You never want to show up at a gunfight armed only with a knife. The same can be said of playing a hand of pot-limit Omaha with weak starting cards. In a game where your entire buy-in can be wiped out in a single hand you would be smart to fold bad hands before the flop and to play good ones aggressively.
You should play the same hands in pot-limit that you do in limit. The only difference is that in pot-limit you can get away with playing more gambling hands because in pot-limit the quality of your starting cards isn’t quite as important as your position at the table, the amount of money you have in front of you, and your ability to read your opponents. Because of the nature of the betting, you can overcome the handicap of having poor starting cards by outplaying your opponents on the flop and beyond.
Small rundown hands like 9-8-7-6 go up in value as they play well against aces and kings, which are the hands that players most often raise and reraise with before the flop. If you catch a good flop with a hand like that, you can bust a player who’s got aces. I love a hand like 9-8-7-6 because there are so many cards I can catch on the flop that will improve my hand. I can catch a 9, 8, 7, or 6, which could give me two pair or, ideally, a straight. If it’s suited or double-suited, that hand gets even stronger. Nearly half the cards in the deck will improve it. You’ll never truly understand how powerful such hands are until you have aces and someone beats you with 5-4-3-2. Then you’ll never forget it.
When evaluating starting hands, a lot of players tend to overlook the value of having a big kicker alongside an ace, especially when they’re playing short-handed. Having a big kicker in that situation can be a powerful weapon. If an ace hits the board and you and your opponent both have aces in your hands but you’ve got a big kicker and your opponent doesn’t, your opponent is going to pay you off every single time. For this reason you should be looking to play hands like A-K-6-5 rather than A-9-6-5. Once again, this is a lesson you probably won’t take to heart until you lose a bunch of pots showing down an ace with a weak kicker. After the 10th time, you won’t do it again.
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Hands that contain aces are extremely powerful before the flop in pot-limit Omaha. In a typical game about half the pre-flop raises are made by players holding two aces in their hands. Raising with aces is such a common practice that whenever you raise before the flop, that’s the first hand your opponents are going to put you on, especially if you’re a tight player.
There are two different ways to play aces before the flop when you’re in early position. If the aces are suited, you can open with a small raise, and if you get reraised you should come over the top of your opponent. Anytime you get reraised before the flop and you have aces you should put your opponent all in. In fact, it’s a big mistake if you don’t go all in pre-flop with aces in pot-limit Omaha, especially when you don’t have very much money in front of you. Before the flop aces double-suited are favored 55%-45% over 8-7-6-5 double-suited, 61%-39% over K-K-4-4 double-suited, and 59%-41% over K-K-Q-Q double-suited.
You should move in with aces because it will help you protect your hand by minimizing the field. You’re trying to get heads-up with one player and see all five cards on the board at once. If you just call an opponent’s raise before the flop, you might get bluffed out of the pot if the flop looks scary. If you only make a small reraise and an ace comes on the flop, your opponent might not pay you off. By getting all your money into the pot before the flop, you are nullifying the possibility of either of these unfortunate circumstances occurring.
Many Rocks will limp in from early position with aces, hoping to disguise their hand. If they catch an ace on the flop and someone else flops a smaller set, they’re going to win a big pot. They’re also hoping that someone with kings might raise them so they can put in a large reraise. This way they can protect their hand by eliminating the field. If the player who has kings is smart, he’ll recognize what the limper has, and he’ll muck his cards. Sometimes I play aces this way, but just as often I will make a small raise before the flop. Either way, I am hoping someone will raise me so that I can come back over the top of him.
What you don’t want to do with aces is give your opponent the opportunity to outplay you on the flop. The best way to avoid putting yourself in this difficult situation is to get all your money in before the flop or get your opponent to put all his money in before the flop, provided of course that one of you is short-stacked. If neither of you is short-stacked, you’re going to need to play your aces a little more carefully. By putting all your money into the pot before the flop (or getting your opponent to do that), you won’t have to sweat the board. If your opponent flops top two pair, you can still win the hand by making a better two pair. What you’re hoping to avoid is getting outplayed on the flop against an opponent who has a lot of money.
If you do end up seeing a flop with aces, you’re often in a guessing situation. You need to walk that fine line between punishing your opponent and avoiding disaster. There’s a lot of risk involved when you play aces. Just like in no-limit hold’em, while trying to win a big pot with aces you will occasionally lose a big pot with them. That’s why you need to be careful when the flop looks dangerous.
