If it's November, it must be Omaha
I don't know what it is about the late fall that makes me play Omaha semi-well, but I'm not going to argue with it.
Last year around this time, you might remember (ah, hell, who am I kidding -- no one visits this site twice), I crashed and burned at the tables and was left with a whopping $1.78 over at Ultimate Bet. Figuring I might as well do what I could with that paltry amount, since Christmas had the rest of my bankroll replenishing funds tied up, I took that stack of change to the penny pot-limit Omaha high-low tables and managed to run it up to over $50. Of course, I then got cocky and started believing I was an Omaha god and lost it all when I tried to step up to the quarter tables.
So, a couple of weeks ago, after a really bad run (though not as bad as last year), I spied the new PLO8 SNGs on the Poker Room network and decided give them a whirl. I wasn't consciously attempting to replicate my Omaha run from last year. Instead, I realized that a lot of my recent downswing could be directly attributed to a general boredom with hold'em that left me playing crazily just the juice up the action. Basically, to quote the Shakespeare of our day, 50 Cent (god help us), I was ready to get rich or die trying.
Another reason for the switch was just some curiousity after reading a couple of magazine articles about Omaha recently. One that particularly aroused my interest noted that, with the popularity of hold'em, especially no-limit, and the wide availability of tools to help novice players learn how to play better, Omaha is still a relative unknown in the collective mind and as such has a greater preponderance of people playing it without the slightest whiff of a clue. In short, the article pretty much said that if you were looking to bump up your profit margins at the tables, learn to play Omaha.
Well, the change was good for me, and it took me out of my funk. My bankroll started slowly growing again, and, more importantly, I was having fun at the tables again. I felt actively engaged in the game and treated each hand like a puzzle that needed to be figured out. Conversely, my efforts in hold'em at that point had become more or less a drone at the tables, playing on auto-pilot and without imagination. Finally, I learned that the article was correct. I'm not saying I'm a good Omaha player, but I'm not nearly as bad as some of the people I run up against.
One thing I've noticed when playing PLO8 is that the absolute worst of the worst players fall into two groups. One group, probably the most easy to recognize, consists of those people who believe A2xx is somewhat like having AA in hold'em. They bet, call and reraise pot-sized bets every round until the river, as long as there is a hope that they will hit a qualifying low hand. They fail to recognize that they stand to split many of the low hands that they do make and they do not keep proper perspective of the odds of them hitting their low hands when they need runner-runner to even make a low hand. Even better, they are quite oblivious to the fact that any A or 2 on the board counterfeits their low hand. If you find these people at your table, and they aren't hard to miss, do everything you can to isolate the action to heads-up and you can make a ton off of them, especially if you also have A2 along with a good shot of also taking the high end of the pot.
Here's an example of how you can take advantage of the A2 fanatics (we'll call them A2F's). Tonight I pick up at A235 and limp in. This is one of the hands I like to see a flop with, since there are many ways I can make a nut low, with the added bonus of perhaps taking the high and low if I make a wheel (A2345).
The flop is fairly good for me, as it comes J43, meaning any 8 or lower will give me the nut low and I also have nine outs to pick up the wheel. Before the action gets to me, however, the resident A2F fires out a pot-sized bet, in this case $1.75. (For maximum profits, pick the lowest limit Omaha games, as that is where you will find the biggest fish). I call his bet.
The turn is another 3, giving me a set. This card must scare him a little, because he opts to only bet $1. I immediately make a pot-sized raise. He thinks a little, apparently decides to draw for half the pot and calls.
The river is a dream as a 5 comes off the deck. Now I not only have the wheel to have an absolute death grip on at least half the low pot (and more importantly ensuring that he will call any size bet), but I've also made a boat. Of course, it's not a very big boat, but I'm confident it dominates anything he might have. He fires a $6 bet. I raise to put him all-in. He calls and I've cut his stack in half by taking the three-quarters of the pot (the entire high pot and half of the low pot). And he never saw it coming.
