Learning about the “Four Pillars of Postflop Strategy” reframed my deci-

sion making process in even the closest spots. Now I feel more comfortable
identifying when a hand is a clear raise, call, or fold on the flop, and find myself
in fewer marginal situations on later streets than previously.
Mastering Small Stakes Pot-Limit Omaha should be required reading for
any player new to PLO or transitioning from NLHE. Fernando has spent more
time engaged in a deep study of PLO than anyone on the planet, so you can
be confident his recommended strategies are +EV in any game format and will
remain so for many years to come.
- John Beauprez, WSOP Bracelet Winner and Founder of PLOQuickPro.com

The days when you could be successful in poker by only playing and some-
times reviewing your own hands is long gone. If you are serious about im-
proving and want to take your game to the next level, Mastering Small Stakes
Pot-Limit Omahaa is one of the best purchases you can make.
- Einars, Amateur Poker Player

Even though I have been a professional poker player and student for more
than a decade, this is the first time I really feel like one. This is thanks to Fer-
nando and the PLO Mastermind team.
- Arthur aka pechcore, Yearly PLO Mastermind member

I was able to move from playing low to mid-high stakes PLO in an incredibly
short time frame by following Fernando’s coaching. He taught me how to think
as a crusher and how to push myself every day to find new methods and new
routines that could improve my game and my life as a whole.”
- Diego Montone, Amateur Poker Player
Fernando Habegger
Fernando “JNandez” Habegger is a well estab-
lished Pot Limit Omaha specialist and coach.
He started playing in 2006 and then took a
job as a poker dealer in order to get closer to
the game.
Towards the end of 2010, JNandez made
the move from No-Limit Hold’em to PLO. He
started playing $0.5/$1 PLO online after in-
vesting one third of his $15,000 bankroll to
get the best PLO and mental game coaching
available at the time.
Since 2011, JNandez has made a prof-
it every year playing mid- and high-stakes
PLO cash games and tournaments, with prof-
its ranging from $150,000 to $400,000 per
year from playing poker. He’s traveled to most
of the major live poker stops and established
himself as one of top PLO coaches in the game.
In April 2018, JNandez launched the
PLO Mastermind on JNandezPoker.com (now
PLOMastermind.com), one of the biggest PLO
training platforms in the world. His content
has helped hundreds of members and students
take their game and mindset to a new level.
JNandez has travelled and documented
the path to become a PLO crusher, and now
offers his roadmap so you can get started in
Mastering Small Stakes Pot-Limit Omaha.
First published in 2020 by D&B Publishing

Copyright © 2020 Fernando Habegger

The right of Fernando Habegger to be identified as the
author of this work has been asserted in accordance
with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic,
magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 912862 191

Cover by Horacio Monteverde.

Printed and bound by Tallinna Raamatutrükikoda in Estonia.

All sales enquiries should be directed to D&B Publishing:

[email protected]

www.dandbpoker.com
MASTERING
SMALL STAKES
POT-LIMIT OMAHA
Fernando ‘JNANDEZ’ Habegger
ŽŶƚĞŶƚƐ

Introduction 8
01 A Modern Poker Approach 10

^›‘ã®ÊÄKě͗Wٛ¥½ÊÖW½ƒù
02 Preflop Concepts 16
  WƌĞŇŽƉ ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ /ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ 16
  ƋƵŝƚLJ ŝƐƚƌŝďƵƟŽŶ 19
  ^ƚĂĐŬͲƚŽͲWŽƚ ZĂƟŽ 23
  EƵƫŶĞƐƐ ĂŶĚ ĂůŝďƌĂƟŽŶ 29
  WƌĞŇŽƉ ^ŝnjŝŶŐ 34
 03 Preflop Ranges 37
  &ŝƌƐƚͲ/Ŷ ZĂŝƐĞƌ 37
  ŽůĚͲĐĂůůŝŶŐ &ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ 39
  ϯͲĞƫŶŐ &ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ 44
  &ĂĐŝŶŐ Ă ϯͲĞƚ 49
  &ĂĐŝŶŐ Ă ϯͲĞƚ Ăƚ ϮϬϬďď 54
  >ŝŵƉŝŶŐ 55
  ĞĨĞŶĚŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŝŐ ůŝŶĚ sĞƌƐƵƐ KŶĞ KƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ 59
  ĞĨĞŶĚŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŝŐ ůŝŶĚ sĞƌƐƵƐ DƵůƟƉůĞ WůĂLJĞƌƐ 65

04 Preflop Categories 70
  ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ KŶĞ͗ ĐĞƐ 71
  ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ dǁŽ͗ ƌŽĂĚǁĂLJ WĂŝƌƐ 77
  ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ dŚƌĞĞ͗ dŚƌĞĞ ƌŽĂĚǁĂLJ ĂƌĚƐ ǁŝƚŚ
 KŶĞ EŽŶͲƌŽĂĚǁĂLJ 87
  ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ &ŽƵƌ͗ ŽƵďůĞͲƉĂŝƌĞĚ 93
  ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ &ŝǀĞ͗ ZƵŶĚŽǁŶƐ 97
  ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ ^ŝdž͗ dǁŽ ƌŽĂĚǁĂLJ ĂƌĚƐ ǁŝƚŚ
 dǁŽ DĞĚŝƵŵͲůŽǁ ŽŶŶĞĐƚŽƌƐ 103
  ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ ^ĞǀĞŶ͗ dŚƌĞĞ ĂƌĚ ZƵŶĚŽǁŶ ǁŝƚŚ
 Ă ƌŽĂĚǁĂLJ ĂƌĚ 107
  ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ ŝŐŚƚ͗ DŝĚͲůŽǁ WĂŝƌƐ 109
  ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ EŝŶĞ͗ ZĂŐŐĞĚ ,ĂŶĚƐ 114
^›‘ã®ÊÄdóÊ͗WÊÝ㥽ÊÖW½ƒù
05 dŚĞ&ŽƵƌWŝůůĂƌƐŽĨWŽƐƚĨůŽƉŶĂůLJƐŝƐ 118
  /ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ƚŽ WŽƐƞůŽƉ ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ 118
  dŚĞ &ŽƵƌ WŝůůĂƌƐ ŽĨ WŽƐƞůŽƉ ŶĂůLJƐŝƐ 119
  WŝůůĂƌ KŶĞ͗ ƋƵŝƚLJ 120
  WŝůůĂƌ dǁŽ͗ WŽůĂƌŝnjĂƟŽŶ 121
  WŝůůĂƌ dŚƌĞĞ͗ WŽƐŝƟŽŶ 124
  WŝůůĂƌ &ŽƵƌ͗ ^ƚĂĐŬͲƚŽͲWŽƚ ZĂƟŽ ;^WZͿ 126

06 Postflop Concepts 129

  ͲďĞƫŶŐ &ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ 129
  ůŽĐŬĞƌƐ ĂŶĚ ůƵĸŶŐ 133

07 WŽƐƚĨůŽƉdŚĞŽƌLJ͗^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐ 145
  &ůŽƉ ͲďĞƚ /W ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ ;ƵƩŽŶ sĞƌƐƵƐ Ϳ 145
  &ůŽƉ ͲďĞƚ KKW ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ ;ƵƚŽī ǀĞƌƐƵƐ ƵƩŽŶͿ 153
  ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚ WŽƚƐ /W dƵƌŶ ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ 165
  ZĞĐĂƉ dƌĂŝŶŐ ^ĞƐƐŝŽŶ 183
  ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚ WŽƚƐ KKW dƵƌŶ ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ 192
  ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚ WŽƚƐ /W ZŝǀĞƌ ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ 201
  WƵƫŶŐ ŝƚ Ăůů dŽŐĞƚŚĞƌ 204
  ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚ WŽƚƐ KKW ZŝǀĞƌ ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ 212
 08 WŽƐƚĨůŽƉdŚĞŽƌLJ͗3
WŽƐƚĨůŽƉdŚĞŽƌLJ͗ 3ͲďĞƚWŽƚƐ 221
  /ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ 221
  ϯͲďĞƚ WŽƚƐ KKW &ůŽƉ ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ ;^ sĞƌƐƵƐ ƵƩŽŶͿ 223
  ϯͲĞƚ WŽƚƐ KKW ŽŶ ƚŚĞ dƵƌŶͬZŝǀĞƌ 246
  ϯͲďĞƚ WŽƚƐ /W 262

09 WŽƐƚĨůŽƉdŚĞŽƌLJ͗DƵůƚŝǁĂLJWŽƚƐ 274
  /ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ 274
  DƵůƟǁĂLJ ϯͲĞƚ WŽƚƐ 275
  DƵůƟǁĂLJ ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚ WŽƚƐ 278

^›‘ã®ÊÄd«Ù››͗îݑ›½½ƒÄ›ÊçÝ
10 WŽƚͲ>ŝŵŝƚKŵĂŚĂ>ŝǀĞ 283
  >ŝǀĞ W>K &ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ 283
  ^ƚƌĂĚĚůŝŶŐ 284
  ƵLJͲŝŶ ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐŝĞƐ 285
  ZƵŶŶŝŶŐ ŝƚ KŶĐĞ Žƌ dǁŝĐĞ͍ 288
  dŚŝŶŬŝŶŐ ďŽƵƚ WůĂLJĞƌƐ 289
  WůĂLJŝŶŐ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ ƌŝĂ 292

11 ǁĂLJĨƌŽŵƚŚĞdĂďůĞ 298
  ĂŶŬƌŽůů DĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ 298
  dŚĞ DĞŶƚĂů 'ĂŵĞ 305
  ^ƚƵĚLJ ƚŽ WůĂLJ ZĂƟŽ 308
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ
I started playing poker online in the late 2000s after having played live
poker for a couple of years. Online play was much more accessible for players
around the world, and everyone could rail the biggest games in the world from
their own house as hundreds of thousands of dollars flew over the table in the
blink of an eye. The online poker dream was born.
The players who won the most money in the early days of online poker
were mainly the players who were the best live players and they had a very
exploitative style of play. Some of those players still rank very high on the
all-time biggest winners list in online cash games – simply because they took
advantage of a new opportunity.
After a few years, new technologies and software programs became avail-
able. These included equity calculators and tools to analyze ranges. Players
rising to the top of the game started to work with this new software. This gave
them a massive edge in creating a solid strategy.
Since about 2015, we have witnessed the development of more powerful
poker software, especially solvers. This has enabled a new crop of players to
rise to the summit of the poker world. The current elite players have an excel-
lent understanding of how to use these programs in order to find mistakes in
their opponent’s strategies, while also improving their own.
In today’s poker environment, solvers and other types of software play a
huge role in the creation of successful strategies. Learning how to work with

8
these programs can cost a lot of time, energy, and money. I understand this well
because I have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours working with numer-
ous different software programs to figure out how to beat my opponents.
Over the last few years I have dedicated myself to researching the game,
putting into practice what I have learned in some of the toughest online games
and teaching these strategies to thousands of passionate poker players who
are serious about taking their PLO game to the next level.
The information that you will find in this book comes from the thousands
of hours that I put into playing, teaching, and studying Pot Limit Omaha. I have
tried to create a fundamental blueprint that will increase your understanding of
how to execute a winning PLO strategy.
In addition to changes in technology, we are also seeing changes in pok-
er formats. Initially Stud changed to Limit Hold’em as the main format and
then in the last few decades No-Limit Hold’em has taken over. Nowadays, it
is No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) tournaments that are thriving. NLHE cash is also
being played almost everywhere. PLO gains traction in some cities more than
others as well as during specific times such as tournaments. I remember each
of the last few WSOP trips I’ve been on and I’ve been happy to see more tables
offering PLO with each consecutive year. Many experienced players are now
looking for a new challenge, and want to regain that excitement you feel for a
game when you are first introduced to it and discovering how to play it.
An important thing to mention is that I’ve often found that the PLO tables are
often the most enjoyable place in the poker room. There is not as much tension in
PLO because many decisions come naturally (although they may be wrong) and
most players feel as if they have a shot at winning. The game offers more action
and excitement to players who want to see a lot of flops and go all-in and think
the game is similar enough to NLHE, where they understand the basics.
Whatever stage you are at in your PLO development, this book will quickly
take you through the basics and then into the deeper nuances of PLO. One of
the biggest mistakes when approaching PLO is to play it like NLHE. If you’re
someone who is ready for a new challenge within poker, then this book will
have something for you. We’re going to start out right, by setting the stage for
a correct approach to Pot Limit Omaha strategy.

Fernando Habegger

Introduction 9
01

DŽĚĞƌŶ
ƉƉƌŽĂĐŚƚŽWŽŬĞƌ
DŽĚĞƌŶWŽŬĞƌƉƉƌŽĂĐŚ
tŚĂƚŝƐ'dK͍
GTO stands for Game Theory Optimal. It describes a model in which two or
more players have reached an equilibrium strategy. This is a situation in which
all strategies are perfectly balanced and none of the players can do anything
differently to increase their expected value (EV). If everyone at your table is
“playing GTO”, it means that they are playing a strategy where they are not
incentivized to change this strategy because they cannot increase their EV by
doing so.
In such a model, every player is aware of each other’s strategy. This means
that if a player changes their strategy, every other player will understand this
immediately and can start exploiting them. This model clearly doesn’t repre-
sent what happens in the real world and so the goal is not to blindly follow GTO.
Our goal is to use GTO as a framework and then find the highest EV strat-
egy by using observations about how our opponents deviate from GTO.
The specific meaning of “GTO” is hotly debated in the poker community
and has a lot of stigma attached to it. People have quite polarized opinions

ϭϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

about the usefulness of GTO play. Some think it is the ultimate solution where-
as others believe it’s not helpful at all and can even be misleading. 01
At first glance, a GTO solution might seem random and hard to understand.
But as we explore it more deeply, we become better at understanding the rel-
evant patterns. The best poker players are exceptionally good at connecting
those patterns to overall poker principles. Working with GTO solutions is not
about memorizing thousands of models, it’s about understanding the principles
behind the patterns that emerge.

dŚĞ'dK&ƌĂŵĞǁŽƌŬ
GTO functions as a framework that helps us build a fundamental strategy.
When learning which hands to play and how, whether to call or 3-bet, whether
to check or c-bet postflop, we need a baseline strategy that introduces a solid
foundation for each spot in the game.
There is a concept known as maximum exploitation versus minimum ex-
ploitation. Maximum exploitation is about giving the information and reads
that you have accumulated the ultimate power over your strategy. Playing a
strategy that is massively influenced by the reads and information that you
have about your opponents is very dangerous because if your read is wrong,
you will lose a lot of money.
By making extreme adjustments to your opponents, you also expose your-
self to becoming exploited. For example, if you are going to always bluff the
one guy who you think is folding a lot on the river, he might pick up on it be-
cause you are bluffing so often. He might then counter-exploit you, by trap-
ping and calling off frequently. Rather than focusing on adjusting against in-
dividual opponents, I want to provide you with a solid framework for a strong
PLO strategy. Once this is established, we will cover when and how to deviate
from this baseline to maximize your EV.
For a long time, poker was considered to be a game of reads and exploita-
tion. Because of this legacy it is attractive to use reads and exploitation as your
primary decision-making tool. However, the best exploitative strategy will al-
ways be built upon an initial solid baseline strategy.

'dKŝŶWƌĂĐƚŝĐĞ
Unsurprisingly, many of the early advocates of GTO in poker have risen to the
top of the game. Players such as LLinusLLove, OtB_RedBaron, Sauce123, and

01 - A Modern Approach to Poker 11

 Ben86 all play a strategy based on GTO and are known to be some of the best
01 poker players in the world.
Ben86, considered one of the best PLO players, was once asked the fol-
lowing question on the Joey Ingram Poker Life Podcast, “What separates the
top 10 PLO players in the world from the top 100, and what separates both
groups from the top 1000?”
His answer was three-fold.

Ƈ “The Top 10 players have the strongest fundamental

understanding of GTO, allied to an understanding of what should
be happening in order to exploit what’s actually happening.”
Ƈ “The Top 100 players have the same fundamental quality, but
the absolute skill level of execution is lower. Then there is also a
subset of exploitative “Victor-type” (Isildur1), intuitive players.
They are very good at executing an exploitative playing style and
they are usually massively impacted by variance. It is no easy
matter to be clear about who is running good and who is actually
good.”
Ƈ “If everybody is playing cat and mouse, then there are going to
be clearly superior players in that game. But when the ‘cat and
mouse players’ run into the ‘GTO guys’ they can’t live.”

Isildur1 had huge success in heads-up NLHE by playing an extremely ag-

gressive style. He was frequently over-betting and bluffing. Although he wasn’t
playing a GTO strategy, it worked. That was because many of his opponents
weren’t good enough to know how to counter this style.
You will see this happening very often in low level poker, where one player
has a specific set of plays that are working very well within a specific player
pool. However, as this player climbs the ranks they run into smarter opponents
and get stuck. Playing mostly by intuition is not a long-term recipe for success.
In today’s NLHE games, the GTO players are consistently dominating the ex-
ploitative ones.
Ben86 also seems to refer to variance. The top 100 players will not always
be there because they have the strongest GTO understanding of the game, it’s
also because there is a lot of variance in poker. Not just in all-ins and bad beats,
everything from what you get dealt, in which positions, who got the weak

ϭϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

player to make a costly play, etc. As a player, it can be difficult to really know
how good someone really is or whether they are just running hot. 01
The top 10 players have the strongest understanding of GTO and can
quickly identify an imbalance in your game and adjust to exploit you.
Ben86 says, “if everybody is playing cat and mouse there are going to be
clearly superior players at that game.” What he means is that when everyone is
playing an exploitative strategy, there are going to be some people who under-
stand how to exploit the population tendencies better than other players do.
They have a superior understanding of the meta-game that is currently being
played and they know how to exploit it.
But when these primarily exploitative players run into the GTO guys, they
can’t exploit them, and their weaknesses are revealed. The GTO guys are going
to be able to “exploit” the intuitive players by understanding what makes them
unbalanced and, at the same time, the GTO players will cap their own down-
side. That’s the real power of GTO. That’s why the top 10 players all have the
strongest fundamental understanding of GTO.

'dKsĞƌƐƵƐtĞĂŬKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ
There is a huge misconception that when you play against weak opponents,
you can focus on making reads and exploit them relentlessly simply because
they play a terrible strategy. However, if you don’t know what your opponent
is doing because they are unpredictable, then playing a GTO strategy can be
extremely helpful.

Our end goal is not to follow a GTO strategy but to build a better
understanding of our opponent’s game. Reads are often more accurate
and actionable if they are coming from a fundamental understanding
of GTO. If you can spot how an opponent is deviating from GTO and
how that makes him or her vulnerable to being exploited, you will be
able to create an edge for yourself. That is going to be our goal.

Most of the small stakes (and even many high stakes) players that you will
face at your tables are going to be making massive mistakes. To generate an
edge over them, you need to understand what those mistakes are and how to
exploit them.
It’s true that against recreational players, playing a balanced strategy to

01 - A Modern Approach to Poker 13

 prevent getting exploited isn’t as important compared to situations when you
01 are playing against pros, because recreational players won’t punish you as
harshly. But you still want to cap your downside, especially when you don’t
have much information about your opponent.
There are four steps to identify your optimal strategy:

Ƈ Understand the baseline (identify GTO).

Ƈ Identify how your opponent deviates from GTO (find leaks).
Ƈ Exploit your opponent’s weakness (exploit).
Ƈ Cap the downside (limit downside).

An easy example is the following. Let’s say that you are on the Button and
you have to decide whether you want to raise or fold. You know that in GTO
terms, the Button should raise 50% of his combos and the Big Blind (BB) is
supposed to defend 60% of hands preflop against a pot raise (identify GTO).
Based on the tendencies of your opponent in the BB so far you might be-
lieve they will only defend 40% instead of 60% (find leaks). A possible exploit
could be to increase your Button open raising range from 50% up to 65% (ex-
ploit).
You still shouldn’t extend your Button raising range much more than that
because you don’t want to get counter-exploited and there is also the possi-
bility that your read is wrong (limit downside). You want to keep your down-
side protected and the way to do this is by making meaningful, but minimal,
exploits. Stick to your baseline and make slight adjustments based on your
opponent’s tendencies. If you do this you make sure that your downside is pro-
tected in case your opponent picks up on your adjustments or your read turns
out to be wrong.

,ŽǁƚŽ>ĞĂƌŶ'dK
We can only see GTO results in the form of a poker solver output. For exam-
ple, a PLO solver suggests to open-raise A-A-5-2 UTG but to fold J-8-5-2.
Thanks to billions of calculations the solver has calculated that one hand is a
+EV raise and the other is not. That’s all the solver output we get. The solv-
er doesn’t tell us why a hand is a raise, so we don’t know the reasons. This is
where we, as humans, come into play.
Our job is to make sense of the outputs by applying logic. We identify

14 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

patterns and we attach ideas and principles to them. We test by developing
a hypothesis, running solver experiments and comparing situations. Then we 01
implement and test the strategies in the real world to build a deeper under-
standing of what is going on.
The good news is you don’t have to worry about the concept of GTO or
work with any solver output as I have already done this work. This is what
I’ve been doing since 2017 when the first PLO solvers came out. I have spent
thousands of hours researching GTO fundamentals and, in this book, I’ll pres-
ent it to you with easy-to-apply concepts. You will go through the process of
building your solid baseline strategy and start learning how to maximize your
win rate when other players are deviating from a “GTO strategy.”

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Against unknown players, start with a balanced strategy to play a

strong game while minimizing your downside.
Ƈ Once you get more reads and information on your opponents,
you can start to deviate from your baseline strategy.
Ƈ Make sure that you don’t over-adjust as doing so will expose you
to significant risks.

There are four steps to creating an optimal strategy:

Ƈ Understand the baseline and use it to build solid principles.

Ƈ Identify in which way your opponents deviate from GTO.
Ƈ Exploit your opponents’ weaknesses.
Ƈ Limit your downside.

01 - A Modern Approach to Poker 15

02

WƌĞĨůŽƉWůĂLJ

WƌĞĨůŽƉ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
In this section, we will go over different preflop categories, explain the dif-
ferences between Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) and No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), and
cover the most important preflop concepts. The main goal of this introduction
is that you gain an excellent understanding of the fundamentals so your preflop
game can improve step-by-step in the subsequent chapters.

WƌĞĨůŽƉƋƵŝƚLJŝŶW>KĂŶĚE>,
Most players are very likely coming to PLO from a NLHE background, so let’s
start with a few key differences between the games.
The most obvious (and fun!) difference is that in PLO you are dealt four
cards. That doesn’t mean there are twice as many starting hands possible in
PLO. In fact, there are 270,725 starting hand combinations whereas in NLHE
there are only 1,326 possible combinations.
The good news is that PLO is not like NLHE where you can learn all your
opening ranges by heart. In PLO it is much more about understanding scenarios
and principles rather than memorizing individual hand combinations.

16 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 In the preflop section of the book, I will split up the different starting hands
into various categories to help you develop a good intuition for which hands
to open preflop and which hands to fold. I’ll also share with you some common
traps new players often fall into, so you can avoid these mistakes and gain an
immediate advantage over your opponents. After reading this book, you will 02
understand preflop patterns and know what to look for when deciding whether
to open-raise or fold.
Let’s start by developing an understanding of how to value and categorize
your hand preflop. In PLO, preflop equities between hands are much smoother
than in NLHE, meaning that preflop equities run much closer. If you get dealt
Aces in NLHE, you will probably be very excited about the upcoming hand since
you will have very high equity and therefore you will very often win.
For example, if you have Aces and your opponent is holding QƄ-JƄ, you
will have about 81.5% equity. In PLO, if you have an extremely strong hand
such as Aƅ-AƄ-Kƅ-KƄ and your opponent holds JƄ-9Ɔ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ, you only have
about 63% equity. This difference in equity can come as a frustrating surprise
to some players.
It is a common misunderstanding to think that because preflop equities run
closer, it means there is less room for an edge in PLO, compared to NLHE. In
reality the opposite is often the case because a lot of your opponents will use
this as an excuse to justify playing very loose. This is a huge mistake and one
that should allow you to print money against these players.
Another reason players tend to play too many hands preflop in PLO is be-
cause the worst possible odds your opponents have to consider is 2-to-1 on a
preflop call. Many players think that as long as they have 33% equity preflop,
they should continue. As we will see later, this is not the case.
By the way, the general rule for calculating the maximum raise size is:

dĂŬĞ ƚŚĞ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ďĞƚ͕ ŵƵůƟƉůLJ ŝƚ ďLJ ϯ͕ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞŶ ĂĚĚ ƚŚĂƚ ƚŽ

ǁŚĂƚ ŝƐ ĂůƌĞĂĚLJ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƉŽƚ͘

For example, you are UTG in a 6-max $5/$10 game. To calculate the max-
imum opening raise, take the previous bet (in this case the $10 Big Blind).
Then, multiply this by 3 ($10 x 3 = $30). Finally, add what is already in the pot,
the $5 small blind.

02 - Preflop Play 17
 So, you could pot it to $35 in this situation ($10 Big Blind x 3) + $5 small
blind. This means that if play is folded to the Big Blind, they would have to call
$25 in a pot of $50.
If the player in the Cutoff wanted to make a pot-size 3-bet, they would
02 take the previous bet, which is your $35 open-raise. Multiply that raise by 3
($35 x 3 = $105). Finally, add the rest of the pot, which is the small blind ($5)
and the Big Blind ($10). The maximum 3-bet size that the Cutoff can use is
therefore $120 ($105 + $5 + $10 = $120). When it comes back to you, you
would be facing an $85 call in a $170 pot, so again the odds are 2-to-1.
Usually you don’t have to calculate the pot size yourself. If you are playing
online, just click the pot or max Button to preview the size. If you are playing
live, the dealer can calculate the pot size for you if you request it. What is im-
portant to keep in mind are the pot odds and how the other players consider
them. How much of their strategy are they (or you) basing on simple pot odds?

dŚĞŝĨĨĞƌĞŶĐĞĞƚǁĞĞŶƋƵŝƚLJĂŶĚdžƉĞĐƚĞĚsĂůƵĞ;sͿ
In PLO, the gap between the basic value of a hand and its situational value is
often much greater than in NLHE.
Basic value is based on a hand’s equity. For example, if you are holding
QƄ-QƆ-JƄ-10Ƈ and your opponent holds 9ƅ-8ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ƅ, your hand has
59.49% equity. You can figure out the preflop equities on a site such as propok-
ertools.com.
However, equity calculations such as this don’t take into account equity
realization. They simply represent how often a hand is going to win versus
another hand when they go all-in. When you think about basic value you don’t
consider any future bets. This isn’t a realistic representation of your hand’s val-
ue unless you are going all-in and know for a fact you will realize all your hand’s
equity by getting to showdown.
Situational value adjusts the value of a hand based on the context of the
situation, which creates a much more realistic picture as it takes equity realiz-
ability into account: whether you will under-realize or over-realize your equity.
Giving situational value to a hand allows for the calibration of preflop ranges
based on the particular situation.
In PLO, situational value is extremely important, even more important than
in NLHE. In this book, I will provide you with all the information and tools that
you need to assess the situational value of a hand. In later chapters, we will

18 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

discuss the concept of calibration in more depth but for now, you should know
that it’s about adjusting your preflop range to the situation you are in or are
headed into, based on numerous factors such as position, opponent tendencies
and the number of players that have already entered the pot.
02
ƋƵŝƚLJŝƐƚƌŝďƵƚŝŽŶ
tŚĂƚŝƐ;&ůŽƉͿƋƵŝƚLJŝƐƚƌŝďƵƚŝŽŶ͍
Many players think about preflop and postflop strategy separately but, in re-
ality, they depend on each other. Let’s touch a little on the basics of postflop
strategy and how that can help us determine which hands are profitable to play
preflop and which aren’t.
Flop equity distribution is the equity of specific hands or ranges that are
distributed on the subsequent street. In simpler terms, it explains how we are
flopping with our specific hand or range against the hand/range of our oppo-
nent(s) across all possible remaining streets.
The first question you might ask yourself right now is, “when should I think
about flop equity distribution?” You should think about flop equity distribution
in every possible preflop scenario.
At any point in the hand, you always have to determine if it’s profitable
to invest additional money into the pot. Unless you’re all-in or close to it, the
answer to this question will depend on how the subsequent streets are going
to be played. This concept might sound very technical, so let’s jump in with a
practical example (Diagram 1).
This graph represents the flop equity distribution of all K-K-x-x hands
against all A-A-x-x hands. In other words, it demonstrates the equity that
Kings have versus Aces across all possible flops.
Consider this, a tight player makes a 4-bet off a 100bb stack and we
know that he only does this with Aces. What action should we take against his
4-bet? In this situation, just as in any preflop scenario, the flop equity distri-
bution profile of your hand versus your opponents’ range should be one of the
main deciding factors in your decision.

02 - Preflop Play 19
 100
90
80
Minimum Equity % 70
02 60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Frequency %

Diagram 1
&ůŽƉĞƋƵŝƚLJĚŝƐƚƌŝďƵƟŽŶŽĨ<Ͳ<ͲdžͲdžǀĞƌƐƵƐͲͲdžͲdž
On the vertical axis of the graph, you can see how much equity you are
flopping with your range, versus your opponents’ range. On the horizontal axis,
you can see the frequency percentage of boards where we flop that certain
amount of equity.
Kings versus Aces is known to have a “rough” equity distribution. That is,
about 15% of the time Kings will flop a strong hand with at least 75% equity,
usually meaning a set or two pairs. Then we see a steep dropoff in equity, when
the Kings don’t out flop the Aces and are still behind the overpair. Most of the
time, the flop equity with Kings versus Aces will be well below 40%. Back to
the example. If you are holding Kings and you know that your opponent is hold-
ing Aces, should you call the 4-bet? Based on the graph, what do you think?
The answer is no, you shouldn’t. Not if you’re sure that your opponent has
Aces. Intuitively this might already make sense to you. We just don’t outdraw
Aces often enough on the flop and are paying a steep price to see it.

&ůŽƉƋƵŝƚLJŝƐƚƌŝďƵƚŝŽŶŽĨKƚŚĞƌ,ĂŶĚƐ
Now think about the following hand: 8Ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ɔ. Should you call a 4-bet
with this double-suited rundown if you know your opponent is holding Aces?
This hand’s flop equity distribution versus Aces looks like this (Diagram 2).

ϮϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 100
90
80
Minimum Equity %
70
60 02
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Frequency %
Diagram 2
&ůŽƉĞƋƵŝƚLJĚŝƐƚƌŝďƵƟŽŶŽĨ8ƄͲϳƄͲϲƆͲϱƆǀĞƌƐƵƐͲͲdžͲdž
As you can see, there is no steep dropoff in equity. The difference is appar-
ent and equity distribution profiles like this are called “smooth” distributions.
Again, you intuitively might already understand that you should call with this
hand. But why exactly?

Ƈ 8Ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ɔ will flop 60% equity or more 20% of the time.

Ƈ 8Ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ɔ will flop 50% equity or more 40% of the time.
Ƈ 8Ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ɔ will flop 35% equity or more 60% of the time.

We can conclude that there are many different boards on which 8Ƅ-7Ƅ-
6Ɔ-5Ɔ will flop enough equity to continue against a c-bet from our opponent
postflop, which is an incredibly important factor when deciding if you should
be calling or folding preflop. You will be able to realize your hand’s equity much
more often versus an overpair.
The equity distribution profile of Kings included a big inflection point
caused by the fact that we either flop a set or we don’t. The flop equity profile
of 8-7-6-5 double-suited doesn’t have an inflection point, which makes the
graph much more “smooth.”
Hands that have a very rough equity distribution are generally not worth

02 - Preflop Play Ϯϭ
 investing a lot of money into the pot preflop. You can compare it to set-mining
in NLHE, where you don’t want to invest a lot of Big Blinds calling with a hand
such as 5-5 because it will mostly do well only if you flop a set. When you hold
5-5 in a big pot without a set, you will very often have to fold postflop versus
02 continued aggression from your opponent.
Hands that have a smooth equity distribution profile will flop a solid amount
of equity on a high percentage of different boards. We don’t need a set to have
a lot of equity versus a bare overpair. There are many combinations of pair plus
draw or combo draws with high postflop equity. We also have better visibility,
meaning we tend to know if we’re ahead or not more easily than we do with a
pair of Kings. We will talk more about visibility in later postflop chapters.
These two hands are quintessential PLO examples for flop distribution.
While you must learn to think about the equity distribution profile of your hand
or range, you shouldn’t think solely in terms of being either smooth or rough. A
lot of hands will fall somewhere in between the two categories. As previously
mentioned, there are additional principles to consider when deciding whether
to play a hand which we will cover in the following chapters.

For now, just know that preflop strategy depends strongly on what
sort of postflop scenario you are setting up for yourself.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ The flop equity distribution profile of your hand or range can be

a critical decision factor when determining what action to take
preflop.
Ƈ Hands with a flop equity distribution that features a slowly
descending amount of average equity across all boards are called
smooth hands. For example: 8Ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ɔ.
Ƈ Hands that can flop very well occasionally but are more often just
mediocre or marginal hands are called rough hands, for example
KƇ-KƄ-9ƅ-2Ɔ. These will have a steep drop-off in average
equity across a number of boards.
Ƈ Smooth hands are often better propositions to invest additional
chips into the pot preflop than rough hands.

ϮϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

^ƚĂĐŬͲƚŽͲWŽƚZĂƚŝŽ;^WZͿ
tŚĂƚŝƐ^WZ͍
Another key postflop concept to understand is stack-to-pot ratio (SPR). The
SPR describes the relationship between your stack size and the size of the pot. 02
Postflop decision-making in poker is largely affected by equity, position
and the SPR. Understanding the relation between equity and SPR is the bread
and butter of PLO stack-off situations. The smaller the SPR is, the less equity
we need to stack off (go all-in).
Let’s elaborate on this with an easy calculation.
There is $100 in the pot and your stack is $400 which means that you
have an SPR of 4-to-1 ($400/$100). In poker, even though it’s a ratio, SPR is
usually expressed as a single number, in this case 4.
If the SPR is low, e.g. 1 or 2, it means that you are playing with very shal-
low stacks and you will need less equity to stack off. If the SPR is higher, e.g. 6,
you will need a lot more equity to stack off. In this book, we will use the term
SPR frequently, and you will begin to understand how much equity you need at
a particular stack depth to stack off correctly.
The key numbers when dealing with the SPR are 1, 4 and 13. If you are at
SPR 1, it takes one full pot-sized bet to get the money in. For SPR 4, it takes
two full pot bets. And for SPR 13, it takes 3 full pot bets.
In single-raised pots, the SPR is usually between 8 or 9 for heads-up pots,
or 6 to 7 for multiway pots. In 3-bet pots, the SPR is usually 3.5 to 4 in heads-
up pots, and closer to 2 in multiway pots. This means that overall, in most
situations, you could get all the money in by the river.
However, we are not always betting full pot and the focus is not on getting
all the money in, it’s about making the highest EV decisions. If you want to suc-
ceed at PLO, you must understand the equities of your hand or range against
your opponent’s range and you need to combine this with the SPR calculations.

^WZĂŶĚ^ƚĂĐŬŝŶŐͲKĨĨ
The next table (Diagram 3) should give you broad indications of how much
equity you need with what SPR to be able to stack off profitably. This assumes
you have no fold equity with your raise.

02 - Preflop Play Ϯϯ
 ^ƚĂĐŬƚŽWŽƚZĂƟŽ;^WZͿ ^ƚĂĐŬͲŽīƋƵŝƚLJEĞĞĚĞĚ
0.5 Ϯϱй
1 ϯϯ͘ϯй
2 ϰϬй
02 3 ϰϮ͘ϵй
4 ϰϰ͘ϰй
5 ϰϱ͘ϱй
6 ϰϲ͘Ϯй
7 ϰϲ͘ϳй
8 ϰϳ͘ϭй
9 ϰϳ͘ϰй
10 ϰϳ͘ϲй
11 ϰϳ͘ϴй
12 ϰϴй
13 ϰϴ͘ϭй

Diagram 3

Remember that when deciding whether or not to stack-off, you shouldn’t

compare the EV of stacking off only to folding or a break-even situation. You
should also be comparing it to the EV of calling. Calling can be the highest EV
play even in medium-low SPRs, especially when you are in position because it
allows you to use your positional advantage over multiple streets. You are also
calling sometimes with near 100% equity, such as when slowplaying.
The takeaway from this table is that once you get to SPR 5 or above, you
don’t want to be routinely getting it in light on the flop. By light, I mean against
a range that will have you dominated. The thing is that as the SPR increases,
your opponents are willing to stack off with stronger hands and in PLO it very
often ends up being the nuts or a dominating combo draw unless the stacks
are very shallow.
In multiway pots you also want to tighten up your stack-off threshold,
even when the SPR is comparatively lower. This is because you’re now facing
multiple opponents and the chances of running into a better hand are greater.
It is also possible to run into multiple strong hands.

Ϯϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 When an opponent is potting the flop with a low SPR, and seemingly com-
mitting to the hand, you should use the previous table and calculate the stack-
off profitability. If you’re facing a half-pot bet at a higher SPR, you probably
have some flop fold equity and can justify stacking off and bluff-raising a part
of your range. In the table below (Diagram 4), you can see how having just a 02
little bit of fold equity significantly decreases the stack-off equity required to
breakeven.

^ƚĂĐŬƚŽWŽƚZĂƟŽ;^WZͿ WůƵƐй&ŽůĚƋƵŝƚLJ ^ƚĂĐŬͲŽīƋƵŝƚLJEĞĞĚĞĚ

2 ϮϬй ϯϱй
2 ϯϬй ϯϮй
2 ϰϬй Ϯϳй
2 ϱϬй ϮϬй
3 ϯϬй ϯϳй
3 ϰϬй ϯϰй
3 ϱϬй Ϯϵй
3 ϲϬй ϮϮй
3.5 ϯϬй ϯϵй
3.5 ϰϬй ϯϲй
3.5 ϱϬй ϯϮй
3.5 ϲϬй Ϯϱй
4 ϱϬй ϯϰй
4 ϲϬй Ϯϴй

Diagram 4

We will discuss SPR more in depth in future single-raised pots and 3-bet
pots chapters. For now it is just important for you to know what SPR is, so you
will be able to understand how it all comes together with the concepts of nut-
tiness and calibration to affect your preflop range construction.

^ƚƵĚLJŝŶŐWƌĞĨůŽƉ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
In PLO, it’s not possible to memorize all hand combinations for each situation.
What we can do is to split hands up into different categories. Here we will as-
sign nine different categories into which a hand can be placed.

02 - Preflop Play Ϯϱ
 Before we do that, let’s clarify a few terms.

Ƈ Rainbow means that you hold exactly four cards with four
different suits. For example, AƇ-Aƅ-5Ɔ-6Ƅ or QƇ-7Ɔ-3Ƅ-2ƅ.
Ƈ Single-suited means that you hold exactly two, three or four
02 cards from the same suit. For example, AƆ-KƆ-QƄ-Jƅ or 10Ƅ-
9Ƅ-8Ƅ-7Ƅ.
Ƈ Double-suited means that you hold precisely two cards from two
different suits. For example QƇ-10Ƈ-8ƅ-6ƅ or AƇ-KƇ-Kƅ-Jƅ.

We can use the nine preflop categories as a structural separation of all

the preflop combinations. Keep in mind that these categories do not imply a
strength difference; they are only used to provide an overview of all the pos-
sible hand combinations.

1) Unpaired single-suited
2) Unpaired double-suited
3) Unpaired rainbow
4) One pair single-suited
5) One pair double-suited
6) One pair rainbow
7) Two pair single-suited
8) Two pair double-suited
9) Two pair rainbow

All possible starting hands fall into one of these categories. As you can see
in the table below (Diagram 5), the nine categories vary greatly in terms of
strength and in terms of how often they get dealt to you.

Unpaired Paired ŽƵďůĞWĂŝƌĞĚ

Single Suited ϱϭ͘ϴй ϮϮ͘ϴй Ϭ͘ϳй
ŽƵďůĞ^ƵŝƚĞĚ ϵ͘ϱй ϯ͘ϴй Ϭ͘Ϯй
ZĂŝŶďŽǁ ϲ͘ϯй ϯ͘ϴй Ϭ͘Ϯй

Diagram 5
&ƌĞƋƵĞŶĐLJŽĨĞŝŶŐĞĂůƚ,ĂŶĚĂƚĞŐŽƌŝĞƐ

Ϯϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 This chart shows that it is very likely that you will get dealt an unpaired sin-
gle-suited hand as this happens 51.8% of the time. The probability of getting
a double-paired hand is very low. In this chapter, I will very briefly discuss the
different categories. The main goal here is to familiarize you with the words and
terms, so please don’t try to memorize all the exact categories and frequencies. 02
hŶƉĂŝƌĞĚ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƐƵŝƚĞĚ
Let’s briefly break down the unpaired single-suited category into more detail.
An example of a hand in this category would be AƄ-Kƅ-QƇ-JƄ. This hand be-
longs in the top 6% of strongest hands when it comes to basic value.
Another hand in this category, 6Ƈ-5ƅ-3ƅ-2ƅ, is in the bottom 11%
of PLO hands. Why exactly does this second hand rank so low? It looks nice
enough and you might think that it’s easy to make straights with this hand.
A lot of these low hands are actually very weak because these hands will
give you a lot of weak made hands (such as bottom two pairs) and draws (such
as low straights) that can easily be dominated by your opponents. In PLO, it
is very important that you play the right hands preflop to avoid being domi-
nated postflop. Playing a lot of weak hands that are easily dominated is one of
the easiest and most common ways to burn money. Especially, as mentioned
before, if you rely on pot odds and miscalculate your hand’s profitability and
equity realization on future streets.

In Pot-Limit Omaha High Cards are Still Best

In PLO, just as in NLHE, high cards usually win. Players mistakenly over-
value hands with low suits and low rundowns because these hands
look good. You want to play hands based on their components and on
the value they have in specific situations.

^ƵŝƚdLJƉĞƐ
Hands with two, three or even four cards of the same suit all fall into the “sin-
gle-suited” category. However, the strength of these hands can be quite dif-
ferent. A hand with four cards of the same suit, such as AƄ-KƄ-9Ƅ-8Ƅ, is much
worse than the same hand with only two of the same suit, e.g. AƄ-KƆ-9Ɔ-8Ƅ.
It’s simply a lot harder to make a flush when you hold four cards of the same
suit as you already block two of your potential flush outs. When I mention

02 - Preflop Play Ϯϳ
 hands with three cards of the same suit I will call them “trip-suited hands” and
hands with four cards of the same suit will be called “monotone hands”.
Therefore, there are three types of single-suited hands in this category.

02 Ƈ Single-suited AƄ-KƇ-QƄ-JƆ
Ƈ Trip-suited AƄ-KƄ-QƄ-JƇ
Ƈ Monotone AƄ-KƄ-QƄ-JƄ

Another point to note is that higher-value hands have the highest suits
but don’t block the second highest suit. For example, AƄ-KƆ-QƇ-10Ƅ is
great because when you make a flush, you can easily get paid by a King-,
Queen- or Jack-high flush. Equity wise, it might be similar to a hand such as
AƄ-KƄ-QƇ-10ƅ but it will have better situational value. Avoid monotone and
trip-suited hands that have less outs to make a flush and a smaller chance to
run into weaker flushes.

ŽƵďůĞͲƉĂŝƌĞĚ
Double-paired hands are only dealt to you about 1% of the time and they vary
quite a lot in strength. The main strength of double-paired hands is their ability
to flop a set, which they do about 21% of the time.
Jƅ-JƇ-10ƅ-10Ƅ is an example of a double-paired single-suited hand, and
it falls into the top 4% of hands in PLO. 4Ƅ-4Ɔ-3Ƈ-3ƅ however, would be in
the bottom 29% of hands. Again, how high your paired hands rank and its suit
play a big part in determining the strength of your hand.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ We identified two different methods to evaluate hand strength in

PLO: Basic Value and Situational Value.
Ƈ Basic Value is concerned only about the equity of your hand.
This matters when going all-in.
Ƈ Situational Value is based on the current strategic factors.
Ƈ Exactly how high your suit and individual cards are is very
important. High cards are still the best in most scenarios. Having
the Ace-high suit and not blocking the King-high and Queen-high
suits increases the value of your hand.

Ϯϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Ƈ Low cards and suits devalue your hand and make it more likely
you end up dominated by your opponent.

EƵƚƚŝŶĞƐƐĂŶĚĂůŝďƌĂƚŝŽŶ
02
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
In this section, we will discuss the basics of nuttiness and calibration. These
two concepts can help you to determine accurately the expected value (EV) of
starting hands in different scenarios.

EƵƚƚŝŶĞƐƐ
The nuttiness of a hand describes the likelihood that your starting hand will
make the nuts on either the flop, turn or the river. Hands that are considered
“nutty” perform especially well in multiway pots.
If multiple players enter the pot, it is very likely that one or two players
end up connecting with the flop. Since you already know this is going to hap-
pen, you want to make sure you have “nutty” or nutted hands that have the
potential to dominate your opponents. For example, you want to have an Ace-
high flush when your opponent is holding the Queen-high flush. Let’s illustrate
this concept with an example. Compare the following two hands, which one do
you think scores highest in “nuttiness”?

Hand 1: AƄ-8Ƈ-7Ƅ-6ƅ
Hand 2: JƆ-10Ɔ-7Ƈ-6Ƈ

Hand 1 is the more nutted hand because it contains an Ace-high suit and
it is possible to make the nut flush with this hand. This hand is also better con-
nected with the 8-7-6, and will allow you to make some nut straights.
Hand 2 is non-nutted. You cannot make the nut flush with either suit. While
you can technically end up with a straight flush, that is very unlikely. Also, the
hand is more disconnected and has the potential to make more non-nut straights.
It is important to note that you shouldn’t approach this comparison by
thinking in terms of which hand is “better”. You want to determine the strengths
of each hand in different circumstances, not which hand is the strongest. Un-
derstand that these two hands have different qualities which makes them bet-
ter qualified for different situations.

02 - Preflop Play Ϯϵ
 AƄ-8Ƈ-7Ƅ-6ƅ has more nutted components, so it performs better in
multiway pots, whereas QƆ-10Ɔ-7Ƈ-6Ƈ is a very smooth hand which means
that it is often going to flop some piece of the board and therefore performs
better in heads-up pots.
02
ŽŶƚĞdžƚĂŶĚĂůŝďƌĂƚŝŽŶ
To determine which hand is “better”, you need to understand the context. In
different situations, different hand qualities are important. It is up to you to
understand the context of the situation you are in and what hands are best
suited for it. Let’s go through a few examples of different contexts and what
type of hands are best suited for each.

