Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 20 August 2008 / Leave a comment

Pot limit Omaha is one of the only variations of poker where you can have draws that are stronger than a made hand. In PLO it is possible to have draws that are favourite over top set, and recognising what types of hands to play in accordance with this is critical.

Some of the strongest hands in Omaha are hands which just have potential for monster draws. Although a hand like AcAh4s4d obviously has a lot of potential to turn into a set, full house or quads, it has limited potential to turn into a straight or flush. Compare this to a hand like Jh10hQdKd which has great potential to develop into a straight, a flush, two pair or even a straight flush. In fact, if you compare the pre flop equities, AcAh4s4d is only a 5% favourite over Jh10hQdKd.

Not only are the aces in this example a slim favourite pre flop, imagine seeing a flop of Ad9dKh with your aces. 'Great I flopped top set' you may well think - yet against the jack to king wrap hand you are actually flipping a coin here. The wrap hand has the nut flush draw, a multitude of straight draws (any eight, any jack, any queen, any ten) and a heart back door flush draw.

These sort of situations are why reading the board is so critical in Omaha. In hold'em, if you had top set here, made a decent sized bet on the flop, and saw the ten of clubs roll of on the turn it probably shouldn't worry you - it is unlikely anyone called a big bet with just a gutshot straight draw. In Omaha these cards should really worry you. Because people can flop such monster draws, anything that hits the board will often hit you opponent, simply due to the fact that there are so many hand combinations out there.

Keep a close eye on the board when you make sets in Omaha, if any draw is completed it will usually be out there, and being able to fold when the board does not pair is critical. Watch the board, play your big hands hard and fast, and get involved with the endless roller coaster that is pot limit Omaha..