Many Texas hold’em players shy away from playing Pot Limit Omaha because of the apparent complexity involved. In actual fact Pot Limit Omaha or PLO as it is commonly known is a much simpler game than many people think. The basic mechanics of the game are simple and you are dealt four starting cards instead of two as in hold’em. The flop, turn and river are exactly the same as well and three community cards are dealt on the flop that can be used by all of the players who are still active in the hand.
There are two initial blinds and the betting action is exactly the same as in hold’em. There is only one key difference in how this form of poker is played. In hold’em then you can play the board if you want. So basically this means that if you held 2c-2d in your hand and the board was A-K-Q-J-10 then you can declare a straight as your hand. Or if your hand was A-2 and the board was K-Q-J-10-5 then you can use only the ace and once again declare a straight as your hand. So in hold’em then you are choosing any five cards from seven to make your five card poker hand.
This can either be by using both cards from your starting hand, only one or none and using the entire board. However in PLO then you have to use two cards out of the four that you are dealt. You cannot play the board like you can in hold’em and you cannot only use one card. This leads to many players becoming confused when they first switch to Omaha but this is quickly understood with a little practice. Let us look at a couple of examples here to see what we mean.
If you hold the Ac-2c-3d-4h and the board is Kd-Qs-Js-Jd-10c then you only have one pair of jacks as your hand and no more. You cannot just use one card from your hand to make a straight like you can in hold’em. You must use only three cards from the board and so in this example then you cannot make anything other than a pair of jacks. Likewise if the board was say J-J-4-4-2 and you held 5c-5s-4d-3h. Your hand is not a full house but only trip fours as you have to use three cards from the board which would be the two fours plus a jack and so your best possible hand would be 4-4-4-J-5.
Carl Sampson is a professional poker player who plays online at www.888poker.com
