK-QQ or KK-JJ are solid starting hands as well with increased value if they happen to be double suited.

Other hands to consider playing would include 4 cards to a straight, preferably double suited. For example, hands such as 7s-8s-9h-10h would be excellent to play, as it would provide several opportunities such as multiple straights and two different flushes. Hands such as these would provide what is referred to as ‘re-draw’ opportunities meaning that if you hit a nut straight it is still possible to draw to a better hand, say a flush. Hands such as these are more valuable than if you have four rainbow consecutive cards such as 6-s7d-8h-9c.

Hands such as AA-K-Q, KK-Q-J and so forth are excellent to play as well. The point that is being made is to have hands that have as many combinations as possible that are still drawing to nuts are as close to it as possible.

Over Valuing Hands/Garbage Hands

A common mistake made by new Omaha players is playing hands that look good but really are hands that create difficult situations later on.

For example, playing hands such as 3h-3d-4h-4d look pretty good as they are double suited and can create a few possibilities on the flop. The problem with hands such as these is that they are hard to play regardless of the hand that is made.

If you started with 3h-3d-4h-4d and the flop was 5d-6s-7c, then you have made a straight. The problem is, is that it is very likely that someone else has made a much higher straight then you and you are just about drawing dead from the flop on – you have what is called “the sucker end of a straight”. The same situation would also apply if you hit a flush or had a flush draw. It is highly likely that someone else is going to have a higher flush leaving you 2nd best.

Another common mistake is playing a high pair with a smaller pair such as A-A-2-2. Again, this hand looks good since there is a pair of aces, two’s, as well as various other combinations. The problem here again is that many hands will be second best making them difficult to play. For example, if you played the hand above and saw a flop such as K-J-2, this would leave you with a set. But it is a bottom set and highly likely that someone else has that beaten. But if this same hand is double suited, it gets a lot better.

Lastly, there are just plain garbage hands that players play. Some good examples would include hands such as K-7-4-2, A-K-5-8 or 2-2-3-6. Really, the list can go on and on forever. But what the end result of playing oddball hands such as these is is that when a player connects with the board in some way they tend to think they have a solid hand. This may be true at times, but most times these hands are simply dominated by much more solid hands played by solid players pre-flop.

Starting Hands in Pot Limit Omaha – Final Words

In short, what starting hands should be played or shouldn’t be played is a crucial lesson to learn in any poker game. But with so many different cards dealt and draws being made in pot limit Omaha, it is more important to understand what solid hands are but more importantly, realize what hands will get you into the most trouble.

Tip #1: Pot Limit Omaha Starting Hands – Part 1

One of the biggest issues that new poker players have when learning how to play is being selective in their starting hands. This results in seeing a flop and immediately folding or connecting with the flop with a mediocre hand and paying too much to be second best.

This issue is only amplified in Omaha simply because all players are dealt 4 cards to start with. Then players start coming up with hands they could hit if only the flop were to go their way. So as you can imagine, Omaha has plenty of starting hand pit falls that new players tend to fall in.

What we have done over the next two pages is come up with a do and don’t guide for choosing starting hands in pot limit Omaha. These tips should help all players avoid tricky situations on the flop and later streets that cost most new players money.

Omaha Starting Hands – Part 1

4 of a Kind and 4 Flush Cards

One of the most common mistakes players make when choosing a starting hand is choose hands that leave them with little to no outs. For example, starting with a hand such as Ah-Ad-As-Ac would be a terrible hand because the best hand you can hope for here is a pair, two pair or a full house.

While a full house is not a bad hand, it sure is not as likely to happen. The problem with a pair or two pair is the fact that they hardly ever hold up in a showdown. This is combined with the fact that the fear of someone else having a better hand will hinder you from getting any value from your pair or two pair as well.

Similar to having 4 of a kind for starting cards is having 4 cards of the same suit. The problem with this is that you can only use 2 of your 4 starting cards so you are already short two flush cards as outs.

As a rule of thumb, you only need two of each card. Meaning, only 1 pair or two cards of one suit. That way you can make more hand combinations out of your starting cards.

On the next part we will look at starting cards that players should play and other hands that they should play cautiously if at all.