How to Not Suck at PLO: Bad Hands Make PLO Impossible
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Omaha doesn’t necessarily have a cookie-cutter formula for which fingers to enjoy and which not to perform.
It’s not as straightforward as that.
You need to have to be capable to evaluate every and every hand you are dealt to decide no matter whether or not it will be rewarding.
The aspects continue to be continuous even though the cards them selves may modify.
You want a hand that has great flopabilty, one particular that can make the nuts, and has something to go along with it.
That is the ideal-case scenario.
The relaxation of the fingers you can be dealt in Omaha are on a sliding scale and it’s up to you to evaluate them to establish how great they are really are.
Obtaining Kings in vs. Aces is a Mistake
Kings are another problems hand for players transferring more than from Hold’em to Omaha.
Kings are weak for the very same reason aces are weak – a single pair hardly ever wins at showdown, and it is challenging to get to showdown.
Unlike aces although, you rarely want to get kings in pre-flop – even if you can get your stack fully commited.
If most of your income goes in and you have kings, you are probably in massive trouble. Aces in excess of kings are rare in Hold’em and it is considered a cooler.
With 4 playing cards in Omaha, aces are dealt significantly a lot more usually and getting kings in vs. aces is not a cooler – it is a error. Kings should be played very carefully ahead of the flop except if they are incredibly robust kings – for instance one thing like
A&diams K&diams K&hearts Q&spades or K&hearts K&spades Q&hearts J&spades.
Compare K&hearts K&diams four&spades nine&golf equipment to the very good kings earlier mentioned. These weak kings have nothing at all going for them.
If they’re likely to win at showdown in a deep stack match, they are going to have to flop a set or they are basically worthless.
Big Suited and Double-Suited Cards
If I have not beaten this horse to death but I’m about to: The ideal arms in Omaha have far more than one factor going for them.
You want to be ready to make the nuts and have a again-up plan. Huge suited playing cards and double-suited playing cards do not usually flop the nuts but they do typically flop large two-pair fingers that turn into huge entire houses. Big card fingers like AKJT, AQT9 KTJ9 and many others, are great on their very own but they’re wonderful when they are suited and double suited.
A&spades J&spades T&clubs nine&golf equipment is an outstanding hand and almost certainly far better than a non-suited AKQJ since it has two satisfies to go along with it such as a nut match. Having a nut fit is extremely strong because flush-more than-flush situations are widespread in Omaha.
With the nut match in your hand, you will “cooler” the scaled-down flushes.
Enjoying Out of Place in Omaha is Virtually Impossible
Placement is crucial in Hold’em but in Omaha it is paramount.
Omaha is a sport where the direct modifications on virtually every one avenue.
It’s typically challenging to know in which you are in a hand and being out of situation only tends to make it worse.
If taking part in out of position in Hold’em is hard, in Omaha it’s practically not possible. To modify, you must be taking part in very limited from out of placement – particularly when you’re just beginning out.
As you get started to learn the game and determine out the delicate intricacies you can get started to open up your game up a bit much more.
But even still the very best Omaha players enjoy out of place as little as attainable simply because it’s quite, very challenging.
Important Takeaway:
When you perform tight ahead of the flop and consider your starting hand energy ruthlessly, you make the relaxation of the hand less complicated to engage in out.
It can be quite straightforward to get caught up in the motion and enjoy way too numerous arms in Omaha, but the greatest players are ready to stick to their recreation plans and play worthwhile poker.
Finding out what tends to make a very good Omaha hand and what separates a excellent hand from a wonderful hand might seem like a steep finding out curve, and it is.
But when you determine it out and you consider your hand’s strengths and weaknesses on the fly, it starts off to turn into simpler and you start off turning into a very good PLO player.
Far more in the How to Not Suck at Pot-Limit Omaha sequence:
How to Not Suck at PLO: Engage in to the Nuts How to Not Suck at PLO: Perform Limited, Perform in Position How to Not Suck at PLO: Avoid Weak Rundowns How to Not Suck at PLO: Never Overvalue Aces How to Not Suck at PLO: Undesirable Fingers Make PLO Not possible How to Not Suck at PLO: Hit the Flop Difficult How to Not Suck at PLO: Start off and Conclude with a Strategy How to Not Suck at PLO: The Five Commandments
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10 Essential Texas Hold’em Moves: The Squeeze Play
There are a handful of special power moves that, when mastered, can make the difference between winning a little and winning a lot.
In this ten-part beginner poker strategy series we’re going to show you exactly how to use these powerful poker moves to make more money.
Today we’re looking at the squeeze play, a move that can increase your winrate regardless of what cards you’re holding. By leveraging a few key concepts and using your understanding of your opponents’ playing tendencies, we’ll show you how to squeeze every cent of out of your poker sessions.
The What: The squeeze play is a bluffing opportunity arising when a loose player raises before the flop and another loose player calls behind him. The “Squeeze” comes in when you put in a big three-bet and blast both of them off the pot.
