Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo
Omaha Hi Lo allows you to play for both the hi and low pot and because of this the starting hand requirements in Omaha 8 vary significantly from Omaha Hi since the goal is to be able to play for. Pot limit Omaha, often simply referred to as PLO, follows the same structure as standard limit Omaha, but the betting limits are determined by the size of the pot. When raising in a PLO game, the.
Omaha Hi Lo is a fun and potentially profitable poker
variation.
It offers a nice change of pace for Texas holdem players and
when you learn the best way to play can be more profitable.
This page includes sections on how to play and strategy. If
you’re sure you already know how to play you can skip to the
strategy section, but if you have any questions at all about the
exact rules it’ll only take a couple minutes to read through the
how to play section.
Did you know you have to use exactly two of your hole cards
and exactly three of the board cards to form a hand? In Texas
holdem you can use any number of hole cards and up to and
including five community cards.
If you didn’t know the difference read the rules section
before moving on.
How to Play – Omaha Hi Lo Rules
Dealer Position & Blinds
One player is designated as the dealer position, usually
shown with a white button with the word dealer on it. The player
to the immediate left of the dealer position is the small blind
and the player to the immediate left of the small blind is the
big blind.
The dealer button is passed one player to the left after each
hand is completed.
The big blind places a forced wager set by the table limits
and the small blind places a bet usually half the size of the
big blind. In limit games the small blind is half the big blind,
but in pot limit and no limit games it can be different.
In a 10 / 20 limit game, the big blind is 10 and the small
blind is 5.
Dealing a Hand
Starting with the player in the small blind, each player
receives four cards face down, dealt one at a time to the left
around the table.
Pre-Flop Betting
After each player receives four hole cards the player to the
left of the big blind may choose from one of the following
options.
- Fold (discard their cards and sit out the rest of the
hand) - Call (the amount of the big blind)
- Raise
Play moves to the next player to the left who either folds,
calls the largest previous wager, or raises. After each player
has the opportunity to act the play moves on to the left. When
play reaches the small blind she either calls the remaining part
of the largest bet above her blind amount, folds or raises. Then
the big blind can check if the hand hasn’t been raised, fold if
the hand has been raised, call a raise, or raise.
Play continues to the left until every player has folded or
called the highest wager.
The Flop
The next step is the three card flop. The flop is the
beginning of the community card area.
Community cards are used by all the players remaining in the
hand to form a five card high hand and a five card low hand when
possible.
After the three cards on the flop are turned face up the
first player to the left of the dealer button remaining in the
hand is the first to act. This player has the following two
options.
- Check (passing the option to bet onto the next player)
- Bet
Play continues to the left with each remaining player having
the option to check if a bet hasn’t been made, or to call a bet,
fold, or raise.
Play continues to the left until each player remaining in the
hand has called the highest bet amount.
The Turn
The fourth community card, called the turn, is then dealt and
another betting round structured the same way as the one after
the flop is conducted.
In a limit game all bets are a set amount. Using the same 10
/ 20 example from above, all bets before and on the flop would
be 10. All bets on the turn and river are 20.
The River
After betting is completed on the turn the fifth and final
community card, called the river, is dealt face up. A final
betting round, identical to the one following the turn, is
conducted. After this round of betting the remaining players
show their cards and the winner or winners are paid from the
pot.
Making a Hand
Each player must use exactly two cards from her hand and
three of the community cards to form their best five card high
hand and best five card low hand if a low is possible. You don’t
have to use the same two cards to form a high and low hand.
Here are a couple of examples.
Your Hand:
.Community Cards:
You’d use your
and
with the
and
to form a low and your
and
with the
and
for a high hand.
Your Hand:
Community Cards:
On this occasion you’d use your
and
with the
and
for both your high and low hand.
The only time a low hand is possible is when at least three
unpaired cards eight and below are on the board.
The biggest mistake Omaha Hi Lo players make is
forgetting they have to use exactly two hole cards and three
board cards to form a hand.
If no low hand is possible the entire pot is awarded to the
player with the best high hand. If two or more players tie for
the best high hand they split the pot.
When a low hand qualifies, the pot is split between the best
high hand and the best low hand. If more than one person ties
for the best high or best low hand the half of the pot that is
tied is split between the players who tied.
How to Read the Board
Most players don’t struggle much when it comes to determining
their best high hand, but figuring out the best low hand can be
tricky until you get used to how to read the board.
