If Texas No Limit Hold’em (NLHE) is the Cadillac of poker, then Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) is a drag racer. The four-carded version of the game that will make you sweat, is fast becoming one of the most popular cash games formats both live and online, especially for punters claiming their free Unibet bonus. Yet despite this increase in popularity, how much do you actually know about the casino game?
If you are risk averse then PLO might not be your game? If you are playing a six max cash game with 100BB, then you are going to be getting it in a lot more than you will when playing NLHE. This is down to the simple dynamics that there is a lot more cards out of the deck, and therefore more ranges of hands. Make sure that you have a bankroll of sufficient depth that when you are repeatedly all-in a butterfly doesn’t dare flap a wing.
The main difference between PLO and NLHE is you have four cards in a standard PLO game. The best approach to take is to make sure that all four of your cards are connected in some way. This means hands such as AKQJ, 9876; JT98 and double suited hands are always going to provide more value.
If you are an experienced NLHE player then you will have no doubt heard of the ‘idiot end’ of the straight. So called because you must be an idiot not to be holding the higher end. When you are playing with four cards you are much more likely to be picking up these types of hands. Run downs like 7654, for example are at great risk of going broke against a higher rundown such as 89TJ.