Pot Limit Omaha High Low Strategy. Part I
Posted on May 29, 2008
Game Tactics in Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo. The 1st Part
Poker champion Doyle Brunson once called no limit Texas holdem a Cadillac among poker games. Using the given standard I’d call pot-limit Omaha a Rolls-Royce of poker games. To my opinion this is the perfect form of poker.
In pot limit games buy-in is a serious decision because all your chips can go in the game and they all can be lost in a single deal. For how much should you buy your entering to a pot limit Omaha game? My opinion is that you should buy in the game for a bet at least 40 times higher than the minimum bet (not the ante but a bet following blinds) and usually even higher.
Thus in a $25 game I would buy my entering for $1000. If there is a weak player in the game having much money it is reasonable to enter the game for higher sums. Your decision should be based on such factors like amount of money and position. The more money you have the more maneuvering you have on the streets and the more possibilities you have to use your skills. However don’t get out too much money because you’ll feel uncomfortably.
Here are three high spots differing a pot limit game from a limit game
- Fewer players in the pot before and after the flop.
- A bet or raising has higher chances to win.
- Good position is more important.
In a game at high stakes like pot limit or no limit games there exist and are applied many useful principles. On this topic I in joint authorship with English player Stewart Reuben wrote a book called “Pot Limit & No Limit Poker”. These ideas are described there in detail.
I think that the most important principle in poker at high stakes (big as comparing to ante) is that quite often you can take a pot by making a bet or raising your opponent’s bet. You should use the fact that you have fewer opponents and by your money and position kick the players out of the pot.
All from high-class players to imposing people use (with different variations) the same principle – they all win a lot of pots by making and raising bets. If you hope for demonstration of the strongest hand you may hope to win only few pots.
A good player wins a lot of pots and he doesn’t have to show the best hand, sometimes it seems like what he really has in his hand is of no importance at all. This isn’t fair. Your actions should be quite reasonable and a good hand allows you to maneuver easier on the streets. In poker at high stakes after you’ve entered the pot it is sometimes important to burn down your chips because check may mean that your opponent will take the pot by a simple bet. (To call you need a better hand than to make a bet.) Since entering the pot sometimes is like a ticket to a train without stops it is vitally important that you choose starting hands very carefully.
I can give the best advice to a pot-limit Omaha player: Play a few hands but play them strongly!
See continuation in Omaha Hi Low Pot Limit Common Mistakes. Part II.
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