The easiest way to read low hands and figure out which hand
is lowest is to take each players five lowest unpaired cards and
read them backwards like a number.
Here’s an example.
- A 2 3 4 5 = 54,321
- A 2 3 4 6 = 64,321
- A 4 5 6 7 = 76,541
- A 2 3 7 8 = 87,321
Once you get used to reading low hands it’s pretty easy, but
don’t hesitate to ask the dealer to wait at the end of a hand
until you clearly see the value of each hand.
Variations
The two most popular variations of Omaha Hi Lo are limit and
pot limit. It can be played for no limit stakes, but most online
poker rooms only offer pot limit and limit.
Even the few that have no limit capabilities rarely have
players at the tables.
If player interest is high enough most land based poker rooms
will spread a no limit Omaha Hi Lo game, but you’re more likely
to find a pot limit game.
Though most dealers don’t have any problems with pot limit
games, it’s more difficult than no limit games and it can be
slower. Poker rooms don’t like anything that slows down the
games because the fewer hands per hour they run the lower the
rake they make from each table.
Why Omaha Hi Lo Can Be More Profitable
Most poker players started playing Texas holdem. In holdem,
you receive a two card starting hand so at the beginning of the
first round of betting you don’t know where any of the other 50
cards are located.
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/lo Odds Calculator
As players make bets, calls, and raises you can get an idea
of a range of starting hands they may hold. When the flop is
dealt you know the value of the two cards in your hand and the
three cards on the flop, for a total of 5 known cards and 47
unknown cards.
You know one more card value on the turn and another on the
river. After the river card is dealt you know the value of 7
cards and you don’t know the value of 45 cards.
In Omaha Hi Lo you know the value of two more cards on each
round of betting. While this may not seem like much, it’s
actually a considerable advantage.
Here’s a chart comparing the percentage of known cards at
each level of a hand in Texas holdem and Omaha.
| Texas Holdem | Omaha Hi Lo | |
|---|---|---|
| Before the flop | 3.8% | 7.7% |
| After the flop | 9.6% | 13.5% |
| After the turn | 11.5% | 15.4% |
| After the river | 13.5% | 15.4% |
Notice that in Omaha you have twice as much information
before the flop as you do in Texas holdem and after the river
you know almost 5% more. These higher percentages make Omaha Hi
Lo a more predictable and mathematical straight forward game.
Smart players use this extra information to make better
decisions and make more money than average players.
If you’re asking why this makes a difference, because
everyone has the same amount of information, you need to
consider this a different way.
Everyone has access to the same amount of information, but
most players don’t know what to do with the information.
Because you have more information by knowing a higher
percentage of card values than in holdem, you can determine the
mathematically correct play more often playing Omaha Hi Lo.
Omaha Hi Lo Strategy
The same basic strategies used in most forms of poker are the
ones you should use while playing Omaha Hi Lo.
The Omaha Hi Lo specific strategies that you need to combine
with common poker tactics are covered in the sections below.
Scooping
The most important thing to remember when deciding what to do
in Omaha Hi Lo is that you need to put yourself into position to
scoop pots. While you can make a little money winning half the
pot, the real money is in scooping and winning three quarters of
the pot.
You have two ways to scoop pots. You can win both the high
and low part of a split pot or have the best high hand in a pot
that doesn’t have a low possibility.
Every decision you make needs to be made with an eye on
scooping possibilities.
Of course most hands don’t play out in a way where you have a
choice, but if you had to pick having a best high hand or a best
low hand you want the best high hand. High hands are rarely
split while low hands are split often.
To give yourself the best chance to scoop a pot you need to
play high only hands and two way hands.
A high only hand has high pairs, face cards, large suited
cards, and other combinations that give you a strong chance to
have the nut high hand on a high only board.
Two way hands almost always have an ace in combination with
one or two low cards and one or two high cards. If the ace is
suited to one of the other cards it makes the hand stronger.
Examples of high only hands include:
Examples of two way hands include:
Getting Quartered or Worse
Most Omaha Hi Lo players enter any pot where they hold an ace
and a two, so low hands that don’t have an ace and two on the
board are often split between two or more players. In this case
the player with the best high hand gets half the pot and the two
players with the tied low hand each receive a quarter of the
pot.
Sometimes a player will tie for low and have the best high
hand, receiving three quarters of the pot.