The Why: Because a loose/aggressive player will often be opening with a wide range of hands, and the second player will be calling with a very wide range to see a cheap flop, neither one has a hand that can stand up to a big three-bet.
The Who: Look for loose/aggressive opening raisers who are opening too often, and weaker, passive players who are calling to see cheap flops.
The Where: Squeeze plays can be used in tournaments and cash games but they’re only effective in big-bet games like No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha. In Limit games you can’t raise enough to force your opponents to fold.
Squeeze Plays Done Right
At its core the squeeze play relies on the opening raiser’s loose table image, and the calling player’s awareness of that image.
Just picture it like this:
Player A (Raiser): Has a loose table image and a wide open-raising range.
Player B (Caller): Is aware of Player A’s loose image and has a wide calling range because of it.
You have to identify the right combination of loose open-raising and loose flat-calling to get a high percentage of folds.
But that’s not all that goes into a successful squeeze play:
Raise Big – Your squeeze play has to be big enough to force your opponents to fold mediocre hands. Your squeeze raise should be at least five times the initial raise.
Less Players Behind You is Better – Ideally you want to squeeze when you have as few as possible players still to act behind you. The more players to act, the more likely someone’s going to wake up with a hand. It’s also helpful if the players still to act are tight and not likely to call light.
Your Credibility and Table Image – How you’ve been playing and what your opponents know about you will affect how light they’re willing to call off. The tighter you’ve been playing the better.
All-In Squeeze Plays in Tournaments
One of the places you’ll see this move most often is when people squeeze all-in during a tournament.
There are two big reasons this is the easiest and most effective place to squeeze.
No Post-Flop Play – Since you either get called or you don’t, it takes the guesswork out of playing three-bet pots after the flop.
Added Strength – If your opponents are calling for their tournament lives they will fold a wider range of hands.
All-in tournament squeezes still rely on a loose raiser and a loose caller, but there’s another set of variables you have to consider.
The size of your chip stack, your opponents’ stacks and the blinds all have to align to make this kind of squeeze play truly effective.
Just like all squeeze plays you need to have enough chips to force your opponents to fold, but in tournaments your all-in has to make sense in relation to the blinds as well.
Look for spots where you have roughly 15 big blinds. In most situations any less than that and you’ll be giving your opponents too good a price on a call.
The Squeeze Play in Action
If you still have doubts about the squeeze play check out this hand from the 2004 WSOP Main Event.
Dan Harrington takes advantage of his tight image and the concepts described above to win a big pot with 6-2.
Read More Essential Texas Hold’em Moves:
Set-Mining The Reverse Tell The Check Raise The Semi-Bluff The Soul Read The Stop and Go The Triple-Barrel Bluff The Light Three-Bet The Bluff Catcher
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How to Not Suck at PLO: Hit the Flop Hard
For more in the series, check the list below the articles.
In Omaha your goal is to hit the flop hard.
Just like we talked about in pre-flop play, you want to flop a good hand with something else to go with it. In reality, that doesn’t happen as often as we’d like. But that doesn’t mean it’s time to check-fold. Just like in Hold’em you have to analyze your hand, the board texture, your opponent’s bet sizing, your opponent’s style of play, etc. to determine if your hand is good enough to proceed.
There’s no substitute for experience. The more flops in Omaha you take, the easier flop play becomes.
Straight Draws/Wraps
A wrap is a straight draw with more outs than an open-ender.
Open-enders have eight outs (four cards on either side) but full wraps can have as many as 20!
This is why big rundowns are so powerful. When you make the nut straight and someone makes a smaller straight, you’re going to make a whole lot of money. You have to learn to recognize the strength of your draws. And not just recognize how many outs you have to a straight, but how many of those are outs to nuts straights as opposed to non-nut straights.
Here’s an example: With J♥ T♠ 9♦ 7♠ on a 8♥ 9♠ 3♦ flop, you have three jacks, three sevens, four sixes, and four queens as your outs.
That’s a total of 14 outs and every single one of them is to the nut straight.
Now think about 7♥ 6♠ 5♣ A♣ on the same 8♥ 9♠ 3♦ flop.
You have four tens, three fives, three sevens and three sixes for 13 outs. But look further and how many of those are actually to the nuts?
Only the three fives give you the nut straight. The rest of the time you’re making a non-nut straight and leaving yourself open to being “coolered.”
Also be careful when you flop a wrap on a two-flush board. The presence of a flush draw massively de-values your straight draw.
It’s no fun hitting a straight when it makes someone else a flush.
In Omaha drawing to the non-nuts can be expensive. You need to be aware not only of how many straight outs you have but also how many of those are nut outs.
Flush Draws
A good rule of thumb for flush draws is that if it isn’t a draw to the nuts, you’d better have something to go along with it.
If you’re drawing to the second nuts or even worse, and your only plan to win the pot is to hit your flush, you’re in a whole lot of trouble. In Omaha it’s very likely your opponent is drawing to the nuts, but even if he isn’t you have very small implied odds.
