Beginning PLO, Some Very Basic Ideas and Thoughts

So I was on my porch smoking a Series O and enjoying it and got the idea of writing a Beginners guide to PLO. Seeing as nobody plays PLO, I though that for this to be as successful as possible, it would need to be a very basic beginners guide to PLO because the main goal of this is to introduce people to the game and to get them thinking through a lot of the more general theories and ideas out there. There are no hand histories in this, there are just broad examples.


A) Preflop. Due to the nature of PLO and how postflop heavy the game is, most people disregard the importance of preflop. This is a mistake. Its very easy to fall into the category of just playing a ton more hands because they look so much better in PLO but what a lot of people do not realize is that a lot of your holdings are not strong if you really analyse the hand. Take for example, AK78 1 suite with the 78. It looks playable, it really does but if you delve deeper into the hand you see that you only have 2 real combinations, AK and 78. You dont connect at all, the flush is not significant enough and you are limiting yourself to only a few flops. When looking to play hands in PLO, a few things need to looked at, how well the cards work together, how often we are going to flop big nutty hands and what our position is. Position will be discussed a little later because I believe that needs a lot of attention but lets look at the other factors.

1) You need your cards to connect well. I hate using this but it is true, in one omaha hand, you have six 2 card combinations. The point of having 4 cards that work together is to maximise your chances of hitting flops. As anybody who has played both holdem and omaha knows, hand strenghts are different. 2 pair in holdem is a lot stronger than 2 pair in omaha. So we need to be looking for 4 cards that help each other, hands like T986 OR JT98ds are super strong because they complement each other. For example, say with T986ds, the flop comes A75 with 2 diamonds (you hold 2 diamonds as well). Your opponent has AAxx no diamonds. Lets look at equity preflop. Against AAxx with that hand we have 48% and on the flop we are actually ahead with 55%. I know this is an extreme case but it just shows how four cards working together has a great deal of equity against any hand preflop and also trying to show how important drawing hands are in omaha (well get to this even later again). Also as a side note, avoid playing hands that have a dangler in it, ie 1 card that does nothing for you. Hands with danglers loose a tremendous amount of value. Im not saying that they are not strong because they can still be very profitable but they are not as easy to play.

2) Hands that flop big. For beginners now learning the game, one of the things I stress on is that you need to be looking for hands that have nut potential, that is, when you hit the flop or board, you have the strongest possible hand. While low run down hands look good (3456) they are not as strong as you think. Hands that are second nut type hands can cause a lot of problems. They are generally hard to get away from and in a lot of these situations, the big money goes in when you opponent has the nuts. I find it hard how to describe this but hopefully you will understand that in omaha the second/third/forth best hands do not hold as much value.

B) Lets talk about position. I really dont want to dive too deep into this but position is the most important thing in PLO. With position you can profitably play against almost all micro stakes players, given that you know what you are doing. Fox example a lot of PLO players postflop will check/fold on scary boards when they are not very strong, they also lead very often when they have a hand on a drawy board. With position and knowing this about your opponent, you can safely bet flops when checked to and take down a lot of pots that way. When out of position, not being the preflop agressor, how do you play the hands that complete wiff the board? Its hard to make those situations profitable but with the advantage of acting last and seeing what your opponents do, you can turn it into a winning situation. Also as is with holdem, the later position you are in (when folded to you), the more value a hand has etc. I know this is not very informative or detailed but I dont know what other way to break it down without getting too things..

C) A note about AAxx hands in PLO. Im not going into go into 3 betting etc (I feel in PLO we need to 3 bet a lot of hands in position etc but others dont feel the same and well this is for beginners so excuse me not getting into it) but there is always a debate as to whether to 3 bet or not to 3 bet AAxx. Now if you are already 3 betting a lot of hands preflop, you can 3 bet AAxx hands and still be disguised but if you are only 3 betting AAxx hands, thats not going to happen ( you can also not 3 bet AAxx for disguising purposes but I really dont want to get into 3 betting here). Now my thinking about AAxx hands as it relates to 3 betting and 4 betting, If we can easily put in 35-40% of our stack in preflop, we make that raise because with that amount in, we can shove on the flop. The reason I say this is because when you can auto shove the flop with AAxx, the 3 bet or 4 bet is automatically profitable (given that you dont get carried away on JT9 monotone boards). In 90% of flops, the shove is profitable making it an instant winner and a no brainer.

D) Drawing hands. Postflop drawing hands are going to make up a ton of your profit. Drawing hands have lots of value in PLO. wraps with flush draws are extremely profitable (wraps, in lehmanns terms are hands with multiple straight combinations). Also in some cases on flush and straight boards, A set is going to a drawing hand and you will still have good equity. Now with drawing hands, before putting loads of money in, you need to know that just drawing is not enough, you want and need to be drawing against the nuts because in a lot of situations other people will and that will kill you hand. Also, in terms of straight draws, people will sometimes be drawing to the same straight, lowering your equity and why having redraws ( to higher straights, flushes etc) are very important.