You want to avoid only winning a quarter of the pot, called
being quartered, as often as possible. Unless a great deal of
money is in the pot from early in the hand from players who
don’t win part of the pot, it’s difficult to come out ahead in a
hand where you’ve been quartered.
If three players tie for the best low hand it’s even worse.
This is the main reason when you consider starting hands it’s
important to have some chance at a high hand when you have a
strong low starting hand. You need to win the high half of the
pot in combination with the low half, or part of the low half,
in order to turn a consistent profit in the long run.
The Nuts and Second Best Hands
Texas holdem players often see top pair top kicker hands hold
up and usually win with a flush, even if it’s only jack or ten
high or when the board pairs.
In Omaha Hi Lo you rarely win with hands like these.
While the nuts aren’t always required to win a hand, the
average value of winning hands is higher than in Texas holdem.
Anything below a set is unlikely to win a high hand.
Straights and flushes are closer to the average high hands and
if a full house is possible try not to bank on winning the
high half unless being the one with the full house.
A full house is only possible when the board pairs because
you have to use two hole cards to form a hand.
The rule of thumb is if you’re drawing you need to be drawing
to either the nuts or a strong enough hand that you’re a huge
favorite to win when you hit.
When the board is paired the nuts is four of a kind, but the
top possible full house is good enough to draw to if the pot is
offering the correct odds.
The next rule of thumb is never draw to a low that isn’t the
nut low. You end up getting quartered with low hands too often
to take the chance to draw to a second or third best low hand.
If you have a two way hand it can be profitable to draw to a
second or third best low, but only if the high half of your hand
is strong.
Drawing to a second best low and a second best high can be
marginally profitable in some games, but it can cost you a great
deal of money at times.
After the flop we had a set of kings and a draw to the second
best low with two other players in the pot. It was a limit Omaha
Hi Lo game and we bet and raised a few times before the turn.
The turn added a draw to a straight and bets continued being
made. The turn completed the low, so we had the second best low
and the second best high hand. The betting was capped on the
river and we ended up losing both sides of the pot.
We got stuck in the hand because by the time the river card
was dealt the pot held enough that in the long run we had to
stay in the hand. The only thing we could have done differently
was minimize our exposure early in the hand, but at the time we
had the best high and a draw to the second best low.
In other words, we lost a big pot but will play the hand the
same way in the future.
If the board had paired on the river instead of completing
the low we’d have scooped a big pot. The board will pair enough
times for the play to be profitable. We’ll also win either the
low or high enough times for the play to be profitable in the
game we was playing.
The secret is to know the best way to play a hand and then
play it that way no matter what the outcome. We lost a big hand
but won’t let that change how we play in the future.
Starting Hands
Starting hands need to have four cards that work together in
some way.
Hands with three strong cards and an unrelated fourth card
can sometimes be played, but overall they’re much weaker than
cards with four cards that support each other.
The hands listed above in the scooping section are all good
starting hands. If you skipped that section go back to see
examples of strong high only hands and good two way hands.
The player entering the hand with the best Omaha 8 starting
hand is going to win more often than the players with the weaker
hand. This means that you need to start concentrating on playing
better hands than your opponents. The only way to do this is to
play fewer hands.
You need to play fewer hands than most Texas holdem players
play, not more. Just because you have twice as many starting
cards doesn’t mean you can play twice as many hands.
We’ve played in many pot limit games profitably while seeing
close to 15% of the flops. 20% is a good percentage to shoot for
in a full ring game, but at the lower levels you should be able
to play profitably as long as you stay at 25% or lower. As you
start facing better competition you’ll probably need to get
tighter unless your post flop play is very strong.
Some players can play more starting hands profitably, but as
you’re learning to play you’re not one of them. Until you get
really good at making the correct plays almost every time after
the flop you need to concentrate on entering pots with better
hands than your opponents.
Here are some examples of starting hands that work together.
You have three great cards to a low, two different high flush
possibilities and an ace and king for an outside shot at a high
straight. When you start playing you get excited when you see
starting hands like this but then half the time the flop doesn’t
help. It’s ok to get excited, but the hand still needs to
improve to win.
A double suited pair of aces with a 2 and a 3 is the best
possible starting hand in Omaha Hi Lo. But don’t get attached to
it after the flop. A flop with a high pair and nothing to help
you with four opponents is bad news.
This hand needs help to win in the form of a 2 on the board
for a low hand and / or a queen for a high set. It’s still a
nice two way hand and worth seeing the flop with, especially in
a heads up situation.