Hand Example 1
The Cutoff raises pot to 3.5 bbs. You are on the Button with AƄ-8Ƈ-7Ƅ-6ƅ
(Diagram 6). What action should you take?

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb
1bb

0.5bb
Small Blind MP
5bb
99.5bb 100bb
3.5bb

Button Cutoff
100bb 96.5bb

Diagram 6
With this hand, you should call. Why? Because the strength of this hand is
its ability to make the nuts. You want to encourage more opponents into the
pot who might be holding hands with weaker connectivity and weaker spades
so you can dominate them in the event that you hit a nut flush or a nut straight.

ϯϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Hand Example 2
The Cutoff raises to 3.5x. You are on the Button with QƆ-10Ɔ-7Ƈ-6Ƈ (Dia-
gram 7). What action should you take?

02
Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb
1bb

0.5bb
Small Blind MP
5bb
99.5bb 100bb
3.5bb

Button Cutoff
100bb 96.5bb

Diagram 7
You should 3-bet with this hand. Given the hand’s low nuttiness, you gain
more EV from pushing out the players behind you who might be holding high-
er-ranked cards and suits that are dominating you. This hand flops very smooth,
which means that it’s going to do well in a 3-bet pot or even a 4-bet pot.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you should 3-bet every double-suited dis-
connected hand from every position. This is where preflop calibration becomes
important.

ĂůŝďƌĂƚŝŽŶ
Preflop calibration is the process of constructing your preflop ranges optimally
based on the situation and other ranges in play.
We calibrate a Big Blind defending range based on:

Ƈ How many players are involved

Ƈ Those player’s preflop ranges

02 - Preflop Play 31
 Continuing on from earlier, let’s consider another example.

Hand Example 3
The EP player raises and gets two callers. You are on the Button with AƇ-
02 JƇ-JƄ-3ƅ (Diagram 8). What is the correct play?

Big Blind EP
99bb 96.5bb
1bb 3.5bb

0.5bb 3.5bb
Small Blind MP
12bb
99.5bb 96.5bb
3.5bb

Button Cutoff
100bb 96.5bb

Diagram 8
Call. There are already three players in the pot, so you are looking for nuttiness.
This hand can flop the nut flush (draw), a strong top set or a nut straight (draw). If
the hand was only suited to the Jack, and not the Ace, this hand would be devalued
and, here, simply a fold. If double-suited, the hand is strong enough to 3-bet in or-
der to (hopefully) push out a player or two, thereby improving the strength of the
Jack-high flush while still being able to dominate with the Ace-high suit.
This is a common situation if you are playing low stakes or if you are play-
ing live poker. Remember that you need to calibrate your ranges based on the
games that you are playing. If your games play very loose, you need to ac-
count for more multiway pots and calibrate your preflop ranges towards nutted
hands. In those games, most of the money you make will come from dominat-
ing your opponent’s hands and draws. Similarly, most of the money you lose
will come from being dominated yourself, so avoid that at all costs!

ϯϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Hand Example 4
The EP player raises and gets two callers. You are on the Button with JƆ-9Ƅ-
8Ƈ-7Ɔ(Diagram 9). What should you do?

02
Big Blind EP
99bb 96.5bb
1bb 3.5bb

0.5bb 3.5bb
Small Blind MP
12bb
99.5bb 96.5bb
3.5bb

Button Cutoff
100bb 96.5bb

Diagram 9
Hopefully you can identify that you should just fold. You should instinc-
tively think, this situation requires a nutted hand because there are already
three players in the pot. Or, this hand is non-nutted, which means that it’s not
the right hand to call with in a multiway pot.
If you’re still thinking that this hand is extremely connected, and therefore
you have a good chance to make the nut straight, you are partially right. This
hand indeed looks decent and is connected. But, it is important to stop and
really think about the cold calling ranges of the players before you.
Your opponents should be holding hands that directly dominate you, such as
KƇ-QƇ-Jƅ-10Ƅ or AƆ-JƄ-10Ɔ-9Ƈ. If you flop a straight or straight draw, it’s
somewhat likely an opponent has a better one or the same one plus a redraw.
Calling with a hand such as JƆ-9Ƅ-8Ƈ-7Ɔ will often get you into a troublesome
spot where you are dominated and could potentially lose a lot of money.
In reality, your hand is not very strong. The gap at the top of the hand
means your straight draw with the J-9 will be weak. It’s quite easy for your
opponents to dominate your made hands or draw. In low rake environments,
you might be able to call with your hand in position versus one opponent or

02 - Preflop Play 33
 open in late position yourself. In most small stakes games however, the higher
rake in bb/100 will turn playing this hand into a slightly -EV play.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ
02
Ƈ The nuttiness of a hand describes the likelihood that your starting
hand will make the nuts on either the flop, turn or on the river.
Nuttiness matters most in multiway pots, where multiple players
hit a piece of the flop and you often enter a game of postflop
domination. Nuttiness matters less (but still matters) in low
stack-to-pot ratio heads-up scenarios.
Ƈ Calibration is the process of constructing your preflop ranges
optimally based on the precise situation and the ranges in play.
You will need to know how to effectively calibrate your ranges if
you want to maximize your profit. Calibration means that instead
of asking which hands are the best, you need to ask which hands
are best structured for the specific scenario you are in.

WƌĞĨůŽƉ^ŝnjŝŶŐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
Most players don’t critically think about the preflop sizes they use and simply
adopt the sizing preferences that are most common in the game they are play-
ing. In this chapter, we will examine what raise sizing you should use and why
it is so important.

tŝŶŶŝŶŐƚŚĞůŝŶĚƐ
Raising preflop to the maximum is the standard in PLO as it allows you to win
the blinds more often and play an unraked pot.
Why is winning the blinds so important? You are probably thinking some-
thing along the lines of “1.5 blinds is such a small amount; why would I even
care about that?”
That’s a good question. A lot of poker players have the misconception that
winning the blinds and antes is only important in tournaments, once stacks are
getting shallow and picking up the blinds can give a significant boost to your
total stack. This is not true.

34 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 In fact, one can say that the main goal of any cash game is to win
the blinds!

Let’s illustrate this point with some easy math. Winning the blinds equals
a win of 1.5bb, which equals a win rate of 150bb over one hundred hands. 02
That’s an unbelievably high win rate! If you were able to consistently steal the
blinds, you would be the biggest cash game winner in the world. In reality, the
best online players are winning about 5 to 10bb/100 and the best live players
win about 20 to 40bb/100. It should be clear to you why picking up the blinds
uncontested is so essential.
If your raise isn’t large enough, your opponents have an added incentive to
defend their blinds with a greater number of hands as the price they are get-
ting justifies it. By selecting a larger sizing, you make it less profitable for the
blinds to defend their blind and you increase your win rate.
Furthermore, pots that only play preflop and don’t see a flop are typically
unraked. This means that you don’t have to split your profits from the hand
with the casino or poker site if you take down the pot preflop.
You want to maximize your preflop fold equity that you have so you pick
up an unraked pot as often as possible, and the way to do this is by using the
maximum preflop open-raising size.

DĂdžŝŵŝnjŝŶŐs
Raising to full pot allows you to have a higher chance of winning the blinds, and
it also helps you build bigger pots when you are holding a strong hand.
On the other hand, when you are raising to 3.5 Big Blinds, you are also
risking a lot of money - 350bb/100 in fact. That’s why you don’t want to enter
the pot with extremely weak holdings.
In a many live games, you will find that your opponents are coming into the
pot with a very wide range, regardless of how big you open. If this occurs in the
games you play, you still want to focus on playing nutty hands, and you should
open-raise as large as possible. This combination will allow you to build big pots
when you have hands that dominate your opponents, a recipe for PLO success.

02 - Preflop Play 35
 ŽŵŵŽŶDŝƐƚĂŬĞƐǁŝƚŚZĂŝƐĞ^ŝnjŝŶŐ
The most common mistakes that players make when it comes to raise siz-
ing are:

02 Ƈ Open-raising too small; if you want to open the action, you

should pot it.
Ƈ 3-betting too small.
Ƈ Open-limping.

There are only a few exceptions in which these three lines of action are le-
gitimate options. In PLO tournaments it can make sense to open-raise smaller
or to open limp. Stacks are much shallower in PLO tournaments and in many
late game situations you want to protect your tournament life by minimizing
variance and the size of the pot.
Also, limping in PLO tournaments can be optimal as there is no rake taken
from individual pots, which means that taking down the pot preflop isn’t as cru-
cial as in cash games. But unless you are playing a tournament, you should avoid
open limping, and you should open-raise and 3-bet to the full size of the pot.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ The goal of any poker cash game is to win the blinds. Winning 1.5
Big Blinds doesn’t sound like much, but it is effectively a 150bb
per 100 hands win rate.
Ƈ You want to maximize your chances of winning the blinds to
increase your overall win rate and avoid getting a fraction of the
pot due to losing money to the rake. Therefore, you should open-
raise and 3-bet to the maximum (pot) size.
Ƈ In tournaments your raise size might change, especially in the
later stages. This is because pots aren’t raked, stack sizes are
shallow, and there are tournament life or ICM considerations.

36 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 03

WƌĞĨůŽƉZĂŶŐĞƐ

&ŝƌƐƚͲŝŶZĂŝƐĞƌ
ĂƐĞůŝŶĞ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
A baseline strategy will give you solid and profitable open-raising ranges that
you can always use. We’ll call this your standard raise first in (RFI) range.
At 100bb deep on a 6-handed table, the following RFI frequencies define
your GTO baseline strategy:

Ƈ From EP open about 19%

Ƈ From MP open about 23%
Ƈ From the Cutoff open about 31%
Ƈ From the Button open about 48%
Ƈ From the Small Blind open about 35%

From here, you can make (minor) adjustments based on other players’ ten-
dencies and stack sizes at your table. For example, if the players behind you
are playing very aggressively, you will want to open fewer hands. If the players
behind you play a very loose and passive strategy, you’re better off removing

03 - Preflop Ranges 37
 some of the less nutty hands from your opening ranges, as these hands will
suffer in multiway pots. This should give you a broad sense of how your range
widens as you get closer to the Button.
One small thing to take into account is how to calculate these percentages
of hands. A good rule of thumb to consider is that Aces are about 2.5% of all
hands. You are pretty much playing all Aces (except some A-A-A hands) from
every position. Therefore, from EP and MP positions, Aces make up about 10%
of your opening range.
03 Kings and Queens therefore, are also about 2.5% of all hands each. That
said, you are not raising all Kings and Queens from every position. A hand such
as KƄ-Kƅ-7Ɔ-2Ɔ is usually an open fold, unless you’re on the Button or Small
Blind. It’s usually fine to play a better Kings hand such as KƄ-Kƅ-7Ɔ-6Ɔ. Sim-
ilarly, a hand such as QƄ-Qƅ-10Ƈ-2Ƅ is usually a fold before the Cutoff, and
QƄ-Qƅ-9Ƈ-2Ƅ should be folded even from the Cutoff.
Overall, if your hand is disconnected it’s really going to need to have a very
strong suit or high ranking cards for it to be open-raised. The exception to this
rule is Aces, because you can profitably 4-bet them and still dominate Kings
and Queens hands that cold call preflop. Another common mistake is opening
low ranking cards because they are connected. While a hand such as 9ƅ-8Ƅ-
7Ƈ-5ƅ looks nice, in reality it’s a very weak hand to open-raise (or cold-call)
with. This is especially true if you think the pot will go multiway. It’s so easy to
be dominated when holding this hand and, importantly, very difficult to domi-
nate your opponents – which should be one of your goals.
Imagine you play a hand such as 9ƅ-8Ƅ-7Ƈ-5ƅ and get a 9Ƅ-8Ɔ-4Ɔ flop
facing two opponents. Looks pretty good, right? Top two pair and a gutshot
straight draw. The problem is, your opponents are typically going to be playing
higher ranking cards, so they can have hands such as top pair and a flush draw,
J-10 with a flush draw, Q-J-8, A-K-9, J-10-9, Q-Q-J, etc. If you get action
on the flop, you should not be happy with your hand here.
Moreover, how are you going to play if the turn is a 10 or higher or a
heart? You’re now stuck. You want to get to showdown cheaply and have no
idea if the turn improved your opponent’s hand (somewhat likely) or what you
will want to do on the river. And this was after flopping top two pair! That’s
why a hand such as QƄ-Jƅ-10Ƅ-8Ƈ is already a lot more playable, especially in
games where others are calling with weaker rundowns. Being selective about
the hands you play will end up paying off big time.

38 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ When you join a new table where you don’t know your
opponents’ strategies, start with using standard or GTO RFI
frequencies. When you get more information about your
opponents, you can adjust your ranges.
Ƈ The top percentage of hands is not completely linear. You are
looking for strong suits, connected hands, and high ranking cards.
03
If one of these is missing, it is unlikely to be an open-raise from
earlier positions. If two are missing, it’s likely you should only raise
from the Button.
Ƈ If you expect multiway pots, focus strongly on nutty hands.
Hands that can dominate and are not easily dominated. That’s the
best structural advantage to gain and the easiest way to avoid
huge mistakes.
Ƈ Remember, single-suited hands make up around 75% of hands,
so be very selective about which ones you play. Suited hands
are very common and weak unless they have very high and
connected cards.

ŽůĚͲĐĂůůŝŶŐ&ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
When we refer to cold-calling ranges in this chapter, it applies to situations in
which you are facing a single raiser and you are in position. So, you are sitting
in either MP, the Cutoff, or the Button, and you are facing an open-raise by a
player from one of the earlier positions.
In later chapters we discuss Big Blind and multiway situations. For now, the
goal is to give you a sound fundamental understanding of cold-calling in posi-
tion against a single open-raiser.

&ƌĞƋƵĞŶĐŝĞƐĂŶĚWŽƐŝƚŝŽŶĂůǁĂƌĞŶĞƐƐ
As when open-raising, the closer you are to the Button, the more you should
increase your cold-calling frequency. This is even true when facing the same
opening range. For example, against an EP raiser you should aim to cold call

03 - Preflop Ranges 39
 about 4.8% in MP, 7.2% in the Cutoff and 15.7% on the Button. The difference
between the Middle Position and the Button is 300%. The more likely it is that
you will have guaranteed postflop position, the wider your cold-calling range
should be.
Another key point to keep in mind is that when your position is better,
your calling range increases and your 3-betting range decreases. So, from the
Button, 3-betting marginal hands is not nearly as necessary as from middle
position. For example, from MP against an EP raise, you should call with about
03 5% of hands and 3-bet with about 5.2%. From the Button against an EP raise,
you should call 15.7% and 3-bet with just 3.5%.
In the next chapter, we will discuss why this is the case. For now, just keep
in mind that your 3-bet range is always going to influence your cold-calling
range.
Many players misunderstand this concept. They think that you should be
very aggressive and 3-bet a lot from the Button because you have guaranteed
position. But that is not true. In fact, when you have guaranteed position, you
benefit from keeping the SPR higher as this gives you more room to maneuver
postflop and a greater positional advantage.
When you are on the Button, you have a lot more incentive to just call. That
doesn’t mean that when you have a great hand, you don’t want to 3-bet. It just
means that the Cutoff and MP positions have more incentive to 3-bet mar-
ginal hands, because they benefit from pushing out players behind and gaining
position. The Button knows there is no one who can have position on them,
so they benefit comparatively less from 3-betting and more from just calling.
This results in the Button being considerably more passive and playing a wider
range.

DŝĚĚůĞWŽƐŝƚŝŽŶsĞƌƐƵƐĂƌůLJWŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ
In this situation, you are facing a tight UTG open raising range, and four
more players are sitting behind you who still have to act. If you decide to call,
the chances are very high that you are going to see a multiway flop. So the
essential factor in this situation is nuttiness. You are looking for high suits,
strongly connected hands and high pairs. The hands that are good enough to
call in this situation are usually a hybrid of these factors and they need to be
able to dominate your opponents postflop in a multiway pot (Diagram 10).

ϰϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 96.5bb
1bb 3.5bb

0.5bb
Small Blind
99.5bb
5bb MP (Hero) 03
100bb

Button Cutoff
100bb 100bb

Diagram 10
Some examples are:

AƆ-JƆ-10Ƅ-2Ƅ
This hand has high suits and high card connectivity. This is a combina-
tion that makes this hand very nutted and therefore it should be called.

AƆ-KƄ-5Ɔ-2Ƅ
The connectivity of this hand is worse than the previous example but
the suits are higher. For that reason, this hand should also be added to
your MP calling range.

7Ƈ-6ƅ-5Ƈ-4ƅ
When a hand lacks high cards, the connectivity has to be extremely
good to play the hand profitably. With low cards, you want rundowns
without gaps in them. This hand is a perfect rundown and is an exam-
ple of an extremely connected hand that should also be added to your
calling range.

03 - Preflop Ranges 41
 Aƅ-10ƅ-10Ɔ-2Ɔ
This hand features a Broadway pair combined with a high suit. The
nuttiness of this hand is still good and therefore it should be called
against an EP open-raise.

ƵƚƚŽŶsĞƌƐƵƐĂƌůLJWŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ
The main difference here is that the MP and Cutoff have already folded and
therefore the pot is less likely to go multiway. Furthermore, you have guaran-
03 teed position. Remember – right now we are only discussing situations where
we face one raiser without callers. If another player were to cold-call before
you, then you need to adjust your range towards more nutted hands, because
you are going to face other nutted hands.
As mentioned, the Button is supposed to call 15.7% and 3-bet 3.5%
against an EP open-raise. What are some of the hands that are calling on the
Button versus EP that you would never play in middle position? On the Button,
facing one opponent, nuttiness matters slightly less and playability becomes
more critical. As the hand is likely to go heads-up or three-way, you can add
more non-nutted hands to your preflop hand range (Diagram 11).

Big Blind EP
99bb 96.5bb
1bb 3.5bb

0.5bb
Small Blind MP
5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button (Hero) Cutoff

100bb 100bb

Diagram 11
Some examples of hands that are not good enough to call from MP but
that are good enough to call from the Button are:

ϰϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 QƆ-JƄ-10Ɔ-2Ƅ
This hand has good connectivity and suitedness, but it isn’t as nutted
as some of the previous examples discussed, such as AƆ-JƆ-10Ƅ-2Ƅ.
For that reason, this hand shouldn’t be called from MP. The playability
of this hand in position is great and, because of that, this hand can be
called profitably from the Button.

KƄ-QƄ-JƆ-6Ɔ
This is the same story. This hand has high suits and good connectivity
03
but because of the dangler, the 6Ɔ, this hand shouldn’t be called from
MP.

7ƅ-6ƅ-5ƅ-4Ƈ
The connectivity of this hand is excellent but it lacks high cards and
is trip-suited. For these reasons this hand should be folded from MP.
However, from the Button, where the thresholds to call are a bit lower,
this hand should be called.

QƇ-JƄ-Jƅ-2Ƈ
The connectivity and suitedness of this hand are okay but not amaz-
ing. The nuttiness isn’t good enough to afford a call from MP. But from
the Button, this hand has enough positive components to call.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ As you get closer to the Button, your calling range increases and
your 3-betting range decreases. This is because calling allows you
to use your positional advantage postflop.
Ƈ From earlier positions, you should focus more on nuttiness. From
the Button, where multiway pots are less likely and you are able
to leverage a positional advantage, playability is more important.

03 - Preflop Ranges 43
 ϯͲĞƚƚŝŶŐ&ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
3-betting is a big part of PLO, especially given how many players rarely fold
after getting 3-bet. These big pots can have a massive influence on your
win rate, so let’s ensure that you have the right fundamentals and the proper
3-betting preflop ranges.
03 dŽĂůůŽƌƚŽϯͲĞƚ
and vice versa. You must understand the benefits of both options since they
are mutually exclusive.
When you 3-bet, you will often play a heads-up pot since the other play-
ers at the table now have to make a much bigger preflop investment to enter
the pot. In 3-bet pots, the SPR is much lower than in single-raised pots. In
3-bet pots at 100bb, the SPR will be around 4, which means that you will very
often be playing for stacks.
When you are cold-calling an open-raise, it’s more likely that you will end
up in a multiway pot, especially if you are cold-calling from one of the early po-
sitions. In live games or small stakes online games, many pots will go multiway
because you are likely facing a lot of players with very wide preflop ranges who
don’t adjust correctly for multiway play. Single-raised pots at 100bb will usu-
ally play at an SPR of around 13 which means that you need a much stronger
hand to stack off on the flop, especially when you are playing multiway.

WŽƐŝƚŝŽŶĂůĚǀĂŶƚĂŐĞ
Another key difference is that when the SPR is low, as in 3-bet pots, the out
of position player has less of a positional disadvantage given that they can
more easily go all-in on the flop or turn. That means that they can often avoid
playing the river out of position. The river is a tricky street to play in PLO, given
how often the nuts change and how that impacts the out of position player.
In high SPR situations, the out of position player has to play all three streets
with this situational drawback. This robs them of EV which is, in turn, gained by
the IP player. So, having a high SPR increases the IP player’s positional advan-
tage, as they can leverage it through multiple streets.

44 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ZĞĂƐŽŶƐƚŽϯͲďĞƚ
Please note that this explanation is a simplified version to introduce you to why
and when you should consider 3-betting preflop. In further chapters, we will
analyze this concept in more detail.
We have already indicated that a 3-bet pot leads to a low SPR scenario,
where players are likely to stack off on the flop or turn. Your opponents know
that they can stack off with a piece of the flop and something to go with it. If
they hit a pair and a draw, or a combo draw, they are happy to go all-in. There-
03
fore, your goal in 3-bet pots is to dominate your opponent in such stack-off
scenarios.
The best hands to accomplish that goal are pair plus draw type hands that
dominate your opponents’ similar holdings. Ideally, you want to flop top pair
and a high flush or straight draw versus middle pair and weak flush or straight
draw. You need to accomplish this postflop goal by constructing your 3-bet-
ting range with this precise purpose in mind.
Therefore, there are two main reasons to 3-bet:

3-bet to Push an Equity Edge

You should 3-bet hands that want to build a big pot with an equity advantage.
The main type of 3-betting value hands are A-A-x-x, A-K-K-x, and A-Q-
Q-x. An additional type are double-suited high cards, which are hands that are
double-suited, have very good connectivity and Broadway or near-Broadway
cards or pairs. Altogether, these amount to only about 3.5% of all hands.

3-bet for Better Playability

The second reason to 3-bet is for playability. Hands that want to 3-bet for
playability often have a very smooth equity distribution, meaning that they
flop good equity on a large number of flops. These hands are also non-nutted,
so they are not optimized for multiway pots. This means that 3-betting be-
comes more appealing to make the pot heads-up. This category includes a lot
of non-nutty high double-suited rundowns. They still need to mostly feature
high ranking cards because you are hoping to dominate your opponent’s post-
flop stack-off range. Even though they lack nuttiness, their equity versus the
range of just one player is quite high and they add a lot of playability to your
range going into a low SPR postflop scenario.

03 - Preflop Ranges 45
 ZĞĂůŝnjĂďŝůŝƚLJ
In 3-bet pots, the money will very often end up getting all-in. For that reason,
your hands must have the potential to realize all of their equity. You want to
3-bet hands that are happy with putting in all the money postflop at an SPR
of 4. Hands such as high double-suited rundowns are often able to stack off
because they frequently flop a pair or better alongside a decent draw.
If you think back to the flop equity distribution profile, you know that 8Ƅ-
7Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ɔ had a much smoother equity distribution. This hand will have a
03
much easier time realizing equity because you often flop enough equity to call
an all-in bet from your opponent. When you flop a flush draw in a 3-bet pot
you can very rarely get away from it. This also holds true for your opponent, so
you want to make sure that you have the better flush draws and straight draws
so you have a ton of equity versus your opponents in big pots.
By the way, 8Ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ɔ is a hand that you should 3-bet from the Cut-
off versus MP to push out the Button behind you, but flat from the Button
when facing a raise since there’s no one behind to push out and gain position.

ϯͲďĞƚƚŝŶŐĨŽƌsĂůƵĞ
If you are 3-betting for value, you are looking to build a big pot with a hand
that has a raw equity advantage. For example, when you are holding Aces,
most of the time you 3-bet because you want to get a lot of chips into the
pot preflop. You also give opponents the option to 4-bet, which would be even
more profitable. If you just call with Aces, your opponent doesn’t have the op-
tion to 4-bet and you lose that extra EV.
A further reason to 3-bet Aces is that they tend to perform better in low
SPR scenarios, where they can dominate stack-off hands with a nut flush draw
or at least do well enough versus pair plus draw hands to go all-in after c-bet-
ting. In single-raised pots, Aces would more often not be able to realize their
equity and end up losing more often by not getting to showdown.
To be clear, I am saying that your hand has to play better in a 3-bet heads-
up pot compared to a single-raised multiway pot. I am not saying that your
hand should play exceptionally well in a 3-bet pot. Do you see the difference?
Let’s use an example to analyze this concept further.
You are holding AƄ-Aƅ-9Ƅ-3Ƅ. This hand is not going to do amazingly well
in a 3-bet pot because both the suitedness and connectivity are weak but it’s

46 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

going to do much worse in a multiway pot. When you are in a single-raised
multiway pot, your hand needs additional features to be able to realize your
equity. In a multiway pot, there will very often be at least one player who
flopped a piece of the board and decides to bet. To continue against this bet,
you will need to have pretty high equity. A hand such as AƄ-Aƅ-9Ƅ-3Ƅ won’t
be able to continue postflop unless you flop a set or a nut flush draw. So you
want to 3-bet that hand to try and play a heads-up pot at a low SPR so you
can push your equity on a greater number of flops.
The final reason you want to 3-bet for value is that you benefit from pre- 03
flop fold equity. If you win a hand preflop after somebody already invested
additional money in the pot, you will pay no rake because the hand didn’t go to
the flop and that will generate a tremendous win rate!
You always want to compare the options of cold-calling and 3-betting in
preflop scenarios. Even if you have a hand that might not do exceptionally well
in 3-bet pots, you might still want to consider 3-betting because it might do
even worse in a multiway single-raised pot.

ϯͲĞƚƚŝŶŐĨŽƌWůĂLJĂďŝůŝƚLJ
The main reason to 3-bet for playability is to push out players behind you and
to get the pot heads-up. Hands that want to 3-bet for playability, in general,
aren’t very nutty, so they hugely benefit from pushing out players behind you
who hold higher suits. Here is an example
You are in the Cutoff and you face a pot-size open-raise from early posi-
tion. You are holding Qƅ-JƆ-9ƅ-8Ɔ(Diagram 12).
This hand is very well connected and has a very smooth equity distribution
profile. It will connect with many different board textures but it lacks nuttiness.
Therefore this hand plays better in a heads-up pot than a multiway pot. Players
behind you could hold suits that dominate yours, so you benefit from pushing
them out of the pot. These reasons mean this hand should be 3-bet.
With this hand, you will often flop a substantial amount of equity, such as
a pair plus draw, and will be able to put all the money in on the flop or take the
pot down with a c-bet. If you were instead in a pot with multiple opponents,
you would likely be in a bad spot when the money goes in because one of your
opponents will show up with a dominating suit and the other one could have a
stronger made hand.

03 - Preflop Ranges 47
 Big Blind EP
99bb 96.5bb
1bb 3.5bb

0.5bb
03 Small Blind
5bb MP
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
100bb 100bb

Diagram 12

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ
There are two reasons to 3-bet.

To build a bigger pot with a hand that:

Ƈ Has a raw equity advantage.

Ƈ Plays better heads-up, rather than in a multiway pot.
Ƈ Benefits from preflop fold equity.

For playability in order to:

Ƈ Push out players behind you with dominating hands that can’t call
a 3-bet, but would come along if you call.
Ƈ Play your hand in a higher EV context, as it plays better in a low
SPR heads-up pot compared to a multiway pot.
Ƈ Secure positional advantage and push out the players behind you
who have position.

48 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲĞƚ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
EV’s attached to them:

1) You can 4-bet, which is mainly done with Aces, some A-K-K
and double-suited Ace-high rundowns. 4-betting with a range such as
03
this generates very high EV.
2) Calling the 3-bet. In that case, you can end up recouping a por-
tion of your initial investment (the open-raise) but the EV of calling
will almost always be lower than your initial open-raise EV. Very often,
the EV of calling a 3-bet is negative but still preferable to folding and
giving away your original 3.5bb completely.
3) Folding means you are giving up on your entire preflop invest-
ment. The reason that you fold a part of your open-raising range is
because it will lose more money in a 3-bet pot compared to simply
folding. This part of your range is usually badly dominated by your op-
ponent’s 3-betting range and also lacks equity realizability. This means
that you will often get all the money in on the flop while dominated
and having minimal equity. Alternatively you end up having to check-
fold too much. Hands that are part of this folding range are usually big
pairs or high cards that don’t have additional backup in the form of
being double-suited or by being strongly connected.

Many players have a misconception when it comes to countering 3-bets

in PLO. They often think that they don’t have to fold against 3-bets, but this
is incorrect. Weak hands will lose more money by calling and that’s just a fact.
If you raise from early position and the Button 3-bets, how often should
you fold? The answer is that you should fold about 19% of the time, depending
on the rake structure, your opponent and the stack depth. If you pay a lot of
rake, for example at the online low stakes, you should fold about 10% more,
so closer to 30%. If you are paying little rake or even no rake, for example in
a time-based rake structure in a live game, you only have to fold about 9% of
your hands against a 3-bet.

03 - Preflop Ranges 49
 Your fold to 3-bet frequency heavily depends on your position and your
opponent’s position. If you are open-raising from the Cutoff and your oppo-
nent is on the Button, you should fold about 31% of the time. Remember the
Button has a reason to just call with a lot of his hands and leverage his position-
al advantage. So his 3-betting range should be tight and your Cutoff opening
range is looser than your earlier position ranges.
On the other hand, if you are open raising from the Button and you face a
3-bet from the Small Blind you should only fold about 17% of the time since
03 you are in position and facing a rather wide 3-betting range. The hands you are
folding are the ones that will do the worst postflop. Again, you are going into a
low SPR scenario where the Small Blind is likely to c-bet the flop with a strong
range. You therefore want hands that can face this decision profitably.
Keep in mind the general concept regarding rake. If the rake in your game
is relatively high, you should start to fold about 10% more against 3-bets. If
the rake in your game is relatively low, you should fold about 10% less against
3-bets.

<ĞLJŽŶĐĞƉƚKŶĞ͗WŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ
In any poker game, position has a major impact on your EV. Most players un-
derestimate how great the influence of position is in Pot Limit Omaha. Playing
in position you can realize much more of your equity than out of position be-
cause you will be able to generate more value with your strong hands, decide
whether to go to showdown and get more postflop bluffing opportunities.
Consequently, the minimum amount of equity required to call against a 3-bet
profitably is much less when you have position. This means that out of position
you will have to fold more often to 3-bets than in position.

<ĞLJŽŶĐĞƉƚdǁŽ͗,ŽǁƚŽWůĂLJĐĞƐsĞƌƐƵƐĂϯͲďĞƚ
If you are facing a 3-bet when holding Aces at 100bb, you want to 4-bet
100% of the time. The main reason to 4-bet is because the EV is much higher
than calling. There is much more value in getting your opponent to put in a lot
of money into the pot while you are a favorite than trapping preflop. Addition-
ally, Aces hands have an easier time realizing their equity when the SPR gets
lower, because this allows you to shove profitably on most flops and not have
to play multiple streets without knowing whether your overpair is good or not.
As you become deeper, especially over the 150bb mark, you want to

ϱϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

start flatting more Aces versus 3-bets because combinations without much
playability can be very tricky to play in medium to high SPR situations. If you
choose to add some Aces to your calling range, start with the ones with the
least playability because those will be harder to play in 3-bet pots, and you
would rather avoid making a big mistake and keep the pot size under control.

<ĞLJŽŶĐĞƉƚdŚƌĞĞ͗^ŝŶŐůĞͲ^ƵŝƚĞĚsĞƌƐƵƐŽƵďůĞͲ^ƵŝƚĞĚ
Double-suited hands are called far more often than single-suited hands against
a 3-bet. 3-bet pots play at low SPRs, which means that smoothness is the 03
key factor when you are deciding whether to call a 3-bet or not because it
will help you to realize your equity in a big pot. If you don’t have the correct
hand selection, you will often find yourself having to fold on the flop because
you don’t have enough equity to justify continuing. Double-suited hands have
more equity and realizability against an A-A-x-x heavy range. You want to
avoid flopping top pair without any backup because this hand class has low
equity against Aces. Double-suited hands can flop more combo draws as well
as pair with backdoor flush draws, which brings your equity closer to a 50%
equity matchup against your opponent’s Aces heavy 3-bet range.
This doesn’t mean you should fold all your single-suited or rainbow hands
when you face a 3-bet. You should often still call with these hands, especially
when you are in position. When you are out of position and you are facing a
tighter 3-bet range while having a positional disadvantage, you want to fold a
lot of those non-double-suited combinations.

<ĞLJŽŶĐĞƉƚ&ŽƵƌ͗WůĂLJŝŶŐWĂŝƌƐsĞƌƐƵƐĂϯͲďĞƚ
Pairs need to be very well connected or double-suited to call a 3-bet out of
position. Think back to the material about the equity distribution profile. When
you are holding a pair, your hand will likely flop very “rough” and you will only
flop substantial equity a small amount of the time. An example is Kƅ-KƄ-10Ƅ-
2Ɔ.
This hand has a hard time finding any boards where it wants to check-raise
all-in or continue against a c-bet. In most cases, you will flop a naked overpair
without much backup against a range that contains a lot of Aces against which
you are completely dominated when you don’t have any additional backup.
Examples of other hands that you want to fold against a 3-bet because
they flop too rough are:

03 - Preflop Ranges 51
 Ƈ Kƅ-KƄ-QƇ-4Ƅ
Ƈ KƇ-10ƅ-10Ɔ-6Ƈ

Examples of hands that you can call against a 3-bet out of position be-
cause they flop smooth and therefore have an easier time realizing equity:

Ƈ KƄ-KƆ-QƆ-4Ƅ
03 Ƈ 7Ɔ-6Ɔ-6Ƅ-5Ƈ

<ĞLJŽŶĐĞƉƚ&ŝǀĞ͗ĐĞͲŚŝŐŚ^ƵŝƚƐ
hands or non-Ace-high suits. There is a considerable difference between hold-
ing a single-suited hands to the Ace, holding a trip-suited hand to the Ace, or
holding a non-Ace-high suited hand.
Examples of hands you should fold against a 3-bet:

AƆ-JƇ-10Ƈ-3Ƅ
This hand doesn’t have an Ace-high suit, so it has less equity.

AƆ-KƆ-QƆ-4Ƅ
This hand has a very rough equity distribution profile and it will be hard
to outdraw your opponent’s 3-betting range.

Examples of hands that you should call against a 3-bet:

AƆ-JƆ-10Ƅ-3ƅ
This hand has some connectivity and a nut-suit.

AƇ-KƇ-QƆ-4ƅ
Single-suited to the Ace means that this hand has a better chance at
outdrawing your opponent’s 3-betting range.

<ĞLJŽŶĐĞƉƚ^ŝdž͗ŽƵďůĞͲƐƵŝƚĞĚZƵŶĚŽǁŶƐ
can be used to 4-bet. Many players choose the wrong hands to 4-bet. You

ϱϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

shouldn’t only include A-A-x-x in your 4-betting range. If your opponent
knows that you only 4-bet with Aces he will have quite an easy time playing
against you both preflop and postflop. Other hands that you can include in
your 4-betting range are all doing very well versus a 5-bet (connected and
double-suited) or they are blocking Aces.
Examples of hands which are fit to include in your 4-betting range that are
not Aces:

AƇ-JƇ-JƆ-10Ɔ 03
This hand is blocking Aces, is double-suited and well connected. The
equity of this hand should be very high against almost any range.

Aƅ-Kƅ-KƇ-3Ƈ
This hand is very strong in terms of raw equity. It’s also double-suited,
and it also blocks Aces.

QƄ-JƄ-10Ƈ-8Ƈ
This hand is double-suited, very well connected and can call 5-bets.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Aces should usually be 4-bet, but some combinations that lack

realizability become better as calls when you are over 150bb
deep.
Ƈ Double-suited hands are calling 3-bets far more frequently than
single-suited hands.
Ƈ Pairs need additional factors to justify calling 3-bets, especially
OOP.
Ƈ Ace-high single-suited hands are called more often than triple
suited hands or non-Ace-high suits.
Ƈ Double-suited rundowns and double-suited big pairs backed up
by an Ace can be used to 4-bet.

03 - Preflop Ranges 53
 &ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚĂƚϮϬϬďď
If you are deeper than 100bb, your overall fold frequency also decreases. At
200bb, you are continuing more versus a 3-bet both in position and out of
position. The main reason is that there is less pot-sized betting and committing
to the pot by the 3-bettor on the flop in 3-bet pots at 200bb. Let’s take a brief
look at how this affects strategy in both scenarios.

03 KKWĞĞƉĂƐƚŚĞWƌĞĨůŽƉĂůůĞƌ
The most important factor in this scenario are the stack sizes and the fact you
have more postflop playability. Given the higher SPR you are able to check-
call a bet and still have some implied odds compared to scenarios at 100bbs
starting stack sizes.
At 100bb the 3-bettor will often bet pot and thus commit on the flop in
situations where you have a very hard time continuing with single pair hands
against a dominating Aces-heavy range. This problem doesn’t occur at 200bb
as, being deeper, the 3-bettor doesn’t have much incentive to pot bet the
flop as they cannot pot and stack off that profitably. The equity threshold
the 3-bettor will have for stacking off this deep is much higher. Therefore,
the 3-bettor, while playing in position, will prefer to execute a multiple street
game-plan to leverage stack size and positional advantage as much as possible.
In addition to this, at 200bb the in position 3-bettor will have a wider
3-betting range in comparison to scenarios at 100bb. This means his flop
range is slightly weaker. Finally, at 200bb the RFI ranges are slightly tighter and
stronger, except for the Button. Altogether this means the in position player
will c-bet less often or with a smaller size. This benefits the OOP 3-bet caller
and allows them to play more hands profitably preflop, compared to at 100bbs.

/WĞĞƉĂƐƚŚĞWƌĞĨůŽƉĂůůĞƌ
Playing in position at 200 bbs (such as when you raise from the Button and
the Small Blind 3-bets) your positional advantage becomes so much greater
compared to scenarios at 100bb that you have a lot of incentive to call with
most of your range when facing a 3-bet.
By calling you can make it very tough for your opponent. They end up in a
very large pot where they cannot execute the same strategy as they can at 100bb
because the SPR is much higher and they will be out of position on multiple streets.

54 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Again, this means the IP player will be able to leverage their positional
advantage and ultimately increase the EV for their hands. Remember, as the IP
caller versus a 3-bet, you will prefer calling over 4-betting with a lot of strong
hands and have a very tight 4-betting range.

>ŝŵƉŝŶŐ
^ŚŽƵůĚzŽƵKƉĞŶ>ŝŵƉŝŶW>K͍
Limping is the act of only calling the size of the Big Blind (or straddle) preflop.
03
When you are UTG or everyone folds to you, you have the option to fold, call
(limp) or raise. As we’ve discussed before, you should almost always fold or
raise and almost never open limp.
In PLO, the rake tends to be very high, so you benefit greatly from taking
down the pot preflop without paying any rake. In most cash games, there is a
“no flop, no drop” structure. This means that if you don’t see a flop, you don’t
pay any rake. In such games, limping rarely has a place in your baseline strategy.
If you limp, you don’t have any fold equity preflop, so you always want to
raise. Remember from the chapter about raise-sizing that stealing the blinds
gives you a win rate of 150bb/100, which would be fantastic.
Your strategy should be aggressive preflop play in order to build big pots.
So, make sure to charge your opponents for entering the pot and competing
with you for the blinds.
If you use an open-limping strategy, you won’t be able to extract as many
chips from your opponents when you hold a strong hand and want to get paid.
If you limp a weak hand, you are just getting yourself into trouble by allowing
hands with better equity to gain EV from you.
There are a couple of exceptions to the “no open-limping” rule. If you are
playing a different format than “no flop, no drop” games, such as a tournament
or time-raked cash game, limping can be a viable strategy. If, in these games,
you are shortstacked or facing short stacks, then limping can bring strategic
advantages, such as playing higher SPR scenarios and not having to raise-fold
a considerable percentage of your hands preflop.
Whether you are limping from an early or late position, you still want to
limp strong playable hands. That way you can “force” the blinds to play weaker
hands against you, where you often have a range and positional advantage.

03 - Preflop Ranges 55
 After reading this book you should also have a baseline strategy for developing
a skill advantage.

džƉůŽŝƚŝŶŐ>ŝŵƉĞƌƐ
The decisions you want to make when you are facing limpers depend upon
many different variables such as position, stack sizes, reads, the type of players
behind you, etc. Let’s start off with a simple fact. Most players who are limping
in standard raked cash games are recreational players. They usually play very
03 wide preflop ranges and they also often make many mistakes postflop. Being
able to isolate these weak players can give your win rate a massive boost. You
don’t want to overdo it, because if you do, you become the weak player your-
self and can be exploited by other watchful players or someone who wakes up
with a big hand. You could easily get into big trouble by getting into a multiway
pot without having the hand that is suited for this scenario. The open limper
might also exploit your wide range by reraising you more often, which will allow
him to lower his positional disadvantage and dominate your hand postflop.
In general, you should isolate limpers using a range that is tighter than your
RFI range. For example, if it’s folded to you on the Button, you should open-
raise for pot about 50% of the time. If the Cutoff decides to limp, you should
raise tighter than that, because players who limp are not limping to fold against
a single raise, they are limping to call. As an easy-to-remember general rule is
that you can isolate players using the range from one earlier RFI position, per
limper in the pot. For example, if the Cutoff limps and you are on the Button,
isolate the player with your Cutoff RFI range. If both the MP and Cutoff players
limp, then you should isolate with the RFI range from two positions earlier, e.g.
the MP RFI range.
When there is a limper in front of you, there is little to no preflop fold equi-
ty. You will be almost guaranteed to see a flop and pay rake. You also won’t be
able to win the blinds by yourself any longer and you will have to split the dead
blind money with at least one other player. If you raise first in and successful-
ly steal the blinds, your win rate will be 150bb/100. If there is a limper who
doesn’t fold preflop, you can no longer achieve this win rate because you will
have to split the blinds with both the limper and the casino or poker site. This
massively decreases your win rate, so you want to tighten your range in order
to have a more significant equity advantage versus the limper and avoid being
exploited by other players.

56 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

KǀĞƌͲůŝŵƉŝŶŐ
Over-limping is when you face a limper and decide to also come along. After
all, it’s only a small bet to call and you are getting better odds, right? While
true, remember to think about where you are heading postflop and that will be
a multiway pot. Focus more on how your hand will play for all the future bets,
not the immediate and smallest one preflop. If you focus on the immediate pot
odds and equity, you are basing your decision on the least important aspect of
the hand and its very easy for your “small mistake” to compound into a larger
03
one postflop. Therefore, you can argue that these small mistakes should really
be considered big ones.
I can’t stress this enough. Avoid playing multiway pots with hands that are
not suited for multiway pots. If you can avoid this common small stakes PLO
mistake, you are already way ahead of the competition. Don’t think that your
superior skill can overcome a structural part of the game. You will get dom-
inated, be forced to fold, or lose at showdown too often to play weak hands
profitably in multiway pots.
Remember, in position, you want to build big pots with your strong range
versus your opponents’ weak range. Going to the flop in position, heads-up
against a weak player with a weak range is still an excellent result. Going to the
flop against multiple players, with a weak hand is not.
You can consider limping along when you’re out of position, such as in the
Small Blind. Even in this case, however, you should only consider over-limping
with decently strong hands. In this scenario, even when you raise, you will be
out of position without much preflop fold equity. A strong hand can gain a
lot by 3-betting OOP and lowering the SPR significantly but when just raising
against limpers you will still be heading into a high SPR scenario OOP. Most
hands will not gain enough equity advantage to play profitably compared to
just calling. As a rule of thumb, when out of position facing a limper, isolate
them only with your UTG RFI range.

Rules of Thumb for Isolating Limpers

Ƈ Raise the previous position’s RFI versus one limper.

Ƈ Add one further position for each added limper.

03 - Preflop Ranges 57
 This is the default strategy you want to use when you are facing a limper
on whom you don’t have any specific reads. Reasons to raise wider are if you
are deeper or if your opponent has a very wide range and is weak postflop.
On the other hand, raise tighter if the players behind you are very aggres-
sive or the limper is tight. To really crush your games, you need to understand
the default strategy, and then you should adjust that basic strategy based on
the table conditions or reads you have.

03 DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ You should only open limp in games with very specific rake
structures.
Ƈ Players who limp often play very poorly both preflop and
postflop. You want to isolate them in order to play a pot with a
weak player. Don’t isolate too wide because doing so opens you
up to being easily exploited.
Ƈ When you are facing a limp in position, don’t over-limp. Play
either raise or fold.
Ƈ Out of position, over-limping can be an option. You want to over-
limp about 30% of your hands from the Small Blind, with specific
attention to your range’s nuttiness.
Ƈ Isolate with UTG RFI range.
Ƈ In general, when considering whether to isolate a player, you can
do so with the RFI range from one earlier position per each limper
in the pot.
Ƈ From the Small Blind, over-limp around 30%.
Ƈ Use this as your baseline strategy and adjust it based on the
reads and information that you have on your opponents.