Let’s say a player raises before the flop and you reraise him with two black aces. He calls, and the flop comes J-4-3 with two hearts. If you’re first to act, you should check to see where your opponent’s at. You don’t want to lead out with a bet and get yourself committed to the pot should your opponent have flopped a better hand or a big draw. With a flop like this you can’t play your aces too aggressively. If he bets, you can call even if he bets the pot. If a blank falls on the turn, you should check again, but if the board pairs you might want to lead out with a big bet. You’re hoping to make your opponent fold right there. If he calls, that means he’s got a hand and you’re going to have to slow down on the river. If you’ve got position on him and he checks to you on the flop, you should check behind him. If he checks again on the turn, you should bet enough to make him fold most draws but not so much that he could make a giant reraise that would force you out of the hand.
You have to play kings a little differently than you do aces. If you’re in early position you should make a small raise to see if your kings are good. This small raise might confuse your opponent, and he might pay you off on the flop if you make your hand. If a Rock reraises you, you should muck your cards. Anytime you have kings and you suspect someone has aces, you’ve got to muck your hand, even if the pot is huge. You should never call a large reraise with kings because they’re such a big underdog to aces. You can’t go wrong playing aces aggressively before the flop, but you can get in a lot of trouble with kings.
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When deciding how to play a hand you like before the flop, you always need to consider your position at the table. If you’re a Rock, and you’re sitting in early position, and you’re dealt 8-7-6-5 double-suited, you should just call before the flop. You don’t want to raise because if someone reraises you, it’s going to be pretty expensive to see a flop with this hand. You’d be better off limping in and not giving your hand away. That’s the right way to play that hand, but if you play it Sammy’s way you’re going to raise. You don’t have to make a pot-sized raise here, just one big enough to build a pot and possibly knock out the blinds. Whichever amount you choose you need to remember to bet that same amount every time you open with a raise or else smart players will pick up on that and exploit it. Your raise is going to scare a lot of the players sitting behind you. The Rocks at the table are going to fold hands like J-9-7-6. They’re going to fold not necessarily because they’re scared of you but because they’re scared that somebody sitting behind them is going to get aces and put in a huge reraise. That’s how your raise helps minimize the field.
Opening with a small raise from early position is a fairly standard practice in pot-limit Omaha. It’s an excellent way to disguise your hand. When you do this, no one knows if you have a hand like 9-8-7-6 double-suited or if you have aces. If you’ve got 9-8-7-6 double-suited and someone comes over the top of you, you can call. Now you know what your opponent has, but he has no idea what you have. If the flop connects with your hand he’s going to pay you off, and if it doesn’t you simply surrender. If it’s the other way around and you’re the one who has aces and someone comes over the top of you, then you can reraise him all in. Making this small raise with or against aces gives you a chance to bust another player, and in pot-limit Omaha that’s the name of the game.
As much as I like to play a hand like 8-7-6-5 double-suited, I wouldn’t recommend coming over the top of someone who has reraised you when you’ve got that hand. I’ve seen a lot of players do this, and it’s a bad play. They get 8-7-6-5 double-suited in early position, and they open for a small raise and get three callers. Then someone reraises the pot. That player obviously has aces. There are some bad players who think that it’s in their best interest to get heads-up against the player who has aces so they reraise all in, which succeeds in getting everyone but the aces out. This is a terrible play because their hand is an underdog before the flop as it is only supposed to win 45 percent of the time. A hand like 8-7-6-5 double-suited only becomes a weapon on the flop. By getting heads-up and going all in, players who make this play are actually helping their opponent and punishing themselves. As much as I like to play hands like 8-7-6-5 double-suited, I’d much rather have the aces in this situation. The 8-7-6-5 double-suited is going to have to get really lucky to win.
Every player who plays like this eventually goes broke. They think 8-7-6-5 double-suited is favored against aces, but they’re wrong. The aces are favored. It’s nearly a coin flip, but the aces do enjoy a small edge. Pushing 8-7-6-5 double-suited too hard is similar to moving all in before the flop with A-K in hold’em. Some players will gladly risk all their money with A-K, but they forget that any pocket pair, even deuces, is a slight favorite over that hand. Like A-K, 8-7-6-5 double-suited isn’t a made hand. It has to improve to win. That’s why you don’t go crazy with that hand before the flop. You make a small raise, and if someone reraises you, then you just call.
When deciding how to play your hand before the flop from early position, you also need to keep in mind the amount of money you have compared to how much your opponents have. If a player reraises you before the flop and he’s got a lot of money, you should only call him with a rundown hand if you also have a lot of money. If either you or your opponent is short on money, you don’t want to gamble with him. If he’s got aces, he’s favored so it would be foolish of you to gamble with him. By going all in before the flop with a drawing hand, you’re playing the game as if it were no-limit hold’em, which actually hurts the value of your hand. You’ve got a hand that has the potential to win a lot of money against aces if you catch a favorable flop, but if you’re playing against a short stack, or if you have a short stack, you can only win as much money as you or your opponent has. This is an important point. Any time you want to gamble with a hand, you need to make sure that you’ve got your opponent covered and he’s got you covered.
