If you find yourself making consistent trips to your local casino to play $1-$2 or $2-$5 pot-limit Omaha cash games, take a look at these tips to help improve your overall results.
If you’re going to be a nit, buy in for the max. What’s the point of waiting hours for that one juicy hand when you can only get in $100? You’re only hurting your hourly rate. At my local casino, our $1-$2 PLO game with a $5 bring-in will allow a minimum of a $100 buy-in and a maximum of a $500. I see these guys buying in for $100 and playing three hands over the course of four hours. It’s bad for the game and bad for their overall strategy.
If you’re going to sit back and wait, make sure you have the full amount to make it count when you finally find that sweet spot. If bankroll management is the issue here, then you shouldn’t be playing poker, let alone riding the PLO rollercoaster.
The players at these stakes rarely check-raise light. Most people playing live, small stakes PLO are playing their cards and nothing else. If they check-raise you, they have the goods more than 90 percent of the time. Use that knowledge to your advantage, especially against aggressive players who also know this to be the case. Check-raising a continuation bet from aggressive players on dry boards (i.e. K-7-2 rainbow) with a broader range will make you a lot of money in the long run. Keep them guessing!
Make continuation bets a lot more; I mean a LOT more. Since most of these fish will never check-raise you unless they have the goods, c-bet more when you’re in position. It allows you to check-back on turns more and see free rivers if you see fit. You’ll also find yourself guessing a lot less often on later streets.
Keep in mind c-betting is important when heads-up and in multiway hands. Most people are afraid to bet dry boards when there are three people in the pot, but that’s a fantastic time to bet if it checks around to you. The more people in the hand, the more people will believe you.
Bottom line, these people are usually playing so face-up that it hurts. An optimal strategy for live small stakes PLO would be to buy in for the max, play tight preflop, and fire postflop until people play back at you. You rarely need to make hero calls in this type of game because you’ll find so many better spots to get value. Good luck at the tables.
