Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Sickest action game ever

I was playing on full tilt and thought I clicked on pot limit omaha 8, .05/.10 and actually clicked on no limit omaha 8. This is my kind of game. You can raise as much as you want at any time, preflop, postflop or whatever and my fellow action junkies out there will call you down preflop with most anything. Playing hands like AA2x can be very profitable if you hit.

Even if you don't there are not many bluffers I could find so when you see a paired board with AA and are panicking, typically the villains will not bluff, even from position at these stakes.

Lucky session with a double up from my meager $10 buyin.

Anyone else out there that has tried this game?

4 comments:

Marshall said...

I have never played it, but it seems like a major action game. Why is Omaha Pot-Limit anyway?

Ryan said...

Omaha is pot limit to prevent the sick action Jason is describing, basically.

It's such a flop-oriented game that making it pot-limit prevents someone from constantly shoving perflop.

Hold'em's best hand is an 85% favorite over a random hand, and a solid hand (in the face of a Drunk Steve) like AJs is 65% against a random hand.

O8's best hand (I'm going with AA32 double suited) is only a 72% favorite over a random hand. A "solid" O8 hand against a Drunk Steve (I'm going with A52x with a suited ace) is only 55% against a random hand.

So basically, playing back against Drunk Steve in NLHE by waiting for solid hands and calling is solidly plus EV. Playing back against a Drunk Steve in NLO8 is more akin to gambling, even when you wait for a solid hand.

Pot limit is the standard to keep O8 from becoming preflop roulette, but obviously some people (apparently including Jason) are happy to do some gambling.

jason said...

Ryan, good points but the beauty of NL Omaha 8 is after the flop.

There were very few preflop pushes but having the ability to shove is great after the flop.

Suppose you have A,2,3,x and the flop comes out A,6,8 rainbow. I love the ability to push here. You are almost a lock for the low and unless someone has trip 8's or trip aces you are likely to scoop.

Of course it depends if you are heads up or multiway. Multiway I probably don't like the push. The nature of the game attracts the serious gambler types creating lots of mistakes that you can take advantage of as a good player.

Ryan said...

I was just answering the question of why Omaha games are generally pot limit, which is to protect against preflop abuse.

I've found that after a standard preflop raise with several callers, a pot bet on the flop generally pot-commits the bettor and any callers (with standard stacks) even if it doesn't all get in on that street.

On a limped pot, though, it would definitely allow for greater protection of hands on the flop, and bigger mistakes from bad players.

One could argue that this is also why it is generally pot-limit: so that you specifically can't completely deny someone the odds to chase a draw with a flop shove.

In a game defined by draws after the flop, some players would no doubt prefer to preserve their ability to chase correctly with superdraws on the flop by capping bets to pot size.

Which would I prefer? I don't know, tell me what my hand is and what the flop is. :)