Pot Limit Omaha Poker Strategy
For many online poker players, No Limit Texas Hold’em is the only poker variant that they will ever play. There’s good reason for that, of course – Texas Hold’em poker is easy to learn, really fun to play and has just enough luck involved that even total beginners can win from time to time. However, if you fit this bill and have only ever dabbled in Texas Hold’em until now, then you are really missing out. There are tons of other exciting poker variants out there, and the one you should try out next is pot-limit Omaha (PLO).
In PLO you get dealt four cards instead of two. You must use two cards from the ones you are dealt, and you must use exactly three of the community cards (flop, turn and river) to make up a standard five-card poker hand. This differs from No Limit Texas Hold’em, where you can play zero cards from your hand if you wish (known as ‘playing the board’) or even just one. For example, if you have the Ace of hearts and there are four hearts on the board then in Texas Hold’em poker you have the nut flush. In PLO you would not have the nut flush unless you had a second heart in your hand to go along with the Ace of hearts. Make sure to remember that you must always use two cards and two cards only from your holding and you will avoid silly errors like this!
Pot Limit Omaha can be played in high-only (where the highest poker hand wins the pot) or high-low split, where two (or more) players can split the pot. In those cases, the player (s) with the best high hand gets half the pot, and the player (s) with the best low hand gets the other half. These articles focus on Pot Limit Omaha high only version. Coping with Aggression in Pot Limit Omaha. If your opponent tends to float rather than shove, then you can C-bet more liberally. You can still represent strength on later streets. If your opponent tends to shove rather than float, you have to start check-calling some medium-value hands. In all forms of poker the more decisions you have to make the more complicated the strategy and the more room there is to gain an advantage over weaker players. With that in mind let’s continue with the tips: Don’t Slowplay. Unlike in No Limit Hold Em there are very few situations in Pot Limit Omaha where you would ever want to slowplay. Omaha Strategy It's all the rage among professional players nowadays, but what exactly is Pot Limit Omaha (PLO)? The main difference between Hold'em and Omaha is that Omaha is played with four hole cards and, importantly, every player MUST use two of these when making a hand.
So what makes up a good PLO poker hand? Just like in Hold’em the best hand to pick up is pocket Aces. However, in PLO, there are what you call good Aces and bad Aces. A hand like Ac-As-2d-7h is strong but it also has many limitations. Because you don’t have two suited cards you won’t be able to make a flush and it will be very difficult to hit a straight too. Compare this with a hand like Ad-Ah-Kh-Qd. Now you not only have the biggest pair possible but you also have tons of straight and flush possibilities that will give you a much bigger chance of winning the hand. While any Aces are technically going to be the best hand pre-flop it’s important not to get carried away after the flop if they do not improve. Aces can be outdrawn much easier in PLO than in Texas Hold’em and that is why it’s important to have back-up in the form of a connected Aces hand like Ad-Ah-Kh-Qd. If you think your Aces are behind after the flop you can’t be afraid to throw them away when playing PLO – it’s just a natural part of the game.
Looking beyond Aces, the main thing you are looking for in a good PLO hand is connectivity. Do your four cards work together? It’s much better to have a hand like 9h-8h-7c-6c, where all four cards help each other out, than a hand like Ac-Kc-5h-6h. In this case, you really have two completely separate hands. Yes, they’re both playable hands but to think along these lines is too similar to Texas Hold’em strategy. In PLO 9h-8h-7c-6c would be far more effective because the chances of hitting a huge draw, two pair, a straight or a flush are far higher. Try to focus on hands like this and don’t be seduced by hands that include one or two completely unrelated cards, such as Ac-Qc-Jh-3d. Just that one irrelevant card (3c in this example) severely handicaps the power of your hand.
One final thing to remember when you first start playing PLO is that it takes a much stronger hand to win at showdown than it typically will in No Limit Hold’em. As there are so many more cards out there in players’ hands there is much more chance of hitting something big. As such, you generally want to be drawing to the nuts at all times and to have something close to the nuts before you commit to playing a huge pot. This is different to Hold’em where any flush would usually be considered a good hand. In PLO, a six-high flush is going to be hugely vulnerable to losing against a bigger flush. Don’t let this allow you to play scared – opponents won’t always have the nuts! – but do have it in the back of your mind. If a player is being really aggressive and you don’t have the nuts there is a decent chance he will!
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First, we had Pot-Limit Omaha. Then we had Big O which increased the number of hole cards to five. Now say hello to Big O's even bigger brother - Six Card Pot Omaha which is now available to play online on PokerStars!
PokerStars has started spreading the game variant on its dot-com and dot-EU clients from the micro stakes $0.05/0.10 up to $50/$100.
This is the latest new variant that PokerStars have brought to their platform, after variants such as Split Hold'em, 6+ Hold'em and Unfold
If you're not familiar with Omaha, then why not learn how to play Omaha or read our Omaha poker strategy tips?
How Does Six Card Omaha Work?
The only real difference from 'normal' Omaha is the number of cards dealt to each person. The main rule that a player must use two cards from their hand, along with three from the board, remains the same. In Six Card Omaha this means you must use two of your six hole cards with exactly three of the community cards in order to make your hand.
What are the best Six Card Omaha starting hands?
In four-card Omaha, you have six possible two-card combinations to make your best poker hand. In Big O this increases to ten combinations. However, in Six Card Omaha, you have a potential 15 starting hand combinations across your starting six hands.
This means that you should be looking for more than just suited aces or kings in your starting hand. Make sure that you have as many flush and straight combinations as possible, but at the same time ensure that you can be drawing to the nuts as often as possible. Why, then just read one!
Playing the Flop in Six Card Omaha
You won't know truly how strong your starting hand is until the flop. This is because Six Card Omaha is a flop-driven game. You are looking for hands that can easily make the absolute nuts, therefore the more co-ordinated your hand is pre-flop, the more potential you have.
The more your cards work together to make straight, flush, and full house opportunities, the better. You must be able to evaluate these opportunities once you've reached the flop.
Pot-limit Omaha Poker The Big Play Strategy
What is a Dangler in Six Card Omaha?
In four-card Omaha, you will be looking for all four of your cards to work together and complement one another. Take for example. You have double-suited aces, with two flush draws to go with your aces. You also have and which could both make straights.
A 'dangler' is a hand that does not do this and is unrelated to the rest of your hole cards. You must be aware of these when you choose your starting hands, because often you will have to play a Six Card Omaha hand with a dangler. If you didn't, and only waited for the 'dream hand' then you would hardly enter any pots at all. Just be careful to avoid those hands that are completely uncoordinated.
So what are you waiting for? Head over to PokerStars now to become the first to play Six Card Omaha
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