Joined: Nov '10
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 102
OK, having almost always played HE, I know how to play omaha, to the extent you have 4 hole cards instead of 2, and you use the two best holecards to make your 5 card hand from the community cards, but thats about as far as it goes.
Can anyone give me some tips on how to play PLO and win... For instance in Holdem you would be telling me wait for premium hands such as AA, KK, etc, is this this same for omaha, do i want to be playing the cards more or the players etc...
I am a complete noob to omaha, and I want to grind the $5 24man SnGs on HeroPoker to start my bankroll. And only top 4 pay.
Joined: Dec '11
Location: United Kingdom
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All hands in the list are better if they are suited or double-suited. Where you see "x," read: any card. A-A-K-K DS A-A-J-T DS A-A-Q-Q DS A-A-J-J DS A-A-T-T DS A-A-9-9 DS A-A-x-x J-T-9-8 DS K-K-Q-Q K-K-J-J K-Q-J-T K-K-T-T K-K-A-Q K-K-A-J K-K-Q-J K-K-Q-T K-K-J-T Q-Q-J-J Q-Q-T-T Q-Q-A-K Q-Q-A-J Q-Q-A-T Q-Q-K-J Q-Q-K-T Q-Q-J-T Q-Q-J-9
All of the above-mentioned hands are very strong starting hands in Omaha.
Other good hands are double-suited hands with four cards in a row, six and higher - for example, K-Q-J-T DS and 9-8-7-6 DS.
this is the best starting hands but as they are free and run 24/7 just play and see what works for you
Joined: Nov '10
Location: United Kingdom
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Thats great thanks But what about after the flop. Do i want to be more aware of the bigger hands, as there is more cards, do i want to give them more credit for the hand than i would if playing HE??
Im not sure how to read the board and what players are holding with 4 hole cards.
Joined: Aug '08
Location: Canada
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Which is what they are also thinking for the most part. you always have people betting on the come but you can figure out after a few showdowns what people are prepared to play. Because you have 4 hole cards you will be enticed to call more often then not. If you are willing to call a bet its hopefully a situation where u would yourself have raised. Top two with a redraw to nut flush or other type hands. When someone max bets preflop they have AAxx QQxx KKxx so u can float them at your own risk to see a flop. From my experience the best hand to hold against such hands are 8910j or similar.
I also find if you keep yourself tight then even when you make a bad play you may still be ahead. Its also a nut game so calling river bets with 2nd best flush is risky.
Joined: Feb '11
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Posted by MicroMachina: Which is what they are also thinking for the most part. you always have people betting on the come but you can figure out after a few showdowns what people are prepared to play. Because you have 4 hole cards you will be enticed to call more often then not. If you are willing to call a bet its hopefully a situation where u would yourself have raised. Top two with a redraw to nut flush or other type hands. When someone max bets preflop they have AAxx QQxx KKxx so u can float them at your own risk to see a flop. From my experience the best hand to hold against such hands are 8910j or similar.
I also find if you keep yourself tight then even when you make a bad play you may still be ahead. Its also a nut game so calling river bets with 2nd best flush is risky.
ya micro is one to listen to about this game for sure he said it well the idea in he is generally two pair or even top pair is good but you have to be more carefull in plo as its a tricky game with alot of different possible hands out there. if someone is max betting the flop chances are they are on a monster draw or have like set or better
Posted by IceFingers: Thats great thanks But what about after the flop. Do i want to be more aware of the bigger hands, as there is more cards, do i want to give them more credit for the hand than i would if playing HE??
Im not sure how to read the board and what players are holding with 4 hole cards.
Comparing it to holdem it s very important post flop to bet your DRAWS cause they are more likely to hit. In holdem you bet most of the time to protect your hand. Well in PLO most of the time you bet your draws like that. You very rarely want to bet on top pair. That s the biggest difference comparing it to NL Holdem. Also suited middle connectors are considered by many a monster against any starting hands. That s where the money is.
Now you know your basics so everything else comes from practice. Also note that PLO has some bigger swings, much bigger then holdem one of the reasons i never play it (cant manage holdem ). If you dont prepare yourself mentaly for downswings it ll run you over like nothing. But practice is most important, start small play less pots, sit tight and watch action.
Joined: Nov '10
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 36 (M)
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Here is the latest from my blog entry, pretty much sums up my tournaments
So after something happening at home (step daughter going into labour) I am actually up later than expected, so after getting advice on the forum and watching some ehow videos I decided to register for the next $5 Freeroll 24man SnG on Hero.
I basically made it to the final table in both, by folding every hand near enough. I dont know why, but my level of play is not that great for PLO, I find it much harder to find good hands, which is to be expected, but I also find playing after the flop is alot harder, and I tend to give the benefit of the doubt with 99% of the hands if i get bet into or raised. Not sure if that is what im suppose to be doing or not, but in essence I find it really difficult to accumulate chips playing Omaha.
That being said, I final tabled both tournaments and went out 6th in one tournament, nothing special, won a few small pots, but other than that, folded most of the hands. The second tournament I was, short stack at the table, had xx77 and let it ride 2 callers, flop turns Q66, went all in for 116ish on the flop, obviously get called by 2 players turn comes a Q, so im thinking my tourny is over, then rivered a 6 giving me 6's full and took the pot. Bringing my stack to 4th with around 6k chips.
