Studying Pot Limit Omaha Poker: The Idea behind PLO

PLO is not really known in common poker rooms but its gaining popularity today. For a long time, this game has been popular in European poker rooms and high stakes games: And due to the concept of a low stakes PLO game in the Internet, the game has been gaining more popularity through the masses.

Prior to learning strategies on PLO, you need to know more about PLO itself and what distinguished it from other poker games.

1.Action is the game when it comes to PLO. You play with 4 starting cards and five cards on the board. Even not so good players can have a good pay off in the PLO because they can come up a great hand.

Those who used to play Hold ‘Em has a certain disadvantage when playing the PLO. They will assume that any flush can be the nuts, having a top pair is a great hand and having two pairs can make you win; but they are mistaken.

2.Starting hand in the PLO has a very close value with every player unlike in Hold ‘Em. You can seldom have a 60/40 favorable card during pre-flop.

Lots of poker players failed in this aspect because they think going to from pre-flop to post-flop in PLO is simple. Unlike Hold ‘Em where they don’t require a necessary post-flop skill, in PLO players can have a certain disadvantage in the transference.

3.Having the nuts is important in PLO. If you don’t have the nuts or not drawing the nuts then you need to fold your cards immediately.

If your card is not a first rate nut then it’s not a good hand. Hands that are drawing no nuts are only considered as back up. In PLO, multiple players can have all kinds of nut at a time especially in post-flop.

4.PLO commonly depends on big draws, re-draws, blocking and back up cards.

If you’re drawing in PLO, how big can it be? Well, it’s probable that you’ll get a 20 out straight like having a 4589 hole card on a 67K flop. Any card that is 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 or Ten can make your hand which is more outstanding that a set of Kings. If you are fortunate enough to acquire a flush from the draw then it’s a better nut.

Re-draw refers to the nuts you and your opponent flop or turn resulting to getting a stronger hand. One good example would be having a card of AKQJ with a flop of TJQ and the other player has AKT5. With this card, you have a chance to redraw a full house with your two pair J and Q.

Blocking and backup card go together: these two poker terms can apply to draws that have no nuts and redraws that may give you the chance to win (backup) or lessen the other players’ chances of getting a better hand (blocking).

An instance of a blocking card is when the other player is drawing a hand like the nut flush in accordance to the flop, but fortunately you have two cards of the same suit (although you’re unaware of it). One good instance of a backup card would be having two pairs during the flop which can also make you draw a full house and a flush if you have a lot of cards in the same suit.