There are a number of opportunities to bluff in pot limit Omaha Hi-Lo, these are dependant on the tendencies of your opponents, your table position and the texture of the flop. The key factor for pot limit Omaha high-lo bluffs is that someone will usually have hit the flop. Based on 4 hole cards and both a high and low pot at showdown the number of draws is huge. A large part of your bluffing strategy should thus be to know which opponents are capable of folding and which ones can be considered ‘calling stations' who will never lay down their cards.
Bluffing with outs – known as semi-bluffing – is important in all forms of poker. In pot limit Omaha high-lo this becomes even more important. A quick mathematical example will demonstrate this point in omaha poker.
The pot is $20 on the turn and you bet $10 as a bluff with no hand and no draw against a single opponent. Thus your bluff must succeed more than 1/3 rd (33%) of the time to show a profit.
Now add 8 outs to scoop the pot (a low straight draw for example). Now you will win $30 approximately 20% of the time when called. This gives an expectation of $5 meaning that you are really ‘bluffing' with only half of your $10 bet to win the initial $20 pot – now you win money if your opponent only folds to your bet only 17.5% of the time. Those extra outs have tipped the balance in your favor.
High-only flops can present good bluffing opportunities in pot limit Omaha high-lo. Since most of your opponents will favor low hands, particularly those containing an ace, an uncoordinated high flop such as 7-J-K can be bluffed for a small bet. If called on such a flop the turn card becomes important. If this makes a low possible then many opponents will ‘chase' one more card. If you have a made high hand then make sure you charge them dearly for the privilege of drawing to their low.
Because different hole cards can be used in pot limit Omaha high-lo to make the high and low hands paired boards to not represent the same bluffing opportunity as in the high-only version. This is especially the case when the paired card is 8 or below and accompanied by another low card. However if you hit the nut high in these situations it can be worthwhile giving your opponents a chance to bluff with their low draws. If you have more than one opponent this can be even more lucrative – the chance of either scooping the high only pot or quartering 2 or more opponents has increased.
Scare cards which fall on the turn or river can also present good bluffing opportunities in pot limit Omaha high-lo. Very low cards (2, 3 or 4) might mean that an opponents low has been counterfeited – that is the board matches their lowest holdings. In this situation a timely bluff can often induce a fold – winning a pot that might otherwise have been split with an opponent. Again this is dependant on your opponents, never bluff someone who is not capable of folding!
