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 #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.