58 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ĞĨĞŶĚŝŶŐƚŚĞŝŐůŝŶĚsĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ
&ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ
When you are in the Big Blind and facing a single open-raise, you already know
you’re going to play a heads-up pot while out of position. If you face a pot-
sized open-raise from a single opponent, you are getting a price of 2-to-1.
This means you need 33% equity to profitably call if you didn’t have to make
decisions on future streets. But because you do have to play future streets, 03
you also need to take the equity realization factor into account.
This principle is the same as in NLHE, where you might defend your Big
Blind with 8Ɔ-4Ɔ, but you would fold QƄ-2Ɔ. The equity of these hands is
similar, but the realization of this equity is very different. This is due to the
better suitedness and connectivity of 8Ɔ-4Ɔ. The higher equity realizability of
this hand allows you to call more flops, turns, and rivers because you can hit
flush and straight draws. With QƄ-2Ɔ, that’s much more unlikely.
In PLO, a similar principle applies. Hands that are double-suited and connect-
ed tend to realize a lot of their preflop equity because they connect with more
boards than hands with fewer such advantages. This means that 7Ɔ-6Ƅ-5Ɔ-4Ƅ
is a much better defend than Jƅ-JƇ-7Ƅ-2Ɔ against a Button open-raise. Even
though 7Ɔ-6Ƅ-5Ɔ-4Ƅ has 44% equity versus a Button range and Jƅ-JƇ-7Ƅ-
2Ɔ has 46% equity, the double-suited rundown will connect with more flops and
can continue past the flop more often. Not only does this mean you can get to
showdown more but you are also able to turn your hand into a bluff if necessary.
With a weak single pair of Jacks, you don’t reach the point of either option.
Some players hold the belief that in PLO, it is profitable to defend their
Big Blind with most of their hands preflop. That belief is based on the con-
siderable equity that hands have preflop and how close equities of different
starting hands run in PLO. What these players overlook is that equity always
must be combined with equity realization. Otherwise, you are working with an
incomplete model since we are not playing all-in before the flop. You must start
thinking more about which hands realize a lot of their equity and what types of
hands don’t and that’s where a number of components come into play. A dou-
ble-suited hand realizes more equity than a single-suited hand. A single-suited
hand realizes more equity than a trip-suited hand and a disconnected hand
realizes less equity than a connected hand.

03 - Preflop Ranges 59
 However, that is not all. Weak disconnected hands not only have less equi-
ty, they also realize less of their equity. 10Ƅ-10Ɔ-6Ɔ-3ƅ has less raw equity
than 10Ƅ-10Ɔ-9Ɔ-8ƅ and, on top of that, 10Ƅ-10Ɔ-6Ɔ-3ƅ realizes less of
its equity because it has fewer components that work together. This effective-
ly means that the EV of the hand drops to a level where it’s not profitable to call
preflop. Just having 33% equity isn’t enough to justify a call. 10Ƅ-10Ɔ-9Ɔ-8ƅ
has more equity and realizes more of it due to the higher connectivity, making
it an easy defend from the Big Blind.
03 Players who hold this costly preflop misconception also don’t pay enough
attention to the positional disadvantage. The Big Blind is always out of position
except when playing versus the Small Blind. As mentioned before, being OOP
makes it harder to realize the full equity of your hand since you have less control
over the action. Therefore, the Big Blind should fold a lot of marginal hands.
When deciding whether to defend the Big Blind against a single opponent,
consider both:

Ƈ The equity of your hand against your opponent’s raising range.

Ƈ The realizability of your hand.

Your hand’s equity is heavily influenced by how wide your opponents’ range
is. If your opponent opens from an early position, you need to tighten up your
preflop range considerably. If they play a 50% range from the Button, you can
defend around 50% to 60%, as you are getting a decent price from the Big
Blind to play versus a wide range.
What’s important to keep in mind about the second bullet point above is
that some hands will realize their equity better than others. This means that
range composition matters more than playing frequency. The realizability fac-
tor is determined by the quality and quantity of your hand’s components.

Exploitable Adjustment
If your opponent is very aggressive postflop, you want to adjust and
tighten your preflop ranges. Opponents who c-bet and barrel a lot
take advantage of wide and capped ranges. A natural exploit is to de-
fend tighter preflop and have stronger hands in your range on every
street, so your opponent ends up betting into a range that can more
easily call down and punish this tendency.

ϲϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind Defense Versus One Opponent
If you are in the Big Blind facing a single open-raise, you should defend with
a frequency that is slightly higher than your opponent’s open-raising range.
For example, if EP open-raises 18% of the time, the Big Blind should defend
about 25%. If the Button open-raises with about 50%, the Big Blind should
defend with about 50% to 60%. This only applies to heads-up pots.

dŚĞ/ŶĨůƵĞŶĐĞŽĨƚŚĞZĂŬĞ
03
raise and fold about 75% against an EP raise. In high rake games, you should
fold more, and in low raked games, you can fold less. The more rake you pay,
the more the profit of your marginal defending hands gets eaten up by the
rake, up to a point where some of the hands that you can defend in low rake
situations now turn into losing hands.

ŽŵŵŽŶ^ŵĂůů^ƚĂŬĞƐDŝƐƚĂŬĞƐ
A mistake that is seen frequently at small stakes is when players defend too
many weak single-component hands. Examples of such hands are: disconnect-
ed hands with a suited Ace, unsupported medium-high pairs, rainbow Broad-
way hands, and double-suited disconnected trash.
For example, holding a suited Ace does not mean that you can always jus-
tify a call preflop against a single open-raiser. This single element becomes
more important when playing a multiway pot because of the nuttiness factor
and the increased chances of an opponent having a dominated flush draw. But
in heads-up situations realizability is more important than nuttiness. The suited
Ace adds a lot of nuttiness to a hand but doesn’t add that much realizability.
You need additional components, such as connectivity, high cards, or a pair.
The same thing holds for disconnected medium-high pairs, rainbow Broad-
way hands and double-suited trash. Without backup, these hands don’t have
enough realizability in order to profitably call against an open-raise.

ϯͲďĞƚƚŝŶŐĨƌŽŵƚŚĞŝŐůŝŶĚ

Ƈ You have a high equity hand.

Ƈ You have a hand with smooth equity distribution that plays better
in a heads-up pot than in a multiway pot.

03 - Preflop Ranges 61
 When you are in the Big Blind, there are no players behind you to push out
so the second reason is not relevant. That means your 3-betting range consists
almost exclusively of high equity hands. This is especially true as you will be
out of position postflop. When defending your hand OOP, you want to 3-bet
a stronger range that allows you to apply a lot of pressure on many different
flops and turns. You can only accomplish this goal by sticking to multi-compo-
nent hands, such as double-suited high cards.

03 Exploitative Tip
When a player at your table is open-raising extremely wide, the way
to adjust your strategy is to widen your 3-betting range. Don’t start
calling wider because a lot of these marginal hands have trouble real-
izing equity. Widening your calling range is not likely to lead to winning
pots. It is much more profitable to punish someone who is open-rais-
ing weak hands by widening your 3-betting range.

džĂŵƉůĞƐ
To clarify these Big Blind defense fundamentals, let’s go through some examples.

Hand Example 5
You are in the Big Blind, holding 6Ƈ-5Ɔ-3Ƈ-2Ɔ, facing a Button open-raise
(Diagram 13). This hand has many different components. However, the quality
of the components is very poor.

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb
1bb

0.5bb
Small Blind MP
5bb
99.5bb 100bb
3.5bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 13

ϲϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 The rank of the cards is very low, which means that this combination will flop
hands that are easily dominated, such as bottom two pair, marginal flush draws,
or the bottom end of a straight draw. Therefore, this hand should be folded.

Hand Example 6
Now assume you are holding AƇ-10ƅ-9Ƅ-7Ƅ(Diagram 14).

Big Blind EP 03
99bb 100bb
1bb

0.5bb
Small Blind MP
5bb
99.5bb 100bb
3.5bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 14
Many players would fold this hand because the Ace isn’t suited. As dis-
cussed before, the importance of holding a suited Ace isn’t crucial in heads-up
situations; it’s more about the realizability of a hand. This hand has decent
connectivity; it holds precisely one suit and some medium and high-rank cards.
For those reasons, you should call with this hand. If you are facing more than
one opponent, folding would be best.

Hand Example 7
Let’s say that now you are holding AƇ-Aƅ-8Ɔ-4Ƅ (Diagram 15).
This hand has about 62% equity against a Button open raising range, while
a hand such as KƆ-QƄ-10Ɔ-10Ƅ has 59% equity. However, with KƆ-QƄ-
10Ɔ-10Ƅ you should always be 3-betting, whereas with AƇ-Aƅ-8Ɔ-4Ƅ you
can go for a call. The fact that a lower equity hand is 3-betting more often
shows how significant the impact of equity realization for the EV of a starting
hand is. The realizability of KƆ-QƄ-10Ɔ-10Ƅ is higher as it is a multi-compo-
nent hand. It can flop a set, strong two pairs, flush draws, and straight draws.

03 - Preflop Ranges 63
 Hands with weak Aces have trouble realizing their equity because they are a
one-component hand. You are hoping to flop a decent overpair or top set, but
there are not that many boards on which you want to get a lot of chips in when
you are holding this hand.

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb
03 1bb

0.5bb
Small Blind MP
5bb
99.5bb 100bb
3.5bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 15

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ
Ƈ When you are in the Big Blind and facing a single open-raise,
there two primary things you need to consider:
Ƈ Your hand’s equity. What is the RFI range of your opponent? Is
your hand directly dominated by your opponent’s range?
Ƈ Your hand’s realizability. Is your hand a one-component or
multiple-component hand? How aggressive is your opponent
postflop?
Ƈ If you have a hand with many components it becomes easier
to realize your equity. The more rake you pay, the tighter your
calling range from the Big Blind should be.
Ƈ Your opponent’s position and range have a very strong correlation
to the EV of defending your Big Blind.
Ƈ You shouldn’t blindly call with any suited Ace just because you are
getting a reasonable price. You need additional backup.

64 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Ƈ The main factor to consider when you are thinking about
3-betting from the Big Blind is if it has a strong equity advantage
as well as smooth postflop equity distribution. You want to 3-bet
hands that will dominate and with high realizability.

ĞĨĞŶĚŝŶŐƚŚĞŝŐůŝŶĚsĞƌƐƵƐDƵůƟƉůĞWůĂLJĞƌƐ
A scenario that is especially common at the low stakes and in live games is that
you will very often face an open-raise and multiple callers. Therefore, you must 03
understand how to adjust your Big Blind ranges when facing multiple players.
The Big Blind is supposed to fold much more when facing two players com-
pared to just one. A common mistake that PLO players make is to call way too
wide when facing multiple players in the Big Blind because the odds are excel-
lent. However, when you are playing multiway pots, you want your hands to be
more nutted in order to dominate your opponents. If you start to widen your
range, you will become the dominated player yourself, and this is a slippery
slope to burning a lot of chips.
Playing against multiple opponents requires you to pay more attention to
the quality of your starting hand, as it needs to hold up against more oppo-
nents. When you are in the Big Blind and you are facing an EP open-raise, you
should play about 50% of your hands. However, versus an EP raise and a But-
ton call, you should only play about half that. Failing to make this adjustment
will cost you tons of money and you will be gifting the other two players a lot
of EV.
If you are facing more than two players, your ranges should become even
tighter. The hands you decide to play need to be very nutted. This can be a
frustrating experience in small stakes games because it requires you to be pa-
tient when everyone else at the table isn’t. But remember that most of your
profit comes from situations where you do have a big hand, raise or re-raise
preflop and benefit from your opponents’ loose preflop ranges by dominating
and stacking them postflop.
There is less variance in heads-up pots because you can win pots more
often but you should always focus on what you can control. Ensure you are
playing the correct range composition for the scenario you are about to head
into. So, which hands are best for squeezing from the Big Blind?

03 - Preflop Ranges 65
 ^ƋƵĞĞnjŝŶŐĨƌŽŵƚŚĞŝŐůŝŶĚ
Squeezing is when you face a raiser and a caller and you decide to 3-bet. You
are “squeezing” the caller or callers. Overall, when the Big Blind is facing an
open-raise from the Cutoff and a cold call from the Button, the Big Blind is
supposed to fold 65%, call 27% and 3-bet (squeeze) about 8%.
When deciding whether to squeeze, consider the following points:

Ƈ How many capped ranges are in play?

03
Ƈ Squeezing components. Specifically is my hand:

Ƈ Double-suited?
Ƈ Nutted?
Ƈ Well-connected?
Ƈ Blocking Aces?

Ƈ Can my hand call a 4-bet?

The more capped ranges that are in play, the more value you can get from
your good hands. As more players enter the pot, the SPR will be lower post-
flop. This allows you to realize more of your equity postflop in a squeezed pot.
This means there is a big difference between facing one raiser and one caller
rather than one raiser and three callers. In small stakes games, this is especially
important.

^ƋƵĞĞnjŝŶŐŽŵƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ
It isn’t necessary for your hand to feature all four components to justify a
squeeze. However, the more components you have, the more likely it is that
you are holding a hand that should be squeezed.
Being double-suited, connected and nutted is a powerful combo. It means
that you will often hit strong dominating hands postflop that can, in low SPR
scenarios, happily stack off on many different flops against multiple opponents.
This is a great scenario to be in versus capped, wide calling ranges, especially in
loose passive games where hands with low realizability are being played.
Another factor that you might want to consider is the ability of a hand to
call 4-bets. This is not as important as the other factors but worth considering.

66 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

If you can’t call a 4-bet, squeezing is less attractive because when you fold
against a 4-bet, you give up on a big pot without having the chance to realize
your equity. Blocking Aces by having an Ace in your hand is good because you
will get 4-bet less often. If you do get 4-bet, its important to know which A-x-
x-x hands can call and which should be folded. Let’s look at some examples.

Hand Example 8
You are in the Big Blind with AƄ-KƄ-Kƅ-2Ƅ and you are facing an open-raise
from MP and calls from the Cutoff and Button (Diagram 16).
03

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb
1bb

0.5bb 3.5bb
Small Blind MP
12bb
99.5bb 96.5bb
3.5bb 3.5bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 16

In general, this hand should be squeezed. It is blocking Aces and has a lot
of nuttiness with a potential set of Kings, the nut flush draw and the A-K com-
ponent. This hand can dominate lower pairs and lower flush draws in low SPR
situations which means that you will often get all the money in good. This hand
also realizes its equity better in a low SPR situation, where it doesn’t necessar-
ily have to hit a set to justify stacking off. However, when this hand is facing a
4-bet, you should fold because it is doing extremely badly against 4-betting
ranges heavy in Aces. This example illustrates that some hands can be very
profitable squeezes, but they still have to fold against 4-bets.

03 - Preflop Ranges 67
 Hand Example 9
You are in the Big Blind with Aƅ-KƆ-7Ɔ-5ƅ and you are facing an open-raise
from MP and calls from the Cutoff and Button (Diagram 17).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb
03 1bb

0.5bb 3.5bb
Small Blind MP
12bb
99.5bb 96.5bb
3.5bb 3.5bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 17

This hand is double-suited with Ace-high and King-high suits, so it has

nutted components. Holding the Ace means that you are blocking Aces which
makes it less likely you will get 4-bet. The connectivity isn’t the best but the
Ace and the King are connected, as are the seven and five. Remember that you
don’t need to rate your hand highly on all four parameters outlined previously.
However, by using the four parameters, it becomes clear that this hand could
be squeezed in this specific scenario. Nevertheless, if you were facing an early
position raise, you would rather just call. Again, this hand should fold versus a
4-bet.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ The Big Blind is supposed to fold much more when facing two
players compared to just one.
Ƈ If you are facing more than two players, your ranges should
become even tighter and you should calibrate your range towards
even more nuttiness.

68 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Ƈ The Big Blind wants to keep a tight calling range to avoid being
dominated postflop while out of position.
Ƈ When it comes to squeezing, ask yourself:

Ƈ How many capped ranges are in play?

Ƈ Squeezing components. Specifically is my hand:

Ƈ Double-suited?
Ƈ Nutted? 03
Ƈ Well-connected?
Ƈ Blocking Aces?

Ƈ Can my hand call a 4-bet?

03 - Preflop Ranges 69
04 WƌĞĨůŽƉ
ĂƚĞŐŽƌŝĞƐ
So far in this book we have discussed the most important preflop con-
cepts. In the following material, we will go into more detail about how to play
preflop by separating all the possible starting hands into nine different catego-
ries. These nine categories are:

1) Aces
2) Broadway pairs
3) Three Broadways with one dangler
4) Double-paired
5) Rundowns
6) Two Broadway with two medium-low connectors
7) Three card rundowns and a Broadway card
8) Mid-low pairs
9) Ragged hands

The next nine sections will contain a lot of detailed information as well as
a lot of numbers, and you might feel overwhelmed because of this. The way
to approach this part of the book is not to learn all numbers by heart; a much

ϳϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

more efficient method is to understand the underlying concepts and patterns.
The purpose of the nine categories is to help you build an understanding of
what factors drive specific actions and how those factors differ depending on
the type of hand that you are holding.
Let’s start with the first and easiest category.

ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJKŶĞ͗ĐĞƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
Aces are the most profitable preflop category in PLO. A lot of players who
transition from NLHE to PLO believe that Aces are not nearly as strong in PLO
when compared to NLHE because equities run closer. Although this is true, and 04
Aces don’t have as big of an advantage in PLO, they will still be by far your most
profitable hand.
Hands with Aces can vary greatly in terms of their quality. This category
includes all hands with exactly two Aces. It does not include two pair hands
(e.g. A-A-K-K), or hands that include three or even all four Aces. In total, this
category has the highest raw equity advantage of any of the nine categories.
In fact, the best Aces belong in the top 1% of hands in PLO. These are often
double-suited, connected or even both (e.g. AƄ-AƇ-JƄ-10Ƈ).
The average rank of Aces is 2.03%, which means that “average Aces” be-
long in the top 2.03% of hands. Even Aƅ-AƇ-8Ɔ-2Ƅ, one of the worst hands
that includes exactly two Aces, still ranks in the top 5% of hands.

ZĂŝƐĞ&ŝƌƐƚͲŝŶ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
This category has a very simple RFI strategy. You want to open 100% of the
time when you are holding two Aces in your starting hand. No matter what
position you are in.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂ^ŝŶŐůĞZĂŝƐĞƌ;DWsĞƌƐƵƐWͿ
When you are holding Aces, you should never fold when facing a single open-
raise preflop. When you are in middle position and facing an early position
open-raise, you almost always want to 3-bet. Calculations show that you
should 3-bet 93% of the time to be precise. There are a few reasons why you
should almost always 3-bet with Aces.
First of all, Aces usually have a very strong equity edge, so you benefit

04 - Preflop Categories 71
 from extracting as much value as possible. Second, by 3-betting you are re-
opening the action, which allows someone to come over the top with a 4-bet,
allowing you to build a huge pot with an equity advantage. Third, by 3-betting
you create fold equity. If your opponent folds their hand against your 3-bet,
you pick up the blinds and the initial open-raise uncontested, which results in a
huge win for that situation.
Finally, Aces play much better in low SPR situations compared to high ones.
Aces don’t score very well when it comes to realizability of equity because most
Aces don’t flop very smooth. But at a low SPR you can realize more equity since
you will have to play fewer streets and therefore make fewer postflop decisions.
A final point to make is that when you are in middle position, it is generally
04 not very profitable to cold call because postflop you will often be sandwiched
between the PFR and the Button or Cutoff who will frequently cold call after
you have cold called.
Although you should almost always 3-bet when you are holding Aces,
there are four situations where it can be more profitable to call.

1) When you have weak Aces and are either:

Ƈ In position with little chance that you can get 4-bet light.
Ƈ Out of position and the flop SPR after 3-betting would still be
higher than 3. In this scenario you don’t want to build a big pot
because you will often be put in tough spots postflop. You will
end up folding a lot and under-realizing your equity.

2) If players at your table are very loose, and 3-bets get cold-called fre-
quently, it might be better to just flat marginal Aces because you can’t avoid a
multiway pot.
3) If the players at your table play very aggressively or if you have a lot of
short-stacked players behind, it might be worth it to trap with Aces in order to
be able to come over the top of a squeeze.

The Aces that you want to use to call all have some combination of:

Ƈ Three cards of the same suit (trip-suited)

Ƈ A very low suit without any additional connectivity
Ƈ No cards of the same suit (rainbow).

ϳϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Note that not all Aces with bad suits and connectivity just call, only the
worst of the worst ones do. As the original open-raiser gets closer to the
Button and widens his range, you should be 3-betting closer to 100% of your
Aces.
Examples of hands that you should call with preflop are:

AƆ-AƄ-9Ƅ-4Ƅ.
This hand has no additional high cards or connectivity and blocks its
ability to make flushes by holding three spades. Although most Aces
benefit from 3-betting to create a bigger pot at a lower SPR, this hand
should just be called. This hand is holding no additional backup, which
means that there are too few good flops for this hand to justify inflat- 04
ing the pot by 3-betting.

Aƅ-AƇ-5Ɔ-3Ƅ.
This hand has no high cards and no way to make a flush. Again, the eq-
uity realizability of this hand is very bad and, for that reason, this hand
should not be used to inflate the pot. You should call.

Exploitative Tip
Take the tendencies of the original raiser and the players behind you
into account. If the initial open-raiser doesn’t fold to 3-bets, you
should be 3-betting 100% of all A-A-x-x combinations. The initial
open-raiser is supposed to fold a lot of their Broadway pairs, but if
they don’t, you can make a lot of money with all your Aces because
you will very often dominate their Kings and Queens hands.

If the players behind you play very loose, you will have to adjust your strat-
egy. Aces with very weak backup don’t want to get into a multiway 3-bet pot.
In this case, it could make sense to widen your calling range and include some
more Aces that don’t have many additional components. On the other hand, if
there is a maniac on the left of you who is 3-betting every hand you might also
want to consider cold-calling preflop in order to give the maniac the option to
squeeze and get the money in light.

04 - Preflop Categories 73
 ŝŐůŝŶĚsĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ

BB Versus EP
About 20% of all Aces should be called in the Big Blind versus an EP open-raise.
The types of Aces that want to call instead of 3-betting are the ones with the
worst playability and the lowest equity advantage.
When you are 3-betting OOP, you want to stack off postflop as often as
possible and fold as little as possible because you don’t want to give up easily
in big pots. Aces without much playability are better off played by keeping the
pot small because they don’t hit a lot of flops and therefore must often give
up. When you are in the Big Blind, you already know how many players you will
04 face postflop as there are no players behind you. So, 3-betting to get other
players out of the pot is no longer a valid reason. An example of a hand that
would rather call against an early position open-raise is AƆ-Aƅ-10Ƅ-2Ƅ. This
hand doesn’t have a great suit, and it has very little connectivity, which makes
calling the most profitable option.

BB Versus Button
The Button range is much wider than the Early Position open raising range.
Therefore, the equity advantage with Aces becomes more significant and the
Big Blind wants to 3-bet more Aces versus a Button open-raise compared to
an Early Position open-raise. Against a Button raise, the Big Blind is only sup-
posed to call with the 5% absolute worst rainbow Aces that don’t have good
connectivity or that do have connectivity, but with very low cards. Two exam-
ples of Aces that should call from the Big Blind against a Button open-raise are
Aƅ-AƄ-KƇ-2Ɔ and AƄ-AƇ-3Ɔ-2ƅ.

BB Versus Two Opponents (BB Versus Button and MP)

The GTO baseline is to 3-bet all Aces combinations against one raiser and
one caller. When multiple players have already entered the pot, the Big Blind
can 3-bet to a bigger sizing meaning that the SPR will be lower compared to
heads-up pots. A lower SPR implies that it is easier for the Big Blind to play
postflop. For Aces without many additional components, playing at a low SPR
is exceptionally advantageous.
There is a further reason why the Big Blind 3-bets more often versus mul-
tiple players. It is because the initial open-raiser should fold around 30% against

74 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

a Big Blind squeeze in this scenario. Having a lot of fold equity makes 3-betting
much more profitable. But pay attention! In most small stakes games, you have
less fold equity and should be cautious about 3-betting marginal hands such as
naked Aces. It’s not the same to squeeze against a solid regular at a mid-stakes
game, than against a loose recreational player who won’t consider folding pre-
flop versus a 3-bet. Take this into account whenever you are thinking about
squeezing preflop.

Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB): Slowplaying Aces

When you are in position and facing a 3-bet, GTO suggests that you should
call with between 10% and 35% of all Aces, depending on the exact situation.
You should 4-bet with all remaining Aces. Most players 4-bet 100% of their 04
Aces when they are facing a 3-bet, but you should add in some Aces into your
calling range.
The main advantages of flatting some Aces preflop are as follows:
Firstly, you want to stack your opponents as often as possible when they
are holding big Broadway pairs such as K-K and Q-Q. Aces are completely
dominating these Broadway pairs but by 4-betting you give your opponents
the chance to fold and get away cheaply, which leads to a loss in EV.
Secondly, when you 4-bet preflop, you make quite a big investment with
your hand. In 4-bet pots, you play with very shallow stacks and you want to
make sure that you can stack-off as often as possible in these big pots. To
avoid building massive pots and folding postflop, some of the weaker Aces find
their way into the calling range.
GTO assumes that players out of position are folding 30-40% of the time
when they face a 4-bet after 3-betting themselves. In reality, most players
fold against 4-bets with a much lower frequency. In fact, most players will
probably never fold against a 4-bet after 3-betting. For this reason, it can be
an excellent exploitative adjustment to call less than 30% of your Aces preflop
versus a 3-bet when you are in position. If your opponents underfold against
4-bets, it means that you can get a lot of money in with Aces that are often
holding a significant equity advantage.
I recommend that you call with about 15% of your Aces when you are
100bb deep and facing a 3-bet when you are in position. Call with Aces that
are holding two wheel cards or two cards that are very close to wheel cards,
for example Aƅ-AƄ-2Ƅ-3Ƈ (wheel cards) or AƆ-AƄ-6Ɔ-4Ƅ (close to wheel

04 - Preflop Categories 75
 cards). Suits don’t have a significant impact in this scenario; it’s all about the
rank of your side cards. You want to call with these hands for a few reasons.
Firstly, Aces with wheel cards have the fewest number of flops on which
you want to stack-off postflop. Therefore, building a large pot by 4-betting
isn’t as preferable nor as profitable. For example, A-A-2-5 is doing poorly on
connected mid-high flops, such as 9-8-5, Q-10-6, and K-Q-8.
Secondly, flatting Aces with wheel cards will allow you to stack your op-
ponent’s overpairs while having a considerable equity advantage when the
flop comes with low cards such as 9ƅ-5Ƈ-3Ƅ. At an SPR of 3.5 (3-bet pot at
100bb), your opponent is supposed to play very aggressively and often pot-size
c-bet with all overpairs on such low, dry boards. When this happens, you can
04 often get all the money in with 80% equity when holding Aces with wheel cards.
Remember, you seldom want to just call with Aces that also hold an addi-
tional Broadway card. One of the main reasons for slowplaying Aces is to stack
your opponent when they hold a Broadway pair, so you don’t want to block
these Broadway pairs when you decide to slowplay.

Exploitative Tip
If the player who 3-bets you never folds to 4-bets, you should go
ahead and 4-bet (almost) all Aces because your opponent will call with
hands that you completely dominate. If the 3-bettor is a complete
maniac, you should also get the money in because you will do very well
versus their all-in range.

Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff)

When you are out of position, you should 4-bet 100% of the time. Out of
position, it becomes much harder to realize your equity and, therefore, it is
less profitable to slowplay Aces preflop in order to dominate and stack your
opponent postflop. Just 4-bet and get the remaining money in on most flops.

Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button)

With Aces, you are almost always benefiting from getting all the money in pre-
flop because you will always have an equity advantage unless your opponent is
holding better Aces. So, whenever you are facing a 4-bet while holding Aces,
you should 5-bet to get the money in.

76 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJdǁŽ͗ƌŽĂĚǁĂLJWĂŝƌƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
This category includes all hands that are holding a Broadway pair, excluding
Aces, two pair hands, and hands with three or four cards of the same rank.
There are a total of 25,433 different hands in this category, which means that
you get dealt one of these hands about 9.36% of the time.
This category is relatively strong but also very diverse. The hand with the
highest EV in this category is AƆ-KƆ-KƄ-JƄ, which ranks in the top 1% of
hands. The average rank of this category is 17.18%.
Players learning PLO often overvalue Broadway pairs. Although hands such
as Kings and Queens are quite profitable when played correctly, they can also
04
get you into trouble, especially if you systematically overplay them. However,
in this section, we will discuss how to avoid this common pitfall.

Z&/ƐƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ

Early Position
From EP, only about 35% of the hands that belong in this category should be
open-raised. There are some traits that all hands that want to open-raise have
in common.
The first is the importance of having an Ace. A hand with two Kings but
without an Ace only wants to open-raise 50% of the time. If you are holding an
Ace alongside your Kings, you want to open-raise 100%! This concept is very
similar when it comes to Queens, Jacks, or Tens. Although you don’t want to
open 100% of these pairs with an Ace, the open raising frequency drastically
increases when you do hold an Ace compared to not holding an Ace.
The reason why the Ace is such an important component is simple. When
you are holding a high pocket pair, you hate to get 3-bet because you are so
often up against, and dominated by, Aces. Holding an Ace makes it less likely
that one of your opponents has Aces, and therefore decreases the chance that
you will face a 3-bet preflop. Given that you can also hit a top pair with an Ace
on the flop, the EV of open raising a Broadway pair is much higher when you
are holding an Ace.
Although Queens are not as strong as Kings, with A-Q-Q-x, you still want

04 - Preflop Categories 77
 to open-raise very close to 100%. When you are holding Jacks or Tens plus an
Ace, you want to open slightly less frequently. To be specific, only the top 80%
of all Jacks and Tens with an Ace should be raised. You want to fold the Jacks
and Tens with the worst suitedness or connectivity.
When you are not holding an Ace, the rank of your pair becomes much
more important. Without an Ace, you want to raise close to 50% of all Kings,
but only about 14% of Tens. The Tens you do want to open-raise have either
high suits, great connectivity or both.
An example of Tens without an Ace that you want to open-raise is 10Ƈ-
10Ƅ-9ƅ-8Ƈ. This hand is exactly single-suited to the ten, and it is well con-
nected, meaning that you can call a 3-bet with it. An example of a hand that you
04 don’t want to open-raise with is KƆ-10Ɔ-10Ƅ-2Ƅ. This hand looks nice because
it is double-suited but the connectivity is very marginal given the deuce is a total
dangler. This hand can’t call 3-bets and it also doesn’t do that well in multiway
pots due to the lack of nuttiness. You want to fold this hand preflop.
Additional Notes:

Ƈ When you are holding a suited Ace alongside your Broadway pair,
you want to open-raise very close to 100% (except for some of
the worst trip-suited or monotone pocket pairs). If you open-
raise from EP, the chance that you will end up playing a multiway
pot is high and, with a suited Ace, your hand will do much better
in multiway pots.
Ƈ When you are holding pocket pairs with two cards that are five
or lower you almost always want to fold. With such low cards,
your hand is disconnected, not very nutted, and raising from early
position becomes unprofitable.

Button
As you get closer to the Button, you should start opening much wider. On the
Button, you are supposed to open-raise about 94% of all Broadway pairs, an
increase from 35% when playing EP. An example of a hand that should be fold-
ed, even from the Button, is 10Ɔ-10Ƅ-5Ƅ-2Ƅ. The equity realizability of this
hand is very poor because it has very few great flops. You should just fold this
hand, especially at small stakes or live games with loose opponents.

78 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP)
When you sit in MP and a player opens from EP, most Broadway pairs should
be folded. You want to fold the bottom 77% of Broadway pairs, call 17% and
3-bet about 6% of the time.

Calling MP Versus EP
The most important determinant here is the rank of your pair. With Kings you
have the highest calling frequency (31%) and with tens you have the lowest
calling frequency (11%). The hands you want to call with need to have strong
connectivity and suitedness to justify a call. As your pair rank gets lower, the
other components of the hand must improve to make calling and likely heading
into a multiway pot the highest EV play. 04
Let’s consider two hand examples. In both situations, you sit in MP, and you
are facing an open-raise from EP playing 100bb. The only difference between
the two examples is the hands you are holding.

KƆ-KƄ-9Ƅ-8Ƅ
The value of this hand comes from having a high pair (flopping top
set), the connectivity (flopping high straight draws) and the suited-
ness (having a King-high flush draw is much better than a nine-high
flush). Holding a high pair and a high suit make this hand a good fit for
a multiway pot and it should be called.

10Ƈ-10Ɔ-9Ɔ-8Ƅ
Although this hand is single-suited rather than trip-suited, the rank is
lower, meaning that you are less likely to dominate your opponents in
scenarios where you get a lot of money in on a board with a flush draw.
Since you are “only” holding a ten-high suit, you are much more like-
ly to be the dominated player yourself since you are facing a Broad-
way-heavy EP raising range. You are also less likely to flop overpairs
or top sets. The connectivity of this hand is better than the previous
hand, but this doesn’t add enough EV to this hand to justify a call. Nut-
tiness is the essential factor in this situation because it is very likely
that this hand will end up in a multiway pot. For those reasons, you
should fold this hand versus an EP open-raise, even though you would
open it yourself from any position.

04 - Preflop Categories 79
 3-Betting MP Versus EP
When it comes to 3-betting, the rank of the pair is much less important when
compared to calling. When you call preflop from middle position, you can ex-
pect to play multiway pots. High pairs do better in multiway pots because they
are more nutted, so you are more likely to win big pots postflop with high pairs
because you can dominate your opponents. In 3-bet pots, “smoothness” is
more important because you want to be able to get the money in on as many
flops as possible when you are in a big 3-bet pot.
The optimal 3-bet frequency when in MP versus EP with Broadway pairs is
close to 6%. If you paid attention in the RFI section of this category, you won’t
be surprised by the main 3-bet requirement of this category: without an Ace,
04 you are never 3-betting MP versus EP with a Broadway pair.
In general, the Ace is a crucial card when it comes to 3-betting in PLO be-
cause it drastically reduces the chance that your opponent is holding Aces and
you get 4-bet. Most 4-betting ranges are very focused on Aces, so you are
usually in a nasty spot whenever you get 4-bet while holding a Broadway pair. To
avoid this terrible outcome as much as possible, you should only 3-bet Broadway
pairs from this position if you are holding an Ace alongside with your pair.
Another important aspect is suitedness. Rainbow hands should never be
3-bet by the middle position player. Double-suited Broadway pair combina-
tions with an Ace should almost always be 3-bet. Again, Broadway pairs with-
out an Ace should never be 3-bet in this situation, even when double-suited.
When it comes to 3-betting single-suited Broadway pairs, focus on hands
that have a significant equity advantage or extremely good realizability. Again,
having an Ace is a must when it comes to 3-betting in this scenario. An exam-
ple of a hand that has a big equity advantage is Aƅ-KƇ-KƄ-8Ƅ. This hand is
also blocking Aces, has a high Broadway pair, and a King-high suit.
However, the difference between 3-betting and calling is slim for the
single-suited hands in this category. Let’s compare AƄ-Kƅ-KƇ-2Ƅ to Aƅ-
KƇ-KƄ-8ƅ:
AƄ-Kƅ-KƇ-2Ƅ also has a big equity advantage versus the early position
open raising range with the A-K-K combination and high suit. The difference
is AƄ-Kƅ-KƇ-2Ƅ is a great hand for multiway situations as it can make wheel
straights. The suited Ace alongside the Kings make this hand very nutted. Call-
ing becomes more profitable than 3-betting. Remember we’re always com-

ϴϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

paring strategic options in poker and choosing the one with the highest EV.
Whoever is right more often will win.
Another example of a hand that should 3-bet is AƆ-JƆ-JƄ-9Ƅ, even though
the Jack-high pair is a weak Broadway pair, having an Ace means you are less
likely to get 4-bet. The connectivity is quite good, and the double-suitedness
to the Ace and the Jack adds even more value to this hand. Importantly, this
combination flops smoothly as there are a lot of favorable flops for this hand.
Therefore 3-betting is the way to go.
As either you or the open-raiser starts to get closer to the Button, you can
widen up your Broadway pair value range, and you can begin to 3-bet some of
the best double-suited and connected hands that don’t hold an Ace. The way
you want to widen your range is by focusing on suitedness and connectivity, 04
and not the rank of the pair.

ŝŐůŝŶĚsĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ

The Big Blind can call (50%), and 3-bet (8%) with this category against an EP
open-raise. Keep in mind that the lower the pair, the higher the folding fre-
quency. Kings only fold about 3% while tens fold about 50%.
The EP open-raising range includes a lot of high Broadway pairs, which
means many hands that include two Jacks or tens that the Big Blind can be
holding are easily dominated.
When it comes to 3-betting, you still often need an Ace, or for your hand
to score very well on realizability. An example of a hand that should 3-bet
against an early position open-raise without an Ace is JƆ-10Ɔ-10Ƅ-9Ƅ. This
hand flops very smooth, which makes this combination a good fit for playing
3-bet pots. In case your opponent 4-bets you preflop, this hand can still call.

BB Versus Button
The Button raising range is much wider and much more diverse compared to
the EP open-raising range. The Big Blind can profitably play 100% of hands
from this category. Being dominated while holding a Broadway pair is no longer
a big worry because the Button is not as focused on high cards as the EP player
is. The Button also opens a lot of low pairs, and all the Broadway pairs are doing
very well against this part of the Button’s open-raising range.

04 - Preflop Categories 81
 Because of the ability to dominate the Button’s range, the Big Blind should
3-bet with about 25% of all Broadway pairs. Again, its usually the higher pairs
that should 3-bet, specifically 47% of all Kings compared to 11% of all tens.
Besides the rank of the pair, the standard 3-betting requirements still apply,
e.g. blocking Aces, having good connectivity and good suitedness are all criti-
cal factors when you are considering whether to 3-bet or call. The difference
is that when you are holding tens, you need stronger representation in these
components compared to when you are holding Kings. Two examples are:

KƆ-KƄ-5Ɔ-3Ƅ
This hand should be 3-bet BB versus Button because it has a signifi-
04 cant equity advantage against the Button open raising range, and good
suitedness with two King-high suits. The connectivity of this hand is
marginal, but overall the realizability that this hand offers in a 3-bet
pot is high. Because of the high pair and flush draw, you can dominate
your opponent’s pair plus draw and stack them.

10Ƅ-10Ɔ-6Ɔ-5Ƅ
This hand has better connectivity than the previous one. However,
the rank of the pair is much lower, so you have less chance to dom-
inate your opponent postflop. It’s harder to run into a weaker flush,
set or flop an overpair. The equity advantage of this hand is much less
compared to the previous hand and therefore this hand should just be
called from the Big Blind.

sĞƌƐƵƐdǁŽKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ;sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶĂŶĚDWͿ
The Big Blind should rarely fold a Broadway pocket pair against two opponents.
You only fold 13.5% of the hands from this category. In multiway pots, nut-
tiness becomes more important, and, with Broadway pairs, the Big Blind gets
an excellent price to try and flop a high set or high flush or straight draw. Fold
the weakest Broadway pairs and call the rest. Just remember, you should still
be willing to let your hand go on the flop against a bet if you only flop a weak
overpair in a multiway pot.
The Big Blind should squeeze about 15% of the time versus Button and MP
with Broadway pairs. By far, the best hands to squeeze with are Kings. About
35% of Kings should be played this way.

ϴϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Kings are very profitable to use as a squeeze for the following reasons:

Ƈ The initial open-raiser is supposed to fold with a high frequency

against a Big Blind squeeze. They are stuck between you and the
Button both preflop and postflop. This makes the EV of a preflop
call much worse for the initial raiser.
Ƈ When you get called, you are usually pushing an equity edge
versus their calling range. It’s very profitable for the Big Blind to
build a bigger pot with a dominating hand against the cold-caller.
If you do get 4-bet, Kings are straightforward to play. Mostly you
just fold.
04
Almost all Kings that are also holding an Ace should be squeezed (88%).
Just call with rainbow A-K-K combinations. Without an Ace, 25% of the re-
maining King combos should still be squeezed. These are Kings with high realiz-
ability by having both strong connectivity and suitedness. An excellent example
of Kings without an Ace that should be squeezed is KƆ-KƄ-JƆ-7Ƅ. This hand
has great suitedness and also has some additional connectivity which makes it
a great candidate to squeeze. If you get called, there are a lot of ways you can
make the best hand postflop or flop good draws and dominate your opponent.
When you get 4-bet, you have an easy fold.
Queens, Jacks and tens should be squeezed way less often than Kings be-
cause these pairs have less chance to dominate the opponent and it’s more
likely that you are the one dominated. Some of these lower Broadway pairs
should still be squeezed but they require much better additional components
to justify this action. They need excellent connectivity plus suitedness or to
have an Ace alongside some decent connectivity and/or suitedness.
An example is AƆ-QƄ-10Ɔ-10Ƅ. This hand has a nut suit as well as a
Queen-high suit. It has the potential to make straights, and it can flop a strong
set with the tens. The playability, nuttiness, and the fact that this hand blocks
Aces makes it a good candidate to squeeze.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚ/W;ƵƚŽĨĨsĞƌƐƵƐ^Ϳ
In general, after opening in the Cutoff and getting 3-bet by the Small Blind,
you should only fold 11% of the time overall. However, Broadway pairs are
folding at double that rate. GTO suggests that you should fold about 23% of

04 - Preflop Categories 83
 the time, call 75% of the time and 4-bet 2% of the time against a Small Blind
3-bet with hands from this category.
When facing a 3-bet, you are mainly looking to call with hands that have
decent playability and can realize their equity postflop as often as possible.
So, when deciding whether to call or fold, you should mainly be looking at the
connectivity and suitedness of the hand.
A reason for this high folding frequency can be explained by taking an in-
depth look at the preflop open-raising ranges from the Cutoff. Almost any
combination with two Kings should be open-raised from the Cutoff. On the
other hand, when you decide to open-raise from the Cutoff with tens, Jacks
and (to a certain degree) with Queens, you have to be more selective and need
04 the right combination of additional backup.
You are looking for better suitedness and connectivity with these pairs
compared to when you are open raising with Kings. Kings have more equity
compared to other Broadway pairs and because of this equity advantage, the
sidecards of the hand become less important.
A lot of these Kings that don’t have useful additional components have to
fold against 3-bets because they lack playability. This is one of the main fac-
tors why the overall fold to 3-bet percentage of this category is so high.
The second reason is much more straightforward. More than half of the
Small Blind 3-betting range is made up of Aces, Kings, and Queens. For this
reason, you must be very cautious when you are holding tens, Jacks, or Queens
because the Cutoff will be easily dominated with these pairs against a Small
Blind 3-betting range.

Tip
Unless you are facing an opponent who is 3-betting very wide and
very aggressively, you should never 4-bet with Broadway pairs IP.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚKKW;DWsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽĨĨͿ
When you are out of position, the strategy for playing against 3-bets changes.
Let’s imagine a scenario where you open from MP, and get 3-bet by the Cut-
off. The range of the Cutoff range will mainly consist of Aces, double-suited
rundowns and connected Broadway hands.
If you are up against Aces, you are often in terrible shape. If you are up
against a rundown, your opponent will flop very smooth which means that they

84 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

will be able to use their positional advantage by betting on a lot of different
boards on which you are often unable to continue. For this reason, you want to
fold about 43% of your Broadway pairs when you get 3-bet and are OOP.
A few good rules of thumb when it comes to calling 3-bets OOP are:

Ƈ Call with hands that have good connectivity.

Ƈ When your hand is rainbow, you always fold.
Ƈ When your hand is double-suited, you always call.
Ƈ When you hold Kings with an Ace, you always call (except for the
rainbow hands).

Here are some examples: 04

Aƅ-QƄ-QƆ-9Ƅ
This hand looks very strong but a higher pair will often dominate the
Queens, and you can lose a lot of chips in such a scenario. The hand
has medium to strong connectivity and suitedness, but this is not good
enough to make up for the equity disadvantage you have with this
hand against a tight 3-betting range. This hand should be folded.

AƄ-KƄ-KƆ-2Ƅ
Kings are already a much better candidate to call a 3-bet compared to
Queens. Kings are less often dominated and you might even be able to
dominate your opponent. The suited Ace is very useful, so this hand
is a call.

JƇ-JƆ-10Ɔ-8Ƅ
Although the Jacks are easily dominated, the smoothness of this hand
makes up for this deficiency. The excellent connectivity and decent
suitedness mean that there are a lot of different flops where you can
happily get the money in. This hand can call a 3-bet when out of po-
sition.

When you are OOP, you benefit from ending the pot as soon as possible.
Playing at low SPRs is beneficial when you are OOP because you will have to
play fewer streets with a positional disadvantage. For this reason, I suggest

04 - Preflop Categories 85
 that you 4-bet Cutoff versus MP with most of the double-suited Broadway
pairs that also have an Ace. These hands block Aces and flop enough equity on
a high frequency of different boards which means that these hands can go all-
in on a wide variety of flops.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϰͲďĞƚ;^sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶͿ
Let’s imagine a situation in which the Button opens, you 3-bet from the Small
Blind, and the Button 4-bets.
How should you approach this situation when you are holding a Broadway
pair? Overall, single-suited Broadway pairs should fold about 85% of the time.
Suitedness or having an Ace with connectivity are the two most important
04 determinants for the action you should take. Remember that in this case, the
rank of your pair is not nearly as important.

When it comes to calling 4-bets, it’s all about being able to stack
off on as many different boards as possible.

When you are holding a double-suited Broadway pair, you should call with
the hands that have four cards that are all somewhat connected. As soon as
you hold one dangler, you should fold. KƆ-10Ɔ-10Ƅ-5Ƅ is double-suited, but
the 5Ƅ is unconnected with the other cards of your hand and makes this a fold.
The hand KƆ-KƄ-5Ɔ-4Ƅ is also double-suited but the sidecards are connect-
ed. A hand such as KƄ-KƆ-10Ƈ-9Ƅ is only single-suited but well connected.
These hands can call a 4-bet.
When your hand is not double-suited, you should fold about 86% of the
time. The only hands that should be called are some of the best connected
Kings and Queens. To justify a call with Kings you need a suited Ace and exactly
two cards of the same suit, not more.

ϱͲďĞƚƚŝŶŐ;^sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶͿ
When you are holding a double-suited Broadway pair with an Ace, the GTO play
is to 5-bet about 90% of the time. Broadway pairs that 5-bet always have an
Ace. In fact, every double-suited combo with an Ace except for some of the
worst connected tens, should be 5-bet.
Some of the best single-suited Broadway pairs that are holding an Ace can
also be 5-bet. These need very strong additional connectivity and high equity.

86 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

An example would be AƄ-KƇ-Kƅ-10Ƅ.

Exploitative Tip
If everyone at your table is playing an optimal strategy, you should
be 5-betting with almost all double-suited Broadway pairs that also
include an Ace. To justify 5-betting, your opponents would need to be
4-betting with hands that aren’t exclusively Aces.