E) How to play the nuts. No explanation required

F) Observation and recognising players. Hands will go up and down in value based on the image of your opponent (straight on a flush board is more valuable against maniac as compared to nit). You need to recognise who your opponents are and how to adjust to them. You need to know who is loose, who is a nit, who is a station etc. This comes about by either having and using a HUD or simply by taking notes about key situations. Understanding your opponent will help you determine when to bet, how much to bet etc whether it be for value or bluff.

G) Please, review your sessions or post hand histories for others to give oppinions on how you play. While trying to apply every idea you read on the internet, the help of other more experienced players is so valuable. Also we need to look over our sessions, both winning and losing. Look at the hands we are losing big with, dertermine why. Look at hands that consistently loose 20bb, determine if it is because it is a weak hand or if we are missplaying them. Look at winning hands to see how we are winning, if we are getting lucky or if we are outplaying people.

H) Understand PLO. PLO has a lot of variance, we will experience many prolonged and expense downswings but this will happen, stick with it, continue to learn and you will in the long run win.

I) **Unofficial Official 2011 PLO Cash Game Thread**

thanks alot for this marginal...due to your recent promotion of omaha, I plan on making a serious attempt at it now

Yeah. I just want people to post HH, I want people to play more so I dont feel so alone since Sly and Try left me :'(

I've been waiting for something like this as i enjoy a change in game but have never really found any good begginer stuff on it! thanks a lot and nice job looks really good!

Great post. I'm currently focusing more on my NLHE game because it seems to be more profitable for me at the moment and I'm trying to build my bankroll up as quickly as possible right now.

I love to play PLO though and will definitely be adding to the other thread in a few months time, bankroll permitting.

One strategy for getting used to PLO while still making profit at the micros (2-5PLO) is to just always aim for the nuts. Playing super nitty preflop and getting money in only when you make nutty hands (top set, nut flushes/straights on unpaired boards, nut hands with redraws) will usually do pretty well at these levels against opponents that overvalue their two pair or low flushes/straights. It's not optimal, and can be exploited by a good player, but in my experience with good table selection it is a winning strategy at the micros and will allow you to get a feel for the game without putting too much of your bankroll at risk. Once you start getting a feel for the game, you will definitely want to expand and find situations when you don't have the nuts that you can profit from, but for those just starting playing like a super nit is not a bad idea.

Also, for holdem converts: beware of low boats. Non-nut full houses are usually still "the nuts" in holdem, but in omaha it's not that uncommon to run into bigger boats. If you are deepstacked with a low boat, don't commit your entire stack unless you are almost certain villain could not possibly hold a bigger boat or quads.

Awesome post dude, I'll be reading this a lot. Thanks Marg.

Awesome material, thanks

What do you think the most important adjustments are between playing FR and 6-max? Does anyone even play FR PLO?

I cannot answer this question because I have never ever played FR PLO and I highly doubt those games actually run other than in tournaments.

Good stuff marginal, thanks. I agree with you on the importance of pre-flop - when players are first starting, they don't always realize that they are handicapping themselves with poor pre-flop hand selection, and are actually setting themselves up to get outplayed post-flop, i.e. hitting a small two pair, getting freerolled by a dominating draw, etc. That stuff happens a ton more often when you play bad hands.

Good post Marg,

I had never played Omaha till about 30 days ago . playing the pokerstars micro mania 4 tourneys a night(one of them is omaha pot limit)1.00 tourneys for 33 days

I know its not cash games, I will try and enter hands with so called premium hands but it seems more like bingo with everyone raising with crap.
I know its micro limit, but is this the standard.

raise bluff, bluff raise and hope u hit any 2 pair,

are cash games as wild as tourneys?

It depends, but usually you will see a lot of action at any PLO table.

Marginal,

Nice post. I have never really seen a good newbie guide to PLO. I may give it a try.

Re: Marginal's other thread about improving CC. Mods, this is the type of thing that would be good to sticky.

I thought the post was good also. I have been reading up on PLO lately and Hwang's books seem to be the best. Learning to recognize big hand potential and the art of redrawing.

Awesome post Marginal.
Big hands are the key, most play PP and that's not good.

Nice post.

I want to play more PLO but im in a catch 22 where i am trying to build a roll playing NLHE so the variance of PLO always seems to set me back whilst building that roll.

I think the only way im going to really get into this game would be to drop NLHE completely and try to focus soley on omaha but thats a big change to make as it'd kinda be like starting over after learning what i have about NLHE.

Maybe i need to get a seperate BR roll setup or something and alternate, but then that would take away from hitting any vpp goals on pokerstars

Anyone have any experience of mixing the two games whilst building a roll??