Here are some examples of starting hands that have a small
problem but can still be played from late position.
This hand doesn’t have a flush possibility but does offer a
chance at the nut low and has two high cards in the ace and
king. The 8 is almost worthless, but in a heads up hand it can
offer a small amount of counterfeit protection. The ace and king
will rarely combine for a winning high hand so this hand is one
of the weaker ace two hands. You can play most ace two hands in
most low limit games, but we’ve been in games where this hand
should be folded from early position or when facing a raise or
two.
The seven is worthless except it’s suited with the ace. If
the flop doesn’t have a two helping you on your way to a
possible nut low or at least two spades you probably need to get
out of the hand quickly. This hand should only be played from
late position in most games.
You don’t want to play the second set of hands from early
position unless you’re able to play a strong game after the flop
and get paid off when you hit. If you have any questions about
whether or not to play a hand you should fold.
Position
If you’re an above average Texas holdem player you probably
understand how important position is when playing poker.
Position is not as important in Omaha as it is while playing
Texas holdem, but it’s still important.
The simple fact is if your opponents have to act before you
have to act you have more information than they do when you have
to make a decision.
Omaha is a game of information. The player with the most
information has the best chance to win in the long run.
When you consider your position at the table in every
decision you make your Omaha profits will start climbing.
Combining proper starting hands with positions awareness
creates the first steps in profitable Omaha Hi Lo play.
Beginning Strategy
As a player trying to learn beginning strategy, you’ve
already learned about most of the important things to
concentrate on.
At the lower limits if you play 20% of your starting hands,
learn how important position is, and concentrate on finding
opportunities to scoop pots you can quickly become a break even
or winning player.
In most low limit games you can break even by just playing
fewer hands and playing straight forward poker. Much of the low
level competition is so bad that you just need to follow the
directions on this page and pay attention.
Track every hand you play and pay attention to the other
players. Know exactly how many flops you see and which opponents
have poor playing habits.
Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo Strategy
If you learn an opponent always calls down with second and
third best hands you know he’ll pay you off in scooping
situations. If you learn an opponent only plays ace two hands in
low pots from early position you’ll know to avoid second best
low hands when facing her.
You can find a million things about your opponents that are
helpful if you just start paying attention.
Intermediate Strategy
Intermediate Omaha Hi Lo play is when you’re able to break
even or start playing for a small profit. You understand
position, have a solid starting hand understanding, and can
recognize scoop situations and when you need to get out of a
hand most of the time.
At this point you’re starting to understand Omaha Hi Lo
better and feel like you can beat most of the games filled with
poor players.
We’ve listed four different areas intermediate players need
to understand to advance to the next level. They aren’t the only
intermediate strategy ideas in the world, but each of them is
important if you want to win in the long run.
Knowing When to Fold
One of the big turning points for most Omaha Hi Lo players is
when they realize how much it’s worth to know when to fold after
the flop instead of chasing long shots and second and third best
hands. In many pot limit games you can win a few big pots that
can make a session profitable even if you don’t win any small
pots.
Just because you have a pair of aces before the flop doesn’t
mean the pair of kings on the flop didn’t give your opponent a
set. The less money you put in the pot after a bad flop the more
you’ll have to play pots that have scoop possibilities later.
Table Selection
We almost included this in the beginning section, but almost
every beginner ignores advice about table selection so we’ve
included it here where we hope you’ll learn from it. Take a few
minutes to consider the competition at the table before you
start playing. If most of the players at the table are worse
players than you it’s bound to increase your chances to win.
We’d rather play with eight players who weren’t as good as us
than eight players who’re better than us. Even if it takes extra
time, find games that offer the best chance to win.
Watching out for Counterfeiting
When you have a low hand and one of the low cards in your
hand lands on the board it’s called getting counterfeited.
Here’s an example.
You have and the board is so you have
the nut low. The turn is the so you still have a low but it’s no longer the nut low.
If you had a 5 instead of the jack it would have offered
counterfeit protection.
You don’t have to only play hands with counterfeit
protection, but if you get involved in a big pot with only a low
possibility you need protection. Beginning players don’t tend to
think ahead too far in the hand, but at this level you need to
start seeing things like this and planning for the possibility
of getting counterfeited.
Adjusting for Heads Up Play
Heads up hands are closer in value than in Texas holdem. In
holdem a pair of aces is dominant over a hand with a 9 and a 5.
