spread limit omaha pf questions home game (kinda long)

[zmigsthatkid]

hi i just recently started playing in a home game where a 5-5 spread limit omaha (5-200) is the most popular game... i am new to omaha but feel i play considerably better than these players postflop, they really like junky draws on paired boards etc., so anyway there is this one player who loves to gamble, he raises almost all hands pf to 40-75 and is relentless postflop, he will bet 100-200 on pretty much any flop when checked too and if he hit any kind of piece or any kind of draw he will not give up when you play back... so as you can imagine the implied odds are really big although in this structure it is nearly impossible to get more than ~175 bb in pot, because he could have pretty much anything pf, any decent hand seems pretty profitable to play HU but when one player calls the original pf raise normally at least 2 others come in behind (the game runs 6-handed), what kind of hand is profitable to call at this price in a multi-way pot in this structure... if you are coming in behind several other players in this situation what kind of hand are you looking to play?... i also experimented with limp reraising the max to isolate the maniac (when i was ep and he was blinds) and that worked ok short term but i dont know if it is a good idea, what kind of hand is profitable to isolate with if that is a good idea? basically im very confused with what kind of hands i should play in this structure with this kind of player who completely changes the dynamic of the table (makes the game play pretty huge) and makes it potentially makes sense to get agressive and play back pf... i thank anyone for their responses in advance and if this is boring and really basic i apologize... if i need to clarify anything let me know... thanks again for any help

[Silent A]

Since I told you I'd try to make some useful comments:

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so anyway there is this one player who loves to gamble, he raises almost all hands pf to 40-75 and is relentless postflop, he will bet 100-200 on pretty much any flop when checked to

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You mention the betting limits but not the typical stack sizes. In big bet games, your goal should be to find ways to stack off your opponents. Since Omaha is a post-flop game, this means manipulating the size of the pot pre-flop to fall in a "golden" range where your pre-flop commital is fairly small but big enough that you can get your/his stack in with 2 or 3 bets. Your $200 cap makes this a little awkward though, especialy if the betting is so big pre-flop.

These pre-flop bets you mention are massive if they aren't re-raises (8 to 15 BB) so you don't usually want to raise him pre-flop unless you can isolate him. If you can't (because your other opponents are loose passive) then raising becomes fairly pointless (you'll quickly turn this into an effectively fixed limit Omaha game with $200 betting increments).

One thing to note is that with pre-flop raises this big, the blind pressure is minimal. General game theory suggests that low blind pressure means you should tighten up and only play well co-ordinated hands. I don't suggest you over do this because your opponets seem to be ultra loose. It'll probably be more than enough to simply play moderately tighter than they do (but loose enough that they won't really notice that you're playing relatively tight).

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when one player calls the original pf raise normally at least 2 others come in behind (the game runs 6-handed), what kind of hand is profitable to call at this price in a multi-way pot in this structure

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When his pre-flop raises become multi-way pots your game will effectively become a $200 limit game. This means that you can't price out draws. You therefore want to play well co-ordinated hands and aim for the nuts (or close to it). The beauty of well co-ordinated hands is that when you flop a strong hand you are usually either blocking or counterfeiting their draws. This is a major source of your edge in Omaha. You don't want to be sucked into calling down with a dominated draw. Let them do that.

So to answer your question: play well co-ordinated hands. You want suited cards (esp double suited) that are close together, big pairs with co-ordinated side cards, a suited Ace with 3 cards close together.

You want any gaps in your hand to be in the lower ranks of your cards - having a gap between your highest 2 cards is a major liability because it ruins your chances of flopping the high end of a wrap (T986 is much better than T876). This is becomes more important for the lower cards and less important for the higher cards. For example, the gap in 6432 is extremely dangerous while the gap in AQJT is harmless.

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also experimented with limp reraising the max to isolate the maniac (when i was ep and he was blinds) and that worked ok short term but i dont know if it is a good idea, what kind of hand is profitable to isolate with if that is a good idea?

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It's a good idea if you actually isolate him and you have a strong hand with significant showdown value. The main problem is that the pot will be $400 on the flop and the betting cap is $200. You've moved from a big bet game to a limit like game (worse than limit since there's no double bet on the turn and river). The pre-flop betting is no longer a small investment to set up a big pot that you can manipulate with superior post flop play. The pre-flop is now a significant investment in its own right and you want to have big equity from the get go. Nothing does this like double suited big pairs. If you make these raises loose, you're going to turn this into a coin flipping competition.

Some final thoughts:

1) This game will feature a lot of suck outs (considerably more than in PLO). Mentally prepare for them if you want to avoid tilting yourself.

2) When you're in a HU pot with the LAG you'll effectively be up against a random hand, so learn the features of random hands. For example, they'll have a flush on a flush board and 3 of a kind on a paired board about 20% of the time. When he has a flush it'll be 4th nuts or worse almost half the time, 2nd or 3rd nuts 30% of the time, and the nuts 20% of the time.

3) Multi-way pots will be an extreme crap shoot. I'm not sure quite how they'll play because I don't play limit Omaha but I suspect they'll bring new meaning to "no fold 'em". Bluffing will probably not be a key to this game (major exception: bluffing when you both missed your draws - make sure to pay attention to see if they do this).

4) Consider trying to sit on the LAG's immediate right. You'll probably find that you'll be the effective button on most of the big pots (they'll check to him, he'll bet, you'll see their reaction and then you can decide how to continue).

While I hope you find this post useful, it's really just an educated guess since I've never played a game like this.

Don't apply any of this blind!