Unlike in Hold’em, where you can get paid off by hands worse than a flush, in Omaha it almost never happens.
You’d best have a better Plan A if you have a non-nut flush draw because hitting a flush sure ain’t it. That said, nut flush draws are still strong hands – especially when you’ve got something else to go with it.
If you have anything and a nut-flush draw you’ve got yourself a great hand. If you’ve got a straight draw and a flush draw, you’ve got yourself a huge hand. Play with equities by plugging your hands into a hand calculator. It might surprise you to find out how Omaha hands on the flop stack up to other ones.
For example: A♦ J♥ T♣ 9♦ vs. 7♠ 7♥ K♣ 5♣ on a 7♦ 8♦ 2♠ board
The flush draw plus a wrap is actually a 50.33% favorite over a made set.
In Hold’em you’re never the favorite against a set with a draw but in Omaha it can happen!
Sets
Sets in Omaha are still very strong hands.
Sets turn into full houses, and full houses are big pot hands.
An Omaha caveat however is it’s not like in Hold’em where if you flop a set on the flop you just get it all-in.
In Omaha set-over-set scenarios are common and a lot of money has been lost with bottom set.
A set is still a very strong hand though and, just like everything in Omaha, if you’ve got a back-up plan to go along with it it makes your hand even stronger.
Two Pair
Two pair in Omaha is not that strong of a hand.
Yes, it will win at showdown sometimes, but not all that often – and probably not when the pot gets big.
You need big hands to win in Omaha and hands that are locks in Hold’em can be trouble hands in Omaha.
With more cards come more chances to make mistakes. So when you’re learning you want to play extremely tight – especially out of position.
Mistakes are expensive. If you set out with a good game plan, play hands before the flop that can flop big and you carry that over to the flop, the turn becomes easier to play.
So will the river. You’ll cause your opponent to make more mistakes instead of you.
Case Study:
$ 200 PLO game, $ 200 effective stacks. You raise $ 5 with 5♠ 6♠ 3♦ 4♥ on the button. The big blind calls.
The flop comes 8♠ 5♥ 3♠.
How Good is Your Hand?
This is an example of a hand where you have no awesome hand but several weak hands.
You have an open-ender, but only one end to the nuts. You also have a weak flush draw and a weak two pair.
Any one of these hands on their own would be weak and probably should be avoided, but together they are much stronger.
It’s possible that your opponent has a better flush draw, or a better two pair, or a better straight draw, but it’s highly unlikely your opponent has every one of your hands beat.
In this case, your hand is actually fairly strong.
Key Takeaway:
There’s a running theme in Omaha.
The weaker your made hand, the better the rest of your hand has to be. Or the weaker your draw, the better your main hand has to be.
If it’s somewhere in the middle and both are bad, you’re probably best off folding if there’s a lot of action.
More in the How to Not Suck at Pot-Limit Omaha series:
How to Not Suck at PLO: Play to the Nuts How to Not Suck at PLO: Play Tight, Play in Position How to Not Suck at PLO: Avoid Weak Rundowns How to Not Suck at PLO: Don’t Overvalue Aces How to Not Suck at PLO: Bad Hands Make PLO Impossible How to Not Suck at PLO: Hit the Flop Hard How to Not Suck at PLO: Start and End with a Plan How to Not Suck at PLO: The Five Commandments
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10 Essential Texas Hold’em Moves: The Stop and Go
There are a handful of special moves that, when mastered, can make the difference between winning a little and winning a lot.
In this ten-part beginner poker strategy series we’re going to show you exactly how to use these powerful poker moves to make more money.
Today we examine the Stop and Go, a move that will disorient, confuse, and ultimately break even the toughest of competition.
The What: At its most basic the Stop and Go consists of just calling a preflop raise while out of position with the intention of betting (usually all-in) on the flop no matter what cards come.
The Where: The Stop and Go is a tournament move that can be used effectively in MTTs and SNGs. The most common scenario involves calling from the blinds against a late-position opening raiser.
The When: This move is best used when short-stacked, with between five and ten big blinds.
The Why: The objective of the Stop and Go is to make your opponent throw away hands on the flop that he would have called with if you shoved pre-flop, therefore increasing your chances of winning the hand and staying alive in the tournament.
The Stop and Go Done Right
The Stop and Go is a powerful move you need to add to your shortstack tournament strategy repertoire.
Picture this: You’re in the big blind, holding A-J with a 10,000 stack at 600/1,200 with a 100 ante. It’s folded to the button who puts in a raise to 3,600. The small blind folds and you’re faced with a decision. Do you move all-in now, just call, or fold?
Even if you’re holding a premium hand like A-K, there’s good reason to just call.
If you move all-in, the button will have to call 6,400 to win over 20k, which means he’s priced into calling with basically anything. In fact, most good players will already have taken note of your short stack and will only raise if they’re willing to call your shove.