The pair of aces will win a high percentage of the time.
In Omaha Hi Lo, the best hand isn’t nearly as dominant
against the weaker hands in heads up play. This is especially
true if the weaker hands have any possibility of low. Even a
hand with 5 and 8 or 6 and 7 can make a low if the opponents
hand doesn’t have a low possibility or gets counterfeited.
As three or more players enter most hands at low and medium
levels, you can’t play your poor hands, but you need to
understand the possibilities when hands get heads up.
If the hand gets heads up on the turn or river, your fourth
best low with your second best high is probably enough to call a
bet.
Advanced Strategy
When poker players get to an advanced strategy stage the game
has gone beyond simple steps and discussions. In order to get to
an advanced level of Omaha Hi Lo play you have to move to a
state of mental awareness about the game and your opponents.
Advanced players enter every hand with a plan for every
possibility. You need to consider what you’re going to do if an
opponent raises and what you’ll do when you miss the flop, when
you hit the flop, or when you flop a good draw.
You want to get to a point where everything you do at the
Omaha Hi Lo table is because it’s the best play in the long run.
You won’t always know exactly what your opponent holds but
you’ll be able to narrow her possible holdings down to a few
possible hands.
Every decision has a most profitable or least costly way to
play. Some decisions lose money in the long run, so in these
situations you need to find the least costly way to play.
Here’s an example of a situation that loses money in the long
run.
Any time you’re in the small blind with a terrible hand
you’ll lose money no matter what you do over the long run. In
order to lose as little money as possible, the correct play is
to fold in the small blind with poor hands.
Amateur players look at the money in the small blind as a
commitment to the pot. They think it’s only a half bet to see
the flop and anything can happen on the flop, especially since
they have four cards instead of two.
As players advance beyond the beginning stage and start
learning more about the game they often still end up playing
hands from the small blind that cost them money in the long run.
They play hands that aren’t terrible, but because they have to
play the rest of the hand out of position are unprofitable
Once you understand that you should fold almost any hand from
the small blind that you would fold from early position you’ve
started moving into advanced play. The money you put in the pot
in the blinds is just a small fee required to have the
opportunity to scoop huge pots at other times. Once the money is
in the pot it’s no longer yours.
The same thought process is needed in the big blind. If an
opponent raises and you have a poor hand simply fold. Don’t
defend your blinds with weak hands unless you’re a top player
and know your opponents very well.
When you’re in the big blind and the pre flop play is checked
to you with a weak hand you’ll see the flop, but don’t invest
another dollar in the pot without a monster flop for you.
The blinds are just two examples of how your thought process
needs to be in order to play Omaha Hi Lo at an advanced level.
As you advance from the low limits to the medium limits your
opponents get a little better, but the game and correct
strategies are much the same.
But when you start playing at the highest limits the game
changes quite a bit.
Before going on, you should know that plenty of really good
players stay at the medium levels and make good money. You don’t
have to play at the highest levels to be a pro and be
profitable.
At the highest levels most pots are contested heads up or at
the most with three players seeing the flop. Almost all hands
are played with at least one raise pre flop.
Think about some of the ways this changes the game. When
you’re playing heads up the second best high and the second best
low will almost always win at least half the pot and will have a
good shot at a scoop.
It’s difficult to cover advanced Omaha Hi Lo strategy in
print because you either have enough experience to understand it
or you don’t.
The good news is if you’re a beginning or intermediate player
you can work toward advanced play. Concentrate on the other
things covered on this page including starting hand selection,
position; always trying to make the best possible play in every
situation, and develop a plan in your mind for every decision
and you’ll be well on your way toward winning play.
Summary
You can find entire books written about Omaha Hi Lo, but if
you start using everything you’ve learned on this page you
should be able to break even or start turning a small profit at
the lower levels. As you gain experience you’ll get better and
start being able to move up to higher levels.
One reason PLO8 isn't played much in casinos is because skill wins. Bad play and bad players are annihilated, and fast too. PLO8 games peopled only with good players are tediously bad.
Some good PLO8 games are available at a few online cardrooms. One reason that PLO8 continues to exist online is simply because online games have the whole world to draw on in terms of players. Another reason is that online PLO8 games usually have a cap on the amount players can buy-in for. This leveling the playing field mitigates, a lot, against the standard pot limit phenomenon of good players buying lots of chips and poor players buying tiny stacks. Money goes to money in big bet poker.