Splitting your roll into 2 is a horrible idea. You can mix games but when you are in a session it should either be all holdem or all omaha. Nothing good is going to come from mixing them at the same time when you are still fresh to the game. If you like NLHE no need to complete drop it but make sure that when you are ready to play PLO that you have done your preparation and have a decent enough understanding of the game. It makes no sense just diving into it when you dont really understand the complexities. You can built your roll playing PLO as well but you just have to commit

I'm not sure where your bankroll is at and what stakes you are playing, but you could always just play 2plo and use the nitfest style to just get some hand experience and only really commit your stack when you have nuts. You'll get abused by any decent players that are patrolling around, but you'll often be able to stack off against fish who think their 5-high flush is good against your nut flush. Those that are willing to hand you their stacks will counterbalance the many but minor losses you incur from being a nit.

If you want to practice with a bit more variety in your play and keep your bankroll safe, the highest levels of play money can sometimes have decent players to test your strategies on. I gained a lot of hand experience playing 1k/2k and 3k/6k PLO deepstack playchips at full tilt, and the level of play there is equivalent to some 2-25 PLO tables.

In my mind, when first learning PLO there is no substitute for hand experience. You will encounter a lot of situations that holdem players never or very rarely come across, and having some intuitive knack and familiarity for what's going on and reading opponents is important.

Thanks for the post

I have played PLO almost exclusively for
the last 6 months and have progressed
from being a complete novice to someone
who does ok at micro limit but I have a
couple of question I would love help on?

I used to raise preflop a lot with AA, KK
or AKQ10 etc but then when I miss the flop I am stuck

Do I C bet with nothing or do I just check
and let someone C bet me and then have to fold?

Also I would love to post hand histories on here
so I am going to ask a stupid question, how do
I do it?

thanks for your help

This is a great post and I plan to follow it. Hopefully I can contribute as well.

Great Advice.

Looks like a good game to exploit if you get really good as 90% of players havent got a clue myself included

Dont even need to be good. Just not stupid.

So true. Think it appliies even more in Omaha

Smarter people than me can probably give better answers but a few thoughts:

Your action is going to depend on a few things: most important are your position and the flop texture. If you're in position and the board is dry (say J62 rainbow) a c-bet will often take the pot because often your opponent will have no real hand or draw and won't be inclined to continue against you out of position.

On a wet board, however, (say JT8 with two suited cards) it's more likely that your opponent will have made some kind of hand or draw and a c-bet is less likely to push them off it. Plus if you have no hand and no draw yourself and your opponent is betting into you then it might be best to just get away from the hand and wait for a better spot.

There's instructions for posting hand histories in the relevant cash / tournament forums, just look for the sticky posts at the top of the page

In my experience with PLO two of the main factors of whether a hand was playable or not preflop, were what position I was in and how many combinations I could make from the 4 hole cards.

For instance a double-suited hand has a lot more equity than just one suit. One thing you have to remember is: Omaha is a game of draws. More so than just about any other poker variation, you're going to have people stacking off constantly with 8-out-draws and up. To be a winner at Omaha you have to be willing to do this too (giving the right conditions of course).

By the way, if you have AA72 rainbow in your hand preflop, you're still going to be marginally ahead of every other hand (unless someone else has a better AA hand).

You just have to practice discretion a lot in Omaha. If you open with a pot raise UTG with AAxx for instance, and get called by UTG+1, CO and the Button, you have to be willing to give up completely unless you improve on the flop, or the board is immensely dry.

Loving this thread...loving this game.

Might have found a reason to play some volume...seriously

Might be nice to learn another game. And to take a break from the daily grind. Thanks for the pointers and tips. I just reg, for a 9sng playchip. Gonna practice some. and will post back with some results after a few dozen games. Thanks, bbbucs

Great read. Makes me really want to get into PLO, I appreciate the tips.

Im really enjoying my break from hold em and playing PLO. Thanks for the tips!

Been continuing my dabbling. Big thing I've noticed that hasn't been mentioned above, no-one is willing to play for stacks (admittedly only ~ 200 hands played).

I was bored tonight after a break even grind at NLH so I fired up one table of PLO (micro .01/.02) and wow. All I did was try to play coordinated hands and peddle the nuts and I won over a buy in. Yes I ran well (lets hear it for begginers luck) but it seemed like everyone at the table was just playing random cards. I would have won more but I accidently min raised a straight instead of potting it. Oops

I won't base any serious conclusions on such a small sample of course, but I think I'm going to have to study up on this. Aside from the profit or loss its fun to learn a new game.

You sure you playing PLO? I have not met a person who did not want to stack off with something.

Maybe it's me missing every fricken draw on the river?

When do stacks usually go in? I'm constantly getting flatted or folded to, especially before the river.

They go in everywhere mostly on the flop when draws are still super sexy.

Nice intro to Omaha Marginal. If anyone wants a little practice Carbon has an Omaha freeroll that starts at 10pm UK time every night. I like to play a little Omaha just for fun. I suspect there are many more casual O players who just play it for a change. Therefore i'm sure it's profitable given a bit of common sense and practice.

Sorry that's 11pm UK time not 10pm.

Thanks for this post Marginal.
I have been getting down with omaha lately and like it, but still somewhat of a noob. (I will still occassionally bet because I think I have this awesome hand, but in fact have made it with 3 from my hand, or 4 from the board- I am hoping that goes away soon, lol)