Because your A-K is going to lose to two random smaller cards about 35% of the time, you’re better off taking down the pot uncontested. Since that’s unlikely to happen by just shoving preflop, you need to take another approach.
That’s where the Stop and Go comes in.
Call preflop with the intention of moving all-in for 6,400 regardless of the cards that come down.
When you bet all-in on the flop, your opponent is faced with a much tougher decision. Two random cards are going to miss the flop about two thirds of the time.
First of all he will fold a lot of hands he would have been right to call with preflop. Let’s look at the hand from before.
If your opponent had a hand like pocket threes he’s going to be looking at overcards on the flop, and will have a harder time calling than he would have preflop.
If he called with a hand like K-Q and the flop came T-8-5, he’s also faced with a tough decision.
By just calling before the flop you not only stand a better chance of winning the pot uncontested, you force your opponent into tough spots where they can make mistakes.
Daniel Negreanu Explains the Stop and Go
In case you’re still wondering about the effectiveness of the stop and go, let Daniel Negreanu school you up.
Read More Essential Texas Hold’em Moves:
Set-Mining The Reverse Tell The Check Raise The Semi-Bluff The Soul Read The Light Three-Bet The Triple-Barrel Bluff The Squeeze Play The Bluff Catcher
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How to Not Suck at PLO: Start and End with a Plan
Check below the article for the rest in the series.
The easiest way to get better at Omaha is to start out from the very beginning with a plan.
When you’re learning the game it’s best to overly simplify it down to “look to make the nuts by the river and you’ll win.”
You do that by playing only good hands before the flop. Good hands before the flop make good hands after the flop.
And when you make good hands on or after the flop, your decisions are much easier than if you make weaker, marginal hands.
Easy decisions mean right decisions, and making right decisions is how you make money in any form of poker.
The Turn and River – Take Advantage of Easy Decisions
The turn is a very important street. By the turn you have a pretty good idea of how your hand is going to turn out.
If you’re drawing and you’ve hit, try to get all-in.
If you’ve missed, play poker and figure out if you’re being laid the right price to peel off one more card to hit your draw. If you weren’t drawing, you have to decide whether or not the turn card helped your opponent.
You do this the same way you do in Hold’em. You put your opponent on a range of hands, decide whether or not this turn has helped him and you play accordingly. It’s impossible to go over all of the different scenarios you might encounter on the turn, but the basic idea is that on the turn you finally reap the benefits of your solid pre-flop and flop play. You started out with a goal to make the nuts and now you have to play poker.
You have to think critically about what your opponent is playing for and you have to adjust accordingly.
River Value-Betting Relies on the Same Fundamentals
By the river, you now know exactly what your hand is.
Most of the time you’re going to be all-in by this point, but when you’re not you have to determine how strong your opponent’s hand is.
You can still value bet without the nuts in Omaha but you have to be sure your opponent doesn’t have a better hand. You use the same fundamentals to figure this out as you do in Hold’em.
You re-create a picture in your head of how the hand has played out to this point and ask the same questions:
How would your opponent play made hands? How would he play drawing hands? Does your opponent call with weak hands on the river? Is he easily bluffed?
You need to take all of this into consideration on the river to decide how to act.
There’s no magic formula. It’s just poker.
Use your observation skills from previous hands to determine what you should do in each situation.
Position, Position, Position
Position in Omaha is paramount. It’s already been stated but it needs to be stated again
On the turn and river you’ll really see why.
Often in Omaha you’ll be drawing to one hand but another draw comes in.
When you’re in position and your opponent checks, you can choose to bluff or you can choose to check it down.
When you’re out of position you don’t have those options but you have to face your opponent who does have these options.
Position in Omaha just can’t be understated.
If you’re playing too much out of position in Omaha, you’re going to burn money.
Key Takeaway:
Remember to plan the entire hand from the beginning. You want to make the nuts and you want to have back-up plans. If you set out from the get-go with excellent pre-flop fundamentals and you carry that over to the flop, the turn and the river are going to be a lot easier to play.
You’ll put your opponents to tough decisions and you’ll avoid the tough decisions yourself. The rest is just poker experience.
Use everything you’ve learned in Hold’em and adapt it to Omaha.
Despite key strategy differences the fundamentals are the same: calculate pot odds and observe, observe, observe.
If you do that, you’re already going to have a step up on your opponents.
More in the How to Not Suck at Pot-Limit Omaha series:
How to Not Suck at PLO: Play to the Nuts How to Not Suck at PLO: Play Tight, Play in Position How to Not Suck at PLO: Avoid Weak Rundowns How to Not Suck at PLO: Don’t Overvalue Aces How to Not Suck at PLO: Bad Hands Make PLO Impossible How to Not Suck at PLO: Hit the Flop Hard How to Not Suck at PLO: Start and End with a Plan How to Not Suck at PLO: The Five Commandments
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10 Essential Texas Hold’em Moves: The Bluff Catcher
There are a handful of special power moves that, when mastered, can make the difference between winning a little and winning a lot.