In a GTO scenario, your opponent would also 4-bet some double-suited

rundowns, Broadway pairs, and connected Broadway hands. If this isn’t the
case in your small stakes or live game, you shouldn’t 5-bet without Aces since
your equity won’t be as good. In those games, you should just call with the 04
non-Aces hands that would 5-bet in a GTO scenario.

ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJdŚƌĞĞ͗dŚƌĞĞƌŽĂĚǁĂLJĂƌĚƐ
ǁŝƚŚKŶĞEŽŶͲƌŽĂĚǁĂLJ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
This category includes all hands that hold exactly three Broadway cards (A-10)
plus exactly one non-Broadway card (2-9). Hands that belong in other cate-
gories (for example rundowns or pairs) are excluded from this category.
There are a total of 16,640 different hands in this category which means
that you get dealt one of them about 6.15% of the time. The hand with the
highest EV in this category is AƆ-JƄ-10Ƅ-8Ɔ, which ranks in the top 4% of
hands. The average rank of a hand in this category is 22.71%.

Z&/ƐƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ

Early Position
From EP, about 39% of hands in this category should be open-raised. The re-
quirements to open-raise from EP are reasonably straightforward. All dou-
ble-suited hands should be open-raised. With these hands, you can call 3-bets
due to the excellent playability. These hands do well in multiway pots because
they are nutty and can flop nutted draws and high pairs. All rainbow- or mono-
tone hands should be folded because they lack playability and nuttiness.

04 - Preflop Categories 87
 When it comes to single-suited variations, the most important differen-
tiator is the Ace. All single-suited hands that are suited to the Ace should be
opened. Hands that are trip-suited to the Ace should only be open-raised when
all four cards work together, so you should be folding most of these (83%).
Almost all single-suited hands without an Ace should be folded (98%).
For example, consider AƆ-QƆ-JƆ-8Ƅ. This hand has a nut suit, is quite well
connected, and all four cards are working together. It can flop a lot of straights
or straight draws as well as strong two pairs. Holding three cards of the same
suit, the suitedness isn’t amazing, but it is an Ace-high suit, which adds nutti-
ness to the hand.
Hands that are single-suited with an unsuited Ace are mostly folded (about
04 85%). To be a good open-raise candidate, these hands again need to have four
cards that connect well with each other, or the three Broadway cards need to
be very high and well connected, such as AƆ-KƄ-JƇ-5Ƅ. The Cutoff margins for
when these hands can be folded or open-raised are very thin, and it’s not a big
deal if you open-raise slightly too wide or too tight with these hands. If you’re
likely to go multiway, as in small stakes games, or play in a highly-raked envi-
ronment, then fold all but the best single-suited hands without an offsuit Ace.

Button
As you get closer to the blinds, you can start to open-raise much wider, up to
97% on the Button. Just fold the absolute worst hands, monotone and rainbow
hands with danglers such as Qƅ-JƄ-10Ɔ-2Ƈ.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂ^ŝŶŐůĞZĂŝƐĞƌ;DWsĞƌƐƵƐWͿ
Hands in this category that are double-suited and have an Ace are good can-
didates to 3-bet as long as they have no wheel cards. When you are holding
wheel cards, it’s often better to call. Without wheel cards, the hands are often
more strongly connected.
Without an Ace, 70% of double-suited hands should be folded. In these
cases, the connectivity of the hand becomes the critical factor. You only want
to 3-bet with the absolute best-connected double-suited hands and you want
to call with the hands that are slightly less well connected. An example of a
hand that could go for a 3-bet is KƄ-JƆ-10Ɔ-7Ƅ because this hand features
high cards, combined with good suitedness and connectivity. This hand flops
a very smooth equity distribution and has very high realizability. A hand such

88 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

as KƆ-JƆ-10Ƅ-5Ƅ is similar, but the 5Ƅ makes this hand much less connected
compared to the previous hand. The suitedness is also slightly worse which
reduces the playability of this hand. It should just be folded.
The only single-suited hands in this category that can be 3-bet are the
hands that have four connected cards (and all cards 7 or higher) and the hand
must also hold a suited Ace. For example, AƄ-QƆ-10Ƈ-8Ƅ. This hand has good
connectivity combined with a suited Ace which adds nuttiness. However, it is
also fine to call these hands preflop. Your preferred action will depend on your
opponent and the type of game you are in, as well as the rake structure.
All calling hands have a suited Ace. They are slightly less well-connected
than the hands that want to 3-bet but you still need excellent connectivity to
call. An example of a hand that would call is AƄ-KƇ-10Ɔ-8Ƅ. This hand is very 04
similar to the earlier example that you are supposed to 3-bet. The difference
is marginal but this hand is slightly less well connected (given the King and 8)
which makes it a better candidate for calling rather than 3-betting preflop.
Almost all trip-suited hands should be folded when facing a raise, except
for the combinations that have very strong connectivity such as AƆ-QƆ-10Ɔ-
9Ƅ. All rainbow hands and monotone hands also fold preflop.

sĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ

BB Versus EP
The Big Blind is supposed to fold around 57% of hands in this category against
an EP raise. The calling range is made up of 38% of the hands in this category,
and the remaining 5% should be used as a 3-bet.
The two most important factors are again connectivity and suitedness. For
example, 100% of the rainbow hands should be folded in this spot, whereas
100% of the double-suited hands should be called or used for a 3-bet.
The hands that should be folded either score very poorly in suitedness or
connectivity, without making up for this deficiency in the other component.
They often have contain a dangler, for example, AƇ-KƄ-10Ɔ-4Ƅ, making the
connectivity weak. As with all the other hands in this category, this combina-
tion has some connectivity due to the three Broadway cards. But the 4Ƅ is a
dangler and it is almost worthless versus an EP raising range. The connectivity
of this hand is weak compared to all the hands in this category.
AƆ-KƇ-10Ɔ-5Ƅ has the same connectivity problems as the previous

04 - Preflop Categories 89
 hand. However, the suitedness of this combination is much better, and makes
up for the weak connectivity. Therefore, this hand should be called against an
EP open-raise. In general, you should never fold a hand from this category with
precisely two cards from the same suit, suited to the Ace.
When it comes to 3-betting, the hands with the highest raw equity should
be used to 3-bet. Most of the hands that are part of this range are double-suit-
ed hands with good connectivity, such as AƄ-QƆ-10Ɔ-9Ƅ. There are also a
few single-suited hands that can be 3-bet. If a hand is single-suited, it must be
extremely well connected to justify 3-betting, such as AƄ-JƇ-10Ɔ-8Ƅ.

BB Versus Button
04 From the Big Blind, you can play about 81% of all hands in this category against
a Button open-raise. Only fold the worst rainbow hands.
When you are holding a single-suited hand, you should never be 3-betting
without a suited Ace. Around 14% of all the single-suited hands that include a
suited Ace can be used for a 3-bet. The remaining 86% should be used to call,
as with most of the other hands from this category.
Only the best-connected hands are being 3-bet. An example of a 3-bet-
ting hand is AƆ-QƆ-10Ƈ-8Ɔ. This hand is well connected and has a suited
Ace. These two factors make the hand score much higher on realizability. You
are also blocking Aces with this hand which means that it’s less likely you get
4-bet.
Most double-suited hands should be 3-bet (82%). The hands in this cat-
egory are very nutted because they will very often dominate the Button who
has a lot of medium-high card combinations in their range. The double-suited-
ness adds a great deal of playability and realizability to the hands and it pro-
vides an even more significant equity advantage.

sĞƌƐƵƐdǁŽKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ;sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶĂŶĚDWͿ
In this situation with this category, you should fold 61% of hands, call 32% and
squeeze 7%. Fold the hands that have the worst combination of playability and
nuttiness. As in most multiway scenarios, all the rainbow hands should be fold-
ed. Another example of a hand that you should fold is AƇ-QƆ-10Ƅ-2Ƅ. This
hand isn’t very nutted and has only a ten-high suit.
About 7% should be squeezed. The hands that should be squeezed here are
almost all double-suited hands with an Ace. Double-suited hands without an

ϵϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Ace should mainly be called.
The remaining 32% of hands should be called. These hands either score
well on playability but bad in nuttiness, well in nuttiness but bad in playability
or they have an average score in both categories. Some examples are:

KƄ-JƆ-10Ɔ-3Ƅ
This hand has three connected Broadway cards and the suits are de-
cently high. However, it doesn’t have an Ace, which is usually a require-
ment when it comes to squeezing. This hand also holds a dangler which
makes the connectivity much worse and turns this hand into a call.

AƄ-KƆ-10Ƈ-3Ƅ 04
This hand is more nutted due to the suited Ace, but it’s just single-suit-
ed and also holding a dangler. For those reasons, this hand should also
be called.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚ/W;ƵƚŽĨĨsĞƌƐƵƐ^Ϳ
Single-suited hands without an Ace should always call the 3-bet. Not holding
an Ace means you are automatically well enough connected to be able to call
3-bets because you will be holding three cards that are between a King and a
ten. The suit doesn’t even matter anymore if the connectivity is this good.
Single-suited hands with a suited Ace should also always be called preflop
in position. Single-suited hands with an Ace that isn’t suited should mostly be
folded (70%). Only the hands with the best connectivity can be called, such as
AƇ-JƆ-10Ƅ-8Ƅ.
There are very few hands in this category that want to go for a 4-bet
(1.4%). They are the most connected double-suited hands with an Ace, such
as AƆ-10Ɔ-JƄ-8Ƅ. Hands like this block Aces, and the great suitedness and
connectivity means that this hand will do quite well in 4-bet pots because it
hits many different board types. With these hands, you can also call a 5-bet.
Other double-suited hands always call.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚKKW;DWsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽĨĨͿ
Playing OOP, about 40% of hands should be folded when facing a 3-bet. The
hands in this category are built heavily on Broadway cards, so it is easy to lose
a lot of money when your opponent is holding Aces or Kings. You also suffer

04 - Preflop Categories 91
 from a proximity effect, meaning you will flop fewer outs to two pair even
when you do flop a top pair hand. For that reason, you must be very cautious
against 3-bets and you should be folding with a high frequency when OOP.
It’s tough to maneuver with hands from this category in postflop situations in
3-bet pots.
Playing OOP, your 4-betting range is a little wider when compared to play-
ing IP because you benefit more from the lower SPRs which minimize your
positional disadvantage. You should 4-bet about 3.4% of your range. An ex-
ample of a hand that should be 4-bet is AƆ-QƄ-10Ƅ-9Ɔ. This hand is blocking
Aces and flops very smooth. It is well connected, nutted, and it has excellent
suitedness.
04 When it comes to playing against 3-bets OOP, the same principles apply
as playing against 3-bet IP and you are mainly looking for realizability to justify
a call. Hands in this category without an Ace should always be called because
these hands are very well connected, and the same holds true for all the dou-
ble-suited hands.
However single-suited hands with an Ace are folding slightly more often.
The connectivity of these hands is a little worse and they also have a much
harder time playing against 3-betting ranges that are Aces-heavy. To call when
you are holding a single-suited hand with an Ace, you need improved additional
connectivity.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϰͲďĞƚ;^sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶͿ
Facing a 4-bet you can call with all hands that 3-bet that don’t include an Ace.
Most 4-betting ranges are heavily weighted towards Aces. When you are not
holding an Ace yourself, you get the correct odds preflop to try and flop a good
pair with additional backup so you can stack off with sufficient equity. Almost
all double-suited hands can also be called, even the ones that have an Ace.
When your hand is single-suited and includes an Ace, you should be fold-
ing much more often. Only 12% of single-suited hands with an Ace should call
when facing a 4-bet. The reason is that the Ace is a useless card to hold when
you are mainly up against Aces. Flopping an Ace pair is never going to help you
and will only result in you getting stacked. Flopping two pair with an Ace will
also mean that you will very often run into top set. Only the best of the best
hands when it comes to connectivity with a suited Ace can call 4-bets, such as
AƆ-Jƅ-10Ƅ-8Ɔ.

ϵϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ&ŽƵƌ͗ŽƵďůĞͲƉĂŝƌĞĚ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
of 2,808 different hands in this category, meaning you get dealt one of these
hands about 1.04% of the time. This category includes a lot of very strong
hands, but also a few weak ones. The hand with the highest EV in this category
is Aƅ-AƄ-Jƅ-JƄ, which ranks in the top 1% of hands. The average rank of this
category is 19.53%.

Z&/^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
From EP, approximately 82% of all double-paired hands should be open-raised. 04
The hands that don’t want to be open-raised are very disconnected hands with
at least one very low pair or hands where the connectivity and rank are very
marginal and the hand is rainbow.
An example of a hand that should fold preflop from early position is Jƅ-
JƇ-3Ɔ-3Ƅ. This hand has one very low pair combined with a low Broadway
pair. There is no connectivity and it is rainbow. The combination of these weak
features means that this hand should be open-folded preflop.
As you get closer to the blinds, you can start to open wider. From the But-
ton, 100% of the double-paired hands should be opened.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂ^ŝŶŐůĞZĂŝƐĞƌ;DWsĞƌƐƵƐWͿ
Double-paired hands can often fight back against a raise. The MP player should
only fold about 23% of all double-paired hands when facing an EP raise. The
hands that score the worst when it comes to suitedness, connectivity and high
card rank should fold.
An example is 8Ƅ-8ƅ-2Ƅ-2Ɔ. This hand is too disconnected and the pairs
are too low to consider playing. In this situation, you are often going to end up
in a multiway pot if you decide to call and this hand doesn’t have enough nut-
tiness to be profitable in multiway pots.
All double-paired Aces should be 3-bet. Other double pairs that 3-bet
are well connected and double-suited hands such as 8Ɔ-8Ƅ-6Ɔ-6Ƅ. Dou-
ble-paired hands flop a set almost 25% of the time and that set is going to be a
great hand to have in a heads-up 3-bet pot. 3-betting allows you to maximize
the EV with these hands and complement your re-raising range.

04 - Preflop Categories 93
 sĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ

BB Versus EP
The EP open-raiser has a lot of high Broadway pairs in their range which means
that the Big Blind can easily be dominated. Even then, most double-paired
hands have enough equity to continue versus an EP open-raise and only the
worst 3% of should be folded. These hands are rainbow ones such as 9ƅ-9Ƅ-
2Ɔ-2ƅ – a hand that doesn’t have straight or flush possibilities.
Your calling range of approximately 55% consists mainly of hands that
lack high cards, great suits, or excellent connectivity. These hands have good
enough equity to see a flop, but they don’t have enough playability to inflate
04 the pot OOP by 3-betting.
An example of a hand that should be called is KƆ-KƇ-2Ɔ-2Ƅ. This hand has
one very high pair and one very low pair. It has one high suit and no connectiv-
ity. Given this hand’s postflop equity distribution and facing a strong range, its
more profitable to just call with this hand than to 3-bet.
The hands that are better off 3-betting rather than calling either have
Aces, high card strength, great suitedness or great connectivity. These factors
often provide an equity advantage and these components also make it easier
to realize the equity advantage in 3-bet pots. The more of these factors that
are featured in your hand, the more likely it is that you want to 3-bet.
Another example would be 6Ƅ-6ƅ-5Ƅ-5Ƈ. The suitedness of this hand
is quite marginal and so are the rank of the pairs. But the connectivity is very
good, and therefore this hand should be 3-bet.

BB Versus Button
When facing a Button raise, the Big Blind should not fold any double-paired
hand and should, in fact, 3-bet most of them (83%). The key factors when
it comes to calling or 3-betting are the ranks of the pairs and the suited-
ness. Rainbow hands need to have high ranked pairs or two pairs that are well
connected to justify a 3-bet. A hand such as Jƅ-JƄ-8Ƈ-8Ɔ should be 3-bet
because the rank of both pairs is at least medium strength and the hand has
some connectivity. A hand such as Qƅ-QƇ-3Ƅ-3Ɔ should be called because
the ranks of the pairs aren’t as good compared to the previous example and the
hand is also disconnected.

94 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Hands that aren’t rainbow should almost always be 3-bet (91.2%). Only
the worst of the worst non-rainbow hands should be called, for example 8ƅ-
8Ƅ-2Ɔ-2Ƅ.

sĞƌƐƵƐdǁŽKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ;ƵƚƚŽŶĂŶĚDWͿ
The player in the Big Blind doesn’t fold any double-paired hand when facing a
MP open-raise and a Button cold call. The Big Blind is calling 60% and squeez-
ing 40% of hands in this category. The equity of these hands, combined with
pot odds you get in the Big Blind, is just too attractive a combination to con-
sider folding any double-paired hand.
However, you should exercise caution with double-paired hands that lack
nuttiness. Flopping middle or bottom sets without much backup can get you 04
into a lot of trouble in big pots. As we’ll see in the postflop section, facing
two opponents in single-raised pots some of these hands are just calling down
rather than trying to get all the money in on the flop.
If you have some fold equity, the stronger half of these hands are going to
want to squeeze and head into low SPR scenarios in order to maximize their EV.
Just as with the previous categories, a combination of having high-rank pairs,
connectivity, and suitedness are the requirements for a squeeze. These factors
make it much easier to realize the equity of double-paired hands because they
can continue against a bet or bet themselves much more often compared to
hands with less playability.
For example, a hand such as QƄ-QƆ-4Ƅ-4Ɔ is good enough to squeeze.
It has one high Broadway pair and the suitedness is very good. A hand such
as 10Ƅ-10Ɔ-2Ƅ-2Ɔ has two lower ranking pairs which means that the sets
and flush draws this hand can flop are much less valuable. Therefore, this hand
should be called preflop rather than squeezed.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚ/W;ƵƚŽĨĨsĞƌƐƵƐ^Ϳ
The IP player is supposed to never fold against a 3-bet after open-raising
when holding a double-paired hand. These hands tend to hit or miss the flop.
Decisions are easy and when you do hit (25% of the time) you’ll do incredibly
well against an overpair that is c-bet and stacking off or even against a pair
plus draw combination. You should be happy to play 3-bet pots with these
hands in position.

04 - Preflop Categories 95
 &ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚKKW;DWsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽĨĨͿ
Even OOP, a double-paired hand should seldom be folded (only 1.9% of the
time). The EV of these hands will not be the same as when IP because it’s
harder to realize the equity. Nevertheless, they still are good enough for a call.

Exploitative Tip
If you believe your opponent 3-bets very wide, you could also in-
clude some of the best double-suited and connected hands into your
4-betting range.
Adding a hand such as 10Ɔ-10Ƅ-9Ɔ-9Ƅ to your 4-betting range
makes you a tougher player to play against because your opponents
04 can’t assume that you only hold Aces when you are 4-betting. This
type of hand also has decent equity against pretty much every hand,
so you can call a 5-bet all-in.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϰͲďĞƚ;^sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶͿ
When you 3-bet Small Blind versus Button and face a 4-bet, you are supposed
to fold 30% of the time. The main determinant when it comes to calling or
folding is the playability of the hand. In 4-bet pots, all the money can already
go in on the flop with just one bet. Therefore it’s essential that you can profit-
ably call on as many boards as possible and you don’t want to end up in 4-bet
pots with hands that can rarely continue against a bet because this is a sure fire
way to burn a lot of chips.
For example, all rainbow hands that don’t include two Aces should be fold-
ed preflop. A hand such as KƇ-KƄ-6Ɔ-6Ƅ should be folded against a 4-bet
because it won’t be able to continue often enough against a flop bet. This hand
only has one suit, no connectivity, and just one high pair.
However, a hand such as KƄ-KƆ-3Ƅ-3Ɔ is supposed to call a 4-bet be-
cause this hand is double-suited meaning it can continue against a bet on more
flops.
When it comes to 5-betting, you only want to do this with Aces or some
very strong double-suited well-connected hands such as KƆ-KƄ-10Ɔ-10Ƅ.
However, just calling with this type of hand is also perfectly fine, meaning that
the EV for both plays is similar. Make your decision based on how narrow your
opponent’s 4-betting range is.

96 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ&ŝǀĞ͗ZƵŶĚŽǁŶƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
with a maximum of two gaps, for example 8Ƅ-6ƅ-5Ƈ-4Ɔ. There are a total of
15,616 different hands in this category, which means that you get dealt one
of these hands about 5.77% of the time.
This category includes a wide variety of hands and there is a big differ-
ence between their relative strengths. The hand with the highest EV is AƆ-
QƄ-JƆ-10Ƅ, which is an amazing hand and ranks in the top 3%. The average
rank of this category is 43.76%. The trash hand 7ƅ-4Ɔ-3Ƈ-2Ƅ is the worst
hand in this category.
04
As is well known, rundowns with gaps at the bottom are stronger than
rundowns with gaps at the top. This is because when you have a gap at the top,
you are more likely to flop a dominated straight draw. For example, if the flop is
9-7-2, you would much rather have the 13-card nut wrap with J-10-8-x than
10-8-6-x or 8-6-5-x. Note the gap at the top of these non-nutted draws.

Z&/^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
All hands in the rundown category are connected. Given this, the two most
important determinants are the ranks and the suitedness. High rundowns are
much more valuable because they are more likely to flop high pairs and the top
end of a straight draw. This is especially the case from EP because nuttiness
plays a bigger factor.
For example, a hand such as 8ƅ-7Ƅ-5Ɔ-4ƅ will make the bottom end of
a straight far more often than a hand such as Qƅ-JƄ-9Ɔ-8ƅ. The higher the
rank of the rundown, the more nutted the hand is and the more likely it is that
the hand should be open-raised from EP. Let’s consider some numbers to illus-
trate this concept.
Overall, 56% of the hands in this category should be folded from EP and
the remaining 44% should be open-raised. Rundowns featuring a Queen are
open-raised about 60% of the time from EP whereas rundowns that include a
four are only open-raised about 20% of the time.
Suitedness is another critical aspect. Rainbow rundowns are almost always
folded from early position (92%). Only the most nutted rainbow combos such

04 - Preflop Categories 97
 as Aƅ-KƇ-QƄ-JƆ should be raised. About 50% of the single-suited rundowns
should be open-raised.
When it comes to the Button open-raising range, the nuttiness of the hand
is less important because there are fewer players left to act, decreasing the
likelihood of seeing a multiway flop. From the Button, only the worst 22% of
rundown hands should be folded. These either hold a lot of low cards or have
very bad suits, for example 6Ɔ-5ƅ-3Ƅ-2Ƅ. The rank of the cards in this hand
is just too low to justify an open-raise. This hand will flop very weak holdings
such as bottom pair, bottom two pair or weak straight and flush draws.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂ^ŝŶŐůĞZĂŝƐĞƌ;DWsĞƌƐƵƐWͿ
04 Medium to low rundowns are often dominated by the range of the EP player
and do very poorly when it comes to nuttiness.
That said, rundowns have good playability in heads-up pots since they
generally flop very smooth. For these reasons, about 12% of rundowns should
be 3-bet. The hands that want to 3-bet are either double-suited or contain an
Ace. Holding an Ace means that it is much less likely you will get 4-bet because
you heavily reduce the chance that somebody else at the table is holding Aces.
Other rundowns that are good candidates for a 3-bet are double-suited run-
downs with strong connectivity and medium to high ranks.
Rundowns that feature these components often have an equity advantage
and the realizability of this equity is very high. A hand such as 10Ɔ-9Ɔ-8Ƅ-7Ƅ
doesn’t include many high cards so it would not perform amazingly well in mul-
tiway pots. However, the playability of this hand is extremely high because of
the good connectivity and suitedness. This hand flops very smooth and there
will be many different favorable flops for this hand. For these reasons, this
hand will maximize its EV by 3-betting.
The remaining 18% of rundowns should be called. Remember, when you
call an EP raise it is likely you will end up playing a multiway pot and need nut-
ted components. The higher the rank of the rundown, the more likely it is that
you should call rather than fold.
Another important factor is the suitedness of the hand. If you are holding
good suitedness along with some medium-ranking to high-ranking cards, the
chance that you should call is very high.
What about a hand such as 7Ƅ-6Ɔ-5ƅ-4ƅ? The ranks of the cards in
this hand are quite low, which means it lacks nuttiness. For that reason, you

98 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

might think that this hand should be 3-bet. But this hand really doesn’t have as
great equity or playability as the previous one, so it isn’t able to gain more EV
by 3-betting than by playing in a smaller pot. It does however manage to call
profitably and, compared to folding, gains marginal EV.

sĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ
BB Versus EP
The Big Blind folds about 40% of rundowns when facing an EP raise. You are
getting good odds to see a flop with hands that flop very smooth and are a
good fit for heads-up pots.
The combinations that are folded consist of those with numerous low 04
cards such as 9Ɔ-8Ɔ-7Ƅ-4Ƅ or hands that have poor suitedness and connec-
tivity such as QƄ-JƆ-8Ƅ-7Ƅ. You could make an argument that QƄ-JƆ-8Ƅ-7Ƅ
is well connected but, compared to all other rundowns, it is one of the worst
connected hands because it has two gaps. These two hands don’t have enough
playability to continue versus a strong EP range and should, therefore, be fold-
ed. When the rank of the cards is higher, or the connectivity or suitedness is
better, a call becomes profitable.
Facing an EP raise, the Big Blind is supposed to 3-bet 8.5% of the best
rundowns. These hands are all double-suited but this doesn’t mean every dou-
ble-suited hand should 3-bet. All double-suited rundowns that include an Ace
should be 3-bet and the absolute best of the best connected and high card
ranked hands such as 10Ɔ-9Ɔ-8Ƅ-7Ƅ should also be 3-bet because of the
equity advantage and the high realizability of these hands.

BB Versus Button
Against a late position open, the Big Blind is supposed to fold 26% of hands
against the Button, call 54% and 3-bet with 20%.
Remember the Button is opening about 50% of hands, so you can profit-
ably play a wider range and also be more aggressive compared to when facing
an EP open. On average your rundowns will have more equity.
You are 3-betting about 2.5x times more often than versus an EP raise. Sim-
ilarly, it still holds true that double-suited hands and hands with an Ace are 3-bet.
The difference is that you can now expand your 3-betting range by adding more
double-suited hands and hands with an Ace, either double-suited or single-suited.

04 - Preflop Categories 99
 For example, AƄ-KƆ-QƄ-JƄ is a hand that should be called against an EP
open-raise because the suitedness isn’t good enough to 3-bet. But against a
Button open-raise, this hand should be 3-bet. The combination of a suited Ace,
good connectivity and the high rank of the cards make up for the trip-suited-
ness and, against a wide opener, this hand gains more EV by 3-betting com-
pared to calling.

sĞƌƐƵƐdǁŽKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ;ƵƚƚŽŶĂŶĚDWͿ
By now you should know that you must play tighter as more players enter the
pot and that nuttiness is very important. Facing two opponents, you should call
from the Big Blind with 54% of your rundowns. This category of hands gives
04 you the ability to flop straights and straight draws that your opponents won’t
often hold themselves, given that their ranges are more skewed towards high
cards and high pairs.
Hands that include many low cards still need excellent connectivity and
decent suitedness to call. Importantly, being double-suited in this instance
doesn’t make up for low disconnected cards because, in a multiway pot, low
suits are more often dominated and therefore of lower value.
About 10% of rundowns should squeeze. Your squeezing range consists
only of double-suited hands and some of the best possible rundowns with an
Ace such as AƇ-KƇ-QƆ-10Ƅ. When it comes to squeezing with double-suited
hands, the Ace is not a very important card. The primary determinants are the
rank and the connectivity of the rundown. Overall, around half of all the dou-
ble-suited hands should be squeezed in this scenario.
The higher the rank and the better the connectivity, the more likely it is
that the Big Blind should squeeze. A hand such as 6Ƅ-5Ɔ-4Ɔ-3Ƅ should be
called from the Big Blind. A hand such as QƆ-10Ɔ-9Ƅ-8Ƅ is a much better
candidate to squeeze because it has a much higher EV in a 3-bet, three-way
pot at a low SPR.

Exploitative Adjustment
The 10% squeezing frequency is based on the original open-raiser
folding about 50% of the time against a Big Blind squeeze. In most
small stakes or live games, this will not be the case.
Your opponent might call much wider than that. If you believe that
your opponent is folding much less, you should adjust by squeezing

ϭϬϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 a lot tighter. Against such an opponent, don’t squeeze with any run-
downs that are lower than ten-high, because these hands won’t have
an equity advantage.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚ/W;ƵƚŽĨĨsĞƌƐƵƐ^Ϳ
Rundowns should seldom be folded against a 3-bet when you are IP. In the
Small Blind versus Cutoff scenario, the only hands that could consider folding
are Broadway rundowns that have two gaps and marginal suitedness, such as
AƄ-KƄ-10Ƅ-9Ƅ. The Small Blind 3-betting range has a lot of high Broadway
pairs, against which weak Broadway rundowns without much backup don’t do
very well. All other rundowns have enough equity and realizability to continue
against a 3-bet when IP. 04
About 2.5% of all rundowns should be 4-betting from the Cutoff when
facing a Small Blind 3-bet. Double-suited rundowns can also be an excellent
addition to your 4-betting range because they complement an Aces-heavy
range so well.
This makes you less predictable. If you only 4-bet with Aces, it becomes
straightforward for your opponents to play against you both preflop and post-
flop. Double-suited rundowns have very high realizability and cover different
board structures than Aces. Having some double-suited rundowns in your
4-betting range means your opponent can’t blindly bet any flop that isn’t good
for Aces because you will also hit some medium strength boards with your
rundowns, such as a JƄ-10Ɔ-8ƅ board.
If you only have Aces in your 4-betting range, you won’t hit this board very
often, and your opponent can start attacking you on medium and low boards.
By having some rundowns in your range, you prevent this from happening.
Furthermore, your opponent won’t expect you to have these types of hands,
so you can surprise them and get all the money in with a lot of equity on these
boards when you do. Finally, these double-suited rundowns can also continue
against a 5-bet because they have decent equity against Aces.
The hands that should go for a 4-bet are always double-suited along with
an Ace and good connectivity, meaning you are less likely to get 5-bet. Some
hands want to 4-bet without holding an Ace, but these hands need to be very
well connected and they shouldn’t include many cards that are overlapping
with the 3-betting range of your opponent. An example of such a hand is 10Ɔ-
9Ƅ-7Ɔ-6Ƅ. Again, when discussing 4-betting, adjust to your opponent’s pre-

04 - Preflop Categories ϭϬϭ

 flop tendencies. If someone is 3-betting too narrow, just calling IP and using
positional advantage is likely more profitable.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚKKW;DWsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽĨĨͿ
When facing a 3-bet OOP, the initial raiser should fold only 7% of all rundowns.
Fold Broadway rundowns which don’t do very well against the Broadway-pair-
heavy range of the 3-bettor.
When OOP, it becomes more attractive to add some rundowns to your
4-betting range because this will lead to low SPRs on the flop meaning you
have to play fewer streets with a positional disadvantage. MP should 4-bet
about 6% of the time against a Cutoff 3-bet, which is twice as much as the
04 Cutoff versus the Small Blind. The same 4-bet principles hold OOP as IP, but
the threshold goes down slightly, meaning you widen your range and include
some hands that are slightly weaker. A strong hand such as KƄ-10Ɔ-9Ɔ-8Ƅ
should call against a 3-bet when IP but OOP it becomes more attractive to
4-bet. This is because when you have a positional disadvantage, you will be
able to realize more equity at a lower SPR.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϰͲďĞƚ;^sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶͿ
Rundowns should rarely be 5-bet against a 4-bet because they don’t have
enough equity against the 4-bet ranges of most players to justify getting all
the money in. 75% of the rundowns should call against a 4-bet, and the re-
maining hands should be folded.

A Good Rule of Thumb

Rundowns that include four Broadway cards should be folding against
a 4-bet, all the other hands should call.

The reason for this is that most 4-betting ranges are very Aces-heavy.
With four Broadway cards, you are usually in terrible shape against Aces
because you are very dominated and suffer from a proximity effect. This means
the chance that you will flop a good hand when you are holding four Broad-
way cards that are up against Aces is meager because a lot of your outs are
blocked. If you are not holding four Broadway cards, your hand almost always
has enough playability and realizability to be able to call the 4-bet.

ϭϬϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ^ŝdž͗dǁŽƌŽĂĚǁĂLJĂƌĚƐ
ǁŝƚŚdǁŽDĞĚŝƵŵͲ>ŽǁŽŶŶĞĐƚŽƌƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
This category includes all hands that include two Broadway cards and two
medium to low connectors. An example of a hand in this category would be
KƆ-10Ɔ-6ƅ-4ƅ. There are a total of 30,976 different hands in this category
which means that you get dealt one of these hands about 11.44% of the time.
Compared to most other categories, these hands score relatively poorly in
equity because they are so disconnected. The hand with the highest EV in this cat-
egory is AƆ-10Ƅ-9Ƅ-8Ɔ, which ranks in the top 7% . The average rank is 39.50%. 04
Z&/^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
From EP, only about 16% of all the hands in this category should be open-
raised. To justify an open-raise, a hand needs to have the right combination
of nuttiness and playability. A hand such as AƄ-KƆ-7Ƅ-5Ɔ is good enough to
raise. The A-K high cards with the double suits provide this hand with a lot of
nuttiness, compensating for the poor connectivity.
AƆ-4Ɔ-JƄ-2Ƅ is a hand that should be folded from EP. This hand is also
double-suited and has an Ace-high suit but it has lower cards and thus less
nuttiness than the previous hand. Therefore it should be folded.
From the Button, about 62% of hands should be open-raised, which is a lot
higher compared to the 16% open-raising frequency from EP. The difference
is easy to understand. The hands in this category generally have at least some
connectivity, and therefore they often have decent playability. However, a lot of
these hands lack nuttiness, which is very important when it comes to an EP rais-
ing range. From the Button, playability is more important than nuttiness, which
explains the massive difference between the EP and Button open-raising range.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂ^ŝŶŐůĞZĂŝƐĞƌ;DWsĞƌƐƵƐWͿ
About 92% of all hands in this category should be folded from MP against an
EP open-raise. The hands in this category don’t have the components which
are needed in multiway pots, so the folding frequency in this situation is very
high. The hands that should be called are the hands that score the highest
when it comes to nuttiness.

04 - Preflop Categories ϭϬϯ

 Almost all the hands that call contain a suited Ace. Holding this card im-
proves the nuttiness of a hand and therefore makes it a much better fit for
a multiway pot. An example of a hand that should call in this situation is AƆ-
QƆ-5Ƅ-4Ƅ. This hand is double-suited and it has an Ace-high suit meaning
it at least has some nutted components. The nut suit gives you the possibili-
ty to dominate your opponents postflop, which is one of the most important
features of a hand in multiway pots. Although the connectivity isn’t the best,
there is still a chance to flop straights or straight draws with this hand which
makes it more profitable to call than fold.
Some of the most connected double-suited hands can still be used for a
3-bet. For example, QƆ-10Ƅ-9Ɔ-7Ƅ is an excellent hand to 3-bet because it
04 lacks in nuttiness but scores very well when it comes to playability. With this
hand, you benefit from pushing out players behind you who are still left to act.
This hand also does well in heads-up 3-bet pots because it has a very smooth
equity distribution profile, meaning it flops a decent amount of equity on a lot
of different boards.

sĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ

BB Versus EP
Against a strong EP raise, you should fold 78% of the hands in this category and
only about 20% should be called. You have a high fold frequency because the EP’s
range includes a lot of hands that are more nutted than the hands in this cate-
gory and many hands are directly dominated by the high-card-heavy EP range.
The hands that call have good playability and realizability. Hands such as
AƆ-JƄ-4Ɔ-3Ƅ and JƆ-10Ƅ-5Ɔ-4Ƅ are two examples of hands that can call
from the Big Blind against an EP open-raise. These hands are both double-suit-
ed and have some decent connectivity and thus, realizability.
The hands in this category that have the absolute best playability should
be 3-bet, for example KƆ-10Ɔ-9Ƅ-7Ƅ. This hand has decent connectivity and
suitedness as well as some high cards. It is therefore a very good fit for heads-
up 3-bet pots. Be aware that only about 2% of all hands in this category should
be 3-bet because most hands in this category are not benefiting from building
a big pot against the tight EP open-raising range. Playing exploitatively, this
can easily diminish to 0% versus a tighter EP raiser or someone who will never
fold against a 3-bet.

ϭϬϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

BB Versus Button
Facing the Button, the Big Blind should only fold 40% of the time with 51%
calling and 9% 3-betting. The Big Blind can include more hands into calling and
3-betting ranges because they are facing a much wider range. A hand such as
AƄ-KƄ-6Ƅ-5Ƅ can be called against the Button but not against the EP player.
Facing the Button, you don’t need a perfect combination of all the different
components. The high card value and the decent connectivity make up for the
weak suitedness so the hand should be called. Against an EP raise, you need
a stronger combination of suitedness, connectivity, and high card value to be
able to play.
Almost all of the 9% of hands that 3-bet are double-suited. Double-suited
hands with decent connectivity and high card value should almost always be 04
3-bet in this situation, an example being KƄ-QƆ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ. Remember that the
most critical parameter for 3-betting from the Big Blind is the realizability of
equity. Because this hand has such good suitedness, connectivity and high card
value, the realizability is very high. It therefore maximizes EV by 3-betting.
The rare single-suited hands from this category that are 3-betting have
multiple strong components, such as the strong high card value and connec-
tivity found in AƆ-JƆ-9Ƅ-8ƅ.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚ/W;ƵƚŽĨĨsĞƌƐƵƐ^Ϳ
The hands from this category that are raised from the Cutoff have high real-
izability. As a result, only the worst 11% of the hands in this category should
be folding against a 3-bet when IP. For example, hands such as AƆ-KƄ-7Ƅ-5Ƅ.
The suitedness and connectivity are very mediocre and this hand is often dom-
inated by the Small Blind 3-betting range. These factors make it hard to realize
full equity with this hand and therefore it should be folded.
A few hands, about 5% of this category, are good candidates to 4-bet ver-
sus the Small Blind. These hands are double-suited, well connected and feature
an Ace. A hand such as AƆ-JƄ-9Ɔ-7Ƅ would be an excellent hand to 4-bet. It
blocks Aces and has very high realizability because of its good connectivity and
suitedness. The rare hands without an Ace that can be used to 4-bet are ones
such as QƆ-10Ƅ-8Ɔ-6Ƅ. Keep in mind that you only want to 4-bet this type
of hand if you know your opponent isn’t 3-betting exclusively with Aces and
you have some fold equity.

04 - Preflop Categories ϭϬϱ

 &ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚKKW;DWsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽĨĨͿ
When you are OOP, you should be calling less and 4-betting more, compared
to when IP. Aim to fold about 24% of hands, more than double than when
playing IP. A hand such as AƆ-KƆ-9Ƈ-7ƅ should be folded because this hand
doesn’t have enough realizability to call profitably OOP. Playing IP, this hand
could be called because it is easier to realize its full equity.
Playing OOP, about 10% of these hands should be 4-bet, which is also
double the frequency as when you are IP. Again, the main reason for this is the
fact that when OOP, it’s harder to realize equity because you will be playing
multiple streets with a positional disadvantage. By 4-betting, you are setting
up an SPR of close to 1 and the rest of money can go in on the flop, minimizing
04 your positional disadvantage.
The hands that should be 4-bet are made up of double-suited hands with
an Ace. The difference between 4-betting IP or OOP is that OOP the minimum
required connectivity is less. Playing IP you want all four cards to be somewhat
connected, but OOP that doesn’t have to be the case. Playing OOP, you can
4-bet a hand such as AƆ-QƆ-7Ƅ-6Ƅ. When IP, this hand would just be calling.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϰͲďĞƚ;^sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶͿ
Most hands that the Small Blind would 3-bet in this category have a lot of
playability, so most of them can continue versus a 4-bet (80%). Since all hands
that 3-bet are already well connected, the primary factor is suitedness.
Interestingly, about 80% of the double-suited hands should be called, while
about 80% of the non-double-suited hands should fold. The double-suited
hands that should fold have a combination of weak connectivity and low cards,
for example AƆ-JƄ-5Ɔ-3Ƅ.
Hands that are single-suited but are calling must be well connected and
need some high and medium ranking cards. For example, KƇ-10Ƈ-9Ɔ-7Ƅ is a
hand that is non-double-suited, but should still be calling a 4-bet. This hand has
great connectivity, decent suitedness and is not directly dominated by Aces, all
of which makes it more likely that you will be able to realize your equity.

ϭϬϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ^ĞǀĞŶ͗dŚƌĞĞĂƌĚZƵŶĚŽǁŶ
ǁŝƚŚĂƌŽĂĚǁĂLJĂƌĚ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
This category includes all hands with a three-card non-Broadway rundown,
with a maximum of one gap, plus a Broadway card. An example of a hand in
this category would be Kƅ-8Ɔ-6Ɔ-5ƅ. There are a total of 17,152 different
hands in this category which means that you get dealt one of these hands
about 6.34% of the time.
On average, hands in this category aren’t very strong when it comes to raw
equity. The hand with the highest EV in this category is AƄ-9Ɔ-8Ɔ-7Ƅ, which 04
ranks in the top 9% of hands. The average rank of this category is 62.03%.

Z&/^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ

Early Position
Most hands in this category lack nuttiness, which is crucial for your EP range.
Therefore, around 87% of this category should be folded. The hands that
do want to open-raise are mostly strong double-suited combinations. Dou-
ble-suited hands that do not contain an Ace but do include wheel cards should
be folded. All the other double-suited hands should be open-raised.
For example, QƆ-6Ɔ-5Ƅ-3Ƅ is a hand that lacks nuttiness. It has three
cards which are close to being wheel cards and the Queen is disconnected and
not strong enough to cover for the lack of nuttiness. This hand is therefore a
fold. The hand KƆ-8Ɔ-7Ƅ-6Ƅ has higher ranked cards and slightly more nutti-
ness. This hand is a marginal raise from EP but should generally still be folded if
you expect multiple callers.
Hands from this category that are not double-suited combinations should
mostly be folded. The single-suited hands which we can still raise from EP are
three medium high-card rundowns with a suited Ace. A suited Ace with wheel
cards should still be folded from this position.

Button
Overall, you are raising the stronger 50% of this category from the Button.
From this position, nuttiness becomes less critical compared to playability. The

04 - Preflop Categories ϭϬϳ

 hands in this category always have at least three cards that are connected, but
you still want to pay attention to the precise rank of the Broadway card.
A three-card rundown with an Ace should be opened about 69% of the
time, whereas a three-card rundown with a ten is only opened about 22% of
the time. Use your judgment and remember to adjust versus the opponents at
the table. If they are loose or aggressive, be a little more selective with your
opening range.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂ^ŝŶŐůĞZĂŝƐĞƌ;DWsĞƌƐƵƐWͿ
Almost every hand in this category should be folding from MP against an EP
raise (92%). The hands in this category aren’t strong enough to justify a call
04 because they are so easily dominated and don’t have a lot of nuttiness.
The few hands that can be called (5%), include some of the most connect-
ed Ace-high suited hands such as AƄ-8Ɔ-7ƅ-6Ƅ. Logically, the 3% of hands
from this category that 3-bet are the most connected double-suited hands
with an Ace, for example AƆ-8Ɔ-7Ƅ-6Ƅ.

sĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ

BB Versus EP
The player in the Big Blind must play relatively tightly against an EP open-raise
and should therefore fold about 80% of these hands and call with the rest. In
this category there is no hand good enough to inflate the pot by 3-betting,
since none of them have an equity advantage against an EP range.
The 20% calling range consists mainly of the double-suited and the best
single-suited hands. A hand such as QƆ-7Ɔ-6Ƅ-5Ƅ should be called because
of the combination of decent suitedness and decent connectivity. The hand
Jƅ-4ƅ-3Ƅ-2Ƅ has almost the same type of suitedness and connectivity as the
previous example but the rank of the cards in this hand is lower which makes
folding the correct play. In the long run, calling would just cost money.

BB Versus Button
Against a much wider Button range, the Big Blind can widen his calling range
and even 3-bet some hands. About 60% of hands should be folded, 36% should
be called, and 4% should be used to 3-bet.
The hands that are good enough to 3-bet are double-suited hands with high

ϭϬϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ranked cards and great connectivity. Double-suited hands with an Ace-high or
King-high suit are 3-betting about half the time, when they have medium-high
side cards. But a double-suited hand with a ten in this category is never 3-betting.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚ/W;ƵƚŽĨĨsĞƌƐƵƐ^Ϳ
In this situation, the IP open-raiser should never be folding against a Small Blind
3-bet. All hands in this category that are opened by the Cutoff flop with a
smooth equity distribution. As a result, the realizability of these hands is good
enough to call a preflop 3-bet when IP.
Some of the most connected double-suited hands with an Ace can also be
used as a 4-bet. Hands such as AƆ-9Ɔ-8Ƅ-6Ƅ flop a high amount of equity on
a high frequency of different boards, block Aces, and can call a 5-bet preflop. 04
&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚKKW;DWsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽĨĨͿ
Similarly, OOP almost every hand that was raised from MP should be called.
Just fold the worst 5% of hands. As before, the main difference between being
IP or OOP is the 4-betting range.
MP is supposed to 4-bet almost 10% of hands, which is more than double
the 4-bet frequency from IP. As you now know by now, it’s tough to realize
equity when you play multiple streets OOP. Combined with preflop fold equity,
you maximize your EV with some hands by 4-betting compared to calling OOP.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϰͲďĞƚ;^sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶͿ
It’s rather straightforward to play against a preflop 4-bet with hands from this
category. They always call, even OOP. The reason is that the 3-betting range is
only made up of the best suited and most connected hands. These hands all score
very well when it comes to realizability and, therefore, they can all call 4-bets.

ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJŝŐŚƚ͗DŝĚͲ>ŽǁWĂŝƌƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
This category includes all hands that have a single pair between 2-2 and 9-9.
Hands with three cards of the same rank, such as 9ƅ-9Ƈ-9Ƅ-4Ƅ, and dou-
ble-paired hands are excluded. There are a total of 50,688 different hands in
this category which means that you get dealt one of these hands 18.72% of
the time.

04 - Preflop Categories ϭϬϵ

 The raw equity of the hands in this category on average isn’t strong. The
hand with the highest EV in this category is AƆ-10Ƅ-9Ɔ-9Ƅ, which ranks in
the top 5% of hands. The average rank of this category is 59.35%.

