Anyone who transitioned from NL holdem to Pot-limit Omaha?

[Colima420]

For about 6 months, I have been attending a 200 pesos (about $20 dollars) NL holdem home game every Wednesday. Usually it is in tournament format, with the ocassional cash game.

The whole time, I have also been trying to find other groups of players so I can play more than just once a week. I have found other groups, but I always end up not going anymore because these other groups play in a way that doesn't really do it for me. For example:

-Everyone puts in a blind pre-flop (everybody!!!). I guess kind of like antes, except without small and big blinds. -
-You can't go all-in preflop or on the flop, but you can go all-in during the turn or the river.
-ETC, etc.

I love the game of poker and it bothers me when it is not played according to the rules.

Last week I finally found a group of people who play 100% by the rules. They don't just follow the rules, but they also follow proper poker ettiquete (don't speak about the hand you threw away, don't tell the other player in the hand what to do, etc).

They play tournaments with 1000 pesos (about $100 dollar) buy-in.

All of this is perfect except for one little detail:

They play Pot-Limit Omaha (high).

I have played pot-limit omaha about 4 times in my life. I know how the game is played, but I lack the experience.

So my questions are these:

1.-Is this worth pursuing?
2.-Does a player that is pretty good in holdem have a good chance of being good in Omaha? Or are the two things completely independent?
3.-I have heard that in Omaha there is more skill than in holdem? True?
4.-Any advice is appreciated.

Even though I would love to go to this game every Thursday, I don't want to go to just donate $100. I want to go if I can have some +EV eventually.

Colima420

[swope]

the chances of this game working for you are slim. PLO is non-intuitive for holdem players, especially NL holdem.

if you play limit, then you are already comfortable with playing drawing hands, and very often in PLO the drawing hand is a favorite over the made hand.

pick up ciaffones book on plo, its an excellent primer.

also, you need a substantially bigger bankroll for plo than for NL holdem. the swings in PLO are supernaturally huge. and if you are even remotely tilt prone, just stay away. the most insane beats for NL holdem are literally daily occurances in PLO (top set loses to quads, nut flush loses to straight flush, etc etc).

so if youre worried about donating 100$, play some low limit PLO online to get a feel for it for a few weeks/months. when youre ready to dump 7 or 8 buyins over the course of a night despite playing the best game possible, then youre probably ready to sit with those cats.

[Grasshopp3r]

This reminds of the quote about the crooked game being the only game in town, so people play there anyway.

You need to start your own game if you don't like the alternatives.

PLO is hard, but it is more exploitable than NLHE if you play better. I tend to do better online with PLO as you can afford to fold marginal situations that might be slightly +EV and wait for the truly dominating situations.

[swope]

[ QUOTE ]
This reminds of the quote about the crooked game being the only game in town, so people play there anyway.

You need to start your own game if you don't like the alternatives.

PLO is hard, but it is more exploitable than NLHE if you play better. I tend to do better online with PLO as you can afford to fold marginal situations that might be slightly +EV and wait for the truly dominating situations.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is outrageously good advice, btw.

[PantsOnFire]

Personally, I believe playing PLO will actually help your holdem game.

Holdem does give you a good foundation for PLO but there are some major areas you would need to get better at. First is starting hand selection. As a holdem player, AA is a great starting hand. However, in PLO a hand like A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] is not that good. As a matter of fact, you would usually fold this pf. This is hard for holdem players. Also a hand like 5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] might look good but it too is not really strong.

The reason the above hands are not that good is you are looking to hit the nuts in PLO. So you want suited aces, high pairs and connected cards. And preferably out of the four cards you want combinations of those.

In PLO, the nuts can and usually do change with turn and the river. So if you flop a broadway straight, which is the nuts, it probably won't remain the best hand. The board pairing will likely give someone the nut flush or the board pairing will likely give someone a boat. And also in this game, when the board is paired you have to be careful you don't have a lower boat than somebody else. So your low pairs might look good when you hit a set, but when the board pairs two higher cards, you very well could lose to a higher boat and take a big hit.

One of the most powerful hands in PLO, and is something to look out for in your starting hand selection, is a redraw. Let's go back to the broadway straight.

The board is: T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

If you have AJ, you hit the nuts. But let's look at some different hands:

1: A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
2: A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Both are good starting hands but that flop makes them very different now.

In the first hand, you have no redraw. Unless you hit runner runner, your hand will not improve and you are very vulnerable to the club flush and the board pairing.

In the second hand, look at all the redraws you have: nut flush, royal flush, top full house and quad kings. This is a powerhouse.

I am not an accomplished PLO player but I did try to illustrate that you need a slightly different eye to play this game compared to holdem. I think it is a good idea to give it a try.