How To Play Pot Limit Omaha Poker

Pot Limit Omaha is a very different game from any Texas Hold´em game you may have played, although if you have an understanding of what makes a good Hold´em player you should do well in PLO, as many of the strategies are similar.

The first thing to understand is how the hands are formed. Each player is dealt four hole cards rather than two, with three cards drawn on the flop, one on the turn and a final card on the river. The winner is the player who can compile the best five card hand using two from their pocket cards and three from the community cards.

Some players confuse the distribution of the cards that make up a hand, as in Hold´em you may at times play one from your hand with four on the table, or feel that your best hand is three from the pocket and two of the community cards, but there is not this kind of flexibility in Omaha.

Because of the many varied combinations that can be made with the extra two cards, the winning hand is generally much higher ranking than you would see in a Hold´em game, with full houses and flushes regularly being the top hand and quads being far more common than you may be used to. Low straight hands virtually never win a hand, and trips, two pairs and lesser hands should be consigned to the muck heap (except when bluffing and playing short-handed at the end of a tournament).

Your opening hand selection should be quite high. High ranking pairs, suited cards and connectors give the best opportunities for making winning hands. Low ranking cards and three of a kind should be folded. So, Ah Kh Kd Qd would be considered to be a good opening hand, but do not get too carried away with pre-flop madness, because if the flop is full of low spades and clubs your pair of Kings is likely to get busted by trip fours!

If the flop comes down in your favour, you have to bet ultra-aggressively. In Omaha, what might be the nuts post flop may well be relegated to second or third best hand in later rounds, and if you are holding what appears to be the best hand possible, it is to your advantage to win the pot before any further cards are drawn.

For example, the flop shows As Jc Tc and now you are holding top straight, however the possibilities exist for a club flush, a full house, quads or for somebody holding (say) Qh Th to draw a King and share the pot with you.

Position is as vital in pot limit games as it is in No Limit, however because the dynamics of a hand can change so much in Omaha, when you are in late position you should never allow players in front of you to get a free card. This may mean that you find yourself bluffing more frequently than you are used to, but provided you are only playing your premium hands throughout the game, players who have tried to limp in to the next round of betting will generally fold.

If you can be aware of your outs, appreciate that there are twice as many cards out on the table (so more outs exist for other players also), play your premium hands only and bet aggressively when the opportunity comes, then you will make a fine Omaha player.