Z&/^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ

Early Position
From early position, very few mid-low pairs are supposed to raise (8%). The
only hands that are included in the EP open-raising range are the most nutted
double-suited hands.
Some examples of hands from this category are:
04
AƆ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ-6Ƅ
This double-suited hand has some connectivity and a nut suit and is
therefore good enough to raise from EP.

AƆ-3Ƅ-2Ɔ-2Ƅ
This hand also has a nut suit and is better connected than the previous
hand. But the ranks of the cards are much lower and easily dominated.
This hand is a fold.

7Ɔ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ-4Ƅ
This hand doesn’t have any high cards but all four cards are connected
and it is double-suited. This makes up for the low rank of the cards and
results in it being a profitable raise from EP.

Button
From the Button, you can raise about 46% of all mid-low pairs. The main dif-
ferentiator is the rank of the pair. About 65% of all 9-9-x-x combinations
should be opened, compared to only about 25% of all 2-2-x-x.
The second most important factor is the suitedness of the hand. Only
about 8% of all rainbow hands should open-raise, whereas about 88% of all
the double-suited hands should be open-raised. A single-suited hand such as
AƇ-JƄ-3Ƅ-3ƅ is a raise from the Button, but a fold from any other position.
Changing the Ace into a King or making it a rainbow hand makes it a fold even
from the Button.

ϭϭϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂ^ŝŶŐůĞZĂŝƐĞƌ;DWsĞƌƐƵƐWͿ
The hands in this category are generally very non-nutted and therefore they
should rarely be calling a raise. You should fold 95%, call 3% and 3-bet 2% of
mid-low pairs.
The hands that call are some medium-high pairs, suited to the Ace or some
of the most connected double-suited hands such as 8Ɔ-8Ƅ-7Ɔ-6Ƅ. Hands
that 3-bet are double-suited and have both an Ace with decent connectivity,
for example AƆ-JƄ-8Ɔ-8Ƅ.

sĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ

BB Versus EP 04
Against an open-raise from EP, the Big Blind is supposed to fold about 79%, call
20% and 3-bet with just the top 1% of hands. Again, the rank of the pair is the
most important factor, followed by suitedness and connectivity. To call from
the Big Blind versus EP, you will need a combination of these three factors.
For example, 7Ƈ-7Ɔ-5Ƈ-4Ƅ has decent connectivity, has one of the high-
er pairs in this category and is single-suited. Together these components make
this a profitable call. The hand 7Ƈ-7Ɔ-6Ƈ-2Ɔ has the same pair and is dou-
ble-suited, but the 2Ɔ doesn’t add value to this hand and makes folding the
best option against an EP raise.

BB Versus Button
Playing from the Big Blind against a Button raise, you should fold about 49%,
call 48% and 3-bet 3% with mid-low pairs. Your calling and 3-betting ranges
are significantly wider.
Let’s consider some examples of hands you might want to fold against an
EP open-raise but that you should play against the Button.

AƇ-JƄ-2Ƅ-2Ɔ
This hand, with a low-ranking pair and weak suitedness, isn’t good
enough to call versus a dominating EP range. However, when your op-
ponent’s range becomes wider, this hand gains enough equity and re-
alizability to justify a call.

04 - Preflop Categories 111

 8Ɔ-7Ɔ-7Ƅ-2Ƅ
Similarly, this weak hand is too heavily dominated by the EP range but,
given its two suits, plays decently versus a wider Button raising range.

8Ɔ-8Ƅ-7Ɔ-6Ƅ
This hand can call an EP raise, but should 3-bet against the Button.
There are a few reasons that explain this difference. The hand doesn’t
hold an Ace blocker, which makes it much more likely that you get
4-bet when you 3-bet versus EP compared to the Button. When
3-betting against the Button, not having an Ace is not as important
because Aces are a much smaller part of their range.
04
Additionally, this hand has more equity versus the Button compared to the
EP open-raising range. Your fold equity should also be higher and you are less
likely to be dominated by a better flush or straight draws. When the Button
calls, you improve your board coverage on medium-low boards and gain some
bluffing opportunities on dry Ace-high flops.

ŝŐůŝŶĚsĞƌƐƵƐdǁŽKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ;ƵƚƚŽŶĂŶĚDWͿ
Facing two players, the Big Blind should fold about 63% and call about 36% of
mid-low pairs. The reason for this high folding frequency is the lack of nutti-
ness. Although the Big Blind is getting an excellent price to try and flop a set as
more players enter the pot the nuttiness requirement increases.
If you have a nut suit and great connectivity, or a medium pair with a good
suit you can stick around. An example of a hand that should be called is AƆ-
3Ɔ-2Ƅ-2Ƈ. This hand has a very weak pair and some weak connectivity. But
the suited Ace adds enough nuttiness to the hand to make it a profitable call.
Although small pairs aren’t very nutted, they can still be played if they have
backup. Flopping a set of deuces on a QƆ-8Ƅ-2Ƈ board would be a decent
result if you have a backdoor flush draw and straight draw to accompany it. If
you have no backup, you are going to have trouble realizing the equity of your
hands and should prefer to fold.
A hand such as KƄ-QƇ-4Ƅ-4Ɔ should just be folded. Only the King and
Queen are connected, and the suitedness isn’t as good as in the previous ex-
ample. This makes it a fold when facing two opponents.
Even though this category scores weakly in nuttiness, the top 1% of mid-

ϭϭϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

low pairs can be squeezed. Limit yourself to the most connected double-suited
hands such as KƄ-10Ɔ-9Ƅ-9Ɔ, or double-suited hands with excellent blockers
to 4-betting ranges, for example AƆ-KƄ-4Ɔ-4Ƅ.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚ/W;ƵƚŽĨĨsĞƌƐƵƐ^Ϳ
You might think that against a 3-bet, hands from this category would have to
fold a lot because paired hands usually flop a rough equity distribution. That is
certainly true but remember that to open-raise from the Cutoff with a mid-
low pair, you need additional backup in the form of good connectivity, suited-
ness, or both.
For this reason, you can call with almost any hand opened (95%). Just
fold some of the hands with bad suitedness that are directly dominated by 04
the Small Blind 3-betting range, for example KƄ-QƄ-9Ƅ-9ƅ or Aƅ-JƄ-8Ƈ-8Ɔ.
Against a Broadway-heavy and Aces-heavy 3-betting range, these hands are
too often directly dominated, and they can only call when double-suited.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚKKW;DWsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽĨĨͿ
Even playing OOP, you can call most of the mid-low pairs that you initially
raised. Again, this is because of the additional components of the hand. When
OOP, you do fold almost three times as much (14%) and call the rest.
A critical factor to consider is the hands that comprise your opponent’s
3-betting range and how those hands interact with your range. Let’s compare
two hands to discuss this concept in more detail.

KƄ-JƄ-9Ɔ-9Ƈ: This hand should fold.

7Ƈ-7Ɔ-5ƅ-4ƅ: This hand should call.

It might seem counterintuitive to fold the seemingly stronger hand and

call the weaker one. The hand KƄ-JƄ-9Ɔ-9Ƈ has a higher-ranked pair, high-
er-ranked side cards, better suitedness and the connectivity is very similar.
However, if you think about the Cutoff 3-betting range versus MP, it starts
to make much more sense. The Cutoff is mostly 3-betting with hands that
include a lot of Broadway cards and high pairs, against which KƄ-JƄ-9Ɔ-9Ƈ is
very often directly dominated. On the other hand 7Ƈ-7Ɔ-5ƅ-4ƅ is less often
dominated, meaning it will be easier to realize the full equity of the hand and
there is a smaller chance of losing a big pot.

04 - Preflop Categories 113

 &ĂĐŝŶŐĂϰͲďĞƚ;^sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶͿ
Facing a 4-bet from the Button, the Small Blind should fold about half of the
mid-low pairs after 3-betting. Most 4-betting ranges are heavily skewed to-
wards Aces, meaning that medium-strength pair hands are heavily dominated
and are often better off folding preflop. The hands that should be calling are
the most connected non-Broadway double-suited hands such as JƆ-10Ƅ-9Ɔ-
9Ƅ and 7Ɔ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ƅ.

ĂƚĞŐŽƌLJEŝŶĞ͗ZĂŐŐĞĚ,ĂŶĚƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
04 The final preflop category that we will discuss is a slightly weird one. It includes
all the hands that weren’t included in any of the previous categories. You could
say that the ragged category could also be called the “leftovers”.
This category is the largest one, including a total of 103,885 hands. This
means that you get dealt one of these hands about 38.37% of the time.
Most of these hands have low raw equity and are folded in almost every sit-
uation. The hand with the highest EV in this category is AƄ-Aƅ-AƇ-10Ƅ, which
ranks in the top 4% of hands. The average rank of this category is 65.30%.
Because this category is so diverse, it’s hard to explain the patterns and
ideas which drive specific preflop action. For that reason, we will mainly con-
sider specific hand examples in this final preflop category section.

Z&/ƐƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ

Early Position
Only about 3% of ragged hands should be raised from EP. This includes all trip
Aces hands, and double-suited hands that are connected but not enough to
be labeled “rundowns”, for example JƄ-10Ƅ-9Ɔ-3Ɔ, which has a dangler. This
hand has decent connectivity and suitedness along with some high cards. For
those reasons, this hand should be open-raised. Because of the 3Ɔ dangler,
this hand doesn’t fit into any other category.
The same holds for QƆ-10Ɔ-9Ƅ-6Ƅ. This hand also doesn’t fit any other
category because of the six. Nevertheless, this hand can be profitably open-
raised from EP.

114 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 The third group of hands in the EP raising range are double-suited hands
with two Broadway cards and two somewhat connected non-Broadway cards.
Category six, which was made up of two Broadway cards plus two medi-
um-low connectors included similar combinations. However, that category in-
cluded only hands with a maximum of one gap between the two medium-low
connectors.
Some of these hands with two, or even more gaps, can still be open-raised,
for example AƆ-JƆ-8Ƅ-5Ƅ and AƄ-KƆ-6Ɔ-3Ƅ. These hands have enough nut-
tiness and playability to be profitably open-raised from EP.

Button
The Button should open-raise about 27% and fold about 73% of all hands in 04
this category. Most hands with at least some decent suitedness, connectivity,
and high cards can be raised.

Ƈ AƆ-JƇ-9ƅ-6Ɔ is a good example that has the right combination

of high cards, suitedness, and connectivity.
Ƈ QƇ-9Ƈ-7Ƅ-5ƅ is an example of a hand that is still too weak to
open-raise and should be folded. Compared to the previous hand,
this hand has worse suitedness and fewer high cards.
Ƈ KƇ-JƄ-9Ɔ-6Ƅ has decent connectivity and suitedness along with
two Broadway cards. This hand is also very marginal but is slightly
better than the previous hand and can therefore be raised.

As an aside, if you raise from the Button and get 3-bet, AƆ-JƇ-9ƅ-6Ɔ is
the type of hand you can call, while the weaker KƇ-JƄ-9Ɔ-6Ƅ should be folded.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂ^ŝŶŐůĞZĂŝƐĞƌ;DWsĞƌƐƵƐWͿ
99% of the remaining hands fold from MP versus EP. The only hands that can
profitably call are the best double-suited Ace high hands, such as AƆ-KƄ-7Ɔ-
4Ƅ. The 3-betting range consists mainly of trip Aces that are single-suited,
such as AƄ-Aƅ-AƇ-7Ƅ. Pretty much all other hands are not strong enough
to play and should be folded. Even a hand such as KƆ-8Ɔ-7Ƅ-5Ƅ isn’t nutted
enough to play versus an EP raise.

04 - Preflop Categories 115

 sĞƌƐƵƐKŶĞWůĂLJĞƌ

BB Versus EP
Against an open-raise from EP, the Big Blind is supposed to fold almost 96% of
hands in this category. The only hands that should be called are trip Aces and
some of the hands that score very high in realizability, such as AƄ-KƆ-7Ƈ-4Ƅ
and JƄ-10Ɔ-9Ɔ-2Ƅ. These hands have the right combination of high cards,
good suitedness and connectivity to call profitably against an EP open-raise.

BB Versus Button
Against the Button, the Big Blind should be calling with about 23% of hands, and
04 the top 1% of hands can be 3-bet. KƆ-9Ƅ-6Ƅ-4Ɔ is an example of a hand that is
supposed to fold against a raise from EP, but can call against an open-raise from
the Button. Calling with this hand will likely still be -EV, but this is less unprofit-
able than folding and surrendering your whole big blind. The purpose of calling is,
in the long term, to regain a portion of your blind from the pot.

sĞƌƐƵƐdǁŽKƉƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ;ƵƚƚŽŶĂŶĚDWͿ
This category doesn’t include many nutted hands, so you are only playing the
top 6% of hands in this multiway scenario. Hands that should be called are
mostly double-suited with strong connectivity or have an Ace and are some-
what connected. Two examples:

Ƈ JƆ-10Ƅ-9Ɔ-2Ƅ is double-suited, has high card value and quite

good connectivity. This hand has a lot of playability and the cards
are medium-high. Therefore, this hand should be called.
Ƈ AƆ-10Ƅ-8Ɔ-2Ƅ is more nutted and also has some connectivity
and high cards. This hand has sufficient components to help to
win a pot multiway and it should be called.

But be careful! Don’t fall into the suited Ace trap.

Just because a hand has a suited Ace, that doesn’t mean that you can au-
tomatically call from the Big Blind in a multiway pot.
Just “getting a good price” while holding a suited Ace isn’t enough to call.
You need additional components to justify a call.

116 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚ/W;ƵƚŽĨĨsĞƌƐƵƐ^Ϳ
You are only opening the top 10% of hands from this category when in the
Cutoff. So, most of the hands that open from the Cutoff can withstand a 3-bet
when IP. Fold the worst of the worst hands, such as AƄ-QƄ-QƇ-QƆ. This hand
is blocking its own outs meaning the chance to flop a set is very low. The con-
nectivity is also very bad because there are just two different ranks, meaning
there is only one possibility to make a straight (A-K-Q-J-10). The suitedness
of this hand is quite good, which is why it should be opened in the first place,
but it will not be able to call profitably heading into a 3-bet pot, even IP.
Always 4-bet your trip A-A-A-x hands in this scenario. These hands ben-
efit greatly from pushing their equity advantage and lowering the SPR as much
as possible. Trip Aces lack playability and would always prefer to play as few
04
streets as possible postflop.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϯͲďĞƚKKW;DWsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽĨĨͿ
As you hopefully now understand, playing OOP, the calling range against 3-bets
is usually narrower and the folding and 4-betting ranges are generally wider.
This also holds true in this scenario.
Playing OOP, 70% of the opening range should be called against a 3-bet.
About 19% of hands should be folded, and about 11% should be 4-bet (mostly
trip Aces). An example of a hand that calls IP but folds OOP is AƇ-JƇ-9Ɔ-5ƅ.
The realizability of this hand isn’t amazing, but IP, it’s good enough to call. Play-
ing OOP, this hand doesn’t realize its equity sufficiently against most 3-betting
ranges, so it must fold.

&ĂĐŝŶŐĂϰͲďĞƚ;^sĞƌƐƵƐƵƚƚŽŶͿ
After 3-betting and facing a Button 4-bet, the Small Blind should fold about
54% of hands. Only the best hands should be called or 5-bet.
5-bet your trip Aces that push a raw equity advantage, and call with hands
such as 10Ƅ-8Ɔ-7Ɔ-5Ƅ which are double-suited and somewhat connected.
These hands flop very smooth equity distributions and are rarely directly domi-
nated by 4-betting ranges. Therefore, calling and trying to push your opponent
off his equity on favorable flops is the best option.

04 - Preflop Categories 117

 dŚĞ&ŽƵƌ
WŝůůĂƌƐŽĨ
05
WŽƐƚĨůŽƉŶĂůLJƐŝƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶƚŽWŽƐƚĨůŽƉ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
Congratulations! You have come so far in this book already and have made
some serious progress towards mastering small stakes PLO. Now that you have
studied the preflop material, you now have a solid fundamental base when it
comes to preflop strategy.
Hopefully you’ve internalized many of the preflop ranges so far because pre-
flop strategy has a huge influence on postflop strategy. If you play the wrong
ranges preflop, you will often find yourself in very tough postflop spots. That
makes it very hard to be a winning player, even if you are very good postflop.
For example, if your preflop Button calling range is too wide, you are going
to have a fragile postflop range and you might have trouble being aggressive. If
you 3-bet too much, you might find yourself dominated and losing your entire
stack postflop way too often. But, by now you know how to play preflop and
you should know the pitfalls that you must avoid.
Now it’s time to take the next step and head into the second (and more ex-
citing!) part of the book, covering postflop strategy. Postflop is where you can
generate a considerable edge over your opponents. As the size of the game

118 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

tree increases, the game becomes more complex, making mastering postflop
play more complicated and leaving more room to create bigger edges.
The scenarios are similar to No-Limit Hold’em where you won’t find many
players opening 6-4 offsuit from UTG. Even most of the recreational players
somewhat know which hands to play preflop. However, when playing postflop,
those same recreational players might make huge mistakes repetitively. That is
where you can generate your most significant edge. So, let’s get started!

dŚĞ&ŽƵƌWŝůůĂƌƐŽĨWŽƐƚĨůŽƉŶĂůLJƐŝƐ
As a poker player, it is essential to develop a process for hand analysis. Players
of all abilities struggle with the idea of how to properly analyze a hand. Most
players discuss hands in a very unstructured manner that doesn’t create a con-
structive path towards decision making or improvement in general.
We are going to start by going over what I call the Four Pillars of Postflop
Analysis, so you can start developing a clear way to review your own hands as 05
well as discussing hands with other players. You will also need to understand
these pillars fully to get the most out of the postflop section of this book.
The four pillars are your tools that will help you to analyze situations much
more effectively. Whenever you are discussing or analyzing a hand, think about
the four pillars and about the critical factors that impact them.
The four pillars are:

Ƈ Equity. This evaluates your chances of winning the pot at a given

moment in the hand. We will also take equity realization into
account.
Ƈ Polarization. This describes who has the equity edge on the top
30% of their distribution.
Ƈ Position. This defines which player is first and which player is
last to act.
Ƈ Stack-to-pot Ratio (SPR). This describes how much money is
in the pot relative to the stack sizes in play.

All four pillars work together. The importance of individual pillars is always
fluctuating and is dependent on the precise situation. Let’s dive a bit deeper
into each of the pillars and how they relate to each other.

05 - The Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis 119

 WŝůůĂƌϭ͗ƋƵŝƚLJ
Equity is the chance you have to win at a certain point in the hand if there is no
future betting. Unless you’re all in, there are future betting rounds on the turn
and river. This means there is also a denial of equity, and equity realization.
You will not always realize your full equity because sometimes you are
folding against a bet, even though you have some equity. If one player doesn’t
realize all his equity, it automatically means that the other player is over-real-
izing his equity.
Equity is a driving force for the postflop strategy. It generally holds that
the more equity you have, the more often you bet.

Equity and the equity realization factor are the biggest drivers for
postflop aggression in PLO. The stronger your hand is, and the more ben-
eficial your runouts are, the more likely it is that you should be betting.
05
Before betting on the flop, we should think about the implications of
strengthening our opponents continuing range and increasing the size of the
pot. As a rule of thumb, I suggest that you don’t want to bet hands that don’t
play well in large turn/river spots or have marginal equity versus our oppo-
nent’s calling range. Making pots big and then folding on later streets is too
costly and has no part in a winning PLO strategy.

,ĂŶĚdžĂŵƉůĞƐ
For example, assume you 4-bet from the Cutoff versus a Button 3-bet. He calls
and we go to the flop with an SPR of 1 and OOP. Let’s look at a couple of flops.

Flop 1: 7ƅ-3Ɔ-2Ƅ
This is an excellent board for you. The equity that you have with your
4-betting range is about 65%. You have a lot of Aces in your range
and your opponent hardly ever has a two pair hand or better, given he
3-bet and called a 4-bet from the Button. On this board, you have a
lot of equity but are still fine taking down your opponent’s 35% equity.
Your strategy on this flop is to go all-in with every single hand in your
4-betting range. This is a board where you will over-realize your equi-
ty given your opponent will often forfeit his.

ϭϮϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Flop 2: JƄ-10Ƅ-9ƅ
This flop is much worse for the 4-bettor. You only have about 40%
equity on this board with your entire range. On this flop, you are sup-
posed to go all-in with only 20% of your 4-betting range and check
the rest.

You can see that there is a huge difference between both the equity and
the c-bet frequencies between these two flops. Equity is in direct correlation
with c-bet frequency. Truthfully, we are also considering SPR even in this sim-
ple example but start the habit of asking yourself how good your range equity
is on each board.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Equity represents the probability that you have to win the pot if
05
every player in the hand would go all-in at that moment.
Ƈ Your range’s equity has a significant influence on your c-betting
strategy. Generally, the more equity you have, the more often you
should bet. The lower your equity, the less often you should bet.

WŝůůĂƌϮ͗WŽůĂƌŝnjĂƚŝŽŶ
Polarization describes who has the equity edge on the best 10-30% of their
distribution.
Let’s imagine that you are in the Small Blind, and you are 3-betting against
a Button raise. The Button calls and the flop comes 7Ƅ-5Ƈ-4Ƅ. Both the 3-bet-
tor and the caller have many different hands in their range and the distribution
of those ranges can be seen in the following graph (Diagram 18).
The red line represents the Button’s range distribution and the gray line
represents the Small Blind’s range distribution. Both lines in this graph consist
of “dots” that represent all the player’s single hand combinations that make up
their preflop range. These dots are plotted into lines which represent the aver-
age equity both players’ ranges have on this board.
The combinations that are on the top left section of the graph are the best
hands that either player can have in their preflop range. The bottom right rep-
resents the worst hands that either player can have.

05 - The Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis ϭϮϭ

 100
90
80

Average Equity %
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Percentage of Range %

05 ŝĂŐƌĂŵϭϴ͗ƵƩŽŶZĂŝƐĞͲĐĂůů;ƌĞĚͿsĞƌƐƵƐ^ŵĂůůůŝŶĚϯͲďĞƚ;'ƌĂLJͿ
&ůŽƉƋƵŝƚLJŝƐƚƌŝďƵƟŽŶŽŶϳƄ5Ƈ4Ƅ

The red dot in the graph represents the hand AƄ-QƄ-5ƅ-3Ƈ for the But-
ton. The Button raise-called this hand and has now hit a great flop with an in-
side straight draw as well as a pair and the nut flush draw. This hand has about
68% equity against the Small Blind’s 3-betting range. This scenario can be ex-
pressed as, “This hand is doing very well against the opponent’s preflop range.”
This specific hand or dot is quite far to the left on the graph, meaning
that only about 20% of the Button’s range has a higher average equity against
the opponent’s range. Therefore, this hand is in the top 20% of hands that
the Button can have. There are a few even better hands but most hands are
performing worse on this board. Understanding these equity distributions will
give you an understanding of how strong you are within your range. If you hear
someone express the opinion, “I am at the top of my range” in PLO, this is what
they are talking about.
There are two ways to think about equities. In this situation, the Button
(the red line) has 48% equity, and the Small Blind (the grey line) has 52% eq-
uity. The average equities of both ranges can be seen by looking at where each
range’s line intersects the 50% value on the horizontal axis.
The other way to think about equity is in terms of the equity distribution
profile. If you consider the top left section of the graph, you can see that the

ϭϮϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

red line is above the gray line. This means that in a 3-bet pot on this specific
flop, the Button has very strong hands more often than the Small Blind. The
strong hands that the Button has in their range are stronger than the strong
hands that the Small Blind can have.
This is because the Button can have more sets, two pairs, combo draws,
combo made hands and draws and straights. The Small Blind 3-bettor won’t
have as many of these hands in their preflop range. On 7Ƅ-5Ƈ-4Ƅ the 3-bet-
tor will have overall weaker hands, such as: an overpair plus flush draw, an
overpair and two pairs, an overpair with a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw,
and fewer flopped straights. Those are usually the strongest hands that the
3-bettor has and those hands are not as strong as the hands the Button can
have. Therefore, the Button has an advantage here when it comes to equity
distribution or polarization.
On this board texture the Small Blind has an equity advantage (52% versus
48%). However, the Small Blind will rarely be betting the flop because, as we 05
have already seen, the Button will have stronger hands in their equity distribu-
tion. You don’t want to build a pot versus a stronger range. It is not enough to
think only about the equities and then to bet when you are an equity favorite.
When the distribution is against you, as it is here, then you must be much more
careful with betting. The Button has the polarity advantage and the Small Blind
should mostly check at an SPR of 4.
If this were a 4-bet pot and the SPR stood at 1, then polarization would
matter less and you would just pot it with most Aces on the flop hoping to deny
the opponent their equity, as with the previously discussed 7-3-2 rainbow flop.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Polarization describes who holds the equity advantage at the

upper end of their distribution.
Ƈ If you have a polarity advantage, your c-bet frequency increases.
If your opponent has a polarity advantage, your c-betting
frequency decreases.

05 - The Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis ϭϮϯ

 WŝůůĂƌϯ͗WŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
are OOP. If you are in a multiway pot, then there are also relative positions. You
can be IP against one player but OOP against another player. In multiway pots,
there is a big difference between facing a bet with a player behind you left to
act and facing a bet and seeing what the other player does before you act.

ŽŶƚƌŽů
Playing IP you have more control of the pot as you have the power to decide
whether the next card is shown or if you want to put in the last bet. For ex-
ample, if your opponent bets into you on the flop, you can call and force a turn
card, or you can fold and there will be no turn card. You can also raise and de-
05 cide to play a bigger pot. If your opponent checks to you, you can see a guar-
anteed free turn card or you can bet and re-open the betting.
The additional options you have at your disposal when you are IP generate
a higher EV for you. There is a direct positive correlation between your position
and your EV. We call this positional advantagee (or positional disadvantagee if
you are out of position). The deeper the stack sizes are, the bigger your posi-
tional (dis)advantage will be because when the stack sizes are very deep it is
harder to get all the money in on the flop or the turn. Therefore, more streets
will be played and this gives the IP player more options to maximize their po-
sitional advantage.

/ŶWŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ
In general, the IP player benefits from a multi-street game. Many boards in PLO
are tough to handle for the OOP player because there can be a lot of texture
shifts from flop to turn to river. That means the nuts can change very often.
The OOP player has to react first to these changes without knowing what
their opponent will do. For the IP player, playing multiple streets gives a more
significant advantage because they will get more opportunities to profit from
this informational advantage, allowing them to make thinner value bets or ef-
fective bluffs. The IP player also tends to benefit from keeping the OOP player
from ending the hand before the river by getting all the money into the pot.

ϭϮϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 For those reasons, the IP player usually prefers smaller bet sizings than the
OOP player. Betting small means that the OOP player is going to continue more
often (with a weaker range) and at a higher SPR. This allows the IP player to
leverage their positional advantage across multiple streets.

KƵƚŽĨWŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ
The OOP player doesn’t have the option to force a free card and therefore has
a less polarized strategy. The OOP player bets less often and generally opts for
a bigger sizing.
The OOP player is a lot less enthusiastic about playing three streets, espe-
cially on wet boards. Since they are at a significant disadvantage, they are more
interested in ending the hand as fast as possible. Remember in the preflop sec-
tion that you generally 4-bet wider facing a 3-bet when OOP compared to IP.
In order to end the pot earlier postflop, the OOP player uses big bet sizings
more often compared to the IP player. With bigger bets, the OOP player max-
imizes fold equity and lowers the SPR for future streets. Given the bigger bet
05
sizing used, most medium strength hands are not bet when OOP, unless the
SPR is low and consequently position matters less.
In high SPR scenarios, you should bet less frequently OOP than IP. This
means that when OOP, you will check more and therefore you need to protect
your checking range by including more medium-strong and strong hands.
The reason why you are checking more OOP is that you are often at a dis-
advantage. The disadvantage can be due to equity, polarization, position, SPR,
or a combination of these factors. What you need to know is that when you
do a lot of checking, you have to protect that range. If you don’t do a lot of
checking it is not as important to balance that part of your range.
The OOP player also has a special weapon which helps, this being the
check-raise. Check-raising allows the OOP player to either end the hand at
once or significantly lower the SPR for future streets. Check-raising against a
non-polarized IP c-betting strategy is very effective because you start deny-
ing your opponent their pot equity. The IP player must consider the threat of
the check-raise when constructing a c-betting strategy.

05 - The Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis ϭϮϱ

 DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Position equals control.

Ƈ The IP player benefits from playing multiple streets at high SPR.
Ƈ The OOP player has to play a more polarized strategy, as they are
at a positional disadvantage and therefore have to be very picky
when choosing hands they want to build a big pot with.
Ƈ OOP, you do less betting than IP which means that you have to
protect your checking range more.

WŝůůĂƌϰ͗^ƚĂĐŬƚŽWŽƚZĂƚŝŽ;^WZͿ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
At the beginning of the book, we discussed the concept of the stack-to-pot
05 ratio. In this chapter we go into more detail on how to use SPR to your advan-
tage in order to make better postflop decisions.
First of all, let’s repeat some important numbers. When the SPR is 1, such
as if there is $100 in the pot, you have a stack of $100 and your opponent
moves all-in, you are getting 2-to-1 pot odds on a call and need at least 33%
equity to stack off. If the SPR is 0.5, you would be getting 3-to-1 on your
money and need 25% equity to be able to stack off profitably. When the is
SPR is 4, you need 44% equity to stack off, assuming you have no fold equity.
These are the basic equity and stack-off calculations that are routinely used in
3-bet or 4-bet pots.
Let’s examine this idea in more depth. When the SPR decreases, polarity
and positional advantages or disadvantages have less of an impact on your
postflop strategy. Imagine the SPR is 0.1 (an extreme situation), meaning
you have a $10 stack and the pot is $100. In this scenario, it doesn’t matter
which player has more top sets, straights, flushes, or other strong hands in
their range. It also doesn’t matter who is playing IP or OOP. All that matters is if
the players have enough equity to call given the pot odds. However, if instead
you are playing a single-raised pot with an SPR of 15, then which player has a
polarity and positional advantage matters a lot.
If your range has more top sets and strong combo draws than your oppo-
nent, you will be able to leverage your advantage and gain more EV. Similarly,

ϭϮϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

being IP has a greater impact when the SPR is higher because you can leverage
your informational and strategic options across multiple streets. Let’s consider
a theoretical example.
You open from EP, the player in the Cutoff calls and all the other players fold.
The flop is KƄ-JƇ-6ƅ. This is a very interesting board because the Cutoff caller will
have a lot of Kings in their preflop range. Most Kings are calling and not 3-betting
from the Cutoff versus an EP. The Cutoff will also have a tight enough calling range
that is should interact strongly with the King and Jack in multiple ways.
Let’s assume the SPR is approximately 10, meaning you are playing with
deep stacks and your positional disadvantage is considerable. Consequently,
you should only be c-betting about 8% of the time when OOP. If we consider
the same raising and calling ranges, but instead had an SPR of 4, then about
20% of your hands should be c-bet.
The figure of 20% still might not seem very high but it is already 2.5x as
much as with the SPR being at 10, as before. When the SPR is 2, you should 05
c-bet 39% of the time and when the SPR is 1, you should c-bet 55%. See the
graph below (Diagram 19).

60

50 55%
Continuation-bet %

40
39%
30

20
20%
10
8%
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Stack-to-pot Ratio
Diagram 19
^WZ/ŵƉĂĐƚŽŶW͛ƐsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽīͲďĞƫŶŐ&ƌĞƋƵĞŶĐLJŽŶ<ƄͲ:ƇͲϲƅ

05 - The Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis ϭϮϳ

 This demonstrates the importance of the SPR on your c-betting strategy.
This change occurs due to the decrease in the positional and polarity disad-
vantages for the OOP player. Equity becomes the driving force for strategy at
low SPRs.
When you consider the Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis: equity, polarity,
position, and stack-to-pot ratio, you can see that SPR has a considerable im-
pact on all three other pillars.

When the SPR is low, equity becomes more important. When the
SPR gets higher, polarity and position become more important.

05

ϭϮϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

WŽƐƚĨůŽƉ
ŽŶĐĞƉƚƐ
ͲďĞƚƚŝŶŐ&ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ 06
WŽůĂƌŝnjĞĚsĞƌƐƵƐDĞƌŐĞĚ
In the same way that your preflop strategy and ranges start to shape your
strategy on the flop, your flop strategy determines how your ranges are setup
on later streets. Making serious mistakes early in the hand will have severe
effects on your strategy on later streets.
Let’s imagine you are on the Button versus the Big Blind in a single-raised
pot. The flop is AƇ-Qƅ-5Ƅ, the Big Blind checks and you check back. The turn
brings (AƇ-Qƅ-5Ƅ)-6Ɔ and your opponent pots into you.
An appropriate turn continuing frequency for the Button would be to con-
tinue between 50% and 60% of the time, which is why you need to have a
balanced and well-constructed check back strategy on the flop. If, like most
small stakes players you don’t, then you will end up folding here more like 70-
80% of the time. This makes it easy for the Big Blind to exploit you, as your
check back range is unprotected. However, once you have reached the turn,
you can’t suddenly readjust your flop strategy; the mistake has already been
made. If you choose the wrong hands with which to bet or check on the flop,

06 - Postflop Concepts ϭϮϵ

 you will find yourself in trouble on many turns and rivers because you haven’t
set up your ranges correctly.
First, you have to understand what type of c-bet strategies are available
and how to use them. There are actually two main c-betting strategies; polar-
ized and merged. After reading the following material, you will know exactly
how to combine both strategies effectively.

WŽůĂƌŝnjĞĚͲďĞƚƚŝŶŐ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
Imagine that on the flop, you decide to bet all your strong hands, all your me-
dium strength hands and check with your weak hands. Now pause and think
about what this will signal to your opponents when you check.
Exactly. It means that if you check, you have a weak hand. Your oppo-
nents will have an easy time exploiting you by putting a lot of pressure on your
check-back range. If you play this strategy and check, your opponent can bet
and take down the pot without any risk since your checking range includes only
weak hands. If your check back range on the flop is weak, it means that you
often can’t continue against a bet on the turn. This will give your opponents a
good opportunity to bet as a bluff whenever you check back.
06 To protect your check back range, you need to include hands in your
checking range that can continue versus a turn bet. The balancing act here
is to define which hands are good enough to check back while not giving up
too much value with hands that prefer to bet. By playing a polarized c-betting
strategy, you can accomplish this goal. You bet the strongest hands in your
range, as checking them would sacrifice too much value, and you check-back
medium strength hands to protect your check-back range.
Polarized c-betting ranges are built around the highest equity made hands
and draws and the hands with the best blockers and future blockers. You bet
hands that are very strong and have potential to make the nuts on the turn or
the river. You also bet hands that have very little equity but have some power-
ful blockers. This can be described as a very selective betting strategy. You are
not betting just random hands, you are betting very selectively.
This means that once you do c-bet the flop, you can barrel on multiple dif-
ferent turns and rivers. This makes it harder for your opponents to play against
you because they know that they are going to have to invest a lot of money to
get to showdown.
By firing multiple barrels, you are maximizing the fold equity you have

ϭϯϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

when you are bluffing, and you are also extracting as much value as possible
in the cases where you are value betting. This strategy puts your opponents in
very tough spots when they have bluff-catchers and medium strength hands.
By using a polarized c-betting strategy, you protect your check back range.
You are checking back with most medium strength hands, meaning you can
call on a lot of different turn cards. Don’t worry if you are unfamiliar with the
concept of blockers as we will cover this concept in the next chapter. Across
all possible boards, the overall c-bet frequency for a polarized strategy will be
around 55% IP and 25% OOP.

DĞƌŐĞĚͲďĞƚƚŝŶŐ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
A merged c-betting strategy means you are betting many more medium
strength hands instead of checking them. Merged c-betting strategies are
built around equity and more medium strength made hands and draws are bet.
You care more about having decent equity rather than making the nuts.
You bet hands that are not as nutted as when you use a polar betting
strategy, which also means that you are not as aggressive in terms of betting
with bluffs and blockers. By using a merged strategy, your check back range is
weak and unprotected. All your decent hands go into your betting range and, 06
therefore, it is much more challenging to have reasonable hands on turns when
you do check back, leaving you open to exploitation on the turn.
Your flop c-betting range doesn’t include as many hands that benefit from
barreling across multiple streets. Many medium strength hands that you bet on
the flop don’t have enough equity to bet the turn or river. Therefore you are
often going to check back on the turn and river after your c-bet on the flop
gets called. This means that it will be harder for you to make effective bluffs
and thin value river bets.
A further implication of c-betting with medium strength hands is that you
are going to be more vulnerable against a check-raise. A lot of your medium
strength hands won’t be able to continue against aggression and won’t want
to play a big pot.

ŽŶĐůƵƐŝŽŶ
Polarization is a concept used to describe the design of a range. Sometimes
it is better to play a more polarized strategy and sometimes it is better to be
more merged.

06 - Postflop Concepts 131

 When you are IP at a high SPR, you should lean more towards a polarized
strategy. This will help you maximize your positional advantage because you
can extract more chips with value hands and you can make more effective
bluffs while keeping your checking range protected.
When the SPR is lower, playing a more merged c-betting strategy makes
more sense.
In these situations, equity is more important. In some cases where you
have a substantial range equity advantage, you will want to bet your entire
range. Using a merged c-betting strategy in these situations makes sense be-
cause you want to push hands that have an equity advantage and you want
to play as few streets as possible with those hands, especially if you are OOP.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ In most situations you want to use a polarized c-betting range to

maximize the fold equity that you have with your bluffs and to
win as many chips as possible when you have a strong hand.
Ƈ Using a polarized strategy keeps your checking range protected.
06 Ƈ A merged c-betting strategy is more focused on equity. Medium
strength hands are betting more often to push your equity
advantage.
Ƈ At low SPRs, when equity drives the action, you often want to
use a more merged c-betting strategy.
Ƈ You can massively exploit players who bet too many medium
strength hands by attacking them aggressively if they check.

WƌŽƚĞĐƚŝŶŐzŽƵƌŚĞĐŬŝŶŐZĂŶŐĞ
Let’s say that you find yourself in a situation where you are checking with 50%
of your range and betting with the other 50%. In this case you need to make
sure that you protect your checking range by including some strong hands. If
you don’t, players will know that whenever you check, you have a weak hand
and they can start to bluff you very profitably in this situation.
Whenever you are c-betting often, it means that you are checking with a
very low frequency. This means you don’t have to worry much about keeping
your checking range protected. If you are betting with a very high frequency,
say 95%, you are checking so infrequently that you can’t be exploited. Even

ϭϯϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

though your play is unbalanced and can leave your checking range vulnerable,
the fact that this only occurs 5% of the time means that, in the grand scheme
of things, it’s not very relevant.
When your equity is low you should be c-betting much less frequently.
Consequently, it is then important to include strong hands in your checking
range. In a situation where you are betting less often you need to pay more
attention to balancing the checking range.
Think back to the JƄ-10Ƅ-9ƅ flop, where you were supposed to bet only
20% of the time after 4-betting from the Cutoff versus the Button’s 3-bet.
You will flop a reasonably good hand such as an overpair with a flush draw, a
strong combo draw, the nut straight or a set, way more often than just 20%
of the time.
But you don’t want to just bet with all those strong hands because, on this
board, you will also have a lot of hands that should be checking. You want to
protect and balance your checking range. Therefore, you have to put in some
of those strong hands into your checking range because your overall range is
vulnerable.

Ƈ In every situation, you should think about how often you are 06
checking and whether you need to keep your checking range
protected.
Ƈ If you bet often, you automatically check less. If your checking
range is very small, you don’t have to pay much attention to
balancing it.
Ƈ If you start to check more, you should add some strong hands to
your checking range to protect yourself from getting exploited.

ůŽĐŬĞƌƐĂŶĚůƵĨĨŝŶŐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
Blockers and card removal are fundamental concepts in PLO. However,
these concepts are much more subtle than many people realize and, in the
following material, we are going to discuss these nuances and the influence of
each of the cards that you are holding in postflop situations. Let’s start with
the basics.

06 - Postflop Concepts 133

 tŚĂƚĂƌĞůŽĐŬĞƌƐ͍
A blocker is a card that “blocks” certain hands that your opponent could have.
The most well-known example in PLO is the having the nut flush blocker. For
example, if the flop is KƄ-QƄ-6Ƅ and you are holding AƄ-10Ƈ-10ƅ-9Ɔ, then
you are holding the nut flush blocker. Your opponent can’t have the nuts since
you are blocking all the Ace-high flush combinations.
A second type of blocker that frequently occurs is called the “future block-
er”. Let’s say that the flop is AƇ-5Ƈ-3Ɔ and you are holding KƇ-KƄ-6Ƅ-6ƅ. In
this situation, you are holding a future nut flush blocker with the KƇ. Currently
you are not blocking any made hands with this card but if a non-pairing dia-
mond rolls off on the turn or on the river, then you are blocking your opponent
from having the nuts. Also, if a 2, 4 or 7 rolls off you would be blocking some
nut straights with your sixes. As we will see later, not all blockers are created
equal. For example, the straight blockers are not as valuable because you will
not actually have the 6-4 combo that often in many of your preflop ranges.
The final type of blocker are “reverse blockers”. Reverse blockers describe
card combinations that make it more likely your opponent is holding a certain
hand or hit a specific board. For example, if the flop is AƄ-KƄ-QƇ and you hold
06 none of the pairs, no Jack or ten and no flush cards in your hand, it automati-
cally becomes more likely that your opponent has one or more of those cards
and that he has hit the board.

,ŽǁƚŽdŚŝŶŬďŽƵƚůŽĐŬĞƌƐ
in your hand matters and is either a blocker, a future blocker, a reverse blocker
or has removal effects. The challenge is to evaluate correctly the removal ef-
fect, based on the context of the situation.
The value of the blockers you are holding differs for any given situation.
Therefore, you should ask yourself questions such as, “how important is it to
have a gutshot blocker in this spot?” or “how important is it to have the nut
flush blocker in this situation?”
In many instances, players misunderstand and oversimplify the concept
and usage of blockers, leading to them bluffing with the wrong blockers in the
wrong situations.

134 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ůƵĨĨŝŶŐ
When you choose to bluff, you should be following the same thought pro-
cesses as when making other decisions. You are comparing the EV of different
options and considering if bluffing is the highest EV play.
For example, you are on the river in a heads-up pot and your opponent
checks. You hold a hand that can’t win at showdown, so the EV of checking
back would be zero. With some hands, you might be able to increase that EV
if you decide to bluff and make your opponent fold some percent of the time.
When it comes to bluffing you will see people make a wide variety of dif-
ferent mistakes. However, the most common one by far, is an emotional one.
Bluffing, as with all poker decisions, is essentially a mathematical idea. You are
risking X amount of money to win Y amount of money in the middle. To be
profitable, your bluff must work a certain percentage of the time. That’s all
there is to it.
However, the problem is that the human brain does not perform well in un-
derstanding low-frequency events. For example, making a bet that must work
25% of the time to be +EV means that you can get called by a better hand 75%
of the time and still break even. When you are losing, it always feels like as if
you are making a mistake because you could have lost less by checking instead
06
of bluffing. This feels bad and, much of the time, you might believe that you
misplayed the situation. It is important to remember that is not necessarily the
case. It is important to bluff and it’s important to understand that your bluffs
can still be profitable, even if they lose more often than they win.
The challenge is to bluff at the right frequency. It is easy to bluff too lit-
tle or too much. The immediate effect of not bluffing enough or bluffing too
much is that you become unbalanced and, whenever you are unbalanced, your
opponent can exploit you.
Your opponents don’t have to be great players to exploit you. They might
do so naturally. In the past, I have made some massive folds because I recog-
nized that in the games in which I was playing, most players were generally
under-bluffing the river. For that reason, I could allow myself to make some
very exploitative adjustments and fold some very big hands. Your opponents
may already be under-bluffing the river. By following the population tendency,
which is also to bluff not often enough on the river, you are actually helping
those players to exploit you.

06 - Postflop Concepts 135

 They are exploiting you naturally because their experience has told them
that most players are under-bluffing, so they should be over-folding. If they
don’t, they are going to lose too often. You can take advantage of that by
bluffing more or, at least, by bluffing at the correct frequency, which is still
way more than most players are.

tŚLJWůĂLJĞƌƐhŶĚĞƌͲďůƵĨĨdŚĞZŝǀĞƌ
found in how the previous streets are played, specifically the flop.

On the flop, you need to make sure your c-betting range includes
enough hands that are very likely to be weak on the river or have good
enough blockers that you can bluff at a balanced frequency.

What you will very often see people doing is (incorrectly) betting too many
marginal, or medium strength hands on the flop while also giving up too often
with very weak hands. That creates an immediate lack of balance that will per-
meate the whole hand from the flop on to the turn and then the river. Conse-
06 quently, players reach the river with a very value heavy range and they can no
longer choose enough bluffs to obtain the right frequency. In order not to fall
into this trap it is important to develop a much more methodological approach.
When it comes to studying preflop, many players do indeed use a very
methodological approach. They work with charts and other tools and have a
precise understanding of what hands to be calling and 3-betting. However,
once the play moves beyond the flop they find themselves on streets with
which they are less familiar and no longer have a clear structure for their play.
Furthermore, as the complexity of the game increases, they often start
playing emotionally instead of methodically. They are failing to understand the
important concepts that apply to playing the river, and it’s tough to play the
river well if you are messing up your flop strategy in the first place.

tŚĞŶƚŽůƵĨĨ͍
There are three main factors to determine if you should turn your hand into
a bluff. They are:

136 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 1) You Have No Showdown Value
Many hands that can’t win at showdown should be turned into bluffs.
This factor should not be used in isolation, as having no showdown is
not all that matters. Very often when you have a hand that does have
a lot of showdown value, you do not use it to bluff because the EV of
checking is quite high. When you have no showdown value, it is more
likely the EV of bluffing is higher than the EV of checking. If you have
no showdown value or little showdown value compared to your oppo-
nent’s range, stop to ask yourself if you should bluff.