In this ten-part beginner poker strategy series we’re going to show you exactly how to use these powerful poker moves to make more money.
Today we’re explaining the bluff catcher. We’ll show you how, against the right opponents, even marginal hands like ace-high and bottom pair can make you big money on the river.
The What: The term ‘Bluff Catcher’ is exactly what it sounds like: A hand that, while not super powerful, is good enough to beat your opponent when he’s bluffing. It’s a hand that’s not strong enough to value bet, and not strong enough to beat your opponent’s value-betting range, but has showdown value against bluffs.
The When: Generally when people talk about bluff catchers they’re referring to calling the final bet on the river.
The Where: Bluff catchers are most commonly found in bluffing games like No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha but the concepts involved are useful in any poker game.
The Why: By exploiting players who bluff too much you can turn mediocre hands that you’d usually be folding into money-makers.
Bluff Catching Done Right
The most important part of using this poker power move is understanding when you’re holding a bluff catcher hand, and whether the conditions are right to call that bet on the river.
Like so much in poker, the right decision depends entirely on what you know about your opponent.
You must understand his value-betting range, and his bluffing frequency. You must understand his behavior.
By definition a bluff catcher is a hand that’s behind your opponent’s entire value-betting range. So because you can only win against a bluff, it’s paramount to be able to spot players and situations where bluffing is common.
Quite simply, the bluff catcher will never work against someone who never bluffs.
To Catch a Bluff, There Must be a Bluff
At a table of ABC/TAG players you might as well forget about bluff catchers and focus on getting value out of your big hands. But if you’re up against tricky, aggressive grinders you’ll be leaving a ton of money on the table by folding everything except the nuts.
Because good players understand that holdings are rarely bulletproof, they’re going to try to exploit you by firing missed draws, third barrels and straight-up bluffs on the river.
To use the bluff catcher effectively you have to identify players who are doing this too much, and exploit them by calling with the hands they’re trying to make you fold.
Against the right player, in the right situation, calling a river bet with ace-high will make you a fortune over your poker career.
In short, you’re looking for overly aggressive players that bet and raise more than they should.
The Math of the Bluff Catcher
The easiest way to think about the math behind a bluff catcher is to put it in terms of pot odds and equity.
Usually when you’re calculating expected value you’re comparing pot odds and your probability of winning a hand by hitting a draw.
But since a bluff catcher can only win when your opponent is bluffing, you can substitute his bluffing frequency for the probability of hitting your draw to see whether you’re making a profitable call.
Let’s look at an example to make that point a bit more clear:
It folds to the button in a $ 1/$ 2 No-Limit Hold’em cash game and he raises to $ 8. The small blind folds and you call with A♦ 3♦.
Pot = $ 17
The flop comes down 9♦ 8♠ 3♣ and you check-call a $ 10 bet.
Pot = $ 37
You both check the 2♥ on the turn, and the 2♣ hits the river. You check and the button bets $ 20.
Your hand only beats air so if he’s got a pair or better you’re sunk. Should you make the call?
To find out whether the call will be profitable in the long run you need to figure out the pot odds, and compare that to your opponent’s bluffing frequency in this spot.
You have to call $ 20 to win $ 57 so the pot is laying you 2.85 to 1 on the call.
If you believe your opponent’s river bet is a bluff 50 percent of the time you must call, since your odds against winning are 2 to 1, and the pot is offering you a better than 2 to 1 price.
While putting an exact number on bluffing frequency is impossible, you must do everything you can to understand your opponents’ tendencies and behaviors in common river-betting spots.
If you can identify the spots when they’re bluffing too much, you’re in the right position to pick them off with a weak hand you may otherwise have folded.
The most crucial skill to master in poker is the ability to put your opponent on a range and that includes knowing when he’s bluffing and when he’s value-betting.
The more accurately you can estimate the probability that your opponent is bluffing, the more money you’ll be able to make by being there to catch him.
Bluff Catching in Action
If you’re still not convinced about the power of the bluff catcher, check out high-stakes legend Patrik Antonius snapping off this bluff with nothing but queen-high.
Read More Essential Texas Hold’em Moves:
Set-Mining The Reverse Tell The Check Raise The Semi-Bluff The Soul Read The Stop and Go The Triple-Barrel Bluff The Squeeze Play The Light Three-Bet
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10 Essential Texas Hold’em Moves: The Semi-Bluff
There are a handful of special moves that, when mastered, can make the difference between winning a little, and winning a lot.
In this ten-part beginner poker strategy series we’re going to show you exactly how to use these powerful poker moves to make more money.
Today we’re explaining the Semi-Bluff, a move that can dramatically change how much money you make from your flopped and turned draws. Instead of banking on your card coming in, learn to take control of the hand and take down the pot even when you miss.
The What: Semi-bluffing, at its core, is simply betting or raising with a draw. It’s not considered a ‘pure’ bluff because you have a hand with good potential to improve on the turn or river. By betting or raising you’re giving yourself two ways to win. You might hit your draw to make the best hand, or you could win the pot uncontested when your opponent folds.
