25 tips to quicky improve your Pot Limit Omaha strategy

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With a background in No Limit Hold Em, PLO did not come naturally to me. It took almost 100,000 hands before I became a solid winner at the game. Why was this the case? I think it’s because many of the things we learn as a good fundamental game plan in NLHE is next to useless in Omaha strategy, or, in some cases, is even damaging. Another key reason is that Omaha is a much more complex game with a lot more guess work. It’s also a game that is a lot more based on the strength of your draws on the flop rather than the strength of your pre-flop starting hand. Things like bluffing, which can still be very profitable in PLO, must be timed with much greater accuracy.

So with the benefit of my experience I have created this Omaha strategy guide so you can bypass some of the extensive learning period I had to go through; what follows is 25 tips that if I’d known when I started would probably have slashed my learning curve in half! Remember, Pot Limit Omaha is currently the most profitable “action” game out there, the fish love it and there are far less “pros” out there competing for the money. Unlike No-Limit Hold Em the game is nowhere near “solved”, people still debate Omaha strategy strongly and in many areas there are no agreed upon right or wrong answers at all. This is why having the tips outlined in this article under your belt is going to give you a much bigger advantage than you would gain by picking up some basic NLHE tips that everybody these days already knows. So without further ado, let’s get started with some Omaha strategy:

Arguably the most significant way in which these conditions affect Omaha strategy is variance. PLO is a more volatile game than Hold'em and because the structure is Pot Limit, it means you're forced to play more pots post-flop. I jumped into a one-table pot limit Omaha hi lo sit and go poker tournament today, instead of Texas hold 'em, and managed to cash. Enjoy watching, and make s. The PLO Mastermind is a Pot Limit Omaha strategy training platform with a strong community of players designed to take your game to the next level.

Don’t call 3bets 100% of the time

Although in Pot Limit Omaha it is true that you can almost always call a re-raise (3bet) pre flop, if you are in position, there are still a few hands that I don’t recommend doing it with. The first type of hand is a hand with an Ace and some weak unconnected side cards, for example:

The reason you want to just fold a hand like this pre-flop is because very often when your opponent 3bets he has an AAxx hand, because of this you are much less likely to outflop him as you only have 3 cards to make a two pair with instead of 4. The more dangerous thing, however, is if you actually hit your ace! If you make top pair you’ll feel obliged to call at least one bet and if you make two pair, on say an A75 flop you might have to get it in but you’ll often be drawing nearly dead against his set of aces, or, if he has KKxx he will just fold anyway and you won’t make much money. To put it another way you stand to either lose a big pot or win a very small one. This is a classic trouble hand to play in a re-raised pot and I strongly urge you to muck it and save yourself the headache.

Here’s another example:

This hand is simply too weak to call a 3bet with. The pair might look pretty but in reality there are very few flops you’ll be happy with if you call with this hand. Again, because of the pair in your hand, there is much less chance of outflopping your opponent by making two pair. Pretty much the only flop you’ll be comfortable getting money in on will be something like a 984 board where you flop top set. This doesn’t happen often enough to be profitable, however, because other times the board will come K95 and it turns out he raised you pre flop with KKxx and now has the higher set. Or you get it in with your set but he shows AAxx with the nut flush draw and you are close to a coin flip.

Remember you’ll only hit your set 1 in 8 times, you’re just not going to flop well enough often enough to play profitably with these types of hands. Muck them and save yourself the hassle. Learning to avoid trouble spots like these is a cornerstone of basic Omaha strategy.

Almost all other types of hands can be called with in position to a 3bet, although you’ll want to tighten up somewhat if you’re out of position because it will be that much harder to get value if you do hit your lucky flop.

Play tight out of position

Here’s a little Omaha strategy quiz for you: you’re playing a six handed PLO cash game. The player first to act (under the gun or “UTG”) raises pot, it gets folded around to you in the small blind and you look down and see one of the following hands. Which should you fold and which should you call?

Okay so which ones did you call with? If you answered any of the above you just lost. Okay, so I’m sorry for giving you a trick question but it’s an important lesson to learn; although all of these hands look pretty in their own way, none are strong enough to call a raise out of position. When we play out of position we have the huge disadvantage of acting first on every street after the flop. It can take brutal experience to realise just how big of a disadvantage this really is but for now I’ll just say this: never underestimate the power of position. You don’t want to be tighter out of position, you want to be much, much tighter!

Stop playing small rundown hands

This is one that took me a long time to learn and probably thousands of $$$ in the process. For those who don’t know a rundown hand is a hand like 6789 or TJQK, a small rundown hand then would be something like A234 or 3456. Here’s a typical example of a small rundown hand that you should fold in most situations that looks deceptively pretty:

About the only time I’d recommend playing this hand is if it’s folded to you on the button, in which case you can probably raise it profitably. Why be so tight with such a hand you ask? Because in Omaha we are trying to Draw to the Nuts and this hand will only ever make 2nd or 3rd best holdings. Much of the profit you’ll make in PLO is in situations where you hold the nuts and your opponent holds the 2nd nuts. When you choose to get involved with a low rundown hand you’re going to find that you’re consistently on the wrong end of this equation. Take a few sample flops:

In the first hand you’ve flopped a straight. The only problem is it’s the worst straight out there. Your opponent can see the board is scary so you’ll find that almost every time a lot of money goes in on this flop you’ll be drawing dead; an awful situation to find yourself in.

Pot Limit Omaha Preflop Strategy

In the second hand you’ve flopped a flush. The problem here is it’s the worst possible flush. Again, your opponent can see the possibility of the flush on board so you’re going to find it very hard to extract any value when he’s behind, on the other hand any time lots of money goes in you’re again going to find yourself dominated by a higher flush and drawing practically dead. With hands like these you either win a small pot or lose a big one.

Pot Limit Omaha Tournament Strategy

In the final hand you’ve flopped a big draw and it can appear like you can happily check-raise or re-raise your opponenet and get all the money in, expecting to be drawing as a favourite, the only problem is you’ll often be getting it in against a bigger draw and end up way, way behind! For example, if your opponent has JJT9 with the Jack high flush draw you might be surprised to hear he’s a whopping 76% favourite!

Omaha High Pot Limit Strategy

Even if you’re the best player in the world you’re going to be wanting to ditch these hands pre-flop in almost all situations, by trying to play them profitably you’ll only end up burning money. Carry on reading for more essential Omaha strategy tips.