2) You are Blocking Your Opponent’s Continuing Range

In this case, you should be bluffing more. Your opponent will have
natural calls or continuing hands in their range that you block. When
you block these hands, it makes it more likely that your bluff will get
through. A simple example is having nut flush or straight blockers.
Blocking your opponent’s calling range makes your hand a more effec-
tive bluff. If you don’t have a blocker, it makes it a less effective bluff
because there is an increased chance that your opponent has one of
those natural or easy calls. 06

3) You Unblock Your Opponent’s Folding Range

This is where reverse blockers and removal effects come into play. If
the board has a flush or straight draw that wasn’t completed, you of-
ten don’t want to bluff with missed flush draws. The reason is that one
of the hands that your opponent could fold against a bluff is a missed
draw, so if you are blocking those combinations, the chance that your
opponent folds is less. Having the missed draw yourself increases the
likelihood that your opponent has a strong made hand that is not going
to fold against your bluff.
Hand Example 10
Let’s examine a couple of examples and consider the appropriate thought pro-
cess when deciding whether to bluff or not. Assume you start at a standard
100bb stack size, you raised from the Button and get called by the Big Blind.
The SPR on the flop is around 12.
The flop is KƆ-QƇ-4Ɔ and you are holding AƆ-10Ƅ-8Ƅ-6ƅ(Diagram 20).

06 - Postflop Concepts 137

 Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 20
You bet the flop because you have no showdown value but have a nut-
straight gutshot draw and future nut-flush blocker. The hand is not strong
06 enough to check and there will be more EV in betting to maximize your fold
equity and with the value of your blocker. Your opponent calls and the turn is
the 7Ɔ, making the board (KƆ-QƇ-4Ɔ)-7Ɔ.
Now, what do you do on this card? Let’s start by asking some important
questions:

Ƈ Do you have showdown value?

Ƈ In this case, no.
Ƈ Do you block your opponent’s continuing range?
Ƈ Yes, you certainly do. You are blocking the nut-flush, which would
of course continue against a bet.

So, when you reach this turn without any showdown value while holding
the nut flush blocker, you are going to bet. When you are betting on a three-
flush board with a naked Ace, you are betting full pot because you are repre-
senting a polarized range. More on this later.

138 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Hand Example 11
Let’s examine a second example. In this instance the board after the turn is KƆ-
QƇ-4Ɔ-7Ɔ and you are holding AƆ-QƄ-7Ƅ-6ƅ(Diagram 21).

Big Blind EP
89bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
22.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
89bb 100bb

Diagram 21 06
You flopped middle pair, but didn’t have substantial equity or showdown
value. As before, you are holding the nut flush draw blocker so you bet the flop.
The turn is the 7Ɔ, should you bet or not?
Let’s go through the same questions again:

Ƈ Do you have showdown value?

Ƈ Now the answer is yes. You have two pair, so you beat hands such
as J-10-9 and K-J-10.
Ƈ Do you block your opponent’s continuing range? Are there hands
with a lot of equity that your opponent could be holding that you
could fold out by betting?
Ƈ In this example, these would be hands such as K-J-10, J-10-9
or A-J-10. These straight draws have a lot of our equity against
your hand but, on this board, your opponent would likely be
folding many straight draws since a flush is already possible.

Because you can make hands with a lot of equity fold on this board, you

06 - Postflop Concepts 139

 should bet. You might be somewhat confused by this. Why are you betting this
hand? Are you bluffing? Are you value betting? Well, the terms “bluffing” and
“value betting” are very simplified, old school terms.
The correct way to think about this is as follows:

What is the EV of betting and what is the EV of checking?

In this hand, there are several reasons why the EV of betting is high.
The first reason, is that you will fold out hands that have a lot of equity,
such as wraps or top pair hands. The second reason, is that your hand can still
improve in case you do get called by a better hand. The third reason, is that you
have a unique blocker that you can leverage by increasing the size of the pot
on the river. On almost all the river cards, the AƆ is still going to be a valuable
blocker to use as a bluff.
Although we have discussed the concept of blockers mainly in the context
of bluffing, they are also often used when you are bluff-catching or value-bet-
ting. As discussed at the beginning of the chapter there are many different
concepts when it comes to blockers, and all these will be discussed in the fol-
lowing postflop chapters.
06
DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ
Ƈ Every card matters and you must learn how to prioritize and
understand this concept. It is about figuring out what the
strength of your hand is based on all the removal effects.
Ƈ When you are thinking about betting, you should always consider
the EV of checking versus the EV of betting. The main factors
that influence EV are:
Ƈ The amount of showdown value you have.
Ƈ The blockers that you are holding.

dŚĞŝŐŐĞƐƚͲďĞƚƚŝŶŐDŝƐƚĂŬĞ
Before we begin to discuss this important topic, I want to clarify that we are
not talking about low SPR scenarios. We have already noted that those pots are
driven primarily by equity. In those spots, the key metric is the stack-off math.
We will discuss this topic later.
So here, we will be discussing specifically single-raised (medium to high

ϭϰϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

SPR) pots. In this situation, there is a typical c-betting mistake that players
make consistently. It’s not only very common in small stakes games, it is also
seen in online mid-stakes and high-stakes live games.
The biggest c-betting mistake most players make has two components but
in a way they complement each other: c-betting too many medium-strength
hands and not bluffing enough on the flop.
Bluffing has to start on the flop. If you want to have enough bluffs in your
range on the turn and river, you will need to include some good bluffs in your flop
c-betting range. If you’re not utilizing your blockers (and future blockers) enough
on the flop, you will have very few bluffs in your turn or river betting range.
Why is this such a big mistake? Because if you don’t have sufficient bluffs
on the flop, your opponent can easily fold to your later street aggression. Why
is this mistake so common? It is because most players are c-betting their me-
dium-strength hands, probably because they think these need protection. Al-
ternatively, they are overvaluing their hands and not considering future streets.
Given that players are already betting too many medium-strength hands, they
tend to have fewer bluffs in their range out of the fear of becoming overly-ag-
gressive and thus exploitable.
The truth is that a balanced game is naturally aggressive. It just involves be- 06
ing aggressive with the right hands. The way most people are aggressive leaves
them open to exploitation. Their higher c-betting frequency (with many medi-
um-strength hands) can be attacked by check-raising. Meanwhile, their check-
ing range becomes extremely weak and is vulnerable to turn and river aggression.
Their c-betting barreling range is usually too strong and is easy to fold against.
Their aggressive strategy might work against a very passive PLO player
who doesn’t know how to attack or adjust but it will never hold up against any
strong player who can spot these massive leaks and knows how to exploit them.
If you are to become a strong PLO player, you must start bluffing on the flop.
This is done with the understanding that your value hands will protect your betting
range and maximize your EV with both subranges. You will continue with selective
aggression on later streets. You will give up some bluffs, but continue with others,
depending on the cards that come, the blockers you have and the ranges in play.
You will not incentivize your opponents to check-raise light in an attempt
to exploit you because you will be betting a combination of strong hands and
bluffs. You will not be vulnerable to turn and river aggression after checking

06 - Postflop Concepts 141

 because you will have enough medium-strength hands to call, and even some
strong hands with which you can raise. Your opponent will not simply be able
to make hero folds against your turn and river bets because your bluffing ratio
will be better balanced and they will be at risk of over-folding.
The real lesson here is not to simply c-bet fewer medium-strength hands
and bet more bluffs. It is to understand how you can become a stronger player by
doing so. Also, how you can exploit and avoid being exploited by doing so. If you
understand and implement this concept, you are way ahead of most PLO players.
In small stakes games, many players will be making this two-pronged
c-betting mistake. It’s up to you to determine who is and who isn’t and, if they
are, to what degree. Maybe your opponent is extremely unbalanced, c-betting
medium-strength hands and checking hands that should be bluffed. You can
greatly exploit this player in numerous ways.
Let’s suppose they are c-betting medium-strength hands but also bluff-
ing on the flop. Here, you can greatly exploit their checking range and slightly
widen your check-raising range. You also know they will likely start checking
medium-strength hands on later streets. Given that your calling range is com-
paratively strong you can attack these with thin value bets and bluffs.
06 No matter what their skill level is at PLO, almost all players still make big
mistakes when it comes to c-betting. Understanding the core concepts behind
c-betting in different scenarios is fundamental for any winning PLO strategy.
Think back to your own c-betting strategy from previous play. What kind of
leak(s) does your game have and how can you fix them? Do you need to check
more with medium-strength hands, bluff more on the flop, or both?
First, you must create a solid plan and set up your ranges correctly for the
turn and river. Once you understand when and which hands to c-bet, it be-
comes much easier to identify the leaks in your opponent’s c-betting strategy.
Once you understand your opponent’s leaks, you can adjust your strategy to
be even more profitable.
A few caveats. Remember that many players, especially at small stakes
games, are currently making this c-betting mistake. You can therefore apply
the exploits discussed and increase your EV. However, you must be careful.
These exploits can cost you if your opponent is actually playing a more bal-
anced game of checking medium-strength hands and c-betting a polarized
range. Don’t confuse low SPR gameplay with high SPR gameplay.

ϭϰϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 If you spot someone using blockers effectively and checking medi-
um-strength hands, then adjust your game. Also, if you do face a particularly
weak and passive player, betting medium-strength hands in position will cost
you less. Passive players don’t punish you as much as stronger players. Your
checking range will weaken and your c-betting range will become more fragile,
but a passive player, by definition, will not check-raise light or adjust otherwise.
Playing OOP you mostly will still want to focus on playing a polarized c-bet-
ting strategy, because even passive or weak players will be able to gain EV by
having a positional and informational advantage. Checking medium-strength
hands OOP versus a passive player still works well. This is because you can
value bet thinner against their weak checking ranges on later streets without
much fear of being bluff-raised.
Finally, and very importantly, a reminder that we are talking about averag-
es and a baseline game strategy. This is how you should think, in general, about
the game in medium to high SPR scenarios. In specific situations, you will see
that you need to take more factors into account when making decisions. For
example, your specific preflop ranges and the Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis.
Sometimes you will have such a range and polarity advantage that you will
c-bet your entire range. Sometimes you won’t want to c-bet at all, even with 06
your strongest hands, in order to protect the rest of your checking range. As
we will now discuss, much of this depends on the board texture.

ŽĂƌĚdĞdžƚƵƌĞ
The next important concept you must understand when it comes to postflop
strategy is board texture. When you look at the board, you need to know how
different board textures interact with the preflop ranges in play and how that
is impacting your bet-sizing and your c-betting frequency.
There are four basic main board textures:

Ƈ Unpaired: a board where there is no straight possible, no flush

possible and there is no pair on the board. For example Aƅ-KƄ-5Ƅ.
Ƈ Paired boards: a board that features a pair. For example 7Ƈ-7ƅ-9Ƅ.
Ƈ Straight boards: a board on which a straight is possible. For
example Jƅ-10ƅ-9Ɔ.
Ƈ Monotone boards: a board on which a flush is possible. For
example AƄ-10Ƅ-3Ƅ.

06 - Postflop Concepts 143

 These different board types have different bet size preferences. But it
doesn’t mean that these sizings are set in stone and that you must follow them
blindly. On some boards, using a different sizing can be totally fine and, de-
pending on your opponent, can be better than using the theoretically best
ones. However, if you don’t have a good reason to use a different sizing, you
should use the standard ones. This will give you a solid base and keep you out
of trouble.
PLO is a big, complex game. There are many different board textures and,
just as with preflop hand categories, there are many scenarios where it is nec-
essary to analyze postflop strategy between specific preflop ranges. When
advanced players study PLO, they break down board textures into dozens of
different types and break down their strategy using subranges or “strength
buckets”.
However, at the end of the day, good, consistent play is all about recogniz-
ing strategy patterns. Apply what you have learned and use the best rationale
to come up with the best decision you can. This is done by comparing decisions
and using correct range composition for the hand you are currently playing.
Then, away from the table, review your hands and learn more about the typical
06 strategy patterns that arise.
In the following chapters you will start internalizing your understanding
of board texture and interaction with preflop ranges. You will do this by going
though many hand examples, and not by attempting to classify every possible
board, which would be completely impractical. There will be a focus on the Four
Pillars of Postflop Analysis so that you can start to master Pot Limit Omaha
postflop strategy.

144 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

WŽƐƚĨůŽƉ
dŚĞŽƌLJ͗
^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐ
&ůŽƉͲďĞƚ/W^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ;ƵƚƚŽŶsĞƌƐƵƐͿ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
The postflop section will feature a mix of theory and hand examples. At the 07
beginning of the chapters, we will discuss the concepts that drive the baseline
strategy. We will then clarify the concepts by giving multiple hand examples.
In this first chapter on postflop play, we are going to examine how to play
single-raised pots in position as the preflop aggressor. Please note that all the
hand examples are based on a situation where you are on the Button and your
opponent is in the BB.

^ŝnjŝŶŐ
The following c-bet sizings are the standard ones that you should use when you
are in a single-raised pot, playing IP, as the preflop aggressor (Diagram 22).
The main factor that drives these different bet sizings is the board dynam-
ic. On very static boards, your range needs less protection so you can use a
smaller bet sizing. The term “static boards” refers to scenarios where the nuts
don’t tend to change much on future streets.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 145

 ŽĂƌĚdĞdžƚƵƌĞ Sizing
Unpaired ϳϱй
Straight ϱϬй
Monotone ϱϬй
Paired ϯϯй

Diagram 22
ͲďĞƚ^ŝnjŝŶŐƐĨŽƌ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐ

On an unpaired board such as QƄ-JƄ-6Ɔ, there are many turns and rivers
that can completely change the dynamic and the nuts of the board. On a paired
board such as 9Ɔ-9ƅ-3ƅ, there are fewer turn and river cards that will change
the dynamic and the nuts. Therefore, you don’t need to bet as big because your
range requires less protection.
The suggested sizings are baseline sizings and you can use them every
single time if you want. However, sometimes it can make sense to use a differ-
ent sizing. For example, if either your opponent or you are playing with much
deeper or shorter stacks. Another reason to adjust these sizings is from an
exploitative perspective if you think that your hand is going to play a little bit
better when you use a different sizing. So don’t feel obliged to just blindly fol-
low these sizings, but they are a good starting point.
07
džƉĞĐƚĞĚsĂůƵĞ;sͿ
When you are deciding whether to c-bet or to check, there is one main ques-
tion that you should ask yourself, “Which option offers a higher EV, checking
or betting?”
The two main factors that increase the EV of a c-bet are:

Ƈ Your showdown value. If your hand has high equity and

nuttiness, it is likely that you should be c-betting to increase the
size of the pot.
Ƈ Blockers. If your hand has strong blockers or future blockers,
you might also want to bet. This is because you have more fold
equity either now or on future streets. This will help you to
generate turn and river bluffs.

146 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 In many situations, checking will have a higher EV than betting. So, what
are the factors that decrease the EV of a c-bet and increase the EV of a check?
The following are important:

Ƈ Holding reverse blockers to your opponent’s continuing range.

This makes it more likely that your opponent is going to continue
and decreases your fold equity.
Ƈ Most medium-strength hands don’t benefit from betting because
they have a hard time defending against a check-raise and are
needed to protect your checking range.
Ƈ Hands without nuttiness don’t benefit from inflating the pot
because they can easily be dominated and lose a big pot.
Ƈ A hand that is very turn-determined. These are hands that have
some very good turns as well as some very bad turns. They
benefit from seeing a free turn card.

,ĂŶĚdžĂŵƉůĞƐŽŶ&ůŽƉJJƄͲϭϬƇͲϲƇ
,ĂŶĚdžĂŵƉůĞƐŽŶ&ůŽƉ
Hand Example 12
You are on the Button with AƇ-KƆ-JƇ-10Ƅ (Diagram 23).

07
Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 23

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 147

 You are holding top two pair, the nut flush draw, and the nut gutshot. A
hand with such high equity and nuttiness almost always requires a bet.

Hand Example 13
You are on the Button with JƇ-9Ƈ-6Ɔ-5Ɔ(Diagram 24).

Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 24
Hands with a top and bottom pair with no overcards and a medium flush
07
draw should be checked because you have low nuttiness. When it is very dif-
ficult to make the nuts on any runout, you usually don’t benefit from building
a massive pot. However, you can utilize these hands to protect your checking
range as these hands can pretty much call any turn. Although you would be
able to call a flop check-raise, realizing your equity on the turn and the river
will be very hard, especially at high SPRs. These hands cannot apply a lot of
pressure on subsequent streets. So, you don’t have a hand that wants to build
a pot on many turn cards and your check back range can easily be protected by
checking back this hand.

Hand Example 14
You are on the Button with KƇ-KƄ-3Ƅ-2Ɔ(Diagram 25).

148 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 25
At first glance, a hand such as this looks like a bare weak overpair. How-
ever, you also have a backdoor flush draw, a relevant flush draw blocker and
straight blockers. This kind of hand is a good one to c-bet because you will
be able to use your key cards to barrel-bluff. If you get check-raised, you can
easily fold without losing much equity. Furthermore, this hand doesn’t gain
much from checking back because there are not many turn cards that improve 07
its showdown value. Therefore, the way to maximize EV is to bet the flop and
hope for a fold or that you turn a blocker or improve your equity.

Hand Example 15
You are on the Button with AƄ-KƇ-KƄ-5ƅ(Diagram 26).
This is a similar pocket Kings hand but this is one you should check. You
are holding average equity and this hand will be more defined by the turn card.
You have some nutted outs on the turn and you don’t want to get pushed off
this equity by a flop check-raise. With guaranteed nut outs, multiple benefi-
cial runouts (turn-determined) and a bigger EV loss when check-raised, you
should check this hand and plan to continue on many good turns.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 149

 Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 26

,ĂŶĚdžĂŵƉůĞƐŽŶ&ůŽƉ
,ĂŶĚdžĂŵƉůĞƐŽŶ&ůŽƉ ƄͲ<ƇͲϭϬƄ
Hand Example 16
You are on the Button with QƄ-Qƅ-2Ɔ-2Ƈ(Diagram 27).

07
Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 27

ϭϱϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 This bare Queens hand doesn’t have much showdown value or any addi-
tional draws, so it has very low equity. However, you do have excellent flush
draw and straight blockers. You can use this hand to barrel on blanks to repre-
sent the Q-J straight, or to barrel on spades, representing a flush. Therefore,
you should c-bet with this hand. If you get check-raised, you can fold without
giving up much equity.

Hand Example 17
You are on the Button with KƆ-QƆ-7Ƅ-6Ƅ (Diagram 28).

Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb 07

Diagram 28
With a weak middle pair hand, a gutshot and weak flush draw, this is a
tougher decision. You have medium equity and low nuttiness, so you don’t
benefit from increasing the size of the pot or getting blown off the hand. If
you bet, you will not make a better hand (or a hand with significant equity)
fold. With a small amount of showdown value, you could check this hand. It
also serves to protect your check back range slightly as you will be able to call
a turn stab.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 151

 DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ The board structure hugely influences your betting frequency and

your sizing. There are four main flop types, and you can use the
following sizes as a baseline bet sizing strategy when in position:

Ƈ Unpaired boards - 75%

Ƈ Straight boards - 50%
Ƈ Monotone boards - 50%
Ƈ Paired boards - 33%

Ƈ The main driver of these different bet sizings is how often the
nuts change on subsequent streets. On static or dry flops such as
monotone or paired boards, your range requires less protection, so
you can bet smaller. On dynamic or wet boards, the nuts change
often, so your range needs more protection, and you bet bigger.
Ƈ Keep in mind that these sizings are not set in stone; they are just
guidelines. Some flops within each category are more static or
dynamic than others. For example, AƄ-QƆ-7ƅ compared to Qƅ-
Jƅ-7Ɔ, or 10Ƅ-9Ƅ-9Ɔ compared to 9Ƅ-9Ɔ-2ƅ. If you feel that
deviating from the standard sizings increases your EV in certain
situations, then you should do so.
07 Ƈ When deciding whether to bet or check, ask yourself, “Which
action has better EV, checking or betting?”

Ƈ Hands with high nuttiness and equity or hands with strong

(future) blockers should usually be bet.
Ƈ Medium-strength hands, hands without nuttiness, or turn-
determined hands, should usually be checked.

Ƈ Overall your c-betting frequency IP when using a polarized

c-betting strategy should be around 55%. You c-bet more on
some boards than others but keep in mind checking a good
portion of hands is an important part of protecting your check
back range and maximizing the EV of many medium-strength
hands. Checking back should not equal giving up, but managing
the size of the pot to your advantage.

ϭϱϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

&ůŽƉͲďĞƚKKW^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ;ƵƚŽīsĞƌƐƵƐƵƩŽŶͿ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
In this chapter, we will be examining the play in single-raised pots, playing OOP,
as the preflop aggressor. We will be comparing OOP strategies to those dis-
cussed in the previous chapter (flop c-betting when playing IP) by analyzing
some of the same boards. This will help you to understand how having posi-
tional advantage (or disadvantage) impacts on your play.
In the following examples, assume that you raised from the Cutoff and
were called by the Button with both blinds folding. So, you are now playing
OOP with a high SPR.

^ŝnjŝŶŐ
The standard bet-sizings you should use OOP are the same ones as IP. Again,
the bet-sizings are guidelines and don’t depend on the position you are in. They
mainly depend on the structure of the board (Diagram 29).

ŽĂƌĚdĞdžƚƵƌĞ Sizing
Unpaired ϳϱй
Straight ϱϬй
Monotone ϱϬй
Paired ϯϯй
07
Diagram 29
ͲďĞƚ^ŝnjŝŶŐƐĨŽƌ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐ

ͲďĞƚ&ƌĞƋƵĞŶĐLJ
Let’s look at four different boards and see how often you should be c-betting
on these boards when OOP.

Ƈ On KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ, the c-bet frequency is 7.5%.

Ƈ On 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ, the c-bet frequency is 11%.
Ƈ On 8Ƅ-7Ƈ-6ƅ, the c-bet frequency is 15%.
Ƈ On 9Ƅ-8Ƅ-2Ƅ, the c-bet frequency is 12.5%.

The first thing that might strike you is how infrequently the OOP player

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 153

 is c-betting. Let’s recap the reasons for this. Single-raised heads-up pots with
high SPRs maximize the positional disadvantage of the OOP player. You usually
won’t have a significant equity or a polarity advantage, meaning the equity and
polarity between the Cutoff and the Button preflop ranges run very close on
most boards.
Many players overestimate how much of an equity advantage they have
when playing an “uncapped preflop range”. They tend to think, “Well, given that
the Button didn’t 3-bet, I must have an equity advantage.”

On many boards, you are running into a 50/50 split when it comes
to equities and even the polarity distribution is often approximately
even. The OOP player therefore ends up checking a lot because of the
positional disadvantage both now and on future streets.

It is only when the preflop range of the OOP player is a lot stronger than
the caller’s range and the board texture is very favorable, that the OOP player
starts to c-bet at a relatively high frequency. An example would be an Ace-
high board when you raise from EP and the Button calls. On this board, the
OOP player has a bigger polarity advantage because they have a lot of top set
combinations, whereas the Button has almost none.
A further reason why you check OOP is that you are also incentivized to
07 play many of your very strong hands as a check-raise rather than a c-bet. As
in many preflop spots, you want to lower the SPR and play a two-street game
instead of a three-street game when possible.
Another question you might ask when considering flop c-bet frequencies
is, “Can’t we just simplify our strategy and check our full range?” Although you
should check most hands, by checking your full range you would be leaving a
lot of money on the table. You still have specific hands with key blockers which
should be c-bet because the expectation of betting is much higher when com-
pared to checking.
Once again, it is all about understanding principles. On some boards, the
bet frequencies are very low. For example, on 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ, you are c-betting
only 11%. However, within this range, there are some hands that are c-betting
at a very high frequency and you should learn these patterns so you can iden-
tify when you should go ahead and c-bet.

154 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ŶĂůLJƐŝƐ
In this section we are going to work with strength buckets. Strength buckets
are categories or groups of hands that have similar strength or blockers. For
example, top set is a common bucket to investigate. We group hands into buck-
ets to compare them to different buckets. We can then breakdown and analyze
betting patterns and validate our hypotheses about how the game works.
Let’s consider the first flop KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ. As mentioned before, you have a
very low c-betting frequency on this flop. This means most strength buckets
are starting with a check with the intention of moving to either a check-call line
or a check-raising line, depending on their equity and future street playability.

dŽƉ^ĞƚŽŶKKƄͲ66ƇͲ55Ƅ
dŽƉ^ĞƚŽŶ
With a set of Kings, you are c-betting 10% of the time and checking the rest.
When you check, you check-call about 40% and check-raise 60%. Consider-
ing that you are holding the nuts, the check-raising frequency is relatively low.
That’s because the board is still very draw heavy and that typically increases the
OOP player’s disadvantage because there are more potential texture shifts that
can occur. Therefore, it will be more profitable for you to sometimes play with a
check-call rather than a check-raise. Let’s look at some specific examples:

Hand Example 18
You are in the Cutoff with AƄ-9Ƅ-KƆ-KƇ(Diagram 30).
07
Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 30

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 155

 With the nut flush draw and a strong made hand, you have all the incentive
you need to inflate the pot as much as possible. The challenge is figuring out
what the best course of action is to achieve this. Preferably, you would like to
get in a check-raise. However, you must consider how likely you are to face a
bet from the IP player and how often they will be able to continue after such
aggression? As you are blocking the strongest hands and draws, you are re-
moving your opponent’s most likely c-betting and continuing hands. Therefore,
you are better off by c-betting.

Hand Example 19
You are in the Cutoff with KƆ-Kƅ-JƄ-10Ƅ (Diagram 31).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
07 96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 31
Here you don’t block the nut flush draw or any straightening cards, so your
opponent is more likely to wake up with a hand such as a wrap or a nut flush
draw which would most likely get bet. With a hand such as this, you should go
for a check-raise.

Hand Example 20
You are in the Cutoff with KƇ-Kƅ-10Ƈ-9Ɔ(Diagram 32).

156 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 32
This hand has less playability but you still have a backdoor flush draw and
backdoor straight opportunities. Also, you are unblocking spade draws that can
call a bet. This hand can be played either by betting or check-raising.

Hand Example 21
You are in the Cutoff with Kƅ-KƆ-2ƅ-2Ɔ(Diagram 33).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb 07

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 33
This hand is going to fare much worse when facing a call on the flop and
playing at high SPR on the turn and the river. Unlike the previous hand, you

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 157

 have no flush draw or straight draw possibility. You are also not blocking any
draws your opponent could bet on the flop. Therefore, this hand is more suit-
able to play for a check-raise. You are better off by getting the money in on
the flop or by reducing the SPR significantly or getting your opponent to fold
their equity.

Hand Example 22
You are in the Cutoff with AƆ-Kƅ-KƇ-6Ƅ (Diagram 34).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 34
07
Here, you have top set but very poor backup. You are not holding a back-
door flush draw or straight draw or a future flush blocker. Also, you are block-
ing your own full house outs. This hand has the least amount of equity when
you are check-raising compared to other combinations. Also, it doesn’t have
great playability. Therefore, this hand should go into the check-calling range.

Hand Example 23
You are in the Cutoff with KƇ-Kƅ-4Ƈ-3ƅ(Diagram 35).
Here you have top set, an open-ended straight draw and a backdoor flush
draw. At the same time, you are not blocking 7-8-9 and you are not blocking
spades. Given the decent turn playability and unblocking of your opponent’s
flop range, this is a good candidate to play for a check-raise.

158 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 35
When holding a very strong hand such as top set you will often be aim-
ing for a check-raise. However, always consider your opponent’s aggression
level and how often they are actually going to bet the flop. Some players are
not stabbing as aggressively as GTO would suggest when checked to on the
flop without being the preflop aggressor. If this is the case, then you want to
shift some hands into a c-betting strategy because you are unlikely to get the
check-raise in.
However, the principles discussed are still important. You want to think 07
about playability, removal cards, and the likelihood that your opponent has a
strong hand that wants to stab thus increasing the probability that you can get
in a check-raise successfully.

^ƚƌĂŝŐŚƚƌĂǁtŝƚŚĂ&ůƵƐŚƌĂǁŽŶKKƄͲ66ƇͲ55Ƅ
^ƚƌĂŝŐŚƚƌĂǁtŝƚŚĂ&ůƵƐŚƌĂǁŽŶ
This bucket includes mainly combo draws that don’t have any showdown value
on the flop. The most relevant questions that you should be asking yourself
here are:

Ƈ Is my hand strong enough to check-raise?

Ƈ How much equity am I pushing?
Ƈ How much playability do I have?

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 159

 The overall c-bet frequency with this strength bucket is again very low,
about 15%. You are check-calling around 75% and check-raising about 20%.

Hand Example 24
You are in the Cutoff with AƆ-JƄ-4Ɔ-3Ƅ (Diagram 36).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 36
You are holding the low end of the open-ended straight draw and a Jack-
high flush draw. This hand can be classified as a medium-strength hand and
07 is not strong enough to check-raise. You don’t want to bet because the hand
doesn’t have much nuttiness and does not play that well when facing a raise
on the flop. Building the pot at this point is not a good outcome, so you want
to check-call.

Hand Example 25
You are in the Cutoff with 7Ƈ-5Ƈ-4Ƅ-3Ƅ (Diagram 37).
In this scenario, you have bottom pair, a non-nut wrap, a weak flush draw and
a backdoor flush draw. This type of hand is generally quite awkward to play when
you are betting. This hand doesn’t have many nutted runouts and at a high SPR, that
will put you in many difficult bluff-catching situations on the river. That said, you
do have a lot of equity against most holdings. You can check, planning to check-
raise, to gain fold equity or lower the SPR so that your turn and river decisions
become easier. You also gain coverage by hitting low cards after check-raising.

ϭϲϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 37
Hand Example 26
You are in the Cutoff with QƄ-JƇ-8Ƅ-7Ƈ(Diagram 38).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind
07
8.5bb MP
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 38
This is an interesting hand because you are holding the Queen-high flush
draw, an open-ended straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. This hand has
a lot of playability but currently has no showdown value. Because of the high
playability, this hand can call a flop raise but it’s not strong enough to check-
raise because it doesn’t do as well when up against a hand such as top set or

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 161

 the nut flush draw. The hand is strong enough to c-bet and try to take down
the pot but not strong enough to check-raise and risk running into the top of
your opponent’s range.
As you can see, these hands are quite different but the main questions to
ask are always:

Ƈ Is your hand strong enough to go for the check-raise?

Ƈ How much playability do you have when you bet?
Ƈ Do you have a lot of playability on the turn?

ĐĞƐǁŝƚŚƚŚĞ
ĐĞƐǁŝƚŚƚŚĞ Ƅ;E&ůŽĐŬĞƌͿŽŶ
;E&ůŽĐŬĞƌͿŽŶKKƄͲ66ƇͲ55Ƅ
Hands in this category have the nut flush draw (NFD) blocker as well as show-
down value in the form of pocket Aces.
The two most relevant questions for this situation are:

Ƈ Is your hand strong enough to check-call?

Ƈ Should you bet?
Ƈ How many blockers do you have?

For the most part, you can check-call with hands in this strength bucket.
You have showdown value, you beat straight draws and you beat some top pair
07 hands. You also have a powerful future nut flush blocker that will help you win
the pot in case a spade rolls off and you decide to turn your hand into a bluff.

Hand Example 27
You are in the Cutoff with AƄ-AƇ-8Ƈ-7Ƈ(Diagram 39).
This hand is not strong enough to get all the money in against a hand such
as top set. There are however a lot of hands that your opponent will use to call
that you are dominating. Hands such as straight draws, flush draws and K-x are
all hands that your opponent will usually call with that you have good equity
against. You can often win against these hands by either holding the best hand
at showdown or by utilizing your nut flush draw blocker. This hand is not strong
enough to check-raise because you aren’t blocking a King, meaning that if you
get all the money in we are often up against top set and will be far behind in
equity. However, your hand is good enough here, specifically with the backdoor
flush draw, to go for a bet and build a pot.

ϭϲϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 39
Hand Example 28
You are in the Cutoff with AƄ-AƇ-QƇ-Jƅ(Diagram 40).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind
07
8.5bb MP
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 40
With this hand you are not holding any relevant blockers and you don’t
have a strong made hand, so check-raising isn’t a good option. Betting is also
not too profitable because you don’t want to get raised and then lose your
backdoor flush draw equity, your two outs to a set and the potential to bluff
your opponent if a spade arrives. Therefore you are just going to check-call.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 163

 ŽŶĐůƵƐŝŽŶ
Once again, here is an overview of your c-bet frequency OOP on four different
boards (Diagram 41).

&ůŽƉ ͲďĞƚ&ƌĞƋƵĞŶĐLJKKW
KƄͲϲƇͲϱƄ ϳϱй
ϭϬƄͲϴƇͲϴƅ ϱϬй
8ƄͲϳƇͲϲƅ ϱϬй
9ƄͲϴƄͲϮƄ ϯϯй

Diagram 41

It is important to realize that correct play is all about asking the

right questions and not necessarily about remembering how to play all
individual combinations. It’s more about understanding whether cer-
tain types of hands, based on the structure and based on the remov-
al effect, are most likely to lean towards c-betting, check-calling, or
check-raising.
It’s about learning the principles that drive those actions because
those are universally markers across many different board textures.

07 DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ The OOP player is supposed to bet very infrequently due to:

Ƈ Positional disadvantage.
Ƈ A high SPR incentivizes you to be more cautious OOP.
Ƈ The equities and the polarity run very close.
Ƈ Playing OOP, you use the same standard bet sizes as IP. These bet
sizings are mainly driven by the board structure. The wetter and
more dynamic the board, the bigger the bet-sizing you use.
Ƈ When considering what action to take, think about the following:
Ƈ How likely are you to face a bet from the IP player?
Ƈ How much playability does your hand have?
Ƈ What blockers are you holding?

164 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐ/WdƵƌŶ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
In this section, we will be discussing turn strategy playing IP in single-raised
pots after c-betting the flop and getting called. This means we are going to
consider when to double barrel and when to check back.
The first principle to understand is that your preflop and flop ranges heav-
ily influence your turn ranges. If your flop range composition is suboptimal,
then you will inevitably encounter problems when trying to maintain the right
balance of value-bets and bluffs on the turn and river. For that reason, it is es-
sential to first master your preflop ranges. Next you should be working on your
flop ranges. Make sure you understand the principles that apply on the flop
and know why you want to include certain hands into your betting or checking
range because, at the end of the day, that is going to influence your entire
game plan dramatically.
So, having dealt with preflop and flop strategy, we are now ready to dis-
cuss turn strategy. In this chapter, we will first consider some general principles
for how to construct a balanced turn strategy and then will dissect differ-
ent turn transitions. This will help develop an intuitive feeling for what kind of
hands fit best into what type of range.
Please note that all the hands in this section will consider play from a But-
ton versus Big Blind situation. 07

dƵƌŶdƌĂŶƐŝƚŝŽŶƐ
We are going to discuss the previously used KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ flop and consider pos-
sible transitions on the turn. First, we need to define four different types of
turn transitions that can take place because different turns require a different
strategy when it comes to both your bet frequency and bet-sizing.

Ƈ A flush card. A third suited card is dealt, making a flush possible.

Ƈ Heavy blanks. This means Broadway cards.
Ƈ Straight completing cards. In the example above (K-6-5) this
would be a 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 or a 9.
Ƈ Pairing cards. In this case a K, 6, or 5.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 165

 The average c-bet frequency for all possible turns after the KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ
flop is about 44%. That might be surprising because many players favor a bet-
bet strategy. This means that they are double barreling with a very high fre-
quency once they do go ahead and c-bet the flop. The issue with that strategy
is that when you do check back on the turn, you are going to end up folding a
lot of rivers because there aren’t many hands in your turn checking range that
are willing to bluff-catch on the river. Most players play too defensively and
they are going to favor double-barreling for thin value on the turn more than
checking back on the turn in order to call the river. That approach can lead to
some obvious problems, the main one being that a lot of players arrive on the
river in a massive pot with far too many weak hands with which they can’t call
river bets.

ĞƚͲƐŝnjŝŶŐ
Betting the flop does not always mean that you are polarized. The bet can im-
ply a wide range of hands, including a few bluffs, some value hands and even
some medium-strength hands. However, on the turn, things change – mainly
because a lot of draws now have less equity as there is only one card left to
peel. Furthermore, your opponent has already demonstrated that they have a
hand that has some value. At the same time, your opponent didn’t raise on the
flop, meaning they are representing a capped range of value hands.
07 If you double-barrel by betting the turn, you are representing a hand that
can beat this capped range and that means that you start using larger sizings,
so you will often pot the turn. Potting or betting half-pot is much more feasible
than betting something like 75% of the pot. The 75%-pot bet is not going to
do much for you on the turn. You might use half-pot because the board is quite
static but, in general, a lot of turn strategies should include pot-size bets.
By betting you are saying to your opponent, “You have something because
you called the flop but I am even stronger, and I am so strong that I am going
to bet pot.” That is the point of a polarized strategy against capped ranges. A
75%-pot sized bet doesn’t polarize your range as much as using the full pot
sizing, so it should seldom be used.
Note that in the following examples we are assuming a 75%-pot bet on the
flop (5.6bb) that has been called.

166 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

dƵƌŶ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJŽŶĂ,ĞĂǀLJůĂŶŬ
Let’s say that the turn is Aƅ, a heavy blank. The board now is (KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ)-Aƅ.
This turn card is favorable for you as the IP player because you will often
still have the best hand when you had a strong hand on the flop, for example
two pairs or a set. You can also turn some powerful hands that your opponent
doesn’t have as much of on this turn card – for example, the nut flush draw,
A-K, or A-A. Your opponent is often either 3-betting those hands preflop or
check-raising the flop with some of those combinations, making it unlikely that
those hands are still in their range on the turn.
Now we are going to examine some strength buckets that are not the
most straightforward holdings to play. For example, sets on this board are very
straightforward; you should always be betting. You can play around with the
sizing, but the bet frequency isn’t too interesting. This is not the case with
more nuanced holdings.

Top Pair Without a Flush Draw

A more complex strength bucket is top pair without a flush draw. Apart from
the sets, this is the strength bucket with which you will double-barrel the most
frequently, even though you only have one pair.
When you consider your flop strategy, it is reasonable to assume that you
are holding a top pair that has some additional blocker or equity. Otherwise,
you would not have bet the flop. 07

Hand Example 29
For example with AƄ-QƇ-8Ƈ-7Ɔ, you would have bet the KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ flop be-
cause of the open-ended straight draw, backdoor flush draw and, most impor-
tantly, the AƄ (Diagram 42).
Now you are going to use this hand to double barrel on the turn. That
might seem a little counterintuitive, but you are going to use a somewhat
merged strategy. This is because you have good blockers that have additional
equity which can potentially make your opponent fold a hand such as a spade
combination and encourage them to call with a combination that is weaker
and behind. When you are holding this specific hand, you are very infrequently
going to get raised on the turn as you block A-K and also the nut flush draw
with top pair.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 167

 Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 42
Hand Example 30
Another example is AƆ-7Ɔ-7Ƈ-2Ƈ(Diagram 43).

Big Blind EP
07 90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 43
Here you bet because you are benefiting when your opponent folds hands
such as weak flush draws or pairs with some outs. You are also protecting

168 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

yourself from getting bluffed on the river. Notice that AƆ-7Ɔ-7Ƈ-2Ƈ doesn’t
have a great gameplan when you check back the turn and subsequently face a
river stab. This hand isn’t suitable to bluff-catch on any rivers and, therefore,
you are better off with the double barrel. A-x-x-x is one of your best double
barreling hands because you are blocking your opponent’s turn check-raising
range. So AƆ-7Ɔ-7Ƈ-2Ƈ will be used as a double-barrel, and you will also have
some potential to make a triple barrel bluff with the straight blockers.

Hand Example 31
Finally, AƇ-QƇ-3Ƅ-3Ɔ is also a hand with which you should choose to bet the
flop as it has very little EV after a flop check (Diagram 44).

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

07
Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 44
On the turn, you have a pretty good blocker and, again, this hand doesn’t
have a great gameplan after checking back on the turn because you are not
going to be able to bluff-catch on many rivers. Therefore, you are going to
double-barrel and try to make your opponent fold their equity and also avoid
their potential river bluffs that most likely will be successful because you can’t
hero call much on the river.

Two Pair With a Flush Draw

In this bucket, you hold many strong hands but you don’t want to bet all those

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 169

 hands for two reasons. Firstly, you might get check-raised and that would
be uncomfortable because you are usually going to be far behind in terms of
“made hand value”, but you also have a flush draw. In general, you don’t have
much equity with a flush draw if you run into, for example, a set that goes for
a (delayed) turn check-raise or a hand such as A-K. Secondly, you also have
a hand that is unlikely to make your opponent fold because you are already
blocking flush draws and, therefore, it’s more likely that your opponent is hold-
ing a good bluff-catcher.

Hand Example 32
The hand KƆ-10Ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ has a ton of fold equity on the turn when you think
about the hands with which your opponent might continue (Diagram 45).

Big Blind EP
90.9 bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb
07

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 45
There are just not many of them that are weaker at this point and he is go-
ing to be folding a lot of pair and flush draw type hands. So this is an excellent
candidate to check back and not inflate the pot in case you are behind or face
a check-raise. You can easily bluff-catch a ton of rivers with KƆ-10Ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ
and, therefore, you should place this hand into your “check back turn, call the
river” range. Of course, you are not going to call every single river, but you will
be calling often.

ϭϳϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

dŽƉWĂŝƌtŝƚŚŽƌtŝƚŚŽƵƚĂ&ůƵƐŚƌĂǁ
If you are holding a hand such as bottom two pair and a flush draw or K-5 with
a weak flush draw on the KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ-Aƅ board, you should intuitively under-
stand that a lot of your hands will be suitable for a check back turn, call the
river line, instead of going for a pot-size turn bet.
Let’s consider some examples:

Hand Example 33
You are on the Button with AƄ-8ƅ-8Ƅ-4Ƅ (Diagram 46).

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb 07

Diagram 46
This is a hand that is not pushing that much equity by double barreling the
turn. You are blocking the draws that are behind, so your opponent is often go-
ing to be holding a better made hand. You could also sometimes face a check-
raise on the turn from K-K, or A-K. However, you are holding a good hand to
take a free card and see how things develop on the river.

Hand Example 34
You are on the Button with AƄ-JƆ-JƄ-2Ƅ (Diagram 47).
This hand was betting the flop because with three spades there is not as
much EV to be gained by checking back and this hand also has low realizability
in terms of bluff-catching. On the turn, you are not going to double-barrel. You

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 171

 are not blocking as many of the hands that are still ahead of you and you can
bluff catch some of the rivers very efficiently.

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 47

Hand Example 35
You are on the Button with KƇ-JƇ-10Ɔ-6Ɔ(Diagram 48).

07
Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 48

ϭϳϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 You are holding a naked two pair that has some good potential on the flop
with the backdoor flush draw. However, on the Aƅ you should check back and
bluff-catch on certain river cards.

Exploitative Tip
When you are up against a very passive player, feel free to double-bar-
rel some of these hands. You could also choose a less polarized game
plan and go for a smaller sizing. This encourages your passive, “call-
ing-station” type opponents to call a small bet instead of you going for
the bluff-catch option. Much of the value that comes from checking
back these types of hands is generated by your opponent taking a
stab on the river. Not all your opponents will be bluffing the river ag-
gressively and, if that is the case, you are sometimes better off double
barreling with some of these hands. It probably makes sense to simpli-
fy your strategy by only betting 66%-pot with a more merged type of
range when facing passive opponents.

ƌĂǁƐtŝƚŚŽƵƚ^ŚŽǁĚŽǁŶsĂůƵĞ
This bucket includes a lot of weak hands, for example, open-ended straight
draws without showdown value and any flush draws. Most of those hands are
going to check. But we are also going to bet some of the hands, and we want
to think about future blockers. We want to think about how valuable turn cards 07
are, or if we can call a check-raise.
The same story holds true for flush draws with no showdown value. Gen-
erally, when you have decent equity as well as nutted outs, you don’t want to
bet when you can’t call a check-raise. Otherwise, you are guaranteed to be
leaving equity on the table. Finally we have gutters and air. Here you can be a
little more aggressive with certain hands because you don’t lose much by fold-
ing after getting check-raised as you are not folding much equity.

Hand Example 36
An example of a hand that you can use to double-barrel is 9Ƈ-8ƅ-7Ƈ-6ƅ
(Diagram 49). This is a prime example because you have a pair blocker which
is going to minimize the times that you will be called or check-raised on the
turn, for example by 6-6. You also have nutted outs and even a hand that can
potentially call a check-raise because you still have a wrap. At the same time,

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 173

 you have very little showdown value. If you can make a hand such as K-x-x-x
fold on the turn or even on the river then you benefit greatly.

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 49
Hand Example 37
Another example is 5Ɔ-4Ƅ-3Ƅ-2Ɔ(Diagram 50).

07
Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 50

174 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 This is a hand with very little showdown value that can call a check-raise on
the turn. So here, you are not going to let your opponent push you off a lot of
equity, even if they do go for the check-raise. Usually, with these types of com-
bo draws, what is quite essential is to have a pair blocker. Having such a blocker
decreases the chance that your opponent is holding two pair or a set. Therefore,
your fold equity is increased and the chance of getting raised is decreased.

Hand Example 38
Finally, let’s consider the hand QƇ-10ƅ-7ƅ-6Ƈ(Diagram 51).

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9 bb 100bb 07

Diagram 51
You have a pair blocker, a gutshot and also a pretty reasonable hand to
bluff some of the rivers that we brick. This is because we have absolutely no
spades, meaning our opponent could easily be holding a flush draw that we can
get to fold. On the other hand, there might be some valuable rivers where you
can check back, you can hit trips, you can hit two pair or a straight. In that case,
you are going to bet, unless the card in question is a spade. This is also a decent
candidate to go for a double barrel.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 175

 dƵƌŶ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJŽŶKƄͲ66ƇͲ55ƄͲ99ƅ
dƵƌŶ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJŽŶ

Introduction
Now we are going to consider another turn card, the 9ƅ. This card introduces
a possible straight with 7-8. Although the straight is now possible, a lot of
straight draws are still out there and now new straight draws (Q-10, J-10,
Q-J) have been introduced. A lot of combo draws still have equity against the
current nuts.
With a straight on the board, you should try to get maximum value from
all the draws that your opponent could be holding. Therefore you should bet,
preferably using a pot-size. With a set, you are betting much more selectively.
You are trying to reduce the chance of getting check-raised by holding straight
blockers or being able to make calls that are more profitable when check-raised
because you hold an additional flush draw or straight draw. If you have a bare
set without any backup you are usually going to check. This is in an attempt
to pot control because you don’t have many great rivers to value bet and, of
course, you don’t want to get check-raised.
Two pair here is going to be a bluff-catcher and you will check it back,
trying to get to showdown. The same holds true for your top pairs and over-
pairs. The only times you are betting those hands is when you have significant
additional equity in the form of a straight draw with a flush draw.
07 When you have a flush draw without showdown value, you are trying to
bet hands that don’t have to bet-fold. So you are looking to add some straight
draws into the mix to then be able to call when you get check-raised. When
you have just a flush draw, you have some outs but not enough to call a check-
raise, so you are usually better off taking the free card.
When you have a bare straight draw without a flush draw or a significant
pair, you are selectively betting. You should think a lot about immediate block-
ers and future blockers so that you have a profitable double-barrel turn and
can then also bet the river.
Finally, let’s consider hands with bare straight blockers, such as 7-7 and
8-8. Without showdown value or additional draws, these hands are betting at
almost a 100% frequency, using a pot-sizing to maximize fold equity. Having
established this overview, we will now consider the first strength-bucket of
interest, which will be the sets.