When there’s a short stack at the table, it alters the dynamics at the table in other ways as well. Such a player is capable of pushing the last of his money into the pot at any time, especially after several other players have put some money in the pot. By doing this, he’s trying to parlay his money. If he only has $300 left and four other players limp into the pot for $100, he’s likely to put in the last of his money. If all four players call, the player who moved all in is getting 5-1 on his money, betting $300 to win $1,500. When this happens, there will be a “dry pot,” a side pot that has no money in it.
Let’s say you raise from first position and the player on your immediate left, who has a short stack, reraises you all in. The player on the button calls the all-in raise as do you. All the money you and your two opponents have bet goes into the center pot, and that’s all the money the player who went all in can win. On the flop you and the player on the button will be betting into a dry pot. If the flop doesn’t improve your hand, you should check to see where the player on the button is at. If he bets, that means he’s got you beat because it makes no sense for him to bluff in this situation. He can’t win any more money by bluffing and driving you out of the hand. But a lot of weak players will do that. They’ll bet with absolutely nothing, and the player who moved all in will win the center pot with a hand like a pair of aces. If you’re going to bet into a dry pot, you need to be able to beat the player who’s all in, and you should assume that at the very least he has a pair of aces. If you can’t beat a pair of aces on the flop, then you should check, and if your opponent bets, you should fold.
This situation happens all the time in pot-limit Omaha. One player will raise with a hand like J-10-9-8 double-suited, another player will reraise all in with kings, and then another player will come over the top of him with aces. The important thing to remember is that there’s no reason to bluff on the flop. If you do catch a piece of the flop, you’re going to want to make a value bet big enough to recover what you put into the center pot, if you think you can beat an opponent who is still in the hand, but are going to lose the center pot to the player who is all in. By doing this, you’ll be able to do no worse than break even on the hand.
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When you’re in middle position, you don’t have to be as discriminating about which hands you play, but you still need to use some caution because any of the players who have yet to act behind you and any of the players who limped in from early position could have aces. If everyone folds to you, and you have a good rundown hand like 8-7-6-5, you can limp or come in for a little raise. How you decide to play your hand depends on how much money you have and how comfortable you are. If you’re an inexperienced player, there is nothing wrong with limping in with this hand.
I, however, would put in a little raise. If you decide to play your hand this way, you should understand the many advantages it gives you. You will disguise your hand. You will build a pot. You may knock out the blinds. And you’ll get to see how all the players behind you react. If they call, that means they have good starting cards—just not aces or kings—and you have to use good judgment on the flop. One of them might have a hand like queens, and if the flop comes 8-6-2 he might think his queens are the best hand and you’re going to bust him. If one of these players reraises you, then you know he has aces or kings and, because you know what he has but he doesn’t know what you have, you stand an equally good chance of busting him.
If you’re the one who has aces and everyone’s folded to you, I would advise you to open with your standard raise. If you’re aggressive like me, some player might think you’re raising with junk, and he may reraise you with kings or even queens, and then you’re going to be able to come over the top of him for all your money. As a way of mixing up your game and confusing your opponents, it’s not a bad play to limp in with aces from this position on occasion, especially if your aces aren’t suited because that hand isn’t very strong unless you can get heads-up with it. If everyone limps in behind you, that’s fine because you might catch an ace on the flop and surprise them—and if you don’t, it’s an easy hand to get away from. But what you’re really hoping for is that someone will raise—in the best-case scenario he would be raising with kings—so you can come over the top of him and protect your hand by minimizing the field.
If one or two players limp in and you have a hand you like, the first thing you should do is see how much money they have compared to you. If you have a hand like 10-9-7-6 double-suited, and you raise, and one of the limpers has a short stack, and he reraises you all in, then you’ve made a very bad play. He probably has aces or kings, perhaps even queens, and you’ve fallen right into his trap. If none of the limpers are short-stacked, you could put in a little raise to build a pot and get them more involved in the hand. If the flop misses you, that’s fine. You were taking a chance to win a lot of money, and it didn’t work out.
