(The worst hand in Omaha, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poker_Omaha_Beispielhand3.jpg)
Pot-limit Omaha (abbreviated PLO) is popular in Europe in online casinos, as well as high limits “mixed game” in some American casinos. It is played most often in high only, but can also be played in hi-lo. Much more than the limit omaha hi-lo, the PLO is a game based on the drawings to get the nuts. The second best flush or straight is often beaten. In addition to the exponential growth of the size of the pot in pot-limit, keeping the hand to the end can be very expensive and create a significant reverse implied odds.
Additional drawings (redraws)
A great hand in PLO is the maximum play with additional drawings.
Examples
1. If the board is
, and the player has , then he not only has the maximum play at this time (with ace-king, he has an ace-high straight), but he gets an extra draw with the two queens in his possession. Indeed, if the board shows a pair, they get either a full house or four queens. would be even better, due to a more draw of flush and royal straight flush . In fact, with on the board, is favorite for nearly 80% against 20% against any hand with ace-king. Even a pair of queens and two spades is at 55% against 45% against ace-king. Get nuts on the flop (straight or even color) can be very tricky in PLO.
1. You receive A♣ A♦ 10♣ J♠. On the following flop Q♣ K♥ 2♣, that makes you an overpair (A-A) KQ2 kicker, with opportunity for improvement to:
- Max club flush (A-10)
- Max straight (A-J) if comes a 10 (A-10), a J (J-10) and an ace or a nine.
- If an ace comes on the turn, you have max straight with the possibility of max full to the river with two ace in hand if comes a K, Q or 2 on the river.
Strategy
In Omaha High, you get more powerful combinations than in Texas hold’em. Two pair, or a small three of a kind have a rather average value. The goal is to get nuts as much as possible, that is to say, to have the strongest possible hand on the river.
If you play intermediate combinations like small straights, non-max flush, or even flush while there is the possibility of full (pair on board), you will be beaten regularly.
This game needs to play very tight, starting with carefully by selecting your starting hand. Your starting hand should allow you to make a color (2 cards of the same color with an ace or a king), a full (one pair), a straight (strong cards in sequence). The hand given as an example above is a good starting hand because it allows multiple draws.
Starting hands to avoid are hand with three identical cards, four different suits of cards that do not relate them that is to say too distant to cover a straight draw. To throw without thinking.
See also the Omaha High/Low, which can simultaneously play the strongest hand and the lowest hand in the same time. The pot is then divided between the winners depending on the level of their games, max high and max low, at showdown.
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