Polo is played on a Polo field that is 300 yards long and 200 yards wide, although this may be just 160 yards wide if it is a boarded pitch. The goalposts have a width of 8 yards and are open at the top. Each Polo match shall consist of 4 chukkas (plays), each one lasting 7 minutes of actual play. It’s easy to watch PLO online or on TV, see crazy hands go down and get caught up emulating the pros. Here’s the thing though: The pros have played enough Omaha to know when to break the rules and when to stick to them, when to go with their reads and when to gamble.

6-Max PLO Poker is actually more popular than the full-ring Omaha games at most leading Omaha poker sites. Making the right strategy adjustments in these games can bring in large profits for the thinking player. Not only will you play more hands per hour – opponents who fail to adjust properly will simply be giving away their money faster!

This article covers 3 main areas of adjusting to 6-max PLO games from the perspective of a beginner or someone transitioning from Holdem. Firstly position at the table is covered, then starting hand selection and finally the opponent weaknesses mentioned above. Big profits are easily made in 6-max PLO games – as long as you make the right strategy adjustments!

This articles intention is to provide a solid, basic understanding of all aspects of Pot Limit Omaha/8 for beginners. PLO Hi/Lo is a high/low split variant of Pot limit Omaha. Each player is dealt 4 cards and shares 5 community cards with the other players. There are a total of 4 betting rounds followed by a showdown. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), umbrella political organization formed in 1964 claiming to represent the world’s Palestinians—those Arabs, and their descendants, who lived in mandated Palestine before the creation there of the State of Israel in 1948. Learn more about the history of the PLO in this article.

The Importance Of Position

Position is critical in 6-max games. To better understand why this is the case we need to compare short-handed Omaha games with the full-ring versions. In both games position is important. Acting last allows you to win more when ahead and lose less when behind. It also allows you to take many small pots where nobody in the hand flopped much.

In a full ring game you are likely to be up against some decent holdings – that is to say that even when you have position the chances of one or more opponents flopping a good draw or made hand are high.

Compare this to 6-max, here starting hands are likely to be weaker (on average). This magnifies the value of acting on the button or in late position. You will be able to take away many more small pots. Your position will also allow you to choose whether to take a free card (or charge your out of position opponent a high price to draw). In short, position is key in 6-max PLO strategy and you should look to be playing the majority of your reasonable starting hands from the button or cut-off seats.

Starting Hand Adjustments

If you wait for the same strong coordinated / premium starting hands which were outlined in our PLO Starting hands guide then you will usually be playing too tight in a 6-max PLO game. Finding the right balance between playable hands and going too loose can be a challenge.

Again position is a key component in this selection process. From later position high-card strength along with some backup in the form of suited or closely ranked cards is usually enough. In any form of Omaha it pays to have cards which work together – and 6-max PLO games are no exception. However, the amount of coordination required should be more flexible. For example single suited hands (with one pair suited and 2 further unsuited cards) or closely ranked cards with gaps (particularly at the lower end) can be played aggressively where nobody has shown any strength ahead.

In 6-max PLO games the value of premium pairs goes up compared to full-ring Omaha. The reason is that you will usually be against fewer drawing hands after the flop in the short handed games. Aces or Kings are always better with some backup – however in 6-max they can be played aggressively after the flop more often than against multiple opponents in a full-ring PLO game.

Adjusting To Different Opponent Types

You will meet a huge variety of opponent styles in 6-max PLO games. Adjusting correctly to your opponent’s strategy is a key area for making money. In full-ring games the hyper-aggressive style has its issues – anyone trying to ‘run over the table’ will meet a monster hand soon enough. In 6-max PLO games this style can be employed successfully, especially against timid or passive opponents.

You will regularly meet opponents who bet pot on 80% of hands before the flop and continuation bet 90% when they are called. These players often pick-up pot after pot when nobody flops a big draw or made hand against them. There is a key difference between hyper-aggressive opponents in 6-max PLO games – how they react to ‘resistance’. That is, will they re-raise the pot all-in when someone comes over the top of their pre-flop bets – or just call and slow down.

Against the ‘all-in’ types you should take a hand that is a decent favorite against their range and get the chips in. Aces or kings fit the bill or even a quality coordinated hand such as Q-J-J-10 double suited. If your opponent slows down to raises then a better adjustment can be to call in position – letting them bet their stack over several streets when you flop a good hand.

If you find yourself out of position (to the right) of a hyper-aggressive opponent then slowplaying flopped monsters can be very profitable (one of the only times we advise any type of slowplaying in PLO). Allow the maniac to bet and those players in the middle to call – building a pot before you get those chips in as a big favorite.