The other type of maniac you want to become familiar with is a little harder to detect, especially if you're new to Omaha and more familiar with hold'em. They're the people who get married to high pocket pairs. Yes, having AAxx can be a good hand, especially if you can isolate to heads-up, but those pocket pairs are nowhere near as strong as they are in hold'em. They're pretty much not going to win a showdown without improvement. Omaha is, if nothing else, a drawing game.
I had just such a player at my table a couple of nights ago, and I made a risky play that paid off. I had noticed that the only time he raised preflop was if he had AA or KK in the hole. During one hand, he made such a raise and I looked down to see a double-suited 3455. Now, I admit, knowing that you are going into battle against pocket aces with pocket fives is not exactly the smartest move you can make. But I also had noticed that he placed no value on low hands, meaning I could take shot at cracking his aces, and at least have the possibility of making a low hand to fall back on. Plus, with having the 3 and 4 as well as two suits, I could gamble to see try to make a straight or flush. Since it was pot-limit, his raise was very large, so I could see the flop cheaply, with a ton of implied odds if I hit it hard. I called.
Well, the flop brought me a 5 to give me a set. He immediately fired a pot-sized bet, I countered with a pot-sized raise and he reraised all-in. He never improved and I took the whole pot.
Again, that's a risky play that just so happened to pay off this time. But it doesn't have to pay off against this type of player very often in order for it to be a profitable move. Sure, the pot odds preflop were only giving me 2-to-1, when I knew I was clearly dominated. However, this type of player is married to AA from the minute he lays eyes on it. There is no possibility he will throw it away, meaning that if you hit just the right type of hand, you're going to get paid off somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-to-1, or whatever his entire stack is laying you. Plus, you cannot discount the ability to hit a low hand about a quarter of the time for a push. Those "ties" are what alleviate the risk and make the gamble profitable. So, if you find yourself in that situation, you can make the call knowing that it will be profitable in the long run, as long as you stick to a strict "flop or drop" policy. You do not want to be calling pot-sized bets with nothing but a draw.
Anyway, I didn't mean for this to turn into an essay on Omaha philosophy. I actually have quite a bit more to talk about, including a trip report to a live tournament this past weekend, as well as my favorite new discovery, poker podcasts. But it's late and those will have to wait. I'll try not to be too long.
Last year around this time, you might remember (ah, hell, who am I kidding -- no one visits this site twice), I crashed and burned at the tables and was left with a whopping $1.78 over at Ultimate Bet. Figuring I might as well do what I could with that paltry amount, since Christmas had the rest of my bankroll replenishing funds tied up, I took that stack of change to the penny pot-limit Omaha high-low tables and managed to run it up to over $50. Of course, I then got cocky and started believing I was an Omaha god and lost it all when I tried to step up to the quarter tables.
So, a couple of weeks ago, after a really bad run (though not as bad as last year), I spied the new PLO8 SNGs on the Poker Room network and decided give them a whirl. I wasn't consciously attempting to replicate my Omaha run from last year. Instead, I realized that a lot of my recent downswing could be directly attributed to a general boredom with hold'em that left me playing crazily just the juice up the action. Basically, to quote the Shakespeare of our day, 50 Cent (god help us), I was ready to get rich or die trying.
Another reason for the switch was just some curiousity after reading a couple of magazine articles about Omaha recently. One that particularly aroused my interest noted that, with the popularity of hold'em, especially no-limit, and the wide availability of tools to help novice players learn how to play better, Omaha is still a relative unknown in the collective mind and as such has a greater preponderance of people playing it without the slightest whiff of a clue. In short, the article pretty much said that if you were looking to bump up your profit margins at the tables, learn to play Omaha.
Well, the change was good for me, and it took me out of my funk. My bankroll started slowly growing again, and, more importantly, I was having fun at the tables again. I felt actively engaged in the game and treated each hand like a puzzle that needed to be figured out. Conversely, my efforts in hold'em at that point had become more or less a drone at the tables, playing on auto-pilot and without imagination. Finally, I learned that the article was correct. I'm not saying I'm a good Omaha player, but I'm not nearly as bad as some of the people I run up against.
