Pot-limit Omaha Poker:: The Big Play Strategy

by Jeff Hwang

From a semi-professional poker player, a guide to playing and winning the biggest game in town. If you’ve never tried Pot-Limit Omaha, you’re missing out on the most exciting, most lucrative cash game around. Omaha has long been the most popular form of poker in Europe, and now it’s spreading like wildfire throughout North America. The reason is Omaha offers more action and bigger pots than Texas Hold ‘em. Isn’t it time you got in on it? Whether you’re a cash-game professional or poker hobbyist—and whether you play live or online—this book will arm you with a winning big-play strategy that's easy to master even if you've never played Omaha before. You'll discover the subtle distinctions that set Omaha above other games. Key topics    •  The Big Play Objectives    •  The Power of the Big Draw    •  Straight Draws and Starting Hand Construction    •  Playing the Position Game    •  Limit Omaha Hi/Lo and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Complete with practice situations and hand quizzes, this is the most comprehensive Omaha book available—and the only one you'll ever need.

“A great addition to poker literature.”—Bob Ciaffone, author of Omaha Poker

“Everything you wanted to know about the game but never asked.”—Lou Krieger, author of Hold ‘Em Excellence

Genres: Nonfiction

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Eugene Tung · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a good read. It corrected a lot of the leaks in my game and was also able to introduce the hi/lo aspects of the game in a clear and concise manner.

[Raphael Clayette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only did read the omaha Hi part, but it was great. I can believe this is the best beginner PLO book. I will read his other PLO books (3 volumes)

[Huié Hólos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keep in mind that this book was written by and for PLO 9 handed LIVE games. In that sentence alone you can tell how outdated this book is; that is, if you were to read it in a literal way.

However, if you're a NLH player who's completely new to PLO, then I recommend reading at least the first half of this book with an open mind.
Hwang does a fantastic job introducing us noobs to the types and relative strength of PLO starting hands, he's very thorough when it comes to that, and that alone will save you a lot of money when you start to play PLO online.

You reading this, probably play online, the games are 6-max and the dynamic is different from 2008, so please DON'T BE A NIT like he advises you too, that's 2008 advice for live poker.
Never forget that people play PLO because they get tired of missing every flop in that boring game called NLH, and because it's fun to have 4 cards, yo, . People don't play PLO to set-mine with AAKK, they play because they will almost always "hit" a flop.

[steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

Very easy to understand and very helpful in understanding how important the fundamentals are . I wish it went into more detail or examples of playing medium strength hands. Overall a very good book. Thank you!

[Pedro Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its an excelent introduction to PL OMAHA. The basic strategy, odds calculation and gameplay changes a lot from NLH. Great notions about the main differences about the variants and the "changing gears" you should be prepared to approach both games.

[Will Sisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly relevant despite its age. I feel like this book alone is enough to beat low stakes live PLO.

[Azary Tamarov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great starter book

Good learning experience for me. Simple to understand but still have alotttt more to learn. Will look for more books on Amazon

[Andrew Opfell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written

Well written and thoughtful. Gives good game situations and quizzes. Makes you think. I bought it for the O8 section and was very pleased.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeff Hwang, Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big-Play Strategy (Lyle Stuart, 2008)

Omaha is a wonderful game. It's second only to Cincinnati as my favorite poker variant (and no one plays Cincinnati anymore, not even in Europe), and I play Omaha and Omaha-split tournaments whenever I can. I've read a few books on the game over the years, but none of them has ever been comprehensive until now. Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy attempts to teach the reader how to minimize the variance (as much as possible, anyway, in a game where edges are often razor-thin at best when the money goes in), play tighter, and show a long-term profit. If you've played Omaha with an eye towards making money at it, but never actually done an in-depth study of the game, it's quite likely you're going to find the codification of a lot of concepts you've always suspected, but never really had the data to back up (e.g., just how much worse is A3xx than A2xx in Omaha-split, and is 2-3xx without an ace ever worth playing?). Hwang actually addresses why a one-gapped rundown is better in certain situations than a rundown. I never thought I'd see that. (To be fair, I'd only recently started wondering about that.) And really, it's hard to resist a book that tell you that the easiest money to be made in the poker world is at the limit Omaha-split table... and then goes on to back that up with thirty pages of how-to. If you're going to play Omaha, you need this book. ****

[Yves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deep and insightful, this technical book is required to be read twice to really get the practical elements of PL Omaha Hi play. I had to read it again. Absolutely NOT a book for beginners and in fact, a beginner applying these techniques would lose a lot of money because you have to have the long-time playing discipline to put those bluff bets out there. Beginners will not and when they do, face the problem of just being called.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good introduction. very clear analysis of the basics of what hands are good and what flops are good. very little detail beyond that, but anyone with a moderate background in NLH can fill in most of the blanks. Lots of hand examples and a series of hand quiz examples in the back that are helpful.

I skipped the Hi/Lo sections.

[CV Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're learning the game, it's a great overview and if you've had trouble with proper betting and hand-reading (and I have) this is a fantastic book. I learned quite a bit and improved my game drastically. I hope to be able to show a monetary benefit from the knowledge in the near future.

[Sidney]

Excellent book for anyone wishing to learn or improve their Omaha game.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily the best book on basic PLO on the market.

[Valentina Thoerner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good introduction to transition from Texas to PLO.

[Erin Parisien · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't have any background in Omaha (where I was at at the time) this is a great place to start. I would suggest at least some basic strategy knowledge in poker beforehand though.