(This article is about ring game PLO8, especially where the player stacks are fairly deep. Tournament PLO8 and games where players only have relatively small amounts of chips require somewhat different approaches -- although obviously some of the concepts apply no matter what the format.)
The most important reason PLO8 games exist as much as they do online is: a high percentage of online poker players drastically overestimate their skill level. While this is true of all games online, this overestimation is more concentrated in big bet games. Mediocre players suddenly think they are God's gift to poker, the second coming of Bret Maverick, when confronted with the complexities of PLO8 -- lots of cards, variable/progressive betting, high and low ways to win (and lose) pots. It's one thing to be a mediocre juggler. It's another thing indeed to be a mediocre juggler who insists on juggling seven flaming machetes. (The other place where mediocre players drastically overate themselves online is at head-up games.)
So, the first thing to understand about online PLO8 games is many of your opponents have poor judgment in terms of true value. People with poor value skills are good people to play against in big bet poker. That understanding should underlie everything you do in the game.
You should be trying to play more hands in most PLO8 games than you do in limit Omaha8 or PLO High (unless a game has an unusual amount of pre-flop raising). Speculative hands that are garbage in Limit can be profitable in PLO8. The most obvious one is 23xx. In Limit Omaha8, this is by far the #1 sucker hand. In pot limit the hand sometimes can be played for a limp, if you play well, because of the implied action you will get. Compare having A2xx on a flop of 873 to having 23xx on a flop of A87. You WILL get more action from players holding aces and eights or aces and sevens than you will from players holding eights and sevens or eights and threes. I've seen a player go for all his chips, putting in the fourth raise on a flop like this where he had AAA. Suicide. He put in all his money just to get it back. Aces have the magical ability to make people play worse.
Most players greatly over-fixate on winning pots. If they put a nickel into a pot, you darn near need a crowbar to pry them away from pouring millions in to chase that nickel. Proper PLO8 play is directly counter to this, which is why most players are not suited for the game. You should easily fold most of the hands you saw the flop with. Proper PLO8 play is mostly a game of homeruns. Big pots. Big edges. Big betting. You aren't looking to make hitting PLO8 doubles your focus. Occasional doubles are fine, especially with the obvious hand of A2, but you don't want to mix it up in a lot of marginal pots. Your hope is to get out early, or be gladly shoving all your chips in by the end.
The only way you want to hit singles in PLO8 is by making bets on the flop that nobody calls. This can occur two ways. The first is obvious, you bet a hand that should be bet and nobody calls. You can't put a gun to people's heads and make them call, so just take the pot and wait for the next time. The other small pot/singles to look for are 'orphan' pots -- pots nobody seems to want. These are pots you can make one bet at, and then you are done. If you win the pot, great, if you get called you back off and very seldom continue to try to win the pot. A simple example, the flops is Q♠J♠9♠. You have A♢2♢5♡K♠. You have two opponents. The first opponent checks. You bet. You should win this pot right here more than half the time. If you get called or raised, you just give up. You are bluffing these pots, but you are bluffing when your opponents have very little. Their very little just happens to beat your very little.
Betting and taking orphans should keep you hovering around playing breakeven poker. The key pots are where you look to get your profit. Also, you need to bet at orphan pots because you don't want to always and only be betting when you have an enormous hand.
While bet-ability is the overriding concept at work in PLO8, there are two specific situations you should look for: the freeroll and the 3/4. Getting in situations where you do one or the other of these is the reason to play the game.
The Freeroll. While 3/4ing is important, freerolling is much more so. Freerolls come in a variety of types, but the common theme is you are getting a free shot at your opponent's money. (For practical purposes, the idea of a freeroll should also include 'near freerolls' like on a flop of QJT and you have AKQQ while your opponent has AK22. He can beat you by making four deuces, but despite that ability to make a 1000-to-1 shot, we will still consider that near freeroll to be a 'freeroll'.)
Some freeroll examples:
Flop - Q♠J♢T♣; Opponent - A♣K♢2♡3♠; You - A♠K♠Q♣J♣
Flop - 3♠4♢5♣; Opponent - A♣K♢2♡Q♠; You - A♠2♠7♣8♣
Flop - A♠8♡7♡; Opponent - A♡A♢K♡Q♠; You - 2♠3♠5♢6♢
In each of these examples, your opponent is drawing 100% dead. He cannot beat you no matter what cards come on the turn and river. AND, you will get action from most opponents who hold these hands... especially from bad players who will often intentionally go for all their chips, particularly with the first hand.