The When: Just like the majority of poker moves, the Semi-Bluff works best when you’re in position. Because a successful semi-bluff relies so heavily on fold equity, it’s only effective when your opponent has a high probability of folding.
The Where: The Semi-Bluff can be used in virtually every poker variant and format, as long as there is a draw or multiple streets of action.
The Why: Semi-bluffing combines the equity in your draws and the fold equity gained by the times your opponent folds and you win the pot uncontested. It also balances your betting and raising ranges
Semi-bluffing mixes up your play, making it difficult for your opponent to determine whether you’re bluffing or betting a made hand.
Semi-Bluffing Done Right
Because you flop draws relatively often it’s important to know when a semi-bluff is appropriate, and when it’s going to cost you hard-earned money.
The key point to remember is that with semi-bluffing you’ve got two kinds of equity: Pot equity and fold equity.
Pot equity refers to the portion of the pot to which you’re entitled based solely on the strength of your cards. If you’ve got a flush draw on the flop and there’s $ 100 in the pot your pot equity is roughly $ 35, because you’re going to hit your flush about one out of three times.
Fold equity refers to the value you get when your opponent folds and you win what’s in the pot without having to hit that flush draw.
So, naturally, the more of either type of equity you have, the more money you’re going to make with your semi-bluffs.
Pot equity is easy to calculate. Click through to our strategy lesson on the subject and learn to calculate your pot equity.
The more pot equity you have, the less fold equity you need, since you’ll be winning the pot by making the best hand more often.
Understanding your fold equity, however, is more difficult. There’s no simple formula to follow but there are a few key factors that must be considered.
Is Your Opponent Tight or Loose? Is He a Calling Station?
Fold equity implies the possibility of your opponent folding so it’s not going to work when you’re up against a calling station married to two overcards or bottom pair.
Target weak/tight players that you know you can push off marginal hands.
Board Texture and Table Image
Pay attention to the texture of the flop and the hands you consider your opponent capable of having. The wider your opponent’s range the more fold equity you have, since he’ll be dumping all his air hands without thinking twice.
If your opponents have seen you semi-bluff a lot of flush draws consider your credibility on a flop like A♣ 5♣ 2♦. Start weighting your behavior more towards value-betting made hands on these kinds of boards.
Pay Attention to How the Board Develops
Convincing your opponent to fold is the chief goal when semi-bluffing and in that way it’s identical to pure bluffing. And just like when you’re bluffing with air, the cards that fall on the turn and river are critical to your chances of success.
Big cards, preferably overcards to the board, are good cards to see when you want to semi-bluff. You want cards that weaken your opponent’s perceived range and strengthen yours.
Overcards on the turn and river are especially good to bluff at because players’ flop-calling range consists of so many top and middle pairs.
For a more detailed explanation click through to our article on firing one, two or even three barrels.
Semi-Bluffing in Action
Here’s a great example of Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis semi-bluffing his way to a big, uncontested pot against Phil Ivey.
Veldhuis understands that Ivey’s range for betting this turn is extremely wide, and therefore his fold equity is very high. That, combined with the outs he has if he does get called, makes this a perfect spot for an aggressive semi-bluff.
Read More Essential Texas Hold’em Moves:
Set-Mining The Reverse Tell The Check Raise The Light Three-Bet The Soul Read The Stop and Go The Triple-Barrel Bluff The Squeeze Play The Bluff Catcher
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10 Essential Texas Hold’em Moves: The Soul Read
There are a handful of special moves that, when mastered, can make the difference between winning a little, and winning a lot.
In this ten-part beginner poker strategy series we’re going to show you exactly how to use these powerful poker moves to make more money.
Today we’re explaining the truth about soul reads.
What might look like a supernatural deduction akin to a fortune teller gazing into a crystal ball is actually a well-thought-out series of observations that lead to the correct decision.
We’ll show you how to make those big call downs with ace-high or bottom pair. It’ll not only impress the other players in the game, it’ll make you more money too.
The What: When people talk about making a soul read they’re referring to making a correct, yet very difficult decision, and doing it with a confidence that goes above and beyond the available info in the hand.
The When: The big call or the huge fold might be the hallmark of the soul read but really it’s a process that’s been going on from the very beginning of the hand. It begins as soon as you start assembling the pieces of the puzzle.
The Where: Soul reads can be made at any time in any poker game. When you nail your opponent on exactly what he’s holding and why he’s making certain actions, you are reading his soul.
The Who: To make a true soul read you need to know your opponent inside and out. What seems like an impossible deduction to the rest of the table is often possible because of what you know about your opponent and the history you’ve shared.
Soul Reads Done Right
Understanding how to read souls is especially important because it relies on one of the most important skills in poker: Observation.
Poker is a game of information, and the winners are the ones who collect the most and assemble it the best to make correct decisions.
You must observe everything your opponents do, whether you’re in the hand or not. Seeing how someone plays their draws or how they behave when they flop the nuts is crucial to making that huge read when it really counts.
