You get to play more hands – since the starting hands are closer in value, you don’t run the risk of being dominated as soon as someone raises.
It is an action-packed game: there are more raises and reraises, and less check-to-get-a-cheap-showdown-with-an-average-hand.
The games are good. Thanks to the first two points, many bad LAG enjoy PLO quite a bit. At NLHE, they would get destroyed rather quickly, but at PLO, they usually still have a 35-40% equity when they put their money in badly. This is great for the game: with the high variance, they have winning sessions, and when they lose they put it down to variance. As for the bad nits, they are most often overwhelmed and they don’t kill action.
PLO attracted a lot of attention lately, and it’s probably going to gain momentum. This is the time to study the game and get an edge, as newcomers arrive.
Learning a new game often sheds new light on your main game, as you realize the differences between the two. Being an all-round player generally improves your game overall.
Few tools are as useful for the omaha player as the ProPokerTools Simulator. The reason is twofold:
- Considering the large number of outs, redraws and combos in PLO, simulators are a must so as to learn/check what your equity is in various situations
- ProPokerTools is the only one that I know of that lets you work with ranges and wildcards
Say you raised J
T8
7 preflop from MP and got two callers behind you. You cbet on the KQ3 flop, the first one folds and the other raises you. What’s your likely equity?
Fill in the ProPokerTools form:
Click the “Simulate” button (or “Unroll” to get the equity on multiple streets):
If you start out, quite often your equity will be significantly different from what you may think. For instance, a wrap with no suit might not be as strong as you think on a two-flush flop, and an overpair with a flush draw could show a better equity than expected on slightly coordinated boards.
The remedy: run a lot of sims, each time a situation is unfamiliar to you, and when you study how well a specific hand fares against various holdings. In other words, always keep PropPokerTools within a few clicks distance.
If you are used to pushing your wraps, if you can fold the bare nuts, and if you frequently flip coins for monster pots, then you probably play Pot Limit Omaha, the “Jessica Alba of poker”, as it’s been once suggested in the CardRunners PLO forum.
If you don’t, then here’s the opportunity to start out, since this is mainly what this blog will talk about. I think I’ve heard someone call 20-outs straight draws the “Kristin Kreuk of straight draws”, and sets+nut flush draw the “Mila Kunis bomber”, in case you’re not sure this is the game for you.
We’re also going to talk about books, training sites and other useful resources. I’ll try and write some reviews when I can, or just ask you guys what you think.
TTYL!
