Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) is Poker’s Hottest Game and Here’s Why I Love It

A decade ago Omaha 8 or better was being touted as the game of future. Unfortunately, this prediction has yet to come to fruition, and even worse for Omaha 8 fans and players is that another game, Pot Limit Omaha (PLO), has taken over the title “Game of the Future”. PLO has even been able to accomplish what Omaha 8 could not do which is to garner mainstream appeal.

And with more and more big-time pros flocking to the game this only adds to the mystique of PLO, making every wannabe poker pro try to tackle the game -which has a really steep learning curve, especially if you are coming from another form of poker where hand strength is vastly different.

I won’t dig too deep on the reasons why Omaha 8 hasn’t lived up to its initial billing in this article -basically it has to do with the game’s strategies favoring a limit structure, since No Limit and Pot Limit Omaha 8 give too much of an edge to good players, and the bad players go broke way too quickly; as well as the complexity of the basic game-play. Instead I’m going to turn my attention to the three reasons I believe PLO has caught on with the masses.

1.      Omaha high favors a “Big-Bet” structure (hence the Pot Limit).

In today’s poker world if players can’t make a big bluff, or can’t get “All-In” they simply aren’t happy. Over and over aspiring poker players have been told that Limit poker is boring, and No Limit is the “Cadillac” of poker. So, even though you can’t just shove all your chips in the middle in a Pot Limit game at any time the bets are big enough for players to feel they can make a sizeable bet as a bluff, protect their hand, and extract value from their big hands.

2.      The difference in skill between an ok PLO player and a good player is very large.

In PLO bad players have no chance, and are at a huge disadvantage to any player who with a modicum of skill in the game. Additionally, really strong PLO players also have a huge advantage over players who are decent poker players.

This is where PLO trumps Texas Holdem in my opinion. Even the best Texas Holdem players don’t have much of an edge over players who are slight winners; it’s just too hard to get them to commit mistakes. So in Texas Holdem most of a really good player’s winnings are coming from the losing players -while the decent players are also taking money from them at the same time, just not as much.

On the other hand, really good PLO players have quite an advantage over both types of players, the bad players and the slight winners, because of a few subtle nuances of the game like back-up cards, back-door draws, and free-rolls. When the flop comes 9-T-J it will be the decent player holding a hand like Q-Q-K-7, and the really good player holding J-Q-K-A, 9-J-Q-K, or some other hand that dominates the decent player’s hand.

3.      In PLO there are a variety of playing styles that can be effective.

The final reason players are drawn to PLO is that unlike other forms of poker, in PLO there are a number of different playing styles that can show a profit. I’ve seen winning players who play loose/passive (especially pre-flop and on the flop); winning players who play tight/aggressive; winning players who play loose/aggressive; and winning players who are somewhat loose and somewhat aggressive.

Furthermore, a player who is able to jump between these different styles will do very well, not only will their opponents have a hard time making heads-or-tails of their poker game -imagine if sometimes you play tight/aggressive, and other times loose aggressive-but they will also be able to seamlessly transition between different styles depending on the overall game texture.

So, there are my three reasons why I love PLO, and why the game has legitimate chance to be the game of the future. I’m not sure it will ever trump No Limit Texas Holdem -or even Limit Holdem-but ten years ago you would be hard-pressed to even find a No Limit Holdem game in a card-room, so things can change in the poker world pretty quickly.