Preflop Raises - Pot Limit Omaha High Low (eight or better)

[clabbers]

In Omaha High Low there are two dominant two card hand starters. AA and A2. A2 is at its best in multiway pots and often should exercise pot control postflop due to the risk of winning a quarter or less of the pot even with the low nuts. AA is at its best heads up.

I find myself raising AA more than A2. I will always smooth call with A2 in early position to lure others in and build a pot. When we get to the cutoff, I'd like another bet or two from any limpers and also to charge weak blind hands for their chance to suck out, so I raise. It's usually a raise to 3 BB, but a raise to 2.5 or even 2 BB might be appropriate on tighter tables. You do want people in as that builds a bigger pot, but you also want more bets in the pot.

AA I will generally raise if it has any chance to cut the field. No reason to raise less than the pot. Smooth call poorish aces from the cutoff or button if there are limpers.

Most pocket kings are foldable, exceptions being two unpaired kickers three and below or two kickers ten or higher. Paradoxically, it is better to raise than to limp, but folding is usually best of all.

I see a lot of A3 and A4 raises from aggressive players in mid to late tournament situations. Aggression is good. Playing big pots with A4 is not good. I'd want a high expectation of getting the fold to try this.

Once again, please join in saying what you do, and what you think about my comments.

[jmbreslin]

The downside of that kind of approach is that if you limp/call with lots of hands and then suddenly raise, people might suspect exactly AAxx. If you're going to raise any hands, you should raise a wide enough range to prevent opponents from picking up on a pattern.

When it comes to PLO and PLO8 I tend to play quite tight from early position but more LAG from late position, since position plays such a huge factor in both games. You can actually take down quite a few pots by making pot-sized raises in late position and then making a pot-sized continuation bet on the flop (provided the flop hasn't obviously hit an opponent's calling range). But my main experience in PLO8 comes from cash games, not tourneys.

[sourbluff]

First let me say that all of these comments are based on low buy in ($10 or less) tournament play, both MTT and SnG, and regarding PLO8.

For the most part, I don't. I know that lack of aggression is not good but I have not completely figured out when/what to raise. I started playing PLO8 tournaments probably April of this year. Very early I was discouraged because I had not cashed after several tournaments. One thing that I noticed is I was bleeding off a lot of chips early with normal late position raises with hands like As27sJ. (I also realized I was seeing flops with a number of medium to medium/strong high only hands. They just look so pretty, I guess like suited cards in HE )

At this point I decided to remove the preflop raise from my game with the exception of monsters (AA with wheel cards and suited A, etc.). Doing this I started cashing regularly. The problem is I often find myself late in tournament and short stacked. To combate this I have started to raise more as the tournament progresses. However, unlike a NL tournament, antes are not used in PLO8 tournaments so I am having some trouble finding that time to switch.

[clabbers]

M is a useful concept, less important than in Holdem, but I'd be raising more in late position with hands as weak as ace four with suited ace once I had less than 5 times the cost of a round (small plus big blind). Other than that, I don't think gear shifting is as important as learning the players quickly and playing the players. Weak raises are a leak and you have to call them with solid starting hands that wouldn't raise or call a raise from a rock. You are then in a position to use the aggressor's aggression against him. In an attempt to steal the pot he will build the pot for you when you have a hand.

[clabbers]

Preflop raising can be considered a finer point. Postflop raising is the meat and potatoes. Properly defending the nuts, properly drawing to quality draws, raising exceptional draws. I do believe you can win either game (PLO or PLO8) without preflop raises.

[jmbreslin]

I do tend to play much more passively preflop in PLO8 in tourneys than I do in cash games because the value of your hand can change so drastically on the flop. An important point to remember is that the absolute best starting hand in PLO8 still only has a 60% of winning against any other hand. In tourneys, where the chips are limited, I'll typically wait for the flop before deciding to commit chips.

[sourbluff]

[quote="clabbers"]M is a useful concept, less important than in Holdem, but I'd be raising more in late position with hands as weak as ace four with suited ace once I had less than 5 times the cost of a round (small plus big blind). Other than that, I don't think gear shifting is as important as learning the players quickly and playing the players.quote]

I have wondered about the impact of hi/low split dynamics on M and when I should shift and look to get all in with what other wise might be considered a moderate hand.

More importantly though I am looking for that spot when you should start open raising or loosing up raising standards in late position to put position on short stacks and blinds.

So far it seems to me that PLO8 tournaments seem to have 3 phases. Initially I raise very little. Then when blinds reach say 100/200 or perhaps little higher if I have stack I shift to more raising especially in late position or against short stacks to apply pressure. Then you hit point when blinds hit say 500/1000 that you must again tighten up because any standard raise, 2.5 or 3x BB, would pretty much committe you to the pot.