When you can make observations and compare that data to what you already know about your opponent’s playing tendencies, you’re ready to take the first step towards soul-reading.
You Must Read Hands Before You Can Read Souls
The easiest way to think about hand-reading in poker is to break down all possible hands into broad groups. Those groups are called “ranges”.
A range of hands contains all the card combinations with which a player would make the same actions.
For example, bottom set and top two pair are both strong hands and would fall into most players’ value-betting ranges. Ace-high and complete air, meanwhile, would be found in their bluffing ranges.
Remember, different players have different ranges. Top pair is enough for some players to get their whole stacks in with, while a good player would have no trouble laying down two-pair in the right spot.
Hands can be broken down into four basic ranges:
Monster Hands and the Nuts: These are hands that your opponent deems strong enough to bet or raise with, and has no problem getting all-in with. For most players a set or better is a monster. Made Hands with Showdown Value: These are top-pair type hands that your opponent believes stand a strong chance of being the best hand but are probably not strong enough to play for stacks. Draws: Flush draws, open-enders and combo draws that have a good chance of becoming the best hand but are not yet made. Bluffs and Air: Hands that have no chance of winning at showdown.
Once you can reliably put your opponent on a range you’ll be able to make vastly superior decisions at the poker table.
Questions You Should Ask Yourself
There’s no shortcut to perfect hand-reading but there are a number of basic questions you should always be able to answer.
Ask yourself these questions when you’re deciphering your opponent’s actions:
What kind of player is he? Is your opponent loose or tight? Passive or aggressive? Is he playing too many hands? The easiest way to tell if someone’s loose or tight is to watch how often they’re putting money in the pot. If someone is playing more than 20% of hands it’s safe to say they’re on the loose side. Is he calling or betting/raising? If a player is constantly playing hands but you can’t remember the last time they bet or raised, it’s safe to label them a passive calling station. If a player is always taking the lead with bets and raises, label them aggressive. What position is he in? Position is huge in poker and most people know it. The later the position the wider the range. The reverse is also true so give more respect to raises coming from early position.
Soul Reading in Action
If you still think soul reading is just an old wives tale, the stuff of legend, check out this video of WSOP bracelet winner Max Lykov.
The Russian defies all logic and makes an enormous call down with king high. And he does it with confidence.
Read More Essential Texas Hold’em Moves:
Set-Mining The Reverse Tell The Check Raise The Semi-Bluff The Light Three-Bet The Stop and Go The Triple-Barrel Bluff The Squeeze Play The Bluff Catcher
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Jared Tendler Explains Flow and Playing in the Zone
Soccer teams compete with similar level teams determined by leagues, sprinters only race against those with high enough qualifying times, and boxers are matched against fighters in their weight class and of a similar level.
That’s generally not the case in poker, where there is a heavy emphasis on seeking out competition that’s significantly weaker.
It is routine for a world champion to share a table with a complete amateur. In fact the difference in class between a ‘shark’ and a ‘fish’ can sometimes be equivalent to Tiger Woods playing against a 20 handicap.
Sport thrives on close competition to get spectators interested in watching. Poker players, however, make their money by finding huge edges. The problem is that if you’re only looking for easy money eventually that can harm your progress and thus the size of the edge you have in the game.
Being challenged is a necessary component for both learning and playing in the zone.
One of the most popular theories about the zone comes from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian psychology professor and the author of the book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
He defines being in the zone as a state of “flow” whereby a person is fully immersed in what they are doing.
In order to achieve this state of flow, a balance must be struck between the skill of the performer and the challenge of the task.
In other words, the performer needs to be sufficiently challenged and have enough skill in that task to meet the challenge.
The graphic below illustrates the relationship between skill and challenge:
As you can see, the size of the challenge and the amount of skill you have aren’t important separately; it’s the relationship between the two that determines your ability to reach the zone.
When your skills are low and the challenge is low, or when the challenge is high and your skills are also high, you can perform in the zone.
However, if you’re a massive underdog, you’ll be overwhelmed by the challenge and according to Csikszentmihalyi, you’ll experience anxiety, not flow. Conversely, if you expect to easily crush a weak opponent, you’ll get bored by a challenge that’s too low and fall out of the zone.
Boredom Takes You Out of the Zone
Boredom typically sets in when you stop feeling challenged and there is nothing new or interesting to learn. Like a computer that hasn’t been used recently, your mind is left idling just waiting to be activated.
Boredom is the result of a perceived lack of challenge. When just showing up is enough to have an edge, it’s easy to slip into your B- or C-game.
It makes sense that poker could start to feel like a monotonous grind—you’re dealt the same hands all the time. By now, you’ve been dealt AK suited enough to consider it standard and potentially boring.
However, the players who remain passionate and motivated about seeing the nuances and unique details of how to play each hand are never bored. They see physical tells, timing tells, metagame, combinatorics, balancing ranges, G-bucks, prior action, table image, and many other small details that most players don’t consider.