At the other extreme you will find many of the same ‘nut-peddlers’ that sit in full-ring games at the 6-max PLO tables. These players are destined to loose money slowly! The ‘blind pressure’ and amount of times they will be continuation bet out of pots after calling pre-flop make this strategy unsuitable for 6-max PLO.

The best defense against a 6-max ‘nit’ is identification! Get out of the pot when they raise (especially if they re-raise!) unless you have a stronger than average holding for the situation. If your raise is called by a nit then continuation bet the majority of the time – they will fold without a big hand. Making those bets on the smaller side will increase your profits, a nit will fold to $3 almost as often as they will fold to $5 – and you will save some money when they do call.

Finally the calling station types can be found in 6-max PLO poker games, especially at the lower limits. They will call you to the river with any piece of the flop (or maybe an overpair) and chase draws against the odds.

The first strategy adjustment against a loose-passive calling station is to ensure you do not justify their bad calls by paying them off on the river if an obvious draw comes in. For example if you bet a set on the flop and turn and the river makes a flush possible then fold to their large bet. The chips saved will generally make up for the few times you actually fold the best hand.

Secondly, when playing against a calling station make sure that you bluff less and value bet more. This is the same strategy as in any poker game – however more important still in 6-max PLO games. Calling stations will be the source of much of your profit, as long as you identify and adjust to them early.

Are you new at poker and want to learn how to play Pot Limit Omaha (PLO)? Or is Texas Holdem your typical game and you want to add to your repretoire? If you are among the latter folks, pay special attention to the tips below because Omaha players are on the lookout for common Texas mistakes.

Below we introduce PLO strategies for starting hand selection and assessment, bankroll management, equity, backdoor outs and kill cards, and hand reading.

Plo Rules Poker

Basic PLO Strategy & Tips

Many players give PLO a try as a refreshing change from Texas Holdem. With 4 hole cards and betting limits fixed by the size of the pot, there are new strategy considerations to keep your mind fresh. This article covers some of the key strategy tips you’ll need to keep in mind when your first move over. Remember that experienced PLO players are on the lookout for people making ‘Holdem Player Mistakes’ and are ready to take advantage.

There are 3 main areas covered in this article. First the setup of starting hands and the importance of betting with combinations of cards that work together. Next you’ll find tips covering the relative strengths of hands at showdown. After that some advice on how to avoid giving away the content of your Omaha hand too early.

Pot Limit Omaha Strategy Tips – Starting Hand Selection

In PLO poker, a showdown has very specific rules. You can use 2 and only 2 cards from you own 4 hole-cards, and 3 and only 3 cards from the 5 community cards. Reading the board comes easily with practice, though the effect on starting hand selection is more subtle.

The best Omaha hands are those which have the largest possible number of 2-card combinations which work together – in addition to some high card strength. The best hands are A-A-J-10 with 2 ace high suited pairs, and A-A-K-K also double-suited. Both of these can make top set, straights and nut flushes. Other super-strong hands in PLO are called ‘Rundowns’ and include hands like 9-10-J-Q double suited. Here you have 6 combinations of hands working for you and you can flop draws with up to 21 outs – making you a favorite over a set.

Even one unconnected card halves the number of combinations you have working for you. The really dangerous Omaha starting hands contain small to medium pairs. Sure, you can flop a set now and again, but when the betting gets extra heavy in this game – middle or bottom set is a trap hand. If you are not already beaten by a higher set then you could be facing one or more massive draws which are favorite to beat you.

Pot Limit Omaha Strategy Tips- Relative Hand Strength At Showdown

Hands shown down in PLO are much stronger than you will be used to in Texas Holdem. If you think that each player starts with up to 6 potential 2-card combinations, then it makes sense that hands shown down will be close to the nuts. Just imagine betting into 3 players in Texas Holdem holding 18 hands – one of them must have hit the flop.

If you can get your aces all-in pre-flop then you should do that, however unimproved over-pairs are very unlikely to win the pot when there has been significant action.

Coordinated flops mean you need to make a decision on whether to continue immediately. The betting gets exponentially bigger on each round with pot-limit rules and ‘just calling to see what happens’ can lead you to hit a low straight, non-nut flush or two pair – which will cost you money more often than they make you any.

A good rule of thumb for new players is to only draw to nut hands. The highest straights, nut flushes and the best full-house should all be included. Once you get used to how different opponents are betting in different situations you can add in some non-nut draws like the underfull or King-high flushes.

