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A Hand at Pot Limit Omaha part one

I had been sat in this game for about an hour and we had played numerous hands of Pot Limit Omaha Holdem poker in that time and I was amazed at just how many people over valued two pair in this game. Don’t get me wrong here, two pair is more than enough to win many pots is short handed contests but when the betting dictates otherwise then how good do you seriously think that two pair is going to be? I mean, it isn’t even that strong in hold’em!

But Omaha can be an extremely frustrating game to play or at least it always seems that way to me. In no other form of poker does the best hand get drawn out on more than in PLO and this is a major reason for why so many players stick exclusively to hold’em. Omaha when played in full ring games is a form of poker where redraws are king and sometimes the nuts can be an underdog to win the pot and in some cases should actually be folded. You would almost never be correct to fold the nut straight in a game like hold’em but it can be correct to do it in PLO in certain situations.

Many people think that the chances of carrying off a bluff in PLO are limited. This is similar in concept to the people who think that you cannot bluff in limit play. The fact is that bluffing is more difficult because of the nature of the game but certainly not impossible, far from it. But like I have said before, you can bluff in Omaha and short handed games provide ample opportunity in which to do it.

But because there are so many potential combinations in PLO poker simply because each hand has six times the number of card combinations that a hold’em hand has then the nuts or a very strong hand is out there more often. But the hands that are possible on the flop can suddenly magnify with the arrival of the turn card. What this means is that if you want to run a bluff at PLO then the flop tends to be the place to do it.

For instance, let us say that you raised pre-flop and the flop came Kh-8c-2s. You could not wish for a more uncoordinated flop with no straight or flush draws possible. Let us also say that you flopped top set and decided to slowplay it.

Any card that falls now will put some sort of straight draw on that board and any heart, club or spade will give your opponent a possible flush draw. In hold’em then you really wouldn’t have to worry about this too much but in Omaha, slowplaying hands can be very costly.

I get dealt the 7c-6c-5h-5d and I raise the pot after it has been folded to me but the button denies me position by calling the raise as does the big blind. With £65 in the pot, the flops comes Ah-9c-5s giving me bottom set and an inside straight draw. Look out for part two coming soon.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Author – “Winning Cash Game Poker”

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