Pot-Limit Omaha, Bluffing

The first thing you usually learn on PLO is that bluffing is not as profitable as in Texas Hold’em, because each player has 4 cards, what increases the chances that someone connects with the board. This may be truth, but you do have opportunities to bluff on omaha, and it would be a mistake not to take them. But you have to be more selective of course than you would on holdem.

Bluffing with outs

Avoid bluffing in pot limit omaha if you don’t have any chance to win the hand if you do get called. For example, your opponent raises pre-flop with most likely aces, and you call in position with 78JQ. The flop comes 2 3 5, and your opponent bet the pot. In this case, you know you are beat, and has a pretty small chance to make some sort of hand. Unless you know your opponent is capable of making big folds, this is not a good spot for a bluff.

Knowing the opponents

Unexperienced players usually play too loose on PLO, calling with small flushes, trips, two pair in coordinated boards. You will profit from these guys when you make a good hand, but don’t try to bluff them out a hand! Tight players, on the other hand, are the perfect targets for bluffs, specially when the board has possibilities of hands like low straights, which are most likely out of their range.

Position

Bluffing out of position is dangerous in any form of poker, and more so on pot limit omaha. Omaha is a flop game, and the information you get on the flop is highly valuable to make your decision. If you are out of position and bets the flop with nothing, you might as well be donating chips if the opponent has a strong game. If you check, the opponent bets and you call, what will you do on the turn? Avoid these tough spots by bluffing only when in position.

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All the bluffing skills are not enough if the opponents consider you a loose player. If you take stabs at every unraised pot, they will notice it, and fight back eventually. If they recognize you as a tight player, then you do have more chance to be successful in your bluff attempts.

Pot-Limit Omaha, 3-Betting

If you play No Limit Holdem you probably know something about 3-betting light, a semi-bluff pre-flop to try and steal the pot from a pre-flop raiser. In pot limit omaha, 3-betting as bluff is much more rare, because it is not very efficient. Since the game is pot-limit, most of the time the pre-flop raiser (pfr) will have odds (or be close to it) to call your re-raises. This is even more frequent in pots where some people will act after your 3-bet.

Because of this, you should avoid three-bets as a bluff most of the time, and use this weapon for value when you have a decent hand. If you have position, 3-bets and get called, you may have a chance to steal the pot when you hit the flop strongly or partially. You can even try to bluff the pfr out of the hand if he checks to you on the flop. It will depend not only on how you hit the flop, but your reading about the opponent, of course.

Pot-Limit Omaha, Position

Position is important in any poker variety. In six-max pot limit omaha, where hand ranges are much more difficult to determine, position is critical. By playing more hands in position, you will be able to steal more pots, to win more chips when you are ahead, and lose less chips when behind.

In a good position, you can limp on multi-way pots without much fear of being raised-out of the pot. You can also call pre-flop raises from players that you have a good read on, or make a big steal-raise on multi-limped pots. After the flop you can use floats or try to steal pots that opponents checked to you

Pot-Limit Omaha, Hand Requirements

In pot-limit omaha, the best hands are the ones that can hit strongly many types of boards. When you are talking full-ring, this includes hands with high connectors, preferably mono or double suited, or big pair plus big connectors, for example. On six-max you have to loosen up a little bit, but that doesn’t mean playing weak or one-option hands. A good rule of a thumb is to consider playing hands with three good cards, specially if they are double suited or in position. Also, smaller connectors can be more valuable in six-max. Drawing for the lower end of a straight in six-max omaha is much more smart than it would be on a full ring game.