BBB's Basic Rules of PLO

I've been making a switch from HE to PLO. (Pot Limit Omaha).
It has been an interesting switch. On an average day I am usually able to triple or quadruple my buy in. And I now am multitabling. On my journey I have developed a few rules that have helped my game. Time to share. I am listing them in order of importance to me.

1. FIND THE RIGHT TABLE.

You don't have the right table you're not going to make money. Play within your bankroll first. Look at average pot size first. The higher the size the stronger the action. Then look at the player's bankroll. You want a table with as many players with the table's max buyin or higher that you can get. This means when you play and you get that monster hand you will payed off the way it was meant to be.

2. BUY IN FOR THE MAX.

Don't go cheap. You want the potential max return for your time and effort.

3. WATCH AND WAIT.

Sit one round and see how the table does. You will get a really good idea who are the good players, the luck sacks, and the fish at your table by just waiting.

4. PICK THE RIGHT HAND DUMMY!.

Starting hands are what make or break you. Here's a good link to some of the better hands and why.
StartingPLOhands

5. I WANT YOUR MONEY.

Don't slow play winning hands. Bet the pot. Don't allow a chaser to come and eat at your table. Free cards are a death wish in this game. If they have something they will call you. You want them pay and pay dearly for that next card.

6. CHASING.

One thing about PLO is that a lot of your hands are going to be drawing hands. You have to decide which ones you want to run around the block with. Don't chase with anything that has better outs. In other words don't chase that flush draw when there are 3 people in the pot and you are only holding the 10 high of that suit.

Here's a another link about drawing odds in PLO. It's a lot different than HE, (Duh!)

PLO POT ODDS

7. OMG, WHY"D I DO THAT!!!?

My own personal rule that has helped me a lot. If there is a pair on board then most likely there is a boat in someone's hand. This has saved my bankroll a lot of times.

8. TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN.

Set a limit for how much you want to win. When you make it leave the table. When you get your 3 or 4X max buyin you are sending up a flag for other sharks to come to your table and do to you what you just did to them. Leave with your winnings and find another table to wreck havoc on. Your bankroll will thank you.

Hope this helped some of you. These are basically beginner rules to start with. Good luck.

i dont agree with leaving when u have a certain amount because in any game u can be up 3 or 4 buy-ins at a soft table withing 5 minutes and by leaving u probably leave some extra money on the table that u could have made if u stayed longer, i ususally only leave a table when 1) there are no more exploitable players left ( hardly the case in plo imo) or 2) when i start making bad plays and begin spewing 3) when im tired

pretty good strategy for a begining player, keep up ur dominance of plo

Nice post, Karen.

Do you play Full Table or 6-max ? There is a good deal of difference between the two, perhaps even more than at NLHE.

I play both. I usually 3 table with one FT and 2 6-max. Keeps me really going.

And Pantin, I set a limit for myself because I multitable. If I didn't MT then I do what you list.

Sometimes when I MT there is one table that is so full of goodies that I will close all the others to focus on that one.

I only ever play ultra micro omaha, usually when Ive had a bit too much to drink and dont want to piss around at HE (cause ill leak money like seive). Maybe ill have another closer look at it now, thanks for sharing BBB

im starting to get interested in omaha hi lo was curious if anyone had a link to a good website with some info on good starting hands for this like the link above for plo.

There is a link in the article for that.

I think you need to add one more pointer for the basics:

9. Position position poossition possitiion POSITION DAMMIT

It's just as important in PLO as Holdem, if not more so. Interested in writing a more comprehensive guide sometime?

playme1979 said:

im starting to get interested in omaha hi lo was curious if anyone had a link to a good website with some info on good starting hands for this like the link above for plo.

Click to expand...

Google "confessions of a omaholic" best ever read to grasp the game of Omaha h/l .

Question about bets before me:

Lets say Im late position (no one to act after me). The preflop action is as follows:

EP-raise pot, MP re-raises pot, folded to me.

-What hand range should I have in order to call here?
-What hand range should I have in order to reraise here?

Same as above, but its 4-bet pot before it gets to me...?

philthy said:

Question about bets before me:

Lets say Im late position (no one to act after me). The preflop action is as follows:

EP-raise pot, MP re-raises pot, folded to me.

-What hand range should I have in order to call here?
-What hand range should I have in order to reraise here?

Same as above, but its 4-bet pot before it gets to me...?

Click to expand...

I'm def no expert, but I think it depends more on reads than on your cards.

With that much action in PLO I'd fold almost everything unless I think a 4bet will fold everyone, or the 3bettor is one of those "2 Hold'em hands" players.

And I'd like to be holding 6789 double suited rather than high cards.

definitive in my book

I prob shouldnt be sharing this, it is too good, works for me anyway. Re point number 4 and starting hands:

Omaha

Also has one for hi lo OmahaSystem and other games .. if you stay with good starters you will always have fish for supper.

For postflop play I like Berman's chapter in Super System 2 :smile: :smile: