One of the big differences between No Limit Hold’em (NLHE) and Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) is the set of reasons you choose to slow-play a big hand. In NLHE, it’s almost always because you have pretty much sewn up the pot and you want to let your opponent(s) make a good second-best hand. A classic example is flopping a set against suspected overcards; you might go easy on the flop hoping that your opponent will turn a (very dead) top pair or at least make a stab at the pot.

In PLO, the potential draws against you are often so enormous that you dare not give any free or even cheap cards. And in fact, even when you do hit a monster, it’s usually correct to start a fire early on. That’s because with the card combinations in your opponents’ hands, there’s a fair chance that somebody already has that second-best hand you’re hoping to see. That’s how you win stacks in PLO.

Let’s consider an example: suppose you’re playing PLO and make a raise in early position with a good pair of kings, perhaps KKJT double-suited (“KKJTd”). You get four callers and think, “Whoo-hoo, I’m set-mining with kings.” The flop comes down and you’re delighted to notice that there’s a king in it. Then your second glance tells you that the other two cards are both nines; you’ve flopped the top full house. In a NLHE game, you could just call a bet, hoping that somebody could catch enough of a hand to pay off a bet.

But consider the PLO situation: with four opponents, that’s sixteen cards. If any one of those cards is a nine (which happens over 50% of the time against four random hands) then you are going to get action, maybe a lot of it. In fact, virtually your only action will come from somebody who has flopped trips; no PLO player with two synapses to rub together will put much money into the pot with a draw or even a made straight or flush. Therefore, you should mix it up with the villain immediately while he thinks he’s trying to protect his trips against a draw.
But let’s look at the times where you might slow down with a big hand in PLO.

One good time is when you have the nut straight but fear that you may be on the wrong side of a freeroll. Let’s say that that you have some nasty hand such as K762o (no suits) in the big blind, three players call, you check, and the flop comes 5d-4d-3s. This is no time to go to war. Yes, you have the nuts, but if a thinking player puts in a lot of money, you’re in serious trouble. The most likely scenario is that he has the same 76 combination you do but also has some back-up with it. It may be something like 9876, which means if a six, seven, or eight comes, his straight crushes yours. Or it’s diamonds. Or 7655, giving him the nuts with the full house redraw.

In fact, just today I played a hand where my opponent and I both flopped an eight-high straight on an 8c-4d-7d board. But he had Ah-6h-5c-4h and I had 9s-4s-5d-6d. Of the 820 possible card combinations on the turn and river, we tied only 308; I won 506 and he won six. His pot equity, holding the nuts on the flop, was less than 20%. We went to war and each put 80 big-blinds into the pot. A ten came on the turn and he was drawing dead.

Obviously, it’s hard to know when to slow down (or even fold) when you flop the nuts. But this is a classic situation where you want to see a safe card (or two) before committing a lot of chips.
Another situation is where you need to be careful is when you have a big – even huge – draw but are afraid you’re up against a monster. Let’s go back to the KKJTd hand. Make it Ks-Kc-Js-Tc. You raise preflop from the button, but then a conservative player three-bets from one of the blinds. For many players (particularly newbies), this almost guarantees he has aces. You call because your hand is well-suited to cracking aces and (just as importantly) you have position. The flop comes Ac-Qs-3c and the villain bets 3/4 of the pot. You have the nut flush draw and an eight-out draw to Broadway. You’ve even got a backdoor draw to the spades. That kind of draw makes you want to shove the chips in and see how you do. But in this particular case, there’s a very good chance that you’re up against top set; the villain won’t be able to get his chips into the pot quickly enough.

Your problem is that if the board pairs on the turn, you’re drawing dead and all those outs are useless. So if you’re “sure” that the villain has a set, then you should wait for a blank turn card before getting your chips in. Of course, this assumes that the effective stacks are deep enough (let’s say at least 100 big-blinds) to give you wiggle room. If the stacks are much shorter than that, you’re not getting away; put the money in and hope you turn the nuts.
Now here’s a hand where I saw a guy miss the opportunity to stack his opponent because he decided (I guess) to slow-play a monster:

Our hero has Kd-Ts-2d-Qc; the villain (on the button) has Qd-Qs-Td-7c; both have about 100 big blinds. After a preflop raise and call, the flop is 8s-Jd-2s. Both players have a gutshot straight draw and not much else; they check. The turn is a bingo card for the hand: the 9d, giving them both the nut queen-high straight. However, look at the redraw opportunities. The hero can hit a ten or queen for a higher straight or a diamond for the flush (though the villain probably suspects a diamond is good for him).

Amazingly, our hero now checks and calls a moderate bet from the villain!

Now the 7d comes on the river, making both of their flushes. Our hero thinks he has the best hand, but with only the second nuts, he’s virtually in a bluff-catching situation. He checks and the villain, now sure that he’s good, puts out a half-pot bet. The hero calls and wins the pot.
However, he left his opponent with approximately 50 big blinds. Had he bet or check-raised the turn, they would have almost certainly gotten all the money in with the hero holding a 3:2 equity edge. As the cards lay, he would have stacked his opponent, doubling his profit. PLO demands that you completely rethink your reasons for slow-playing a hand (or not).

Lee Jonesis the cardroom manager of Cake Pokerand has been in the online poker business for over six years. He is also the author of Winning Low Limit Hold’em, which has been in publication for over 15 years.

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