[Closed] Choosing of starting hands in PLO Hi

Ratatuj · 2008-06-14T14:56:49Z

hi, I'm a player from the Russian part of the site. I play PLO Hi at ipoker, have silver coachings and gold ones with TribunCaesar. I've just written an article on choosing starting hands in PLO. I hope it'll help the begginders but I also want to hear the opinions of the experienced players. The article is available in Russian here1. Introduction Choosing of starting hands in Omaha is more important than in Holdem. It is quite evident since Holdem has more opportunities for bluffing that can diminish the importance of having only good cards. Besides, it is always easier to choose a hand that consists of 2 cards than that of 4. Actually, I would say that choosing a starting hand in Omaha is not a trivial but more a creative task. Here there are no absolutely definite rules, there are only recommendations. In the long run only your game experience will help you to estimate the quality of a hand quickly and decide if it is worth playing in the certain game situation. So, you can use the content of the article as a recommendation only. The article implies the game at Full Ring tables, as the game at 6-max is a bit looser and Heads Up tables is much looser. Vocabulary I will use some terms in the article, let us define them: Wrap – it is a sequence of cards. By “wrap” I will mean a sequence of 4 cards, e.g., 5:club:7:club:6:club:8:diamond: Gaper – it is a wrap with a gap, I will divide them into 3 groups: a) lower gaper, e.g., J:heart: 7:heart: 9:spade: T:spade: . As you can see there is no 8 in the sequence of 79TJ. b) middle gaper, e.g., A:diamond: K:spade: T:club:J:diamond: . Q is absent. c) top gaper, e.g., 6:spade: 7:spade: 8:spade: T:spade: . No 9 here. Double/single suited (DS/SS) – when a hand consists of 2 suits or has 2 cards of one suit, e.g., K:spade: 6:spade: 7:club:8:club (double suited). So, if I say “suited Kings” or “a suited Ace”, I mean KxsKys or a hand with Axs. Complicated a bit but I hope you got a clue. 2. Ideal Hands Surely, the ideal hand is one that wins you a pot on the river. But there are monster-hands in Holdem, as, e.g., a longed-for pair of Aces, there are monster-hands in Omaha. Let us begin with my favorite hands with a pair of Aces (I will call them just Aces-hands). These hands have really a lot of equity but only those that are qualitative. Correspondingly, the ideal Aces-hands are double suited (DS) Aces or Aces+wrap hands (it is desirable that at least one of the Aces would be suited). Examples: a) Suited Aces A:club:J:club:A:heart: 3:heart: A:diamond: A:heart: 6:diamond: 7:heart: A:spade: K:heart: A:heart: 7:spade: The hands are arranged in order of preference. Why? In the first example we have AJs and A3s. But J and 3 themselves form no combination. Nevertheless, both AJ and A3 can hit 2 straights – broadway and wheel respectively. The second example gives us and additional opportunity to hit only one straight (I mean a nut 34567 straight). The hand from the third example is, in my opinion, worse. A7 cannot be in one straight and moreover the presence of King of hearts in the combination AKs diminishes our chances to get paid if we hit a flush. b) Aces+wrap A:spade: K:spade: A:diamond:Q:diamond: A:heart: A:diamond:2:diamond:3:club: The hand from the first example has, in my opinion, a lot of equity. Here is a pair of DS Aces and additional chances to get a broadway. The second hand has only one DS Ace and chances to build a wheel. But, I recon, other DS Aces + any two broadway or wheel cards will present a very decent hand. c) Aces+pair A:spade:7:spade:7:club:A:club: A:club:J:club:J:diamond:A:heart: A:heart: K:club:A:diamond:K:spade: This group of hands has increased potential to hit a top-set. Surely, a pair of sevens from the first example will hardly hit exactly top-set but this hand is powerful because of two DS Aces. The second hand is better than the third one because it has one DS Ace. It goes without saying, that we do not play hands with 3 or all the 4 Aces (as any other hands of that kind). The hands with a pair of Kings are nearly as strong as good hands with Aces. So, I play DS Kings and (suited) Kings+wrap the same way as the corresponding hands with Aces. As a rule DS Aces are worth raising with and DS Aces with outs for straight should be played on the whole stack (100BB) pre-flop. I also raise when I get good DS Kings or Kings+pair/Kings+wrap (if they have at least one suited King). Having this type of hand I can call my opponent’s all-in pre-flop if he/she has 50BB or smaller stack. I do not think it is right to play on a full 100BB stack with Kings pre-flop as usually we deal with Aces-hands. In most cases it will be a coinflip what will depend on the quality of the hands. But there is no sense in folding good hands with Kings every time because lot’s of your opponents will overplay their Aces-hands (will play on naked Aces) but even versus wraps and hands with other pairs our hand’s equity will be better in most cases. Wraps I consider w...

Omaha

Last Post by gadget51 17 years ago

26 Posts

12 Users

0 Reactions

20.3 K Views

RSS

gadget51

Joined: 23.06.2008

Posts: 5,622

26.08.2009, 15:20 0

Thanks for that Ratatuj, I didn't want to break any rules.
It ranks hands a bit tight IMO but is very good otherwise as it saves all that tricky maths in the heat of a hand. Ideal for beginning players.

My blog: NSFW Language (Push the Limits).

Ratatuj

Joined: 27.08.2007

Posts: 14,306

26.08.2009, 16:13 0

does it still support only one table??

Jim9137

Joined: 13.11.2007

Posts: 2,756

26.08.2009, 16:18 0

Tournamenet indicator did when I last used it. A bit fun to run 15 tables and 15 tournament indicators.

gadget51

Joined: 23.06.2008

Posts: 5,622

26.08.2009, 18:23 0

It runs well on 4 which is my max concentration level.
Oh and it's the only software I seem to be able to run on Cake, even TI doesn't work.

My blog: NSFW Language (Push the Limits).

_Anonymous_

28.08.2009, 06:40 0

May 07, 2009 Holdem Indicator 1.6.8 released. Patch release for Cake Poker Network (Sportsbook Poker, etc). Added Stats Window to the "Vertical View".

Does this mean you can run Hold'em Indicator @ cake? What about Omaha Indicator and PLO, is it only helpful with Hi/Lo, 8 ?

gadget51

Joined: 23.06.2008

Posts: 5,622

30.08.2009, 21:03 0

I don't have HM, but OI works on Cake for OH and O8 but strangely not Holdem Indicator. Maybe because OI is still new-ish I don't know.

My blog: NSFW Language (Push the Limits).