With a hand like 10-9-7-6 double-suited, you should be just as happy to limp in from middle position. If a player behind you raises and it comes back around to you, you can call as long as the raiser has a lot of money and you have a lot of money. Then, if you do catch a good flop, you can make some money on the hand. You should be especially willing to call if it’s just the two of you. Just keep in mind that this is a gambling hand. Playing these hands can be a very expensive habit, but in the long run you could end up making a lot of money if you play them right. If several players called the raise, you might not want to get involved in the hand because the more players there are in a hand the harder it is to bluff and outplay them. In low-stakes games where five or six players will see every flop, the player with the best hand usually wins the pot. That’s not the way I play poker. I like to outplay my opponents, to make them fold hands that are often better than mine. If you’re an aggressive player like me, that’s how you make your money, but to play this way you have to be able to read your opponents.
If you choose to limp in, and a player behind you raises, and one of the limpers in early position reraises, you should fold. You can’t call because the player behind you could raise again, which would probably put you all in. You have to use good judgment. You can’t call a raise that’s going to put you all in if you only have a gambling hand. You should only gamble before the flop if you know your opponent is going to pay you off on the flop. Don’t get me wrong. It’s okay to gamble. You just need to pick the right spots. This isn’t one of them.
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When you have the good fortune to be sitting in late position, you need to take advantage of it. The value of having good position in pot-limit can’t be overestimated. You can now play more gambling hands like A-J-3-2 suited. You can limp in with a hand like that from the button because on the flop you’re going to know exactly where you stand. You’re going to find out who the flop helped and just how expensive it’s going to be for you to continue on in the hand. If no one raises before the flop, it’s worth calling with any hand that has potential to make the nut. With A-J-3-2 suited you’re hoping to flop the nut flush or the nut flush draw.
I’ll even play a hand like 5-4-3-2 from the button. But that’s me. I play a lot of hands when I’m on the button and no one’s raised. In limit I rarely play those kinds of hands, but in pot-limit I do because the risk is minimal while the reward could be huge. If I catch a good flop, I’ll make a lot of money playing these gambling hands.
I would advise you to raise when you’ve got a hand you like on the button and everyone’s folded to you. Don’t limp in. Nobody will gamble with you on the flop if there’s no money in the pot, so you need to build a pot before the flop by raising. Your opponents won’t be able to put you on a hand. You also never want to let the big blind see a flop for free. Make him pay to play by putting in a little raise if you have a decent hand. If the big blind folds, that’s fine. You’ll win a little money. If he calls, that’s fine, too. You have position on him, and you’ve succeeded in building a pot. If he reraises, that’s all right, too. Now you have a good idea of what kind of hand your opponent has, most likely aces or kings, and you’re going to have position on him on the flop.
Now let’s say you’re on the button with Q-J-10-9, and two players have limped in. If I were you, I would definitely raise, but first you need to check out how much money they have. As I mentioned before, you’re making a bad play if you raise with a drawing hand and get reraised all in by a player who has aces. If you raise these two limpers, you shouldn’t be surprised if one of them comes over the top of you. Every time you raise, you should expect a reraise. Before you act you should always ask yourself, “Am I ready to play this hand all the way if a player reraises me?” If you’re not prepared to go all the way with your hand, then don’t raise. Just limp in and see a flop. If you raise, then muck your cards after a limper reraises you, that’s a really weak play. The only time it would be right to do this is if you raise with kings and someone comes over the top and you know they have aces. In that situation it would be a mistake not to muck your cards. I’ll play any four cards against aces but not kings.
Let’s change the last scenario a bit and say that a player raises the pot to $1,000 after two players limp in. You would be smart just to call with Q-J-10-9. If you reraise him to $3,000, there’s a chance he could come over the top of you, and the hand could end up getting very expensive. If you only call his $1,000 raise, then the two limpers might also call for $1,000. That will put $3,000 into the pot, and most of it will be coming out of the other players’ pockets not yours. You’ll be getting just as much money into the pot as you would have if you had reraised, and you won’t be risking any more of your own money. The other advantage to just calling is that one of the limpers could have a hand like 8-7-6-5. If you let him stay in the hand and the flop comes 8-7-6, that player is going to think he’s got the best hand and you’re going to bust him.
Let’s tweak that same scenario a little more. If a player in first position raises and gets several callers, you should call from late position with a hand like Q-J-10-9 for the same reasons as before. You don’t want to get reraised, and you want players who have middle cards lower than yours to stay in the hand. You want them to get involved in the hand, not scare them out of it.
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If you play the right way, you’re going to be playing only the very best starting hands. You’re going to avoid hands that have structural defects. For example, hands that have four diamonds or three aces. You’re going to muck all the gambling hands you see before the flop because in pot-limit Omaha these hands can cost you a lot of money. The right way to play these hands is to muck them before the flop, but if you’re an action player like me you’re not going to want to sit around all day waiting for aces or Q-J-10-9 double-suited. You can’t say, “I read Sammy’s book, and every time I mucked my hand I won.” Just know what you’re getting into if you decide to start playing the way I do.