Noel Hayes advises on the best ways to make that next step in PLO.
Omaha, like every poker game, has a journey attached to it. I am going to guess that you started out with Hold’em, got a little bored, and one day when feeling adventurous decided to take a pop at the 4-card variety? From there, the sensible among us [this author does not claim to be under that heading], embark on a structured journey though the ranks. You start at 50c/$1 blinds before going on to the next level and hopefully beyond.
MAKING PROGRESS
I have harped on long enough about starting hand selection, having respect for the power of position, how your specific hand plays against a range of hands, and so on. Well, another key skill, and one that is less talked about, is how you manage your progression from one level to the next, i.e. how you make the transition from that $1/$2 game to $2/$4 and beyond. This is not an article on how you should have X numbers of buy-ins for any stake level; I’ll leave those themes for the purists or those lacking a little dash. Rather, this will be an article about how you should prepare your game for the movement up the levels.
Let’s say we’re in a typical game of PLO cash with 100x Big Blind stacks. A very aggressive player who abuses his position opens on the button, the small blind calls and you are on the big blind with Q-J-10-8 suited to the Q. What should you do?
Well, raise of course. Now let’s think in real dollar terms here. Your normal game is $1/$2 PLO and you have decided to take a shot at a $5/$10 game. You need to be able to play your ‘A’ game irrespective of the money at risk. So if you 3-bet in your normal game then you should also be 3-betting pre-flop when you are taking a shot at higher levels.
THE OPTIMAL PLAY
The reason some players ascend the levels better than others is simply due to their ability to make the best poker decisions for the situation at hand. They think in terms of optimal play, not in terms of dollars at stake. Players often find it hard to reconcile that the games don’t play that differently as you move up the levels – the fundamentals remain the same.
If you want to move quickly you need to be sure not to get stage fright. Don’t freeze - you have played poker before, you have even played this game before so just play your normal game. This is your first date of another kind so make sure to put on a good show.
THE BLUFFING MYTH
Another common myth exists about moving up stakes – that people bluff more. People don’t bluff more just because they are playing x number of levels above you so stop making dumb calls which only proceed to tilt you and cost you money. If you feel that somebody is bluffing you need to base that decision upon some fundamentals. Does he have a big river aggression factor, have you witnessed him bluffing frequently before, does their line in this particular hand make no sense and lead you towards weighting his river bet towards being a bluff?
If you use the above rationale then you will likely arrive at the correct decision and make a fundamentally sound choice, but if you call just because you think “Damn, this guy’s plays $5/$10, he must bluff a lot, I call,” then your next thought will likely be “Jeez, I’m such a dumb fool’.
My regular stakes are $1/$2 or $2/$4 cash online. I often play bigger live games, but online this is where I play as this is where my current ability allows me to play. However, if I like the line-up in a $3/$6 or $5/$10 game then I often take a shot – I certainly wouldn’t discourage it so long as you are playing well and feeling focused. I also feel it can serve to be a fantastic learning experience – that is, of course, as long as you learn from your mistakes.
EXAMPLE #1 - Omaha Hi-Lo Cash Game $5/$10
NOEL’S HAND: 9c 8c 6d 5c
NOEL’S STACK: $1,135
FINAL BOARD: 9h 3s 2c 10c 4c
Now let’s take a look at a hand that I played just about as badly as I possibly could. The game was $5/$10 and I liked the line-up. I could definitely see one mark in the game that I was confident would provide a bit of value. We were playing 5-handed and the hand played out as follows:
PRE-FLOP
I am in the cut-off playing $1,135 and open to $35 with 9c-8c-6d-5c. The button folds, the small blind ($500) calls and the big blind ($1,000) calls also.
FLOP: 9h 3s 2c
We see a flop of 9h-3s-2c and it gets checked to me. Now by any stretch of the imagination I would continuation bet close to full-pot here in my normal game but like a deer in the headlights, I freeze and check behind.
TURN: 10c
On the turn we see the 10c which is a reasonable card for my hand. I now have one pair, a flush draw and a double gutter. The small blind leads for a pot bet of $105, the big blind calls and I elect to also call - mistake no.2.
The SB is known to me and he is potting this turn with a huge range of hands, the big blind calls in the middle and having thus far shown minimal strength in the hand I should attempt to get him out of the picture and clean up my outs. In my normal game I would raise the pot instead of calling the $105 here. The plan would be that the big blind would fold some non-nut draws and that I would get heads-up with lots of equity and dead money against the short stack. Who knows, he may even fold, but I didn’t give him the opportunity to do so.
RIVER: 4c
When the river falls the 4c the pot now stands at $420. The small blind checks; he is finished with the hand as had the river completed his holding he would have just stuck his last $360 into the middle. Now the big blind bets $280 and the decision is on me.
ANALYSIS:
Let’s pause and consider the scenario. I hold three clubs in my hand and a 9-high flush. The exposed clubs are the 10c, 9c, 8c, 5c, 4c, 2c so if he isn’t bluffing and for me to be ahead he has to be betting any combination of 7c, 6c, 3c. How often do you think any player value-bets one of these flush combinations on a multi-way river? The answer is ‘not very often’ as there just isn’t much value in betting.
Let’s take it one step further – how should the villain view me on the river and what range of hands should I really turn up with? Well, I am weighted principally towards draws, one of which has just filled. This would be just about the dumbest spot ever to choose to bluff on the river. But hey, choosing to bluff here isn’t nearly as stupid as my decision to call - mistake no.3. Start the bonfire, I am burning my money. The big blind had Kc-9d-7s-6c. |
