Omaha Tips for Holdem Players
In my first article on Omaha I mentioned that it has become a very popular form of poker and Pot Limit Omaha (which I will address to as PLO) is the second most popular poker variant online. Many players who start playing PLO are already known to Holdem and often have played much Holdem before playing PLO. In this article I will give some beginner advice for Holdem players who are starting with PLO.
Do not overplay AAxx
AA is the most powerful hand in Holdem, but not so strong in PLO. Although it is one of the strongest starting hands in PLO, you often will need help in order to win the pot. First of all, because PLO is pot limit, you cannot simply raise people preflop out of the pot (otherwise you just can shove preflop, which would make Omaha a dull game and therefore it is played as pot limit). Secondly, because your AAxx will not be such a strong favorite preflop as AA in Holdem. In Holdem you are at least 85% favorite heads up against any hand. In PLO you will often be just 65/60% favorite and sometimes you are coinflipping against hands like j1098. Because players have more hole cards, they have more opportunities to outflop you. Also, the sidecards to your AA are very important. AAKK double suited is much stronger than AA73 rainbow.
Draw to the nuts
PLO is the game of the nuts. Because players have more hole cards, you need a stronger holding in general to win the pot. If a flush is possible someone is bound to have it. So a low flush will often be beaten by a higher flush and often a nut flush is out there. So a J high flush draw is not so strong as in Holdem, because it is very probably that someone has a higher flush draw and often someone has the nut flush draw. Also drawing to a flush or straight on a paired board is not advisable, because often a player has already a full house.
Nuts + draws to the nuts is really the nuts
If you have flopped the nuts in Holdem, you always want to ship your money in. In Omaha it often advised to slow down with the flopped nuts or even to fold. This is especially the case with flopped straights. For instance, if the flop comes 8c 7c 4h, and you have As 6d 5c 2d, you have flopped the nuts. But since, again, people have more hole cards it is very possible someone else has the nuts too. Even more, they can have the nuts and have outs for a higher nuts. If the turn comes a J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 or a club, you won’t have the nuts anymore. So more than the half of the deck is dangerous for you. An opponent who has 10c 9c 6h 5h has also flopped the nuts, but has many outs to outdraw you and is freerolling on you. If you go allin on this flop against the villain’s hand you have 23.5% on a split and the villain will win 76.5%. So in this example it would be correct to fold the nuts on the flop. On the other hand, if you have the nuts + outs to a better nuts, you can play it aggressive in order to freeroll on others.
Be careful with sets
Sets are very powerful in Holdem, but be careful with them in PLO. Lower sets are often beaten by higher sets, since the odds are bigger that a bigger set is out there. A set of sixes on an KJ6 flop will often be no good, if you face a lot of action. Even if your bottom set is the best hand at the moment, monsters draws may be favorite over your hand.
Bets often mean what they say in PLO
The above is true for several reasons. First of all, since made hands are so vulnerable to draws, people don’t want to give away free cards and bet if they hit a hand. Secondly, because PLO is played as pot limit and people see with more hole cards more opportunities, more players see the flop on average in PLO than in Holdem. This means, players are less inclined to bluff and bets are often sincere.
I hope that this article is a help for Holdem players who are trying PLO. PLO is a game in which the average player is worse than in Holdem on similar stakes in my opinion. I think that by playing ABC poker you can beat easily stakes up to 25PL, be careful though, because the variance is PLO is bigger than in Holdem.
