Tips For PLO Cash Games
PLO is a great game to play for cash at a reasonably low level as a lot of players here will not have played that many times in a PLO game. if your a tourney lover please check out our article on pot limit Omaha tournament strategy.
Most people will tell you that pot management is the most important thing in PLO. This is indeed the case, but as far as I am concerned exactly the other way as most players tell you. They will tell you to keep the pot small till the river and then betting with the nuts you already had on the flop.
The added advantage from this poker strategy is that you will not loose a lot if the board pairs and your nuts are no longer the nuts. The disadvantage however is that it will be very hard to get paid on the river as it is after all Pot Limit Omaha.
My experience is that betting with the nuts on the flop or turn, will in the long run work profitable as you will need to throw still hands away on the river, but a lot of opponents will decide to call your river bet still even if they did not improve. They do this mostly for the "pot odds" they were advised to take by all the poker books. Pot odds however are deceiving and are only value if you have a chance of winning. Even if you get 50-1 on the pot you still cant beat a royal flush. If you prefer Holdem check out this article on Fixed Limit Texas Holdem.
Another option is to re-raise any bet on the flop in the expectation to slow play down on the turn. This works only against the good players at higher limits and might not work at the 5c-10c tables. The sole purpose of this PLO strategy is to make opponents think twice about a bet on the turn. It will also mean that if they do check on the turn YOU will get the betting initiative. This is a reverse for of pot management, but if played correctly it will work the best of all the pot limitation exercises.
The other vital thing in PLO is starting hand selection. Too many players will enter the hand with 2 Texas hands. By that we mean hands like Ah-5h- 9s-10d They enter the pot with this because they have a suited Ace and because the 9 and 10 are consecutive. No need to say that this play only costs money in the long run as these hands will only win a small amount of pots.
Hands like Qd-Jd-10s-9s are perfect to play and play well against almost every other hand including players with Aces. what most people seem to forget is that A-A in the hole is just a pair and on a flop of 3-5-9 you are beaten by someone who plays with for instance a 3-5 already. As we have seen from the perfect hand scenario this is very well possible if the other player has something like 3s-4s-5d-7d
These are hands often played and there is nothing wrong with those, so if in the possession of A-A we need to make sure we either have some backup or you need to play it very conservative as it is only a pair of aces after all. AA become playable if the hand reads for instance Ac-Ad-Qc-10s. This gives both straight options and flush draw options and is definitely worth playing. Hands like Ac-Ad-5s-9h can even be thrown away pre flop. Not many people will actually fold a pair pre flop, but in reality it does not matter if you have 55 or AA in the hole.
What do you expect a raise with in PLO cash games??
Unfortunately up to a pretty high blind level (at least $5-$10) you will see raises pre flop that make your hairs stand up. The problem is not so much that the pot gets raised pre flop, but the quality of the hands that it is done with. In my opinion you can only be happy with that, as WHEN you have a good calling hand and you make the call you add automatically money to your bankroll.
Yes, you will get beaten a lot of times, because you will still need to hit, but IF you hit you will be able to make people pay for their raises pre flop.
Personally I keep my raises to a minimum and if I raise a hand preflop it will be something like Jd-Qs-Kd-As or similar hands. These hands I also use on the rare occasion for a re-raise pre flop when either me or my opponent does not have a lot of money behind. The reason for this is that the hand plays well against any other hand and even on a 7-9-3 board there are options to hit even though you may fold to a bet on the flop, so for me those are hands with which the money goes in if short stacked.
Understanding the competition
For this you can easily watch a table for a few rounds before you sit down at the table. Don't be afraid to leave a table if the opponents do not match your expectation. The good thing about playing on the internet is that you are not forced to sit at one table. You can easily move from table to table without raising suspicion. This is something you need to utilize as you will be able to look and find a table that matches your expectation.