176 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Sets
Sets are not double-barreling at 100% frequency on this straight-completing
turn card. You are supposed to check about 35%, c-bet 66%-pot with about
30% of hands, and c-bet pot with about 35%. We are now going to consider
some examples of sets that are not going to double-barrel but are checking back.

Hand Example 39
You are on the Button with KƆ-Kƅ-9Ɔ-3Ƈ(Diagram 52).

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb
07
Diagram 52
This hand is not blocking the possible straight because you are not holding the
7 or 8, and you are blocking your own outs by holding a 9, decreasing the chance
that you improve on the river. You also hold no spades, so there are not going to
be too many great rivers you can value bet anyway. Therefore you are better off
keeping the pot small and using your hand as a bluff-catcher on many river cards.

Hand Example 40
You are on the Button with 6Ƅ-6Ɔ-4ƅ-4Ɔ(Diagram 53).
Here, you are holding a low set that has no additional equity or relevant
(straight) blockers. Therefore you are better off checking back. You might also
occasionally run into a K-K-x-x hand that decided to go for a delayed turn
check-raise. If you bet on this turn and get check-raised you are usually in a

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 177

 horrible spot against top set, a straight or, in the best-case scenario, you are
up against solid combo draws.

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 53
Hand Example 41
You are on the Button with AƆ-5Ɔ-5Ƈ-2Ƈ(Diagram 54).

07
Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 54

178 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 You are holding a bottom set that didn’t improve on the turn. In fact, your
equity diminished. You have no additional straight draw, flush draw, and no
blockers. Therefore, you should check back and pot control.

Two Pair/Top pair or Overpair

These hands are betting very selectively, and only when they have additional
equity and can call a check-raise. Some examples:

Hand Example 42
You are on the Button with KƇ-QƇ-JƄ-6Ƅ (Diagram 55).

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff 07
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 55
You have two pair, a gutshot and a flush draw. This is a powerful hand that
can naturally continue as a double-barrel to build a pot.

Hand Example 43
You are on the Button with 9Ƈ-7Ƅ-6Ƅ-5Ƈ(Diagram 56).
You have two pair, a gutshot, a flush draw and a straight blocker. This hand
can continue against a raise and, because of card removal, this hand minimizes
the chances of getting raised in the first place.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 179

 Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 56
Hand Example 44
You are on the Button with KƇ-10Ƈ-9Ɔ-6Ɔ(Diagram 57).

Big Blind EP
07 90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 57
Here you turned two pair and are also holding a six, giving you more full
house outs. You also don’t have a spade in your hand which makes it more likely

ϭϴϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

that you should bet to charge flush draws. Out of these three hands, this is the
only hand that cannot call a check-raise on the turn but is still willing to bet.

Flush Draw With No Showdown Value and Bare Straight Draw

Here you want to be very selective again. Can you call a check-raise? Do you
have some favorable rivers? Or are you sacrificing equity by risking the check-
raise and then having to give up?

Hand Example 45
You are on the Button with QƇ-JƇ-10Ƅ-9Ƅ(Diagram 58).

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button
90.9bb
Cutoff
100bb
07

Diagram 58
This hand is going to double-barrel because you can easily call a check-
raise. You have an inside straight draw and a flush draw. Although you don’t have
a lot of showdown value right now, you can certainly build a pot to get paid in
case you hit. By betting, you can also make some marginal two-pair hands fold
and even get some weaker hands to continue, such as a nut flush draw.

Hand Example 46
You are on the Button with AƄ-4Ɔ-3Ɔ-2Ƅ (Diagram 59).
This hand has no showdown value but you can double-barrel because you
have nutted outs heading to the river. This is a combination that is not willing to
call a check-raise but still has numerous nutted outs against the calling range.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 181

 Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 59
Hand Example 47
You are on the Button with 10Ƅ-10Ɔ-7Ɔ-6ƅ(Diagram 60).

Big Blind EP
07 90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 60
With this hand, you bet the flop because you have future blockers, and you
are also blocking some strong hands on the flop by holding the 6ƅ and 10Ƅ. On

ϭϴϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

the turn, you have a gutshot, a straight blocker and very little showdown value.
However, you also have some blockers for the river that you can then triple
barrel. So this hand is also going to be a double-barrel on the turn. It cannot
call a check-raise but, nevertheless, you are still going for that second barrel.

ZĞĐĂƉdƌĂŝŶŝŶŐ^ĞƐƐŝŽŶ
We will now take another look at the KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ flop to recap how you should
approach some specific holdings and then we can see how we can successfully
combine the strategy between the flop and turn.

&ůŽƉĞĐŝƐŝŽŶƐŽŶKKƄͲ66ƇͲ55Ƅ
&ůŽƉĞĐŝƐŝŽŶƐŽŶ

Hand Example 48
You are on the Button with KƆ-QƄ-JƆ-9Ƅ (Diagram 61).

Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
07
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 61
You have the second nut flush draw, top pair, and a straight draw blocker.
Are you going to c-bet this hand IP for 75% pot, or are you going to check back?
This hand should be c-bet. There is a ton of value to be gained because you
can get called by weaker hands such as weaker flush draws, straight draws and
weaker pairs. You are willing to build a pot in case you hit two pair, trips, or a flush.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 183

 Hand Example 49
You are on the Button with AƄ-JƇ-10Ɔ-2Ɔ(Diagram 62).

Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 62
Here you have no showdown value or draw, but you do have the AƄ. What
do you do?
With this hand, you are also going to c-bet. If you get check-raised you
don’t lose any equity by folding. You are willing to build a pot in case you do hit
07
the spade so you can apply pressure and balance your double and triple barrel
spade runouts.

Hand Example 50
You are on the Button with 10Ɔ-10ƅ-5Ɔ-5ƅ(Diagram 63).
Bottom set. Is this a c-bet or a check?
Here it is best to check back because this hand is medium strength. Bot-
tom set with absolutely no backup is going to be one of the few sets that you
should check back. Usually, when you have a higher set or any significant back-
up, you are going to c-bet to build a pot.

184 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 63
Hand Example 51
You are on the Button with Aƅ-AƆ-Kƅ-KƇ(Diagram 64).

Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb 07

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 64
You have top set but no straight draw. Is this a c-bet or a check?
We are definitely going to bet this hand. Top set is a powerful hand; it can

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 185

 stack middle set, bottom set, or two pair. And therefore, we are betting almost
all of our top set hands in position.

dƵƌŶĞĐŝƐŝŽŶƐŽŶ;KKƄͲ66ƇͲ55ƄͿͲ
dƵƌŶĞĐŝƐŝŽŶƐŽŶ; ͿͲϮϮƅ
The turn card is 2ƅ, making the board (KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ -2ƅ, which can be regarded
as a light blank. It introduces a straight but it is still a light blank because the
straight is quite unlikely given the preflop ranges along with the fact that the
player in the Big Blind “should not be” defending many 4-3 combos. We are now
going to look at how some of the earlier discussed hands are playing on this turn.

Hand Example 52
You are on the Button with KƆ-QƄ-JƆ-9Ƅ (Diagram 65).

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

07

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 65
Are you going to go for a double-barrel or are you going to take a free
card?
This hand will be a check back. You are not blocking straights and you are
not holding a strong value hand so you should be happy to see a free river.

Hand Example 53
You are on the Button with AƄ-JƇ-10Ɔ-2Ɔ (Diagram 66). After betting the
flop and now pairing the 2Ɔ what should you do on the turn?

186 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 66
Here you don’t have much to lose and should c-bet with a full-pot sizing
to apply maximum pressure on your opponent. You have future blockers, and
you hit the 2 but, more importantly, you can make much stronger hands fold.
Finally, if you get check-raised, you are not giving up much equity.

Hand Example 54 07
You are on the Button with Aƅ-AƆ-Kƅ-KƇ(Diagram 67).
You have no flush draw and no straight draw. Should you bet your top set
on the turn?
Yes, you should bet this hand for full pot. The reason is that it’s very un-
likely your opponent has hit this turn card. You have no spade and no 7 or 8,
meaning that all these straight draws and flush draws are unblocked and there-
fore likely to be in your opponent’s hand. Therefore you want to value bet big
here for full pot.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 187

 Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 67

dƵƌŶĞĐŝƐŝŽŶƐŽŶ;KKƄͲ66ƇͲ55ƄͿͲ
dƵƌŶĞĐŝƐŝŽŶƐŽŶ; ϭϬƇ
ͿͲϭϬ
The second turn that we will discuss is the 10Ƈ, making the board (KƄ-6Ƈ-
5Ƅ)-10Ƈ. This is a heavy blank that, at the same time, introduces a lot of
draws: the backdoor flush draw and a lot of straight draws.
07
Hand Example 55
You are on the Button with KƆ-QƄ-JƆ-9Ƅ (Diagram 68).
Are you going to double barrel, or check back? Here you should ask how
likely is it that you are going to get called by a weaker hand?
In this case, you can certainly be called by a weaker hand so you are looking
to bet. You have a wrap, a lot of nutted outs, a Queen-high flush draw and top
pair. There are a lot of combo draws at this point that are significantly behind;
backdoor diamonds, weaker spades, weaker straight draws and you can get a
lot of value from them.

188 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 68
Hand Example 56
You are on the Button with AƄ-JƇ-10Ɔ-2Ɔ(Diagram 69).

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb 07

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 69
You have hit second pair and a gutshot. Are you going to check back or
bet?

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 189

 Here you should bet full pot. With the JƇ in your hand you have both good
future blockers and immediate blockers. You don’t gain much from checking
back as you don’t have that many great river runouts. At this point, you are
trying to apply pressure to make your opponent fold. As you have paired the
ten, it makes it less likely that your opponent has either 10-10 or K-10.

Hand Example 57
You are on the Button with AƄ-Aƅ-3Ƅ-2Ƅ (Diagram 70).

Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb
07
Diagram 70
With your overpair and flush draw, are you going to double barrel the turn?
No, you should check. Your hand did not improve and the turn introduced a
lot of possible additional equity for your opponent. They could potentially hold
a better made hand, such as K-10. As you did not improve, you should check
back and take the free river card.

Hand Example 58
You are on the Button with KƆ-8ƅ-7ƅ-6Ɔ(Diagram 71).

ϭϵϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 71
You flopped two pair along with an open-ended straight draw. What are
you going to do on the turn?
You should check back to pot control. This turn card means that there are a
lot of possible better made hands and also a lot of equity for your opponent. So
you are going to check back and wait for a safe river to potentially bluff catch
instead of building a pot. Your hand is very tricky to play and, facing a turn 07
check-raise you would usually have to give up because there are so many bad
rivers and you are also significantly behind against a set or K-10.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Your preflop and flop ranges heavily influence your turn ranges.
Ƈ On the turn, you will often play a polarized strategy and use two
sizings, pot and half-pot.
Ƈ After betting the flop, you want to make sure that you don’t add
too many hands to your double barreling range. You also want to
check with some strong hands on the turn to protect yourself
from being exploited on the river after checking back the turn.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 191

 ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐKKWdƵƌŶ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
In this section, we will discuss turn strategy when you are OOP after check-call-
ing a 50% pot-size bet on the flop (4.25bb). You are in the Cutoff and your
opponent is on the Button. The board we will use is 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ.
After check-calling on the 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ flop, you are very rarely betting.
One of the only turn transitions where you have a significant c-betting range
is the AƄ. On this card, you are leading out about 55% of the time. On almost
all of the other possible turn cards, you would be checking 90%+. In this case,
it makes sense to go for a full range check on all possible turn cards except for
the ace. The check-raising range is also very low, only about 5% on average
across all different turn cards.
If your opponent is double barreling on this board, they are representing a
very polarized range. Therefore, you are not incentivized to check-raise because
their range is either the nuts or air. If they have the nuts, you don’t want to get all
the money in, and if they are bluffing, you want to call so they will keep bluffing.
However, there are still a few hands you should be check-raising. More
importantly, you must realize that you should be folding at a rather high fre-
quency. The hands you should fold are often hands that you, in theory, could
use to bluff-catch as you often have some showdown value, having check-
07 called the flop. But you have to select some hands that are low EV check-calls
and fold those hands. If you don’t you are becoming very exploitable. If your
opponent knows you are going to check-call twice, maybe even three times,
with an overpair at all times on this board, you become very exploitable. Your
opponent could then play a very exploitative unbalanced strategy where they
are value-betting a ton of hands or triple-barreling aggressively, knowing that
you are often going to fold bluff-catchers with which you called on the turn.

dƵƌŶdƌĂŶƐŝƚŝŽŶŶĂůLJƐŝƐŽŶƚŚĞϮϮƄ
dƵƌŶdƌĂŶƐŝƚŝŽŶŶĂůLJƐŝƐŽŶƚŚĞ
The first turn transition that we are going to analyze is the 2Ƅ. The board now
is (10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ)-2Ƅ. This turn introduces a flush draw but, apart from that,
this card can be considered to be a light blank.
You can recognize a hand that should fold against a second barrel by con-
sidering the following characteristics:

ϭϵϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Ƈ Low showdown value.
Ƈ You have to be able to put this into the perspective of your entire
turn range. You called the flop, so you are going to arrive on the
turn with a lot of strong overpairs. You should be folding hands
that have the lowest pair value or that have no pair whatsoever
and can continue with the rest.
Ƈ Low equity versus opponent’s value range.
Ƈ Your opponent’s value range is mainly going to consist of 8-x
combinations, along with some full houses. Against 8-x, you can
still have decent equity in the form of a flush draw, or in the form
of a straight draw.
Ƈ Blocking/removing your opponent’s natural bluffs. When you
look at your hand, you should ask yourself, “Is my hand making it
more or less likely that my opponent is holding a bluff or a value
hand? Am I blocking the bluffs by holding straight and flush draw
blockers, or am I blocking the made hands?” With hands that make
it more likely that your opponent is bluffing or semi-bluffing,
you should continue more aggressively and with hands that are
blocking your opponent’s bluffs, you should go ahead and fold
because you are more likely to be running into a strong value hand.

High Frequency Folding Hands 07

Hands such as a bare straight draw, a bare flush draw, bare J-J, a bare pair
of tens and total air should pretty much be folding at a 100% frequency. A
lot of these combinations don’t have much, if any, showdown value and they
are not doing too well against your opponent’s value range. At the same time,
they’re often blocking your opponent’s bluffs. Holding a hand such as A-9-7-6
is blocking the straight draws that your opponent could be bluffing with. It has
no pair and so should be folded. Even if you hold a bare ten, you should almost
always be folding because combinations with a ten are one of the most likely
bluffing hands your opponent could be holding. By holding that card yourself,
you make it much less likely your opponent is bluffing.
With bare queens, you have an overpair without a straight draw and a flush
draw. This hand can easily be beaten on the river by a flush, a straight, or an
overcard. So you are usually going to fold with these hands as well.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 193

 Next, consider 10-x with a straight draw, without a flush draw. These
hands should also be folded because you are again blocking your opponent’s
natural bluffs.
Finally, Jacks with a straight draw without a flush draw are pretty much the
same story as 10-x combinations with no straight draw or flush draw. You are
blocking our opponent’s natural bluffs and your opponent’s showdown value is
relatively low.
So here again (simplified), are the characteristics that need to be consid-
ered when deciding whether to fold against a second barrel:

Ƈ Low showdown value.

Ƈ Low equity versus the opponent’s value range.
Ƈ Blocking/removing your opponent’s natural bluffs.

So, which hands should fold in the real world? Let’s look at some examples.
Here, in the Cutoff, you are facing a 75% pot-size turn bet (12.75bb)

Hand Example 59
You are in the Cutoff with Qƅ-QƆ-5Ɔ-4Ƈ(Diagram 72).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb
07

Small Blind MP
29.75bb
99.5bb 100bb
12.75bb

Button Cutoff
92.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 72
This is a bare overpair of queens. You don’t have a lot of equity against
your opponent’s value range (8-x). Furthermore, there is a good chance you
will get outdrawn by your opponent’s bluffs. If your opponent has a straight or

194 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

flush draw, the probability that they could still hit it on the river is high. Even
if they are just holding Aces or Kings, they would already have you beat. There
are also many scary rivers on which you are not very willing to call down. So
this is a hand that you should be folding on the turn against a second barrel.

Hand Example 60
You are in the Cutoff with Aƅ-9ƅ-7Ɔ-6Ƅ (Diagram 73).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
29.75bb
99.5bb 100bb
12.75bb

Button Cutoff
92.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 73
You would call the flop with this hand but you should now give up on the 07
turn because you are blocking your opponent’s natural bluffs. You also have low
showdown value with this hand.

Turn Calling Range on (10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ)-2Ƅ

To continue against a second barrel on the turn, you should look for the follow-
ing characteristics:

Ƈ High showdown value.

Ƈ Decent equity versus the opponent’s value range.
Ƈ Blocking/removing your opponent’s value hands.

The following are examples of hands that can call a second barrel on (10Ƅ-
8Ƈ-8ƅ)-2Ƅ.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 195

 Hand Example 61
You are in the Cutoff with Qƅ-QƇ-10ƅ-9Ɔ(Diagram 74).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
29.75bb
99.5bb 100bb
12.75bb

Button Cutoff
92.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 74
You already have some equity against an 8, you can hit a 10, a Queen or
a straight card. At the same time, you are not blocking flush draws which in-
creases the likelihood that your opponent is bluffing. So this hand is going to
continue against a second barrel.

07 Hand Example 62
You are in the Cutoff with KƇ-KƆ-7Ƈ-6Ƈ(Diagram 75).
This hand is not blocking the straight draw combinations such as Q-9, Q-J,
or any of the flush draws and it does have some significant showdown value.
Therefore, you should call. You also have a small redraw with 7-6 against an
8. Bare Kings with zero back-up are usually going to fold but, in this instance,
you can call.

196 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
29.75bb
99.5bb 100bb
12.75bb

Button Cutoff
92.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 75
Hand Example 63
You are in the Cutoff with QƄ-JƄ-Jƅ-10Ɔ(Diagram 76).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind
07
29.75bb MP
99.5bb 100bb
12.75bb

Button Cutoff
92.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 76
Although this hand is blocking some potential bluffs that your opponent
has, it just has too much equity with the overpair and flush draw, so you should
call.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 197

 Hands that are Raising the Turn
To raise the turn on (10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ)-2Ƅ for value you need to be unblocking
8-x combinations. If you are holding an 8, you are usually going to call because
you are still behind against 10-8 and 10-10. When you are holding an 8 it also
makes it much more likely that your opponent is bluffing. By raising, you will
fold out their bluffs and you don’t give them the chance to go for a triple-bar-
rel bluff. When you are holding 10-10, you are going to be raising very often
because you are trying to get all the chips from 8-x, a hand that your opponent
will have very often as you don’t block it. When holding 10-10, you are also
raising much more because you are blocking a big part of our your opponent’s
bluffing range.
If you are looking to raise on the turn as a bluff, you need outstanding
blockers and protection. The raising ranges on the turn are very small. Most of
the 10-x-x-x combos that want to check-raise, have already check-raised on
the flop.
So, basically, your check-raising range is centered around 10-x. This is espe-
cially the case when you have a hand that is vulnerable against your opponent’s
bluffing/semi-bluffing range. An example is Kƅ-KƆ-10Ɔ-2Ɔ(Diagram 77).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

07

Small Blind MP
29.75bb
99.5bb 100bb
12.75bb

Button Cutoff
92.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 77
This hand is vulnerable against the flush and straight draws that your op-
ponent might be double-barreling that could still easily outdraw you by the
river. It is also not a hand that can stand a lot of triple barrels because the nuts

198 MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

are going to change frequently on the river in a way that is unhelpful for you. At
the same time, you are holding a 10 and a 2, so you have a few more full house
outs against an 8, and you are blocking the full houses a little bit better. Often
when you are holding those full house blockers, although you are not blocking
a boat or a value hand particularly well, it is still an excellent randomizer to add
in some bluffs into your range and it’s not hard to identify this randomizer.

Hand Example 64
Another example is AƇ-10Ƈ-7Ƅ-6ƅ (Diagram 78).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
29.75bb
99.5bb 100bb
12.75bb

Button Cutoff
92.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 78
07
This hand needs a lot of protection against your opponent’s bluffs. You are
not blocking Queens, or Jacks with spades or any straight or flush draws at
all. And therefore, every once in a while, you are going to turn this hand into a
bluff.

Hand Example 65
Finally, consider QƄ-QƇ-JƆ-10Ɔ(Diagram 79).
This hand could also be used as a bluff raise. Sometimes when you are
holding a very vulnerable hand, you want to turn your 10-x hands into a
bluff to make your opponent’s life more difficult. Too many players have no
(bluff)-raising range on the turn after check-calling the flop and this makes
it very easy for their opponents to double-barrel with any equity. This also

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots 199

 creates the opportunity for a triple barrel bluff and they can also improve their
hand without the danger of getting check-raised. To prevent this, you need to
mix in some turn raises and you have to find some randomization tools such as:
two pair, or 10-x that has no flush draw that you are then going to turn into
a bluff.

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
29.75bb
99.5bb 100bb
12.75bb

Button Cutoff
92.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 79

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ
07
Ƈ You need to be balanced, so don’t call all the hands that you
continued with on the flop on the turn. You need to let go of
some of them in order to be unexploitable. You should fold:

Ƈ Hands that have the lowest showdown value.

Ƈ Hands that have low equity.
Ƈ Hands that are removing your opponent’s natural bluffs.
Ƈ In order to continue, you need:
Ƈ Hands that have high showdown value.
Ƈ Hands that have equity versus your opponent’s value hands.
Ƈ Hands that are blocking/removing your opponent’s value
hands.
Ƈ In order to raise consider the following:

ϮϬϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Ƈ If you are raising for value, you want to unblock the part of
your opponent’s range that you can stack. If you are holding
the nuts, you want to unblock the second nuts when you are
raising to increase the probability of coolering your opponent.
Ƈ If you are bluffing, you want blockers to your opponent’s
continuing range.

^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐ/WZŝǀĞƌ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
In this section, we discuss river strategy playing IP. We will specifically focus on
the bet/bet/bet line. Meaning that you have c-bet the flop and turn and now
we want to analyze what action to take on the river.
The board is KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ-10Ƈ. You have c-bet the flop and turn, and you
arrive on the river with an SPR of 1.3.

ZŝǀĞƌWƌŝŶĐŝƉůĞƐ

Ƈ River c-bet ranges are polarized (either you bluff or have a very
strong hand). On the river, no draws or semi-bluffs are possible.
Ƈ Your sizing should mostly be pot. Sometimes, when you are value
betting thin or when you have a hand that is blocking a big part 07
of your opponent’s calling range, you could bet smaller. More
about that later.
Ƈ The higher your showdown-value, the lower your bluff
frequency. Sometimes you will arrive on the river with a hand
such as a set or two pair. Even though you might have blockers
to the nuts, you are still going to elect to check back because you
have a lot of showdown value and, therefore, the EV of a check
back is very high.
Ƈ The better your blockers to the nuts, the higher your bluff
frequency. This holds true especially if your showdown value is
low. So the amount of showdown value you have on the river is
crucial when you decide to bluff the river.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots ϮϬϭ

 Hand Example 66
The first river transition we will analyze is the AƄ completing the front door
flush draw. The board is now (KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ-10Ƈ)-AƄ (Diagram 80).

Big Blind EP
72bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
56.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button (Hero) Cutoff

72bb 100bb

Diagram 80
Flushes
The nut flush, second nut flush and third nut flush are all value-betting at a
07 100% frequency IP, preferably betting full pot. The stronger your hand is, the
more often you should use a pot sizing. The reason is that you don’t have to be
afraid of running into a better flush.
And also, realize that the OOP player is leading around 50% of their flushes
into you. You are still going to value-bet all flushes, and are only checking 20%
of the time when you are holding a low flush. So you should almost always be
value-betting a flush on this river.

Showdown Value
Whenever you are holding a hand that has showdown value that isn’t a flush,
you should almost never bet. The only hands that you can often bet are
straights with flush blockers. There is no point in betting a straight without a
flush blocker, or hands that are even weaker than a straight such as sets and
two pairs. Again, if you have a lot of showdown value, the EV of a check back

ϮϬϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

is very high and there is no reason to use your hand for a bet.
You want to play an efficient strategy, which means when you are bluffing,
you bluff with hands that have very little chance to win at showdown.

Bluffs
The nut flush blocker has less low showdown value, so hands weaker than two
pairs of sixes and fives, are bluffing at a 100% frequency. The second and third
nut flush blockers also bet at an almost 100% frequency. If you have a nut
flush blocker while holding A-K, your bluffing frequency is still quite high, but
it’s already a little lower because you are holding more showdown value.
The most crucial factor here is how low your showdown value is and hold-
ing the perfect blocker isn’t as relevant. When you arrive at the river, always
think, “Do I have a chance of winning this hand by checking back?” If the an-
swer is no, you should always consider putting it into your bluffing range.

Hand Example 67
On the 8Ɔ river, (KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ-10Ƈ)-8Ɔ, some straights get there but, more
importantly, the two flush draws bricked (Diagram 81).

Big Blind EP
72bb 100bb 07

Small Blind MP
56.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button (Hero) Cutoff

72bb 100bb

Diagram 81
The principles of your strategy on this river are still the same, but we will
briefly revisit them because they are so important.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots ϮϬϯ

 Ƈ River c-bet ranges are polarized (you either have a bluff or a
strong value hand).
Ƈ Your sizing should mostly be pot.
Ƈ The higher your showdown-value, the lower your bluff
frequency.
Ƈ The better your blockers to the nuts, the higher your bluff
frequency.

The board is KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ-10Ƈ-8Ɔ. Straights should always be value bet on

this runout. A set on this river card is also betting at a high frequency. If you
have a set that can beat other sets or a set that is blocking the straight, then
you definitely want to value bet.
Two pairs, top pairs and overpairs are never value-betting. Those hands are
still beating missed flush draws, so they do have some showdown value but they
aren’t strong enough to go for value. Lastly, you have air with straight blockers.
In this context “air” refers to less than a King because those hands are seldom
going to win at showdown. Air without straight blockers is rarely bluffing.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Always consider how much showdown value you have and how
07 relevant your blockers are.
Ƈ River c-bet ranges are polarized (you either have a bluff or a
strong value hand).
Ƈ Your sizing should mostly be pot.
Ƈ The higher your showdown-value, the lower your bluff
frequency.
Ƈ The better your blockers to the nuts, the higher your bluff
frequency.

WƵƚƚŝŶŐŝƚĂůůdŽŐĞƚŚĞƌ
We have now discussed the strategic fundamentals of IP play on the flop, turn,
and river. The next step is to tie these fundamentals together to create a solid
three-street game plan. Therefore, we are now going to enter into some in-
depth three-street hand analyses.

ϮϬϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

,ĂŶĚϭ
Hand Example 68
You are on the Button with AƄ-5Ƈ-2Ƈ-2Ƅ and the flop is KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ(Diagram 82).

Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 82
On this board, you are holding the nut flush draw, a pair of fives and a
backdoor flush draw. This hand should be c-betting the flop because you lack
showdown value and you can call a check-raise. You are also removing some of 07
the value hands that your opponent could be continuing with on the flop such
as the nut flush draw or hands such as sets and two pairs that include a 5. So
you should bet this flop and call a check-raise if necessary. But let’s imagine
that you c-bet and your opponent calls.

Hand Example 69
The turn is (KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ)-10Ƈ(Diagram 83).
You are now holding two flush draws but have barely any showdown value,
so you should go for a double barrel. The reason why you double barrel is that
you have more outs that you can hit against your opponent’s check-raising
range and you hold less nuttiness in your hand. You can call a check-raise given
that you have more equity against hands such as sets and two pairs, so double
barreling here is not going to hinder you from realizing your equity. In this case
you should use a pot sizing. In the event of a check-raise you will call.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots ϮϬϱ

 Big Blind EP
90.9bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
18.7bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
90.9bb 100bb

Diagram 83
Hand Example 70
The river is (KƄ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ-10Ƈ)-QƇ(Diagram 84).

Big Blind EP
07 72.2bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
56.1bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
72.2bb 100bb

Diagram 84

ϮϬϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 You hit the flush on the river! But it’s a very weak one. Really weak flushes
often go for a check back on the river after double barreling on the flop and
turn. With most of your flushes on this board you would go ahead and value
bet. But here you are holding one of the weakest possible flushes, hence a
check back is preferable.

,ĂŶĚϮ
Hand Example 71
You are on the Button with KƄ-Kƅ-10Ƈ-9Ƅ and the flop is 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ(Di-
agram 85).

Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

07
Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 85
The most important concepts on a paired board are:

Ƈ On the flop, you should use a 33% c-bet sizing.

Ƈ On 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ, you c-bet around 48% of your range.
Ƈ When c-betting on 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ, you are looking to bet overpairs
that include a 10 because those hands block 10-10 and 10-8.
Ƈ If you have an overpair that has no backup in the form of a 10 or
a straight draw, then you are looking to bet with hands that are
blocking some of the rundowns by holding a J, 9 or a 7.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots ϮϬϳ

 With KƄ-Kƅ-10Ƈ-9Ƅ you have a strong overpair, a 10 blocker, a backdoor
flush draw and a backdoor straight draw. This hand is a clear c-bet on the flop.
If you held the same hand without a backdoor flush draw you would be more
inclined to check back because there are fewer turns to double barrel and few-
er rivers on which you can win at showdown. Due to the paired board you bet
33%-pot and your opponent calls. Your opponent is going to have a very wide
calling range, which probably includes hands such as weaker overpairs, straight
draws, 10-x, and so on.

Hand Example 72
The turn is (10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ)-3Ƅ(Diagram 86).

Big Blind EP
94bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
12.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

07
Button Cutoff
94bb 100bb

Diagram 86
On the turn, you have improved by adding a flush draw. After betting the
flop, you didn’t get check-raised, so you can assume you still hold the best
hand on the turn. You are also doing well against some of the hands that your
opponent might continue with, such as Q-Q with spades, J-J with spades and
straight draws such as J-10-9 or Q-J-10. On the turn, you are mostly using a
50%-pot sizing but a smaller sizing could also be justified. You value bet with a
50%-sizing on the turn, and your opponent calls again.

ϮϬϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Hand Example 73
The river is (10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ-3Ƅ)-2Ɔ(Diagram 87).

Big Blind EP
87.75bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
87.75bb 100bb

Diagram 87
You didn’t hit the flush draw but still hold considerable showdown value.
After double barreling, you are now looking to check back on the river. Depend-
ing on your opponent, you could also triple barrel for value here. For example, if
you believe that your opponent would have raised hands with an 8 or 10-10 on
07
either the flop or the turn, you are most likely still ahead. In the specific situation
of Button versus Big Blind, where the Big Blind is three-betting almost all Aces,
you can three-barrel quite frequently. When you do go for the three-barrel,
using a small sizing is probably the best as this has a greater chance of getting
called by hands you have beat. Also, if you have spades, it makes your hand bet-
ter to triple barrel because your opponent is then unlikely to have spades and is
more likely to bluff-catch, given that the spades have busted.

,ĂŶĚϯ
Hand Example 74
You are on the Button with AƄ-7Ƈ-6Ƅ-2Ƈ and the flop is 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ (Dia-
gram 88).

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots ϮϬϵ

 Big Blind EP
96.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
7.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
96.5bb 100bb

Diagram 88
This hand should be c-bet on the flop. An important point to consider is
how to proceed on certain turn cards if you check back. In this case, you don’t
have a nutted turn card, but you do have some turns that can be barreled, for
example, a straight and some flush draws. With AƄ-7Ƈ-6Ƅ-2Ƈ you have low
showdown value and low EV when checking back because of the lack of good
07 turn cards that you can hit with this hand. Therefore you should bet 33%-pot,
as your standard strategy suggests on paired boards. The opponent calls.

Hand Example 75
The turn is (10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ)-3Ƅ (Diagram 89). This turn adds a flush draw to your
hand, thus improving equity against your opponent’s calling range. You do want to
use a bigger sizing because you want to be more polarized on this turn card. If you
have a hand that benefits from making your opponent fold a medium strength
hand (as your current hand does) you want to go for a large sizing and bet pot. If
you do not have a spade draw, you should still consider betting this hand because
the EV of checking back is so low. However, the poor showdown value would not
be the only reason to go for a turn bet. You also want to make sure that you show
up on the river with some bluffs in your range and a hand such as AƆ-7Ƈ-6Ɔ-2Ƈ
will be a very efficient river bluff because of the lack of showdown value. Also,
sometimes you want to bluff the river with a hand with no spades, so you make

ϮϭϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

it more likely that your opponent arrived on the river with spades and will end up
folding with a higher frequency.

Big Blind EP
94bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
12.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
94bb 100bb

Diagram 89
Hand Example 76
The river is (10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ-3Ƅ) -2Ɔ(Diagram 90).

07
Big Blind EP
81.5bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
37.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
81.5bb 100bb

Diagram 90

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots Ϯϭϭ

 On this river, you should be checking back for two reasons:

Ƈ You have spades and that makes it less likely that your opponent
has a flush draw and more likely that your opponent is holding
a made hand. This means the success rate of your bluff will be
lower on this river card.
Ƈ In case your opponent was holding a combo draw, you might
now even be winning as you have made a pair. Although your
showdown value is very marginal, it’s still something that you
have to take into consideration.

^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐKKWZŝǀĞƌ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
In this section, we will discuss multi-street play that leads up to playing OOP
on the river after check-calling the flop and the turn and facing the third barrel.
We will discuss how to bluff-catch effectively OOP over multiple streets.
As you know by now, when OOP you have to play a more passive strategy
compared to playing IP, where you do much more betting. When OOP, you
have to play much more reactively, often checking and then deciding how to
respond to the action taken by your opponent.
07 There is not a great deal of difference in bluff-catching on the river be-
tween playing IP and OOP. What matters most is removals. Your opponent
will bet a polarized range of hands and your calling range should be centered
around removing their best value hands and unblocking their bluffing range.
One thing to keep in mind is that if the river changes the nuts, you are in-
centivized to lead some hands to maximize value from your value range. How-
ever, you can’t lead all your value hands, otherwise you will be check-folding
too often.

ƌĞĂŬĚŽǁŶ
As on most boards when you are OOP, you are not using a high c-bet frequen-
cy on 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ. You should only c-bet 10.8% and use a half-pot sizing
when you do bet. Let’s analyze two different boards to discuss bluff-catching.

ϮϭϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Hand Example 77
You are in the Cutoff and the flop is 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ(Diagram 91).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff (Hero)

96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 91
You check and your opponent bets half-pot. How do you play your range
on this board?
If you face a half pot stab on 10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ, K-K-10-x combinations are
check-raising 28% of the time. The reason is that your bare overpair needs a
lot of protection. You are check-raising the hands that don’t hold any straight
blockers because those hands allow you to call on more turns. If you always 07
just call your K-K-10 combinations on the flop, you are allowing your oppo-
nent to have very effective double and triple barrels on turn or river cards that
complete a straight. Knowing this you are sometimes trying to make your op-
ponents fold immediately by check-raising the flop with K-K-10.
Combinations of A-A-10 are only check-raising 14% of the time, half as
often as K-K-10. The reason is that Aces require less protection. Sprinkling
some of these hands into your check-raising range is very important, espe-
cially the hands with showdown value that need some protection. For example,
J-J-10 is check-raising 45% and Q-Q-10 is check-raising 38%. So you do
want to add some of these hands into your check-raising range. If you don’t
do this, your opponent has a very easy time taking a lot of stabs on the flop,
realizing equity and also realizing some bluff potential.
Now let’s presume you play check-call on the flop.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots Ϯϭϯ

 Hand Example 78
The turn is (10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ)-7ƅ(Diagram 92).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
17bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff (Hero)

92.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 92
On the 7ƅ turn, you should check your entire range as the 7ƅ is not a
great card for you. By betting on the flop your opponent represented a more
polarized range. You didn’t check-raise so you don’t have many combinations
of 8-x, 10-10, or 10-8 in your range, which will leave your range consisting
mainly of overpairs. Therefore you are going to check and let your opponent
07 decide if they want to polarize their range by double barreling further.
If your opponent goes for a second barrel, you are mainly going to call or
fold. On this card, which is relatively bad for your range, you want to continue
with hands that have decent equity. Most Aces are folding at this point (58%).
Notice that some of the Aces were check-raising the flop. If that hadn’t been
the case, then your turn folding frequency with Aces would be even higher.
On the turn, if you have Aces with clubs, you have an un-foldable hand and
have to continue. You have equity against straights, trips, and even against a
full house. You also have outs to make a very strong hand. The same holds for
all overpairs with clubs. These hands have just too much equity to fold.
The same overpairs with a ten, A-A-10, Q-Q-10 etc. can also be used to
check-raise the turn at a low frequency. The idea is, that on the turn the value
of calling diminishes with those hands because you are not doing well against
your opponent’s bluffing range. So even if your opponent is bluffing, you will

Ϯϭϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

have a problem with a lot of rivers. You either have to fold, or your opponent
can get there and just check behind and still win.
The fact that you are not doing that well in terms of realizability and eq-
uity against your opponent’s betting range on the turn means you should turn
some of these combinations into a bluff. This is especially the case with Kings
as Kings are more vulnerable. Over 30% of the time, you should turn your K-K-
10 hand into a bluff on the turn and check-raise.
Players rarely make these types of bluffs. Many players look down at a
hand like K-K-10-4 and end up folding or calling once again. However, you
rarely see them check-raising.
This makes check-raising a very powerful play because people are going
to give you a lot of credit. Furthermore, a lot of IP players are going to dou-
ble-barrel this turn aggressively with wide ranges and they are not expecting
you to check-raise. This means that much of the time you are going to be up
against any kind of draw. By check-raising, you can get them off those draws
and steal their equity.
After check-calling the turn, you are going to see a river. Before consider-
ing the river card, realize that your range at this point mainly consists of over-
pairs with flush draws, overpairs with straight draws and occasional slowplays.

Hand Example 79
The river is (10Ƅ-8Ƈ-8ƅ-7ƅ)-3Ƈ(Diagram 93). 07
Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
51bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff (Hero)

75.25bb 75.25bb

Diagram 93

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots Ϯϭϱ

 On the 3Ƈ, you should check your entire range. Your opponent has been
representing a very polarized range so far by double-barreling. You just called
and are in a bluff-catching scenario. Recognize that when you arrive on the
river and your opponent is betting again, you must let go of some hands or you
are becoming exploitable. If your opponent knows that you are going to bluff-
catch with all your overpairs on blanks, they can exploit you with a combination
of checking and value-betting relentlessly.
So you have to find some selective calls and carefully consider which hands
to fold. If your opponent triple barrels, then they will often be playing the riv-
er with a very polarized range, using a large sizing. In this case, potting is the
only correct option for the IP player, and the OOP player should fold at a 51%
frequency.
For the most part, you are going to have to selectively pick overpairs that
have a good combination of blockers and high showdown value. You have to
let go of a ton of overpairs, especially the ones with clubs. The Aƅ in particular
is not a good card to have when calling on the river because you are blocking
some of the busted flush draws that your opponent could be holding. In that
case, you should fold almost all the bare Aces with clubs.
If you are not holding any of the clubs, there are some combinations of Aces
that want to call on the river. The hands that do call mostly have good block-
ers to your opponent’s value range and they are unblocking your opponent’s
07 bluffing range. The cards that you are looking to have in this situation to call
are pair blockers and straight blockers. A hand such as AƆ-AƇ-10Ƈ-JƄ blocks
some straight, two pair, and full house combinations and unblocks bluffs that
your opponent could be holding. Therefore it would be a good bluff-catcher.

The most important factor on the river are the blockers you hold
and not your made hand value as you are beating very little of your
opponent’s value range anyway. You only beat bluffs, so you want to
call with hands that make it more likely your opponent is bluffing.

Hand Example 80
You are in the Cutoff and the flop is 8Ƅ-7Ƈ-6ƅ(Diagram 94).

Ϯϭϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
8.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff (Hero)

96.5bb 96.5bb

Diagram 94
This is a rainbow, straight board. On this flop, the OOP player is c-betting 15%
of the time for a half-pot sizing and checking all other hands. The bluffing range is
made of hands that are unable to check-call, for example A-J-10 and A-J-9.
On this flop, you are check-calling quite often and check-raising relatively
infrequently. The check-raising range on this board consists of similar hands to
the c-betting range. It includes hands that can’t check-call but do have some
equity and are therefore good bluffing candidates. Some of the best hands to
check-raise on this board are weak overpairs that are blocking straights, such 07
as JƇ-10Ƈ-10Ƅ-2Ƅ. This hand blocks rundowns that are hitting this board very
hard, for example J-10-9 and 10-9-8.
When it comes to check-calling, you should call most of the strong made
hands such as sets, two pairs, the second nut straight and the third nut straight,
etc. These hands are usually taking a passive postflop line.

Hand Example 81
The turn is (8Ƅ-7Ƈ-6ƅ)-4Ƈ(Diagram 95).
There is no texture shift with this turn card so you don’t have a leading
range. You are still behind against your opponent’s flop value range. This turn is
very safe for the IP player so they should start to polarize by betting 100% pot
or checking. In this instance, your opponent decides to double barrel and pots
the turn.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots Ϯϭϳ

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
34bb
99.5bb 100bb
17bb

Button Cutoff (Hero)

75.25bb 92.25bb

Diagram 95
Against this second barrel, you should continue with hands that have good
equity. These are two pair with backup, flush draws, open-enders with flush
draws, sets, and low straights. Hands that floated the flop hoping for a good
turn are now looking to fold.
Hands such as backdoor flush draws and straight blockers have now sig-
nificantly diminished in value if they didn’t improve to a flush draw or a straight
on this turn. Inside straight draws, along with a lot of Aces hands, such as AƆ-
07 AƇ-6Ƅ-2Ƅ, were good enough to float on the flop looking for a good turn but
are now folding.
Against a pot-size second barrel, you should let a lot of these hands go
and play passively when you do have any of the made hands apart from 10-
9, which is going to raise at a very high frequency. There is already a ton of
money in the middle, 10-9 is very strong and you do need some protection
on a two-diamond board. Therefore, you are going to be raising with 10-9
combinations.
What hands are going to be raising on this turn that are not 10-9? In fact,
only 2% of non-10-9 hands should be raising and this range is going to con-
sist mainly of combo draws, two pair with draws and combinations that have
some potentially difficult rivers to play but have a lot of equity. An example is
10Ƈ-8Ƈ-6Ƅ-4Ƅ. This hand holds three pair, a gutshot and a flush draw. It has
a lot of equity but it will encounter quite a few difficult rivers, especially being

Ϯϭϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

OOP. Very few hands other than 10-9 are raising and you could even simplify
to check-calling or check-folding all hands other than 10-9.
You decide to call the turn.

Hand Example 82
The river is (8Ƅ-7Ƈ-6ƅ-4Ƈ)-2Ɔ(Diagram 96).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
51bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff (Hero)

75.25bb 75.25bb

Diagram 96
After calling the turn, you arrive at the river with an SPR of about 0.8. The
board texture didn’t change, so the OOP player will check their entire range and 07
the IP player should triple-barrel with a pot sizing and a very polarized range.
Even a lot of the 8-high straights are no longer strong enough for the IP player
to triple barrel and all of these combinations should be checked back. The value
range of the IP player consists of all the 9-high straights or better.
If the IP player is going to use an all-in sizing, the OOP player should be
bluff-catching with around 55% of their range. The IP player is risking an 80%
pot-size bet to win the pot, which means the bluff so it has to work 45% of the
time or more to be profitable. If the OOP player folds more than 55% of the time,
the IP player could turn every hand into a bluff and show a profit.
The key factors for the OOP player are the removal effect and their block-
ers. On the turn the calling range is based on a mix of equity and removal but
on the river it’s all about removal cards. 9-5 is a combination that is always be
calling. With this hand you could split the pot and it is also blocking 10-9.

07 - Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots Ϯϭϵ

 On this board there are so many different straights that you cannot blindly
start to call with all the straights that you are holding. If you do, you will end
up calling way too much. The only hands that you can call that are lower than
9-high straights are straights, sets, or two pairs, with a 10, because this means
that you are blocking a decent part of your opponent’s value range.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ
Ƈ Your opponent’s river betting range will be polarized, so your
calling range should be centered around removing their best value
hands and unblocking their bluffing range.
Ƈ If the river changes the nuts you are incentivized to lead some of
your hands to maximize value from your value range. However,
you can’t lead all value hands, otherwise you would check-fold
too often.
Ƈ The most important factors for calling on the river are the
removal effect and the blockers that you hold that block your
opponent’s value range.

07

ϮϮϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

WŽƐƚĨůŽƉdŚĞŽƌLJ͗
ϯͲďĞƚWŽƚƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
Now that we have discussed a solid strategy for single-raised pots, it is time to
dive into 3-bet pots. This is an incredibly important component of PLO strat-
egy. SPRs are decreasing, chips are flying everywhere and the pots are huge.
For that reason you want to prepare yourself by playing correct ranges.
3-bet pots play at much lower SPRs than single-raised pots, which drastically
influences your strategy. Some key differences between single-raised pots and
08
3-bet pots are that in 3-bet pots:

Ƈ Preflop ranges are more defined.