The Ace-high Broadway straight is similar to how 23xx is in Limit Omaha8. Weak players lose more money with this hand than any other. Good players win their money when freerolling these hands. AK on a QJT flop, AQ on a KJT one, AJ on a KQT one, AT on a KQJ one... these are the hands that separate the adults from the kiddies. Weak players not only commit suicide on these hands, but also can't even comprehend that they should often be folding the current-nut-hands like they were poison. All forms of Omaha are about making the best hand, not what is currently best. There is no leader money in poker. The ability to fold the current nut hand is absolutely critical in PLO8... and fortunately, most players are simply incapable of it. When you flop one of these Broadway straights, you should ask yourself 'what am I trying to make?' If the answer is 'I want to make only the same straight as I have now', in other words, you are drawing to a blank on the turn and a blank on the river, you don't have much of a hand.
Another type of freeroll is the 'freeroll to a bluff':
High Low Poker Rules
Flop - 6♠7♠8♢; Opponent - 9♠T♢J♣J♡; You - A♠2♡3♢4♣In this hand, neither one of you has any chance at all of making a hand that beats the other one. Big, fat zero. But you have a freeroll to a river bet where you should be making significant money. No matter what the action is on the flop and turn, if the river card comes a board pair, or a flush card (especially if it is a flush card that pairs the board), a pot-size bet by you will force your opponent to fold -- and even if he calls, that is fine because that means he will call you when you happen to have the flush or full house.
Notice in this example how important pot manipulation is. If you have intentionally bet yourself all-in before the river card, you are an idiot. Your chance to win money here is by betting the river (or turn) card and getting a fold. You can't get a fold if either you or he is all-in! On the other hand, you want the pot big enough so that you can make a large enough bet to get him to fold. There is a definite science to getting pots the right size when you are on a freeroll to a bluff. Also notice, it is much better to error on the side of not building the pot big enough, and thus not being able to make a big enough bet to get a fold. That error is much less bad than the error of getting one or the other of you all-in. You can never win when somebody is all-in. When you can make a river bet of any size, you will win sometimes. Even if a pot is $400 and you can only bet $100 on the river, you will still win some percentage of the time greater than the 0% of the time you win when one of you is all-in.
A final freeroll example is the most obvious:
Flop - 6♠7♠8♢; Opponent - 9♣T♢J♠J♢; You - A♠2♠3♢4♣
Here, opposite of the freeroll to a bluff, you want to get all the money into the pot as soon as you can. Your opponent can never beat you, but you will scoop him once in awhile. Notice in the above example I've contrived the hands to where your opponent would make a backdoor flush if it came, which would make your ability to bluff a river card that didn't make you a winner tougher. Suppose he didn't have those diamonds. Now, by betting him all-in and winning when you make your spade flush, you are GIVING UP your chance to win the pot via a freeroll bluff on the river if it comes a diamond or board pair. What you have is TWO freeroll opportunities that work against each other! This game is starting to get complicated... :) You have two bet-ability issues here that you have to balance given your opponent, his betting habits, how deep the stack sizes are, how poorly your opponent plays (a terrible opponent could easily go broke the very next hand, so I would lean to putting him all-in and hope I make my flush and get all his chips, rather than look to make a smaller amount of chips via occasional river bluffs when I miss but it comes a card he doesn't like), etc.
Of course, not all freerolls are this obvious. In the previous example you are vulnerable to being 3/4ed by hands like A238. You can't see your opponent's cards, so you seldom get super-obvious freerolls. However, not only do fairly clear freerolls present themselves, you need to be thinking how sometimes you ARE freerolling when you don't know it. The freeroll should be the concept in the front of your mind... which also means: DON'T GET FREEROLLED! On a 678 flop, you should fold 9TJJ to almost any bet. It may be the nuts, but you are probably drawing dead. You may have to put in many chips to split a puny amount already in play. You may be freerolled and 3/4ed at the same time by A29T.
Folding the nuts is something you should do fairly often in PLO8, and it doesn't have to be high-type hands like the JJT9. On a flop of 8♠7♠6♠ you should usually toss A♢2♢K♡Q♡ into the muck when faced with any bet. Don't get freerolled.
