Pot-limit Omaha Sit & Go’s offer players a new challenge in which the widely known strategies employed in hold’em are simply not as effective. The key reasons for this are the pot-limit betting restrictions and the fact that hands are very infrequently more than a 60% favourite preflop. These factors make for a very different strategic landscape.
If you’re a no-limit hold’em player and new to Omaha there are a few key pointers you must be aware of straight away:
1. You must use two of your four hole cards to make the best hand, therefore you do not have the nut flush holding just the bare Ace on a four-card suited board.
2. Be wary of drawing to the non-nuts; a Ten-high flush is unlikely to be the best hand come showdown in PLO, nor is the bottom end of a straight.
3. Slow-playing is bad. With six different hand combinations out against you for every player in the pot, giving away free cards is tantamount to suicide. Top pair, top kicker is a long way from the being the nuts…
4. Play your big draws aggressively. A strong draw is often a favourite over a made hand and reraising can give you two ways to win the pot: you make your draw or your opponent folds.
Starting-hand requirements
Good starting hands are those where all four cards work well together. Double-suited run-down hands like A-K-Q-J and J-10-9-8 have a great deal of potential, as do gapped run-down hands like J-9-8-7. You should be wary of committing much of your stack with these speculative hands preflop, especially as many flush draws will not be drawing to the nuts. Sets and the naked nut straights are vulnerable hands that can see you forced into committing chips to a pot where you are the underdog.
Double-suited big pair hands like A-A-K-K down to A-A-10-10 are very strong as you have two possible nut flush draws to hit in addition to sets and nut straight draws. Unsuited hands like A-A-3-9 or K-K-2-7 are actually quite weak, as naked overpairs are unlikely to be the best hand at showdown. Really, you want to flop a set with them cheaply (if at all) or get away.
Suited A-K-X-X rag hands are worth a look but don’t overvalue them out of position or if action has been frantic preflop. Small double-paired hands are usually worth playing as they have great set-mining potential, but again be aware that bottom or middle sets may often be the second or third best hand.
Sit and Go tips
Now we've established some of the basic do and don'ts of PLO, let's look at how you should be approaching the various stages of a PLO Sit & Go.
The pot-limit nature of Omaha combined with the fact that no hand is a massive preflop favourite means you'll be playing a lot more flops in the early and middle stages than you would in a hold’em SNG. Playing in position is just as, if not more, important though, so don’t be scared of coming in cheaply with position and outplaying loose and passive opponents.
Early stages
In the early stages, playing tight and waiting for strong starting hands should stop you from bleeding chips. That’s not to say you should be playing passively, but raising out of position and calling with raggy hands are both big leaks. Obviously if you only raise with A-A-x-x your game will be easily exploitable, so you should mix it up by raising with a range of quality hands including double-suited high-card/pair combos and run-down hands (Q-J-T-8). Play your big draws aggressively but you want to hit the flop hard before you commit a lot of chips during the early levels.
Middle stages
In addition to having built yourself a tight-aggressive table image during the early levels that (hopefully) you can now exploit, you’ve had ample time to study how your opponents are playing and should know who is more likely to fold to a reraise. At this stage you should avoid calling if a bet will commit you to the pot – you should either be reraising or folding preflop. This is where the three-bet comes into its own; not only does it increase your chances of taking the pot heads-up, thus increasing the value of your draws (your non-nut flush/straight draws are more likely to be good), it also traps dead money in the pot as many players in early/middle position will fold to a three-bet. Awareness of stack size and position becomes crucial at this point and you should be considering your plan of action on the flop. Call/folding out of the blinds is weak play and you should be looking to put the pressure back on your opponents. Observing the tendencies of your opponent becomes a key factor at this stage. If your opponent is more likely to check to you if you have position then consider reraising preflop –you can then put them to the test by shoving the flop.
The bubble and beyond
The bubble is the make-or-break point of a Sit & Go, as you will have to take some calculated gambles here. Of course, the chances of an opponent waking up with a monster are significantly lower when you get short-handed, allowing you more opportunities to get creative and put them to the test.
As you should be playing to win, rather than just to cash, one way to increase your aggression factor is by playing your big draws aggressively. For example, you have called a raise in position against one opponent while holding 6c-7c-9h-10h and the flop comes 8h-5h-Jc. Even if your opponent has a hand like Ad-Ac-Jd-Jc or Kd-Kc-Jd-Jc, holding a flush draw with a big wrap (in which at least three different cards can complete your straight) makes you a 60/40 favourite over someone holding top set. Don’t be afraid to come over the top with your draws, as you’re giving yourself two ways to win.
The biggest difference between hold’em and Omaha Sit & Go’s is the betting structure, as it’s very difficult to get it all-in preflop and a pot-sized raise often gives your opponents the correct odds to call. Not only does this mean independent chip modelling (ICM) becomes less relevant, it also translates to more flops in the later stages. Awareness of stack sizes and table dynamics is critical at this point. You can be more liberal with your raises if you are not in a hand with the short stack, as you can put more pressure on the other players who may be looking to fold their way into the money. Conversely, if a medium stack comes out firing pot-sized bets when there is a short-stack present, you need to be holding something if you want to go to war with them.
Endgame
After the bubble bursts continue to push your position. Controlling pot size is the key to success in PLO – it is you and not your opponent who should be deciding whether to play a large or small pot. This is what makes position such a key factor in PLO, and you should be playing your button aggressively and forcing other players into making mistakes out of position.