Transitioning from NLHE to PLO

[R6MC]

I am currently a no limit holdem player looking to start playing pot limit omaha. Was looking for any advice or thoughts... will my previous experience help me learn this new game or are they worlds apart? what are some resources a beginner like me could use? Any tips or information would be much appreciated. Thanks guys.

[RagnarPirate]

i am making the transition as well and found this book helpful:

Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha (Paperback)
by Rolf Slotboom (Author)

poker is poker, so your experience will help more than you think. the game is very different though. There is not as much "domination" of starting hands as in hold em. Also, very powerful draws are often better than made hands on the flop. And, obviously, nut hands, nut draws and cards that block the other guys draws are of more importance in plo than nlhe.

If you're a tournament player, there are many valuable tournament skills that apply to plo (that even good plo cash players don't quite get)....gl

[lfairban]

I found the following book more helpful:

Omaha Poker
by Bob Ciaffone

You may wonder why you bought a book that costs about fifteen cents per page and covers limit and 8OB as well as PLO, but there is so much useful information that I have been studying every PLO relavant page.

"Secrets" is a very good book but I wouldn't recomend it for beginners. I haven't finished it yet. It will not give you a good idea of which starting hands to raise with or why you should check fold a set of duces. He figures you know not to re-raise early with AsAc7h2h and then pot a T 8 6 flop already.

Last night, I overcalled then went all in after a raise, a pot, a repot and double of the repot. The origional limper folded, and the other three called. I had bought in for the minimum and took down the hand with AAK5 ss. I said, "Thank you Rolf". But that doesn't happen very often.

Things to remember from Holdem include betting patterns, who calls, raises, or bluffs with what kind of holdings.

Things to forget from holdem include guessing starting hands based on call frequency and position.

Flushes made with 85 suited will probably loose you money over all if they hit on the turn.


BTW: One player said that when he began playing, he got a KKKx and someone looking over his sholder said that it was a very poor hand. "I was like, WTF?!"

It may be a good idea to re-read sections of TOP also. If you are starting out at micro statkes 6 Max, remember that most players see too many flops and call way too often. Cut down on your semi-bluffs, use pot size control, and draw to the nuts for big pots or near nuts with low action. Never straight or flush draw with a paired board, and rarely draw to a straight with a 3 flush board. You might want to check a low wrap on a 2 flush flop esp. OOP.

[Alfil]

I've recently opted to give PLO another try and picked up the Slotboom book as well. I am only a few chapters in and thus far I've enjoyed the format and structure and like that it isn't play by numbers but primarily a series of concepts a pro has developed over time. I also like that there isn't a lengthy primer of preflop holdings since I don't want to get into bad habits that might be difficult to break by believing I have a greater understanding of the game because I "know" what hands to play.

I tried a session today following his short stack methodology to get my feet wet and drowned. One thing I learned today is, flop a boat in hold em and an idiot would be hard pressed to play it poorly, flop a boat in omaha you can quickly be made too look like an idiot. Coming from hold em, what I thought were excellent flops for my hand have turned out to be not so simple in Omaha. I lost hands today with a flopped boat over boat, flopped set that lost to a straight on the turn I thought improbable since I hand a second pair that blocked the straight potential and gave me a back door straight to boot, and at the time a nut straight on the flop that got out-nutted. Overall I've found Omaha to have a lot more nuances than hold em. I'm still reminding myself that I have to play two cards from my hand.

[lfairban]

Welcome to Omaha. This is one crazy little town, isn't it.

My biggest stupidest mistakes:

When I am drawing to a flush and hit it on the rive and somehow, fail to notice that it paired the board.

Calling a big raise with an underfull and not being aware, since I am multi-tabling or something, that I have just been check-raised, and my opponent probably wouldn't do that without the stone cold nuts.

[aadams22]

Another good piece of Pot Limit Omaha reading...especially for the beginner is the following page on FCP. It is definitely worth a read.

http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poke...howtopic=66345

Also, although it is geared towards high stakes play, go ahead and read Lyle Berman's section in Super System 2.

[RoundTower]

[ QUOTE ]
He figures you know not to re-raise early with AsAc7h2h and then pot a T 8 6 flop already.

Last night, I overcalled then went all in after a raise, a pot, a repot and double of the repot. The origional limper folded, and the other three called. I had bought in for the minimum and took down the hand with AAK5 ss. I said, "Thank you Rolf". But that doesn't happen very often.


[/ QUOTE ]
yeah, good thing you didn't have any more chips when it went 5 bets with you holding the nuts.

[lfairban]

You are right!

The board paired on the flop and I had a flush draw. If I still had a ton of chips left against this many opponents, I would have probably folded. I was just glad that I got all of my money in pre-flop.