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.