3/4ing a pot. Though dwarfed in significance by freerolls, 3/4ing is more common. 3/4ing usually occurs when two people both have the nut low, but it also happens sometimes when both players have the same high and one makes some kind of low. A much longer discussion than we have space for here, clearly it is a huge skill in being able to correctly discern when you are getting 3/4s as opposed to when you are getting 3/4ed. Some situations are obvious, like when you make the nut flush to go with a nut low, but most of the time your hand won't be nearly so defined. When you have A238 and the board is 348QK, are you getting 3/4s or getting 3/4ed? How about 348Q4? Do you bet the pot? Do you make a smaller bet? Check? Raise if an opponent makes a small bet? There is a bottomless pit of situations and subtleties to be considered, but a player who makes bets when 3/4ing and who checks when being 3/4ed will do a helluva lot better than a person who does it the other way around!
Just like when you have the nut Broadway straight you should ask yourself what you are drawing to, when you have the nut low the first thing you should ask yourself is: what is my high hand? And then, what is the high hand I am trying to make? The nut low aspect of the hand is relatively unimportant (even if most players fixate on low).
The key word in PLO8 is 'and'. When you show down you want to be saying, 'I have low AND...' If there is no 'and', you usually don't have much. 'And' is what to focus on when you have nut low. If you have no 'and', checking and even check/folding will often be your correct action. Don't get me wrong though, before the showdown 'and' can include the fact that you are drawing to a bluff. A naked nut low plays fine against people who don't have nut low!
Correctly value-betting hands like two pair, like when you hold A24Q and the board is 478KQ, or even one pair like when you have A237 and a board is 457KQ, is a challenge you have to strive to accomplish. Reading opponents, especially when you are out of hand, is a task you should always be working on when playing PLO8. 'Better betting' when doing the 3/4ing and when getting 3/4ed should be the result of a never-ending study of your PLO8 opponents. It is the ongoing challenge that every player can do better and better.
One thing that should be clear from both the discussion of freerolling and 3/4ing is the dramatically more important role suited cards play in PLO8 compared to Limit. You want 'and'. Flushes are just another way to make a bettable 'and'. And flushes are never 3/4ed. They are either good or they aren't.
Besides their 3/4ing value, flushes can turn splits into scoops. Suppose you make the nut flush on the river against an opponent who only has the nut low: Board - 4♠5♣8♢K♠Q♠; Opponent - A♣2♣3♢J♡; You - A♠3♠6♢7♣
In this case the river card changed things not at all, but you now can safely make a pot size bet. Say the pot is $1000, and you bet that. The best your opponent can do is get half. If he calls, he gets $1500. But he has to consider that if he calls and gets 3/4ed, he gets back $750, so calling the $1000 bet costs him $250. You will get your opponents to fold some amount of time over 0% in situations like this. Pure profit.
Similarly, suppose instead you hold A♠2♠4♢T♣. In this case the river card again didn't change things. You had your opponent 3/4ed already with a pair of fours. But how often are you going to be able to value bet a pair of fours? How often should you TRY to value bet a pair of fours? By making a much more bettable flush than your measly pair of fours you now can bet the $1000 pot. When you do, if your opponent calls, you make that extra $250. And, if he doesn't call, making the flush won you the $250 that was already in the pot (his 1/4 share of the pre-bet $1000 pot).
Suitedness makes hands more bettable, and it makes another way you can make an 'and'. A♠2♠3♢4♢ is a much more profitable hand than A♠2♡3♢4♣. If you could just wish it and have it be so, you would want your cards to always be suited and your opponent's cards to never be suited. Don't fall into the trap some inexperienced players do when they see 'action-killing flops' of three of the same suit. They wrongly conclude suits won't bring you much. That is silly. Pots on the flop are relatively small. We don't much care about on-the-flop pots. We care about being in a position to bet hands on the river, when the pot and bets are biggest. Make-a-flush-on-the-river boards are where the clearest exchange of money/value takes place in PLO8. You can't tie flushes, only one winner. And, betting/pseudo-bluffing opportunities present themselves where pure low hands can blow high hands out of pots. It's an oversimplification, but it could be asserted that when you aren't suited you want pots to be decided on the flop and turn; when you are suited, you want to be putting in action on the river -- and again, the money in the game is in making river bets when the pots and possible bets are biggest.
Plo Hi Lo
If any game is NOT the game of the future, this is it. But when the game is played, and non-good players are involved, it presents an excellent opportunity for solid, positive expectation poker by focusing on a few key concepts: bet-ability, 'and', suitedness, 3/4ing, freerolling.