Pot-Limit Omaha Strategy Tips – Don’t Give Away That Hand Too Early

A common mistake new Omaha players make is to limp or call pre-flop with a wide range of speculative hands – and then suddenly raise with a pair of aces or kings. This is so well known among regular players that many specifically watch for these raises. What you will find is that you instantly end up with 5 callers, and are quickly checked to on the flop.

If you did not improve on the flop you need to be wary, your opponents will know what you have (well, half of your hand at least) and will be ready to build a big pot if they have you beaten. Once you gain some PLO experience of your own you can join in the profitable pastime of watching for aces-only raisers.

Even players who raise a wider range of coordinated hands can fall into this trap sometimes. This happens when only aces are used to re-raise. If you are going to give away your hand in this way you need to make sure that you have no more than one pot-sized bet left after the flop – otherwise it is easily exploitable by observant opponents.

Plo8 Rules

Omaha is a fantastic game and has developed a loyal following online. These tips should keep you from losing too many easy chips while you learn to beat the game.

Advanced PLO Strategy

Once you have learned the basics of starting hand selection, drawing to the nuts and pot-limit betting – you are ready to add some advanced strategies to your PLO armory. This article covers a range of tactics that will help you increase your win-rate in lower buy-in Omaha hi games online.

First you’ll find out how to spot situations where a combination of your current equity and ‘backdoor outs’ make it profitable to call when you are not favorite to win the hand. Next some notes on reading your opponent’s hands. After this I have covered how to distinguish hands which do better heads up from hands which perform well multi-way. Finally some notes on good bankroll management, which is a key skill in the high-variance game of pot-limit Omaha.

Equity, Backdoor Outs and Kill Cards

In Pot-Limit Omaha there are many situations where the pot has gotten so large that you have an easy call with a hand which is likely behind. This is not just for the mega-draws like wrap + flush draw hands, it can be for a simple flush with the pot offering you compelling odds.

What many new players miss is that there is often extra equity from backdoor draws. For example with a flush draw + top-pair hand, you will have chances of trips or even a runner-runner full-house, you may also have straight possibilities. These extras can often add the few percentage points to your equity, which make a fold into a call.

Conversely, there are often cards in the deck which are not clean outs. For example in a classic flush draw against set all-in on the flop, the set has outs to make a full house (7 on the turn and 10 on the river) which effectively kill your flush. Being outdrawn by a flush when you hold the nut straight has the additional risk of higher straight cards appearing as well as the board pairing.

You’ll need to spend some time with an Omaha poker calculator to get used to these kind of match-ups.

Hand Reading in PLO

In my article on Basic PLO Strategy Tips, I outlined how people who raise (or 3-bet) only with hands containing aces will find themselves in trouble in PLO games. There are several more ways you can learn to read the hands of your opponents in Omaha.

Key here is to start with the shape and strength of your opponents hands. You can often find bet sizing tells will give you a clue starting before the flop. For example, some players will only ever re-raise premium hands and will be more likely to raise pair or high card hands and instead call with their rundown hands.

After the flop some players will bet out every time they have a draw, while others will check and call with non-nut (though still strong) draws. With careful observation you can easily pick up patterns. If you are not used to this I recommend you start by focusing on how different opponent play their Aces hands – followed by double suited run-downs. Once you figure whether someone is drawing or ‘protecting’ a made hand from the bet sizing, your decision making process becomes significantly easier.

Multi-Way and Heads-Up Hands

Plo Rules

Some Omaha hands perform better in multi-way pots, while others are at their strongest when heads-up. Examples of multi-way hands include the higher rundown hands, preferably double suited. If you hold a high pair with little in the way of coordinated backup then you will ideally find yourself heads-up and with the initiative in the betting. If you miss the flop and face resistance, then high pair hands should usually be ditched.

Simply deciding whether your hand would prefer to be heads-up or multi-way can help you choose a good pre-flop betting strategy. Make sure that you mix things up sometimes though – or observant opponents will know what type of hand you are holding from your betting style.

PLO Bankroll Management

5 Card Plo Rules

PLO is a high-variance game. You can play great and find yourself missing big draws, having your big sets cracked and find your bankroll going down fast. Of course, this will be balanced by times when you run great too!

Plo Rules Betting

In Texas Holdem, the agreed safe bankroll level is 20x your buy-in, so you only have 5% of your bankroll in any one game. In PLO I recommend that you play a little more conservatively with your bankroll, instead opting for 3% on any single table or 30 buy-ins minimum. This will mean you can ride the variance which is natural in this game without having to worry about your entire bankroll disappearing.