Back to folding, ended up taking 4th shoved all in with XXKK get called from the big stack, who has been raising every hand, flop comes Q, 7, 3 shoved the rest of my stack, around 600 and get called by KING HIGH!!! He turns a 5 to complete a straight.
So 2 first tournaments 2 final tables 6th + 4th cashing for .50
Looking at the stats, in both tournaments I was only playing less than 5% of hands, am I folding too much? I think im going to video the next one, and upload so you guys can watch, and hopefully give me some direction to where im going wrong.
Posted by IceFingers: Back to folding, ended up taking 4th shoved all in with XXKK get called from the big stack, who has been raising every hand, flop comes Q, 7, 3 shoved the rest of my stack, around 600 and get called by KING HIGH!!! He turns a 5 to complete a straight.
In my opinion you made wrong decision here. Dont get too excited with top pair in PLO. He called you with gutshot. He probably had even more outs but you didnt give any info on it. Being big stack it s good play from him. Look at post above what i wrote. Also i noticed you typed hands with Xs like XXKK implying other two are irrelevant cause you had KK. But if your plan is to shove your other 2 cards are also important if not more since top pairs are easy to get and you need more outs post flop. There is little as safe flop with what you are holding if your other 2 were weak.
Joined: Feb '10
Location: United Kingdom
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Start by playing micro staked sng's. STAY AWAY FROM CASH TABLES!!!! Possition is everything and AAXX KKXX is often very foldable Pre from the early possitions. Dont get done with the second best hand but your villain wont always have the nuts. replay how the streets were played in your mind to work if its a steal with a missed draw etc. dont go broke with nut flush on a paired board. hand selection preflop is key but the bulk of your decisions will be made on the flop. Aggression in position is the key to profit as said above, the big pots are won with big draws. you cant be affraid to get them in and for this reason I advise a 50+ buy in BR. tilt will kill you so expect the beats n take them on the chin. Just remember AAKK is only 55/45 ahead of 6789 DS
I play almost exclusively plo for the last 2yrs as its easy money from holdem players who cant tell the difference. do some reading....google is a great thing and of course....best of luck
Joined: Nov '10
Location: United Kingdom
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Posted by xdomagojx:
Posted by IceFingers: Back to folding, ended up taking 4th shoved all in with XXKK get called from the big stack, who has been raising every hand, flop comes Q, 7, 3 shoved the rest of my stack, around 600 and get called by KING HIGH!!! He turns a 5 to complete a straight.
In my opinion you made wrong decision here. Dont get too excited with top pair in PLO. He called you with gutshot. He probably had even more outs but you didnt give any info on it. Being big stack it s good play from him. Look at post above what i wrote. Also i noticed you typed hands with Xs like XXKK implying other two are irrelevant cause you had KK. But if your plan is to shove your other 2 cards are also important if not more since top pairs are easy to get and you need more outs post flop. There is little as safe flop with what you are holding if your other 2 were weak.
Cheers.
Normally you would be right, but the situation was I was down to less than 1100 in chips, blinds were 200/400 and the next stack to me was 8k. Against the big stack, I saw it as a big opportunity to double up, considering the hands he had been playing when he shown and he had been raising every hand for the past 5. Normally i would of folded, but I had already made the money, to which i was not expecting, when i type hands like XXKK, its either because i cant remember what they where, or they were ragity cards, like 8 and 3 or something, cards that don't go together. As i said, i had been folding top pair all tournament and even top two where i thought i was beat.
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Posted by cluuuur: Start by playing micro staked sng's. STAY AWAY FROM CASH TABLES!!!! Possition is everything and AAXX KKXX is often very foldable Pre from the early possitions. Dont get done with the second best hand but your villain wont always have the nuts. replay how the streets were played in your mind to work if its a steal with a missed draw etc. dont go broke with nut flush on a paired board. hand selection preflop is key but the bulk of your decisions will be made on the flop. Aggression in position is the key to profit as said above, the big pots are won with big draws. you cant be affraid to get them in and for this reason I advise a 50+ buy in BR. tilt will kill you so expect the beats n take them on the chin. Just remember AAKK is only 55/45 ahead of 6789 DS
I play almost exclusively plo for the last 2yrs as its easy money from holdem players who cant tell the difference. do some reading....google is a great thing and of course....best of luck
Thanks for the advice, but i dont plan on playing PLO for the longterm, its only as hero have them continuous throughout the day for $5 that im playing them, as I'm trying to build my bankroll. I would never attempt cash omaha, I can't play it holdem never mind with 4 cards lol.
Joined: May '08
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A big pair, or even two, is nice in Omaha, but it does not have the same strength as in Hold'em. Omaha is a flop game, so if your hand does not connect, you are most likely behind.
Joined: Nov '09
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If you are looking to get into Omaha I would recommend that you search for whatever strategy is available online, and then play full ring micro cash. Even though the blinds are low and most people will play any four cards, learn to fold the junk and enter hands when you have big pairs that can flop a set and hopefully become a full house, and well coordinated hands that can lead to the nuts. A lot of the other people at the table because they play any four will get flushes and straights, but because you are playing strong hands you will get better flushes, and full house vs. flush, and do well. As you gain experience you can move up. GL!
But what about after the flop. Do i want to be more aware of the bigger hands, as there is more cards, do i want to give them more credit for the hand than i would if playing HE?? 