One thing I've noticed when playing PLO8 is that the absolute worst of the worst players fall into two groups. One group, probably the most easy to recognize, consists of those people who believe A2xx is somewhat like having AA in hold'em. They bet, call and reraise pot-sized bets every round until the river, as long as there is a hope that they will hit a qualifying low hand. They fail to recognize that they stand to split many of the low hands that they do make and they do not keep proper perspective of the odds of them hitting their low hands when they need runner-runner to even make a low hand. Even better, they are quite oblivious to the fact that any A or 2 on the board counterfeits their low hand. If you find these people at your table, and they aren't hard to miss, do everything you can to isolate the action to heads-up and you can make a ton off of them, especially if you also have A2 along with a good shot of also taking the high end of the pot.
Here's an example of how you can take advantage of the A2 fanatics (we'll call them A2F's). Tonight I pick up at A235 and limp in. This is one of the hands I like to see a flop with, since there are many ways I can make a nut low, with the added bonus of perhaps taking the high and low if I make a wheel (A2345).
The flop is fairly good for me, as it comes J43, meaning any 8 or lower will give me the nut low and I also have nine outs to pick up the wheel. Before the action gets to me, however, the resident A2F fires out a pot-sized bet, in this case $1.75. (For maximum profits, pick the lowest limit Omaha games, as that is where you will find the biggest fish). I call his bet.
The turn is another 3, giving me a set. This card must scare him a little, because he opts to only bet $1. I immediately make a pot-sized raise. He thinks a little, apparently decides to draw for half the pot and calls.
The river is a dream as a 5 comes off the deck. Now I not only have the wheel to have an absolute death grip on at least half the low pot (and more importantly ensuring that he will call any size bet), but I've also made a boat. Of course, it's not a very big boat, but I'm confident it dominates anything he might have. He fires a $6 bet. I raise to put him all-in. He calls and I've cut his stack in half by taking the three-quarters of the pot (the entire high pot and half of the low pot). And he never saw it coming.
The other type of maniac you want to become familiar with is a little harder to detect, especially if you're new to Omaha and more familiar with hold'em. They're the people who get married to high pocket pairs. Yes, having AAxx can be a good hand, especially if you can isolate to heads-up, but those pocket pairs are nowhere near as strong as they are in hold'em. They're pretty much not going to win a showdown without improvement. Omaha is, if nothing else, a drawing game.
I had just such a player at my table a couple of nights ago, and I made a risky play that paid off. I had noticed that the only time he raised preflop was if he had AA or KK in the hole. During one hand, he made such a raise and I looked down to see a double-suited 3455. Now, I admit, knowing that you are going into battle against pocket aces with pocket fives is not exactly the smartest move you can make. But I also had noticed that he placed no value on low hands, meaning I could take shot at cracking his aces, and at least have the possibility of making a low hand to fall back on. Plus, with having the 3 and 4 as well as two suits, I could gamble to see try to make a straight or flush. Since it was pot-limit, his raise was very large, so I could see the flop cheaply, with a ton of implied odds if I hit it hard. I called.
Well, the flop brought me a 5 to give me a set. He immediately fired a pot-sized bet, I countered with a pot-sized raise and he reraised all-in. He never improved and I took the whole pot.
Again, that's a risky play that just so happened to pay off this time. But it doesn't have to pay off against this type of player very often in order for it to be a profitable move. Sure, the pot odds preflop were only giving me 2-to-1, when I knew I was clearly dominated. However, this type of player is married to AA from the minute he lays eyes on it. There is no possibility he will throw it away, meaning that if you hit just the right type of hand, you're going to get paid off somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-to-1, or whatever his entire stack is laying you. Plus, you cannot discount the ability to hit a low hand about a quarter of the time for a push. Those "ties" are what alleviate the risk and make the gamble profitable. So, if you find yourself in that situation, you can make the call knowing that it will be profitable in the long run, as long as you stick to a strict "flop or drop" policy. You do not want to be calling pot-sized bets with nothing but a draw.
Anyway, I didn't mean for this to turn into an essay on Omaha philosophy. I actually have quite a bit more to talk about, including a trip report to a live tournament this past weekend, as well as my favorite new discovery, poker podcasts. But it's late and those will have to wait. I'll try not to be too long.
