Player's Stories

Mistakes that cost in Pot Limit Omaha
By David Young

In my previous article, I wrote that I learned a lot about PLO by watching the biggest losers. Without wanting to give away too much, I thought that I could elaborate slightly about some of the mistakes that I have observed.

Not recognizing the significance of position:

One losing player from whom I have learned a great deal has a strange habit of doing most of his pre-flop raising in the blinds, but seldom raises on the button or in late position. He has not understood the extent of the positional disadvantage that being in the blinds involves. I finally understood the source of his problem when I realized that the only form of poker in which he could win was high-ante tournaments. In these events a raise before the flop often puts him all-in. In this situation, it therefore follows that without much betting in the later rounds, the blinds are late position!

This is totally different from cash game play, where he finds that having raised the pot by £10 and getting three callers, he now is first to act on a pot of £50. If he is low-stacked, he often bets the pot when he has not improved (believing himself to be committed!).

Not playing enough money when holding non-nut draws:

The same player also tends to buy in for less money than others on the table. This makes it harder for him to play the kind of hands that he likes the most: non-nut drawing hands! Why does this matter? I shall provide an example: If he holds a hand that contains a simple straight draw and a King-high flush draw, his hand can play well against a bettor with two-pairs or trips.

However it is almost worthless if there is another player in the pot who holds the ace-flush draw. In this instance, therefore, he needs to raise all-in to make it too expensive for the ace-flush draw to call. He should also have more money behind him, so that the opponent holding the nut-flush draw believes that he will bet the pot on the turn if the flush does not come.

However, as this player buys in for the minimum, he can't raise enough to eliminate the bigger flush draw and the result is that he then only holds an up-and-down straight draw against trips and the nut-flush draw. The result is financial disaster.

Posting an optional high-blind when lowest-stacked:

Our hero likes to take advantage of a privilege that English card-rooms offer in flop games: the 'optional blind'. In a game with two blinds of £2, the under the gun player can post a £5 blind. It makes the game bigger and accords him the right to act to last before the flop. The option can be worth taking if you have a larger stack that most of the other players, but it is completely counter-productive when you have a low stack. What does it achieve? Very little unless you are dealt one of the very small minority of hands that are worth a raise in the blinds at Omaha - and there are not many!

The result is that he makes things more expensive for himself for almost every hand that he is dealt in this position. It is especially important when he has a hand that is worth calling a raise, such as J/J/Q/8, which can be very good when it does improve on the flop, but which is not likely to win on its own.

Drip, drip, drip... His losses continue. I hope he is not reading this!