The dynamics in poker are varied and constantly changing, so while the same hand can be dealt over and over, each hand will play out in a unique way. There are always new areas in which to develop an edge; the game is always evolving and there is always more to learn.
An easy way to stave off boredom is to make sure there’s always something you’re interested in learning.
Are there parts of the game that you’ve wanted to work on, but you just keep putting it off? Focusing on these areas could boost your interest and provide a challenge at the same time.
What are some ways you can stay challenged against weak opponents? Create a game within the game, such as seeing how quickly and accurately you can assess their game.
What information would be useful to gather while you’re card dead? Assume you’re going to find something about another player that will help you exploit them in future hands and your challenge is to find it.
There is always something you can do to make learning more fun and the game more challenging. This is where you should always keep a firm eye on your goals and be ready to refine them to incorporate new challenges.
Jared Tendler is a Mental Game Coach who has worked with over 250 poker players. His newest book, The Mental Game of Poker 2 is the first poker book devoted to teaching players how to play in the zone consistently. It’s available on April 23rd. Pre-order a copy now at JaredTendlerPoker.com.
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How to Not Suck at PLO: The Five Commandments
Where do you go from here?
Omaha is a difficult game to master. It’s what makes the game so interesting and yet so profitable.
You can play thousands upon thousands of hands but if you’re not practicing correctly or you’re getting caught up in the gamble you may actually be doing yourself more harm than good.
It’s not the quantity of hands you play – it’s the quality.
Focus on the Fundamentals
It’s easy to watch PLO online or on TV, see crazy hands go down and get caught up emulating the pros.
Here’s the thing though: The pros have played enough Omaha to know when to break the rules and when to stick to them, when to go with their reads and when to gamble.
As a new Omaha player it’s not enough to just go with “feelings.” You have to stick to a very basic game plan and execute it.
When you’re a proven winner over hundreds of thousands of hands then you can start breaking the rules and advancing your game even further.
But until then you’ll likely get yourself into far more trouble than it’s worth.
The Five Commandments of Winning Omaha
1. Thou Shalt Always Play Within Thy Bankroll
Don’t chase bigger games because they look good unless you’re more than willing to go broke. You should have a bare minimum of 50 buy-ins for the level you’re playing.
Omaha is a swingy game and you don’t want to dump half your roll chasing some fish.
2. Thou Shalt Always Play the Odds
It’s the odds that make poker a profitable game and what separates it from table games. Poker is a beatable game because you can choose when to put money into the pot.
If you always make +EV decisions and always avoid –EV decisions you’ll always make money in the long run. It’s easy to get caught up in the game and chase “feelings,” but that’s not a winning play.
The only winning play is math. Know your odds and play accordingly.
3. Thou Shalt Always Play Tight and Make the Nuts
When learning to play Pot-Limit Omaha it’s no use to open your game up because you see the pros do it.
There will be a time for that when you’re an established winner. Until then you’re just going to end up getting yourself into difficult spots where you leave yourself open to make mistakes and lose money.
Play tight and look to make the nuts with a back-up plan.
4. Thou Shalt Not Get Married to Aces
Aces are pretty. But if you can’t get committed preflop then it’s better to play them slow.
Omaha is a game where pairs rarely win at showdown. Even if your aces are the best hand, it’s often very difficult to get them to showdown to find out.
If you’re marking yourself with aces they better be very good aces like A♥ A♦ J♥ T♦ – in other words aces with something to go along with them.
Otherwise you’re going to allow your opponents to play perfect against you while you’re stuck in the dark.
5. Thou Shalt Always Stay in Emotional Control
Omaha, even more than Hold’em, is a swingy game. You have to be able to keep your cool in the face of extreme variance.
If you go on tilt easily it might not be the game for you. When you lose control of your emotions you lose control of your ability to make winning decisions.
If you take a few beats you have to be able to take a step back and realize that you may be tilting. If you’re not in control of your emotions you should close all your games and take a break.
If you don’t recognize the symptoms you can blow week’s worth of hard grinding in just a few orbits. Stay in control and play winning poker, that’s always your number one goal.
If you stick to these rules and study the game, Pot-Limit Omaha is no different than any other game when you’re learning. You just have to make more +EV bets than –EV ones.
It’s just about recognizing what’s profitable and what’s not. That’s the hard part. You have to analyze the players, the board, your hand, the odds, everything.
It takes time and practice. But if you’re able to do that, the game is very rewarding – both mentally and financially.
More in the How to Not Suck at Pot-Limit Omaha series:
How to Not Suck at PLO: Play to the Nuts How to Not Suck at PLO: Play Tight, Play in Position How to Not Suck at PLO: Avoid Weak Rundowns How to Not Suck at PLO: Don’t Overvalue Aces How to Not Suck at PLO: Bad Hands Make PLO Impossible How to Not Suck at PLO: Hit the Flop Hard How to Not Suck at PLO: Start and End with a Plan How to Not Suck at PLO: The Five Commandments
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