There are many mistakes that your opponents will make at the Pot Limit Omaha table. These usually involve playing too many hands, the wrong type of hands and playing from the wrong position. Here we look at some common Pot Limit Omaha mistakes and how you can start profitably exploiting them today.
Pot Limit Omaha Mistake #1 – Playing ‘2-card’ Hands
With 4 hole-cards the number of ways in which you can hit the flop in Pot Limit Omaha is large. A common mistake your opponents will make is to play too many ‘2-card’ hands such as Q-Q-7-3. The only way this hand can hit the flop hard is to spike a Queen – only 2 out of the 6 possible 2-card combinations are working. Conversely a hand such as K-K-A-J double suited can hit the flop in many ways – making straights or flushes as well as high-pair combinations.
Pot Limit Omaha Mistake #2 – Only Raising With Aces
Some opponents will only ever raise with ‘premium’ pairs such as A-A-x-x. Doing this in the early betting rounds when the pot is small gives a huge advantage to their opponents. They have defined their hand (told opponents what they hold) at the same time as giving a great price to people to call and try and outdraw them. If you find and opponent who only ever raises with aces then call with a wide range of holdings, 2 pair hands and low straights can become favorite to take your opponents entire stack in the later betting rounds. If an ace flops you can easily fold, saving those bets for better opportunities.
Pot Limit Omaha Mistake #3 – Drawing To Non-Nut Hands
The large number of hand combinations in Pot Limit Omaha can make drawing to anything except the nuts an expensive mistake. A common example is calling a raise to draw to a king or queen high flush. You may make your hand, bet and raise on the end – only to discover that your opponent had a higher flush draw all along. This is also true when the board is paired, if nobody already has a full house then it is likely that someone has a draw to one. Here drawing to a straight or a flush can be a disaster.
Pot Limit Omaha Mistake #4 – Boards with Trips
When the board has 3 of the same card showing the winning hand is either quads or a full house made by someone holding a pair. A common mistake is for someone with K-J-5-4 to bet on the river with a 7-7-Q-K-7 board – you do not have a full house here as the winning hand must be made of exactly 2 cards from your hand and 3 from the board. In addition to an opponent holding a seven any paired player would beat you. Someone holding the lowly 2-2-J-8 would beat your kings here.
Pot Limit Omaha Mistake #5 – Bluffing
Once again it is the large number of hand combinations that make bluffing a mistake. With several opponents in the pot it is very likely that the board has hit someone hard enough to continue. Bluffing, even with outs, may be a worse mistake from early position. If someone behind you puts in a big re-raise you may have lost your small chance of drawing to the best hand as well as your bet. Bluffing should be very selective in pot limit Omaha. Few opponents and a ‘scary’ board such as a pair showing or 3 suited cards can represent good situations.
