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You are here...Pot Limit Omaha Tournament Tips – Winning Strategy
In any form of poker there are strategy differences between cash game and tournament play.
The nature of Pot Limit Omaha play, with 4 hole-cards and the potentially large betting increases between rounds exaggerates these strategic differences.
In this article I’m going to take you through the various stages of a typical Pot Limit Omaha tournament and look at how you should approach each stage
In Omaha Poker Tournaments you need to be adaptable and your play should be adjusted for each stage of the tournament to correctly adapt to the changing situations facing you during the tournament.
Stage 1 – The Early Stages of the Tournament
The Early Stage of an Omaha Tournament is when the blinds are relatively low in comparison to your stack size and the average stack size of all the players in the tournament.
This is the time to identify and take chips from the weaker opponents, the blinds will be small relative to your stack and pots will tend to be multi-way. It is important to pay attention to opponents at all stages of the tournament – but especially in the early stages.
You should be on the lookout for:
- Which opponents are playing too many hands and going to far in the betting with thin values?
- Are there any opponents who do not understand the Omaha ‘2 from your hand and 3 from the board rule’?
- Which players play their drawing hands aggressively and which ones tend to just call?
The key to the early stages of a Pot Limit Omaha tournament is to accumulate chips. Once the blinds start to rise your options will be limited as you will often be all-in on the flop or turn. During the early stages you should look for favourable situations with nut (best possible) hands or draws to the nut hand with many outs and play those hands strongly – the best time to accumulate chips is while the weak opponents are still in the game.
Stage 2 – The Middle Stages
As the blinds increase you will start to find your post-flop options more limited. Larger pre-flop betting will mean big pots can develop very quickly. Your reads and poker notes that you have made on opponents during the early stages become important now, as does your ability to exercise control over the size of the pot.
During the middle stages of a Pot Limit Omaha tournament the relative stack sizes of you and the others in the hand become as important as the cards that you hold. Very small stacks and very large ones are more likely to call your all-in raises. Medium-sized stacks may be more willing to fold without a nut hand.
Pot Limit Omaha starting hands are closer in value than many other forms of poker – you will rarely be a huge favourite before the flop. Even after the flop common match-ups such as trips against a straight and flush draw are close.
This leads to situations in which you face a big bet as either a small favourite or a big underdog. In these situations you should aim to be the aggressor rather than the caller. If you are the one raising then you have an additional way to win the pot – your opponent can fold. When calling an all in bet you must show down the best hand.
Stage 3 – The Bubble
The Bubble is the point of the tournament where every player left is in the prize money. The stage we are describing here is the approach to that money bubble where most players tend to play a lot different, not wanting to be eliminated this close to the money.
There are several strategy adjustments at the bubble of a Pot Limit Omaha tournament. Firstly you should be looking for those small to medium stacked opponents who are looking to fold into the money. The chips of such opponents are there for the taking and timely raises to steal blinds, or even re-stealing their late position raises, can increase your stack significantly.
Conversely you should avoid playing big pots with the extra large stacked opponents who can bust you out of the tournament.
The payout scale of poker tournaments is usually skewed to the final table, and in particular the first few places. When playing the bubble you should bear this in mind. If you find yourself in a positive expectation position – for example with a strong holding against a possible bluff – then you should not shy away just to get through the bubble. Making the final table will show a healthy profit, sneaking through the bubble with a short stack will rarely pay more than twice your buy-in and will not cover losses from other tournaments where you don’t make it into the money.
Stage 4 – The Final Table
Stack sizes, stack sizes and stack sizes dictate your Pot Limit Omaha final table strategy. At this point in the tournament blinds and antes are likely to be huge compared to the stacks of most players. Note the very small stacks, these opponents will be looking to move up the pay-scale. Also note the very large ones who will be looking to ‘bully’ the table (especially targeting the medium stacks) for more chips.
Your position relative to the other player’s stacks will dictate your strategy to a large extent. At the final table being the aggressor rather than the caller becomes even more effective. Your opponent’s fear of missing out on one of the higher paying places will tend to make them less likely to call your big bets.
As the number of players goes down so should your starting hand requirements. With 5 players remaining the blinds will come around too fast to enable you to wait for premium starting hands.
While the hands with which you open pots can be weaker than at a full table the hands with which you call raises should still have some substance to them.
Whether raising or calling try to ensure you have hands in which the 4 cards all work together to give you multiple ways to hit the flop. Watch out for bets during the pre-flop and flop rounds that commit more than half of your opponents chips – those bets should be treated as ‘all-in’ as your opponent is now committed to the pot.
Stage 5 – Heads Up At The End
To win a Pot Limit Omaha Tournament you need to beat your last opponent heads-up. While your exact strategy is affected by how many chips you each have but there are once again several adjustments to make.
Firstly, you can play more hands in position – that is raise from the button as you will be last to act after the flop. Being last to act lets you see your opponents move before you act and conveys a huge advantage.
Secondly, relative hand values go down significantly. Top pair on the flop becomes playable heads-up where it should usually be folded to action during the early rounds. Likewise non-nut flush draws go up in value. The chances of a single opponent having exactly the right cards to beat you are far less likely.
Omaha Tournament Master
So, now you understand the different stages of an Omaha tournament and can now go an practise applying your strategy in each stage. Over time you will develop different strategies and approaches, but the most important thing to take away is that you must change your strategy for each stage of the tournament.
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