Ƈ Boards are going to be more polarized in favor of one or the other
player.
Ƈ Postflop bet-sizing will include potting and check-raising for
stacks way more often than in single-raised pots.
Ƈ Polarization of c-betting ranges is less important as the SPR
becomes shallower, especially for OOP players who want to end
the situation as quickly as possible.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots ϮϮϭ

 ^ƚĂĐŬKĨĨ
Before we go into c-betting strategy fundamentals, it will be helpful to quickly
go over how to use stack-off charts to review and learn from postflop mis-
takes in big pots.
The reason it is good to analyze this before getting into c-betting strategy
is because not all the mistakes that are made at the table are equally costly.
Certain mistakes cost much more than others, such as mistakes in big pots
where hundreds of big blinds are in play.
Stack-off situations are common in PLO because 3-bet and 4-bet pots
that get to the flop are not as rare as in NLHE. To learn how to review and im-
prove in these big pots, you need to understand how to use stack-off charts
correctly. Here is an example:
You are on the Button and raise with 7Ƈ-6Ƈ-5Ƅ-4Ƅ. The Small Blind is
100bb deep, decides to 3-bet and you call.
The flop is KƇ-JƇ-4ƅ and you are playing at an SPR of 3.5. You have bot-
tom pair and a weak flush draw. The Small Blind bets full pot, presumably com-
mitting to the pot, meaning that you don’t have any fold equity when shoving.
You want to figure out if getting all the money in is profitable. How can you
solve such a situation? You use this four-step process:

1) Calculate the SPR.

2) Figure out how much equity you are required to have to stack
off profitably given the SPR.
3) Figure out how much equity your hand has versus your oppo-
08 nent’s range.
4) Make a decision.

Now let’s apply these four steps to solve the situation.

1) The SPR for this situation is 3.5. The Small Blind 3-bet to 12bb
and you called, meaning there is about 25bb in the pot while you both
have 88bb remaining in your stacks.
2) Look up the required equity for a 3.5 SPR in the stack-off chart
(see page 24). As you see the required stack off equity is about 43.5%.
3) To calculate your equity against your opponent’s range, you

ϮϮϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 can use a variety of tools. A free and well-known one is ProPokerTools.
com. On this site, you will be able to simulate PLO equities. You can put
your opponent on a certain range and then you want to run that range
against the hand you are holding on a specific flop. Remember, that
while it is impossible to give your opponent an exact range, in most
cases you should be able to create a good estimation. Based on my
calculation using ProPokerTools.com, your hand has about 34% equity
against your opponent’s stack-off range.
4) Now it’s time to use the calculations to get a correct decision.
The required equity to stack off is 43.5% but you only have around
34%. So you shouldn’t stack off. But can you call? While you are get-
ting the correct odds to call if it were an all-in bet, the fact that there’s
still some money behind on the turn and you are unlikely to realize all
your equity on high turn cards, effectively weakens your pot odds. So
you should fold.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ When the SPR increases, you need more equity. When the SPR
decreases, you need less equity to stack off profitably.
Ƈ When the SPR decreases, polarity, positional advantages and
disadvantages have less of an impact on strategy. If the SPR
increases, these factors become more important.
Ƈ At low SPRs, equity is the driving force.
Ƈ Understanding stack-off charts is crucial to study stack-off
situations.
08

ϯͲďĞƚWŽƚƐKKW&ůŽƉ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
This chapter covers one of the most important spots in the entire game, as we
are about to discuss re-steal situations. Playing correctly in 3-bet pots OOP
is one of the most crucial elements to master if you want to improve your win
rate. The reasons are simple.
Whenever you are in the blinds, especially the Small Blind, and you are
facing a late position open-raise, you will very often end up 3-betting, so

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots ϮϮϯ

 this is a very frequently occurring spot. The pots are also much bigger than
single-raised pots. So these spots occur often and also lead to big pots. This
makes understanding how to play them correctly a vital component of your
PLO skill set.
The theory in this chapter will be discussed from a situation where the
OOP 3-bettor is in the Small Blind, and the IP caller is on the Button.
Playing OOP in 3-bet pots, you are incentivized to use large sizings fre-
quently on favorable boards. By using a large sizing, you show that you are
committing yourself to end the situation. This is especially beneficial on dry
boards such as 7Ɔ-4ƅ-2Ƈ, where A-A-x-x has a lot of equity, but usually
marginal playability.

ŽĂƌĚdĞdžƚƵƌĞƐ
The reason why understanding more about board textures is so essential is
because the ranges are very asymmetric. The interaction between your range
and the board is going to be different in every situation. Understanding which
board textures are good for your range and which are not, will help you to make
some accurate decisions regarding your strategy.
The number of different flop combinations is more than 1,700 and we ob-
viously can’t discuss every single one. Therefore, it is best to categorize them
and then associate different strategies to those different types of boards. Here
we will be discussing seven different board textures.

ϭͿĐĞͲŚŝŐŚŽĂƌĚƐ
The first type of flop to consider is Ace-high. These boards feature an Ace,
08 there is no flush or straight possible and there is also no pair. Examples of Ace-
high boards are AƄ-KƄ-9Ƈ and Aƅ-6Ƈ-3Ɔ. On these boards you, as the 3-bet-
tor, have a massive polarity advantage because you are holding way more top
sets than your opponent. For that same reason you also have a gigantic equity
advantage. Therefore, you can c-bet almost your full range on A-high boards.

Sizing
The sizing you should use depends on the type of Ace-high board. If the board
is dry, for example AƆ-6Ƅ-2Ƈ, you use a smaller 50%-pot sizing. If the board
is wet and dynamic, for example AƆ-Jƅ-3ƅ, then use a half-pot to pot sizing.
Half-pot size bets will be used with more polarized ranges and full pot bets

ϮϮϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

will be used with more merged ones. Merged ranges need more protection
and they benefit more from maximizing fold equity. Merged ranges also play
better on turns when the SPR is low. A bare top set on AƆ-Jƅ-9Ɔ is a good
example of a hand that should be bet for full pot. Whereas a hand such as Aƅ-
KƆ-Qƅ-JƆ should bet half-pot. So when the board is dry, bet half-pot, if the
board is wet, bet half-pot to full pot.

Hand Example 83
You are in the Big Blind with KƆ-Jƅ-10ƅ-8Ɔ. The Button opens and you de-
cide to 3-bet. The flop comes Aƅ-7Ƈ-3Ƈ(Diagram 97).

Big Blind EP
89bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
22.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
89bb 100bb

Diagram 97 08
This is a board where the Big Blind has a polarity advantage and can be
holding some very strong hands, such as top set and the nut flush draw. In this
case, though, you have pretty much nothing. You have a backdoor flush draw
and a backdoor wrap and, therefore, you can bet the flop. This hand is very
weak but remember that you can almost bet any hand on Ace-high boards
because you have such a big polarity and equity advantage. In this hand, use
a half-pot sizing because you do not want to risk too much. You are not going
to make hands with a lot of equity fold anyway, so there is no reason bet very
large.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots ϮϮϱ

 Hand Example 84
You are in the Small Blind with Aƅ-AƄ-QƆ-2Ɔ. The Button, who is a regular,
opens and you decide to 3-bet. The Button calls and the flop is AƆ-7ƅ-6Ƈ
(Diagram 98).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 98
You have flopped top set and a backdoor flush draw. In this situation, you
should bet to maximize your value. Both a half-pot and a full-pot sizing would
be fine in this situation. The benefit of betting half-pot is that you make it
more likely that your opponent is going to continue with a hand that is going
to get them into trouble on later streets. You want your opponent to continue
with gutters and pairs with a backdoor flush draw that could make something
like two pair or trips on the turn. With such a hand, they will have a very hard
08 time folding. If you make those hands fold on the flop by betting pot, you are
missing a ton of value. With the weakest top sets that have no backup whatso-
ever, you can pot because you might run into some realizability issues on later
streets if you decide to bet smaller. But if you have any type of backup, betting
smaller is the way to go.

Hand Example 85
You are sitting in the Small Blind with QƆ-10Ƅ-7Ƅ-6Ɔ and the Button opens.
This hand doesn’t play well multiway and it flops very smooth so you decide to
3-bet. The flop comes AƇ-10Ɔ-2Ƈ(Diagram 99).

ϮϮϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 99
You are holding the middle pair blocker, a backdoor flush draw and a back-
door straight draw.
In this case, you can use your middle pair hand as a bluff. You very often
have the nuts and block some hands that pair or make sets with the 10Ɔ.
Furthermore, your hand isn’t strong enough to check-call. You should just bet
half-pot here and be fine folding to a raise.

ϮͿƌŽĂĚǁĂLJŽĂƌĚƐ
The second type of board to consider are Broadway flops. These flops always
have two Broadway cards, don’t allow immediate straights, are unpaired and they
are not monotone. Examples are QƇ-JƇ-7ƅ and KƄ-Jƅ-2Ƈ. On these boards,
08
you still have a significant equity advantage which leads to you c-betting over
70% of the time after 3-betting in the Small Blind versus Button scenario.
When the board is wet, your side cards matter a lot and your c-bet fre-
quency generally diminishes slightly. When the board is very dry, we are bet-
ting very often.

Sizing
Specifically for wet board textures you should be betting both small and big.
This means you use two different sizings. You bet big with the medium-strength
part of your range, in other words using a merged strategy. By doing this, you

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots ϮϮϳ

 lower the SPR and deny as much equity as possible. You also bet less than pot
(usually half pot) with a polarized range. This gives you a good price on your
bluffs and limits your losses with your weakest hands. You also want to induce
action and make your opponent continue when you hold your strongest hands.

Note
We are specifically discussing c-betting the flop from the Small Blind
against the Button. Remember the Button had a wide preflop range,
even after calling the 3-bet. Against tighter opening ranges from EP,
MP and the Cutoff, you should lower your c-bet frequency. Versus
these tighter ranges you are mainly 3-betting Aces preflop and your
opponent’s ranges will be Broadway heavy and tight, meaning you
have to be more cautious.

Hand Example 86
You are in the Small Blind, holding AƇ-Aƅ-Kƅ-9Ƈ. The Button opens and you
elect to 3-bet. The Button calls and the flop is KƄ-JƇ-8Ƈ(Diagram 100).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

08
Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 100
On this wet Broadway board, you do have a potting range. Remember
that you are using a small sizing when polarized and a big sizing when betting
merged on these boards. In this case, you are holding an overpair, top pair
blocker and have the nut flush draw. You are very strong in this spot, so this
hand wants to use a polarized strategy and should bet half-pot.

ϮϮϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 The hands that you are potting on this board are hands that are willing
to stack off on the flop, but have very poor realizability on future streets, for
example, KƆ-Kƅ-5ƅ-3Ƅ. This hand currently has a lot of equity against almost
any range but lacks in playability on future streets and it benefits from potting
to try and end the hand as soon as possible.

Hand Example 87
You are in the Small Blind with AƇ-KƄ-10Ƈ-9Ƅ. The Button opens, you 3-bet
and the Button calls. The flop comes Qƅ-10ƅ-4Ƅ (Diagram 101).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 101
On these two-tone boards, you are not going to have the highest c-bet
frequency because relevant suits really matter. Your hand is very turn-deter-
mined. If your opponent gets all the money in on the flop you would have to
08
fold. This would probably leave quite a lot of equity on the table since you have
a gutshot, a strong backdoor flush draw and many two pair outs that could be
good against some part of your opponent’s range. So, this is one of the few
hands on this board that is better off check-calling.

Hand Example 88
You are sitting in the Small Blind with Kƅ-KƄ-7Ƈ-6Ƅ. The Button opens, you
3-bet and get called. The flop comes QƄ-10Ɔ-3Ɔ(Diagram 102).

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots ϮϮϵ

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 102
In this instance, you are holding a backdoor straight draw and a backdoor
flush draw. Check-calling is marginal as, if your opponent shows strength, you
are probably better off check-folding. For this reason, you should bet half-pot
on the flop and fold to a raise. On cards such as the 9Ƅ and JƄ, you could go for a
double-barrel because you are holding good blockers along with decent equity.

ϯͿDŝĚͬ>ŽǁtĞƚŽĂƌĚƐ
These boards are wet so they are always going to be two-toned. They don’t
build straights but there are a lot of flush draws possible on this board texture
that are not often going to be in your range.
You don’t have many strong hands on these boards and there are a lot of
08
problematic runouts. So, you have to be more careful and are only c-betting
40-60% of the time. Examples of such flops are 10Ɔ-8Ƅ-5Ɔ and 8Ƅ-7Ƈ-3Ƈ.

Sizing
Again, on wet boards you are betting a mix of half-pot and full-pot. You are go-
ing to be potting with hands that lack playability but have enough equity and fold
equity to make the investment and guarantee it will be realized. You bet half pot
because you have weak hands that can’t get it in but would benefit from a fold or
a cheap turn. You balance those with strong hands that want action.

ϮϯϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Hand Example 89
You are in the Small Blind with Kƅ-10ƅ-9Ɔ-8Ɔ and face a Button open-raise.
You 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes 9ƅ-8ƅ-2Ɔ(Diagram 103).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 103
You have hit the flop hard with top two pair, the King-high flush draw and
a backdoor flush draw.
On this board, you should realize that you are not doing that well in terms
of transitions on the turn and river. There are a lot of marginal cards that are
not so good for your preflop range, such as a J, 10, 7 or 6. You are not going to
have strong hands often enough on those turns because you are mainly going
to have overpairs in your range. The best hands you will have on these boards
are overpairs with flush draws. Occasionally you will have some rundowns,
hands such as the hand you actually hold.
08
Your range doesn’t have too much equity on this board, so you will do a lot
of checking and you need to think about protecting that checking range. If you
are blocking most of the relevant calling hands, then you should consider slow-
playing the hand to protect your checking range and allow your opponent to
bluff. Kƅ-10ƅ-9Ɔ-8Ɔ has tremendous playability and blockers and therefore
you should put this hand into a slowplay range and play a check-call.

Hand Example 90
You are in the Small Blind with Kƅ-QƆ-JƆ-JƇ and face a Button open-raise.
You 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes JƄ-4ƅ-3ƅ (Diagram 104).

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϯϭ

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 104
Although this board is two-toned, the side cards are very low and it is
tough for either player to hit a 3 or a 4. Therefore this board plays quite a bit
“drier.” When you do establish that this board is quite dry you should consider
slowplaying some top set combinations because it’s very hard for your op-
ponent to have hands such as wraps, two pairs, or other hands that could be
stabbing, especially when you are holding the Kƅ. The hand that you currently
hold has a lot of blockers and minimizes the continuing range of your oppo-
nent. For that reason, it is a good idea to check with this hand to protect your
checking range.

08 Hand Example 91
You are in the Small Blind with KƆ-KƇ-7Ƈ-5Ƅ facing a Button open-raise. You
3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes JƆ-6Ƅ-3Ɔ(Diagram 105).
You have an overpair, a gutshot, and the future King-high flush blocker. At
this point, both potting and checking would be fine. It is hard for your oppo-
nent to hold a better made hand because there are not too many likely sets and
two pairs out there on this board.
If you pot and all the money goes in, you are usually up against a combo
draw and you are doing okay. But the main reason to pot here is that you have
a ton of fold equity and in case you do run into a set or two pair, you still have
outs. You also don’t have many turns that are great for your hand, so you have

ϮϯϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

some issues regarding the playability of your hand on future streets. This is
another reason why you want to pot and maximize your fold equity.

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 105

ϰͿDŝĚͲůŽǁƌLJŽĂƌĚƐ
Although these boards look very similar to the mid/low wet boards, they play
quite differently, and many players misplay them. Examples of such flops are
Jƅ-7Ƈ-3Ɔ and 8Ƅ-3Ɔ-2ƅ. These boards are very good for you as the 3-bet-
tor because it is hard for your opponent to have many great hands such as sets,
or two pairs. Your Aces are quite strong, so on these boards you are c-betting
70% of the time.

Sizing 08
On these mid/low dry boards you need to pot it! You can apply so much pres-
sure on your opponents, specifically if they are players who call 3-bets with
hands such as A-K-J or with K-K combinations. Remember that using a pot
sizing strategy also means you will have to bet pot with complete air and with
hands you are going to fold when facing a raise. When neither player’s range
strongly interacts with the cards on the board, the 3-bettor has the advantage.

Hand Example 92
You are in the Small Blind with KƆ-QƆ-JƇ-8Ƈ. The Button opens, you 3-bet
and the Button calls. The flop is Qƅ-8Ɔ-3Ƅ (Diagram 106).

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϯϯ

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 106
This board isn’t very dangerous for your preflop range. You don’t have to
pay much attention to the suits in your hand because there are no possible flush
draws. Aces can also come along with a Queen-blocker, 8-blocker, inside straight
draw, or a hand such as a backdoor straight draw with a backdoor flush draw.
All those hands are much stronger on a rainbow board compared to a two-
toned board where you don’t have the flush draw. Because your Aces hands do
so well on this board, you can apply a lot of pressure on your opponent. You
are often betting, so there is no reason to slowplay to protect your checking
range. You want to start building a pot because there are a lot of turn cards
on which you will have a lot of equity, especially when compared with a two-
08 toned board texture.

Hand Example 93
You are in the Small Blind with AƆ-AƄ-9Ɔ-3Ƈ and face a Button open-raise.
You 3-bet, the Button calls, and the flop comes 10Ƅ-8Ɔ-2ƅ(Diagram 107).
Your opponent is shorter stacked, so now the SPR is only about 2. Most
of your overpairs are looking to pot this flop. If they have any blockers or
backup, they are willing to commit. It’s more difficult to be outflopped on a
rainbow board and you will often hold a lot of equity when all the money goes
in. In this case, you are blocking some of the straight draws with the 9Ɔ. You
are also holding a backdoor flush draw and a backdoor straight draw with A-3.

Ϯϯϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

So, alongside a reasonably strong made hand, this combination has sufficient
blockers and backdoor equity to be potting here to try and maximize fold eq-
uity or get all the money into the middle.

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
50bb 100bb

Diagram 107
Hand Example 94
You are in the Small Blind with 7Ɔ-6ƅ-5Ɔ-4ƅ a perfect double-suited run-
down. You 3-bet after a Button open, they call and the flop comes 10Ɔ-7Ƅ-5ƅ
(Diagram 108).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

08
Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 108
This board is slightly more connected than the previous two examples but

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϯϱ

 is still one that you want to pot frequently. The reason is that your range is
mainly built on Broadway pairs and those hands will have decent equity on this
board, but lack playability.
You are also going to be potting with the hand that you currently hold. The
main reason is that there are many weaker hands that can call, for example 8-9
combinations or any 10 with a straight draw. Many of these hands are behind
in equity but will call a bet. If you check, those hands might check back, and
you miss out on some value. This hand is not a good candidate to slowplay be-
cause there are a lot of turn cards that are very tricky to handle, for example a
9, J, 10, Q, or a K.
On those cards, you can often be beaten by a set, a better two pair, or by
a higher straight. Reducing the SPR will make the decisions on these turn cards
much easier because you won’t have to think about river transitions. On many
river runouts, it is going to be difficult to feel confident playing for stacks so
you could easily be bluffed off your hand on the river. By betting pot, you deny
the opportunity for your opponent to bluff on later streets and you get a lot of
money in on the flop when you probably still have an equity advantage.

ϱͿWĂŝƌĞĚŽĂƌĚƐ
These boards are trivial to classify; they have a pair on the board. Of course,
the texture can still vary. For example, 6Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ƅ is much more connected
than Qƅ-2Ƅ-2Ɔ. The 6Ƅ-6Ɔ-5Ƅ board is a better one for your opponent be-
cause of the runouts and because they will have more sixes in their preflop
range. Qƅ-2Ƅ-2Ɔ is very dry and much better for your range, which includes
many overpairs that are very strong on this board.
08 Overall, you are c-betting 70-90% on these boards. The connected mid-
boards are c-bet the least because you need more backup equity and blockers
to justify a bet. On paired boards that are less connected, you have a signifi-
cant polarity and equity advantage, which explains the higher c-bet frequency.

Sizing
You use a small, 33% pot sizing on these boards. The goal on paired boards is
not to get all the money in because that requires a hand such as trips or better.
The goal is to exploit the equity advantage you have by going for thin value
with your overpairs.

Ϯϯϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Hand Example 95
You are in the Small Blind with 10Ƈ-10Ɔ-8Ƈ-7Ɔ and you 3-bet against a But-
ton open. The Button calls and the flop comes 9Ƈ-8Ƅ-8ƅ (Diagram 109).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 109
This is a well-connected paired board, so you should not c-bet much,
right? Well, in general that is true. However, on this board, you will have a very
high c-bet frequency.
The reason is that your 3-betting range mainly includes high Broadway
pairs or Jack-high and double-suited rundowns and those rundowns are hitting
this board very hard. There is certainly a case to be made for checking on this
board if you have no straight or straight draw blocker, or backdoor flush draw.
With 10Ƈ-10Ɔ-8Ƈ-7Ɔ, you are not blocking your opponent’s continuing range,
which includes, for example, Kings, Queens and Jacks. At the same time, you are
08
blocking part of your opponent’s stabbing range by holding the two tens and a
seven. Therefore, you should bet this board with a sizing of 33%-pot.

Hand Example 96
You are in the Small Blind with AƄ-8ƅ-7Ƅ-6ƅ. The Button opens, you 3-bet
and the Button calls. The flop is 4Ɔ-2Ɔ-2ƅ (Diagram 110).

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϯϳ

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 110
Whenever your opponent is very unlikely to hold trips on a paired board,
you have a huge polarity advantage. You can exploit this by betting your full
range for 33% pot. In this case, it is highly unlikely that your opponent is hold-
ing a 2, so you bet your full range for 33% pot.
If the flop were 5Ɔ-5Ƅ-4Ɔ, it would be more dangerous because your
opponent will have 5-x much more than you do and, on this board, will also be
holding more big combo draws.
So, on this latter board you have to be a little bit more selective and should
consider playability and whether or not you are willing to build a pot. If you
have an absolute airball, such as AƄ-JƆ-10Ƈ-6Ƈ you are generally going to
08 give up. Holding a backdoor flush draw and a flush draw blocker is not enough
to bet; just check-fold.

ϲͿ^ƚƌĂŝŐŚƚŽĂƌĚƐ
These boards allow possible straights. Examples are 7ƅ-6Ƅ-4Ƅ, AƆ-5Ƈ-3ƅ
or Kƅ-QƄ-JƇ. Note that the rank of the cards still matters; the higher the
cards, the more often you are going to bet. On all the straightening boards, you
should, on average, be c-betting about 30-40% of the time.
On mid-low boards, you are more often going to check than on a Broad-
way board. On K-Q-J, you would be betting way more often than on 7-6-4.
In fact, on many mid-low straightening boards, you should be checking your

Ϯϯϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

entire range because your opponent has an equity advantage and you will need
a lot of protection. Checking your full range is a simplified strategy and can be
adjusted based on your opponents.

Sizing
The best sizing is half-pot. Most of these boards are relatively dry because
there are not usually many hand combinations that have a lot of equity against
the nut straight. This means that you need less protection because there
are fewer texture shifts to deal with. Remember that on low boards, you are
checking your full range.

Hand Example 97
You are in the Small Blind with AƄ-Jƅ-10Ƅ-8ƅ. The Button opens, you 3-bet,
the Button calls and the flop comes 5Ƅ-4Ƅ-2ƅ (Diagram 111).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb
08
Diagram 111
This is a board with three low cards and there is a flush draw possible. You
should c-bet very infrequently on this board. You could even go for a full range
check here as previously discussed.
The reason is that your opponent is holding many more wraps and straights
on this board. With AƄ-Jƅ-10Ƅ-8ƅ you have no made hand value, but are hold-
ing the nut flush draw and a backdoor flush draw. When you consider the hands
that your opponent is going to stab with, they probably include a 3, 4, 5 or a 6 or
even complete air because this is a board that doesn’t hit your range well.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϯϵ

 So, you check, and your opponent decides to bet half-pot. With this hand,
you have decent equity against your opponent’s range but the playability is
quite weak as there are a lot of turn cards that are bad for your range as well as
your actual hand. You probably have a lot of fold equity here since your oppo-
nent should have a lot of bluffs. Therefore, check-raising is the best option to
maximize fold equity and to reduce the possibility of playing some problematic
turn cards while OOP.

Hand Example 98
You are in the Big Blind with KƄ-KƇ-10ƅ-9Ƅ. The Button opens and you have
a clear 3-bet. The Button calls and the flop comes 6Ƅ-5Ƅ-3Ɔ(Diagram 112).

Big Blind EP
89bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
22.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
89bb 100bb

08
Diagram 112
This is another example of a board where you have a very low c-bet fre-
quency.
Hands that want to bet this flop are some of the hands with the most
equity that are sacrificing too much EV by going for a slowplay, for example
AƄ-AƇ-7Ƅ-8Ɔ. However, your actual hand isn’t strong enough to bet. If you
bet and get called, there will be a lot of turn cards that are difficult to play.
Therefore, you should check. Your opponent bets half-pot and you check-raise
because there are not many good runouts for your hand but you do have sub-
stantial pot equity and fold equity.

ϮϰϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Hand Example 99
You are in the Small Blind with KƆ-Kƅ-9Ɔ-8Ƅ. The Button opens, you 3-bet
and the Button calls. The flop is 7Ɔ-5Ƈ-4ƅ(Diagram 113).

Big Blind EP
100bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
36bb
88.5bb 100bb
12bb

Button Cutoff
75bb 100bb

Diagram 113
As this board is rainbow and because you don’t have any hands that are
hitting it hard enough to bet, you should check your full range. So you check
and your opponent decides to bet 12bb into a 24bb pot. Your opponent only
has 75bb behind and you have plenty of outs to justify shoving all-in to try and
maximize fold equity. Even if you run into a pair with a straight draw or two
pair, you are doing fine. On this board, most players playing IP will stab very
frequently, so you can assume you have a lot of fold equity.

ϳͿDŽŶŽƚŽŶĞŽĂƌĚƐ 08
Monotone boards are difficult to play but are not too crucial for your bottom
line, because they only occur about 5% of the time. On these boards, a flush is
already possible. Examples are 5Ƈ-4Ƈ-2Ƈ and Aƅ-Qƅ-5ƅ.
Overall, you are betting only about 30-50% of the time on these boards.
Many players are overly focused on the possibility of the flush and forget the
board structure. It makes a huge difference if there is a straight possible, a pair
on board, how many Broadway cards there are, etc. It is essential to recognize
that although the board features three of the same suit, it still has a texture.
Broadway cards are still better for the 3-bettor than low cards and Ace-high
boards are still better than Broadway boards.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϰϭ

 A solid percentage of these boards are very static and often you will be
very showdown-bound and passive, meaning you want to get to showdown as
cheaply as possible. You have the big overpairs and usually the better two pairs
and therefore getting to showdown is ideal.

Sizing
You use a small 33% pot-sizing. The reason for such a small sizing is that the
nuts rarely change (only when the board pairs), so you don’t need much pro-
tection. If you have a flush you don’t need much protection and can still lever-
age your stack size over three streets.

Hand Example 100

You are in the Small Blind with KƆ-Kƅ-6ƅ-4Ɔ. The Button opens, you 3-bet,
the Button calls and the flop comes Aƅ-Jƅ-5ƅ(Diagram 114).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb
08
Diagram 114
You have flopped the nuts but remember that you still have to pay atten-
tion to the board structure. This is an Ace-high monotone board, which means
that it is better for your range than for your opponent’s. Even on monotone
boards, the higher the rank of the cards, the higher frequency with which you
bet. The next step is to consider the cards that you are blocking and unblock-
ing. In this case, you are not blocking an A, J, or a 5 which makes your hand
much better to bet because there are more hands you can get value from. So,
you should go ahead and bet 33% pot here.

ϮϰϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

Hand Example 101
You are in the Small Blind with AƇ-10ƅ-9Ƈ-7Ƅ. You 3-bet against the Button
open-raise, they call and the flop comes 6Ɔ-5Ɔ-2Ɔ(Diagram 115).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 115
This board is not good to c-bet because of the rank of the cards. On this
board, your checking range needs a lot of protection because you don’t hit this
board much with two pairs, trips, and straights. So, you have to be selective
when it comes to betting. A hand such as the one you hold benefits from get-
ting a free card because you can hit your gutshot if an 8 rolls off on the turn.
You also don’t block your opponent’s calling range and you don’t have a hand
that is capable of profitably betting multiple streets because you don’t block
any high hearts. Given the blockers in your hand are not reducing the chance
that your opponent is going to fold, you should just check-fold.
08

Hand Example 102

You are in the Big Blind with KƄ-10Ƅ-10Ɔ-7Ɔ. The Button opens, you 3-bet,
they call and the flop comes 8Ɔ-5Ɔ-3Ɔ(Diagram 116).
This is another board on which your range needs a lot of protection be-
cause you don’t have many strong hands on this flop and you don’t have many
great runouts either. Therefore you want to check frequently. Your hand is
not able to bet for value on three streets, so it’s a good candidate to check to
protect your checking range. On this board, your lower flushes are going to
slowplay a lot more than the higher flushes. You are missing a lot more value

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϰϯ

 by failing to stack your opponent when you have a very strong hand, than by
when you have a weak or medium flush. Also, you don’t want to bet all your
flushes because then your checking range would be empty and very vulnera-
ble. So in this case, you should add this hand to your check-calling range.

Big Blind EP
89bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
22.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
89bb 100bb

Diagram 116

'ƵĞƐƐƚŚĞ&ƌĞƋƵĞŶĐLJ
To wrap up this chapter, we will do some practice to train your intuition. Identi-
fy the type of board and then decide how often you think you have to bet after
3-betting the Small Blind versus the Button preflop.
08
1) KƄ-Jƅ-6Ƈ
This is a rainbow Broadway board and on this board you are betting 95% of the
time. Remember that when Broadway boards are very wet, you are betting less
often because you have to be more selective with your sidecards. When the
board is not two-toned, you can bet much more often because you have a big
polarity and equity advantage. Also, you don’t have to fear flush draws that the
opponent could hold.

2) 9ƅ-3ƅ-2Ƅ
This is a mid-low dry board, although you might wonder why exactly it is dry.

Ϯϰϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

This board is two-tone and has some connectivity but the connectivity is based
around a 2 and a 3. This does not count as “wet” because your opponent will
rarely connect with these cards and will not have many 4-5-6 combos in their
preflop range. If the board were something like 7ƅ-8ƅ-2Ƅ, then the situation
is quite different. However, 9ƅ-3ƅ-2Ƅ is very good for the 3-bettor because
your opponent has very few sets, two pairs, and big straight draws, so over-
pairs have a lot of equity on this board. Therefore you can c-bet around 80%
of the time, and use a pot sizing.

3) 10Ƈ-9Ɔ-8Ƅ
This is a straight board and is very bad for your range so you only bet 10% of
the time. Your opponent will very often have two pair or better on this flop. If
the board were higher, for example K-Q-J, you would be betting much more
often. If the board were lower, you would be checking your full range.

4) 7Ƈ-3ƅ-3Ƈ
This paired board is rather good for you because your opponent’s preflop range
doesn’t hit the 3 very well. Therefore, your c-bet frequency is 95% and you
use a 33%-pot sizing.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Be aware of the board texture! Learn and identify the seven

different board textures.
Ƈ If a board is static you need less protection, which means that
08
you should use smaller bet sizings. If the board is very wet,
your range needs more protection and you should use larger bet
sizings.
Ƈ You should c-bet often when:
Ƈ The board is good for your range; Ace-high, Broadway, very
low disconnected
Ƈ Neither player hits the board.
Ƈ On monotone and straightening boards, keep the rank of the
cards in mind. Don’t just focus on the fact that straights and
flushes are possible.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϰϱ

 ϯͲďĞƚWŽƚƐKKWŽŶƚŚĞdƵƌŶͬZŝǀĞƌ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
When you are playing a 3-bet pot OOP, there are only three relevant pathways
to get to the turn.

1) You bet the flop and got called. By now the SPR is already very
small, usually around 1.5, and you should mostly maximize value and
protection with your value hands by betting pot. This is especially true
on dynamic boards where a flush or a full house is not yet possible. As
the opponent called the flop, there is a decent chance they will stack-
off with worse hands when you bet the turn.
2) You check-called the flop. In this instance your opponent repre-
sented a strong hand on the flop by betting. You should almost always
check the turn unless it changes the texture massively in your favor.
3) You both checked. Your opponent is mainly playing a capped
range. At this point, it makes sense to start value betting thinner.
Hands such as bare A-A-x-x that didn’t want to bet the flop, now get
to bet for half-pot to generate some value and protection. Bluffing
or semi-bluffing can also make a lot of sense as the opponent didn’t
show much interest in the pot when they checked back on the flop.

We will now consider multiple hand examples for all three different situa-
tions by which we could have arrived at the turn.
08
dƵƌŶdƌĂŶƐŝƚŝŽŶƐĨƚĞƌͲďĞƚƚŝŶŐƚŚĞ&ůŽƉ

Hand Example 103

You are in the Small Blind with Aƅ-9ƅ-9Ƅ-8Ƅ. You face a min-raise from the
Button, 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes KƇ-10ƅ-8ƅ (Diagram 117).
Usually, in 3-bet pots, the SPR is around 3.5-4, but because the Button
min-raised, the SPR is about 6, which puts the OOP player at a more significant
disadvantage.
With the higher SPR, you are less minded to use a pot-sizing because you
will have to deal with more transitions. You will have to play more turns and

Ϯϰϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

more rivers OOP, so you would rather keep the pot small while there remains
uncertainty with regard to the runouts.

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
15bb
93bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
93bb 100bb

Diagram 117
Therefore, when the SPR is greater than 4, you should be using a smaller
sizing. Err towards using a 66% pot or a 75% pot-sizing rather than full pot,
which would be the baseline bet sizing strategy on this board. The sizing you
choose depends on the board structure. The wetter the board, the more likely
you should be to use a 75% sizing. On KƇ-10ƅ-8ƅ, the board is very wet so a
75% sizing is appropriate.

With an SPR of 6, you should be paying a little more attention

to the playability of your hand. Blockers become more important and
hands that don’t have many great turn and river transitions are less
08
valuable. This is because you can’t push your equity on the flop by
getting all the money in.

With your hand, you don’t hold a backdoor flush draw and you don’t hold a
straight draw. Therefore, the turn could prove difficult to play. This is less of a
problem when the SPR is only 3.5 because then you can use a pot-size c-bet
on the flop, which will leave you with easy turn decisions. However, this case
is different. The SPR on the turn will be greater and therefore you want to be
more aware of (backdoor) playability.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϰϳ

 If you were holding Aƅ-9ƅ-9Ƈ-8Ƈ, you would favor betting over check-
ing because you have more future playability. But with your current hand that
doesn’t have the backdoor flush draw, the difference in EV between checking
and betting is quite minimal. If your opponent plays a wide range on the Button
or if he folds a lot in 3-bet pots, then be more inclined to bet, and otherwise
check-call. In this case, you decide to bet and the opponent calls.
The turn brings (KƇ-10ƅ-8ƅ)-QƄ. At this point, there are a few crucial
things to consider. First, the SPR is around 2, which means you still have some
fold equity. Your opponent could have a weak two pair on the flop and is hoping
for a blank. However, the Queen is not a good card for these weak made hands.
At the same time, you still have equity against any hand with the gutshot and
nut flush draw. You also have blockers with the two nines and an Ace. This is
a good moment to apply more pressure and going for a pot-size turn barrel is
the best option.

Hand Example 104

You are in the Small Blind with AƆ-AƄ-7ƅ-3ƅ. The Button (a recreational play-
er) open-raises and you assume that is with a very wide and aggressive range.
You 3-bet, they call and the flop is Aƅ-KƆ-2Ƈ(Diagram 118).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

08 Small Blind
24bb MP
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 118

You are playing at an SPR of about 3.5.

As you know by now, on Ace-high board with an SPR of 3.5-4, you are

Ϯϰϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

going to use a half-pot sizing and a full-pot sizing. However, don’t think that
you have to limit yourself by only using the standard bet sizings. If you believe
that another sizing is more profitable in a particular situation, then go for it!
If you think your opponent will continue extremely light against small bets,
then you might be inclined to use a smaller sizing for value. With this particular
hand, there is no need to go for a smaller sizing because you don’t have or block
any straight draws. So, it’s more likely that your opponent will continue anyway.
But keep in mind that you are free to play around with the sizing you use.
On the other hand, let’s say that you are playing against a very tight range,
such as a 20% EP range. Then you might want to use bigger sizings because
that tight range will include a lot of K-K combinations and you want to make
sure to stack middle set. By betting small, you allow your opponent to get
away from such a hand on scary runouts. Keep in mind the difference between
playing against wide and tight ranges. Against wide ranges, try to make your
opponent float, especially if you have redraws. Against a tight range, try to
stack and cooler middle set.
In this case, you don’t have the best redraws and your opponent is also
pretty aggressive and probably a little bit spewy, so they might continue
slightly too wide. You bet half-pot and your opponent calls.
The turn is the 3Ɔ. The board is now Aƅ-KƆ-2Ƈ-3Ɔ, introducing the back-
door flush draw and here we want to decide if we’re going to try to trap. When
you want to trap, you should think about how likely it is that your opponent is
going to stab, how much protection you need and how bad it is if you face a
check back on the turn. Let’s say that you had a hand such as Aƅ-AƆ-QƆ-Jƅ.
In that case, it’s very unlikely that your opponent will continue and you need
08
absolutely no protection. Therefore, checking could make a lot of sense, espe-
cially against an over-aggressive player.
With AƆ-AƄ-7ƅ-3ƅ, it doesn’t make as much sense to check because you
are holding the nut flush draw blocker, which makes it rather unlikely that you
will face a stab from a merged hand such as top pair with a nut flush draw. At
the same time, if your opponent has a King, a gutshot and a flush draw and you
pot the turn, they are in a very uncomfortable position because you can have
the nut flush draw, in which case their flush draw will not be good.
So, there is a good argument here to gain some protection by double bar-
reling the turn, and also you want to make sure that you stack your opponent if

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϰϵ

 they have a hand such as K-K or A-K. This was an actual hand I played and I bet
50% pot on the turn. In hindsight, I think that it would have been better to pot
the turn to make sure that I can stack K-K and A-K while also making sure that
I get maximum value from combo draws if they do want to continue or max-
imizing my fold equity against some weaker draws. In this case, my opponent
shoved all-in against my 50%-pot size. I called and won a $1,000 pot against
his turned two pair with AƇ-JƄ-9Ƈ-3Ƅ.

Hand Example 105

You are in the Small Blind with AƇ-QƄ-9Ƈ-9Ƅ. The Button, who is a very wide
and spewy player, opens with a pot sizing, you 3-bet and they call. The flop
comes 6Ƈ-4Ƈ-4Ɔ (Diagram 119), which is a board on which you should be a
bit more selective with your bet frequency because the opponent has more
trips and generally has better runouts.

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
08 88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 119
Therefore, you have to be careful about building a pot. Generally speaking,
it is better to be cautious with hands that have a difficult time on many dif-
ferent turns and rivers. With AƇ-QƄ-9Ƈ-9Ƅ, you don’t have to be too careful
because, in the event you bet and get raised, you can call or even re-raise.
Your hand has equity against almost any hand but the runouts are not too
good. You might get your opponent to fold hands with some showdown value
which would be very profitable. Therefore, bet 33% pot. If you had the same

ϮϱϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

hand without the flush draw, you would have to be more cautious because you
wouldn’t want to get raised and you are not looking to get all the money in on
the flop because you have almost have no equity against a 4.
The turn is the 8Ƅ which makes the board (4Ɔ-4Ƈ-6Ƈ)-8Ƅ. Now you have
to decide if you want to double-barrel or check. You didn’t get raised on the
flop so, most likely, your opponent does not have a four or better. And by dou-
ble-barreling, there are a lot of hands that you can get to fold that are better
than your hand, such as tens, Jacks, Queens, and possibly even Kings. Against
a double-barrel, many players will be folding these overpairs. So this could be
a good hand to double-barrel on the turn to make higher pairs fold and if you
get called, you still have equity. When this hand occurred I decided to go for a
check-call. In hindsight, I don’t like this idea.
The river is the KƆ, making the board (4Ɔ-4Ƈ-6Ƈ-8Ƅ)-KƆ. After two
checks the opponent showed up with 8ƅ-10ƅ-10Ƈ-JƄ. This is a hand that
might have folded to a pot bet on the turn.

dƵƌŶdƌĂŶƐŝƚŝŽŶƐĨƚĞƌƚŚĞ&ůŽƉWůĂLJŝƐŚĞĐŬͲĐĂůů

Hand Example 106

You are sitting in the Small Blind with Aƅ-JƇ-10Ƅ-9ƅ and the Button, who is
a strong regular, open-raises. You 3-bet, the Button calls, and the flop comes
9Ƅ-8Ɔ-8Ƈ(Diagram 120).

Big Blind EP
249bb 250bb
08

Small Blind MP
24bb
238.5bb 250bb

Button Cutoff
238.5bb 250bb

Diagram 120

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϱϭ

 This hand is played at 250bb deep, so the SPR on the flop is about 10. On
this board, you flop top pair, and an open-ended straight draw. You are blocking
a big part of your opponent’s raising range on this flop since you are holding a top
pair blocker and you are blocking many wraps that your opponent could poten-
tially use to either raise, or call. So with this hand, you are minimizing the chance
that your opponent is going to call or even raise if you bet. So you have a lot of
fold equity in this situation. At the same time, if you do get raised, you can call
because you have backup with your straight draw. Your current showdown value
isn’t great, so you benefit massively if your opponent folds any showdown value.
For these reasons, you bet the flop for 33% pot and your opponent calls.
The turn is the 2Ƈ, giving a board of (9Ƅ-8Ɔ-8Ƈ)-2Ƈ. You decide to check
because you haven’t improved your equity and your opponent is likely to be
holding a decent hand at this point. Your opponent now pots the turn. The
main thing to consider is your equity. Against all the hands that include an 8,
you have a very small amount of equity. You are also blocking your opponent’s
bluffing range by holding a straight draw and top pair. For those reasons, you
should fold against this turn pot-size bet.

Hand Example 107

You are in the Big Blind with AƄ-AƆ-JƇ-9Ƅ. The Button opens with a pot sizing,
you 3-bet, they call and the flop comes 9Ƈ-6Ƅ-4Ƈ(Diagram 121).

Big Blind EP
114bb 125bb
08

Small Blind MP
22.5bb
124.5bb 125bb

Button Cutoff
114bb 125bb

Diagram 121

ϮϱϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 You are slightly deeper than 100bb, so the SPR is about 5. On this flop, you
are not going to have a very high c-bet frequency because this board features
three low to middle ranking cards that you are not going to hit that well. Fur-
thermore, the runouts are also not going to be very beneficial for your preflop
range. You have to protect your checking range and you are going to utilize
some of the overpairs with additional backup such as flush draws, straight
draws with backdoor flush draws, to check-raise the flop. If you have a lot of
raw equity, without great playability on future runouts, it is more likely that
you should check-raise the flop. The more playability you have, the more likely
it is that you should start betting to increase the size of the pot. There are also
some hands with good blockers that cannot check-call given the lack of play-
ability and raw equity; these hands are often going to bet-fold.
The hand AƄ-AƆ-JƇ-9Ƅ is quite turn-determined. You have a backdoor
flush draw, two pair outs, or you might hit trips. At the same time, you are not
strong enough to stack off on the flop, especially at this SPR. If the SPR was
3.5, you could justifying potting on the flop given your blockers. Here the SPR
is greater and therefore you are better off checking. If you bet and get raised,
you can easily be bluffed off your equity on future streets.
So you check and the opponent bets half-pot. Your hand has too much
equity to fold, but the SPR is too high to consider check-raising and getting all
the money in. So you check-call.
Before we consider the turn, realize that there are some turn cards on
which you should be leading. The main reason is that the board will be very
draw-heavy, and there’s a high chance that your opponent will check back.
At the same time, the river SPR will be pretty low when you decide to pot the 08
turn. On cards such as an Ace, a J, or the 2Ƅ, you should be potting because
you won’t get away from the hand anyway and if your opponent is behind, they
will often check back and take a free card. However, if they are ahead, they will
bet. So you are not gaining much by checking, you are just giving away free
cards. Check-calling the flop then betting the turn is sometimes a viable option
if you are significantly improving your equity and fold equity.

Hand Example 108

The turn is the 8Ƈ, which makes the board (9Ƈ-6Ƅ-4Ƈ)-8Ƈ(Diagram 122).

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϱϯ

 Big Blind EP
102.75bb 125bb

Small Blind MP
45bb
124.5bb 125bb

Button Cutoff
102.75bb 125bb

Diagram 122
Pretty much all the draws got there but you are still holding some mi-
nor showdown value. On this turn your hand and range didn’t improve, so you
should check and fold against a bet. However, plays goes check-check.
The river is the Aƅ and the board now is 9Ƈ-6Ƅ-4Ƈ-8Ƈ-Aƅ. You have
made top set, but there are many hands out there that could have you beat.
You check and your opponent bets 33%-pot. In this situation, you should
fold your hand because almost all the draws got there. The 8Ƈ made a lot of
straights and flushes possible and it is not likely that your opponent would turn
many made hands into a bluff on this runout. Your opponent is telling you that
08
they have a non-nutted hand such as a straight and a flush draw but still had
plenty of equity and outs. They then went for the pot control play on the turn.
This story is consistent with the river bet sizing. In combination with the lack of
natural bluffs that your opponent can have in this spot should make you want
to fold this hand.

Hand Example 109

You are in the Small Blind with Kƅ-KƇ-QƇ-3Ƅ and the Button opens. You 3-bet,
the Button calls and the flop comes Jƅ-9Ƈ-7Ƅ (Diagram 123).

Ϯϱϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 123
As mentioned previously, these Jack-high boards are not too bad for your
preflop range and you should have a relatively high c-betting range on this
flop. With Kƅ-KƇ-QƇ-3Ƅ, you could also profitably check-call given your eq-
uity and the fact that you are not necessarily blocking your opponent’s raising
range such as sets and two pairs with open-ended straight draws or gutshots.
Unless your opponent is very passive, you can c-bet here because your hand
needs some protection and you can get value from many weaker hands.

Hand Example 110

The turn is the Qƅ, making the board (Jƅ-9Ƈ-7Ƅ)-Qƅ(Diagram 124).
At this point, you have blockers to the nut straight (K-10) as well as a 08
future flush blocker with the Kƅ. On the turn the SPR is less than 2, which is
going to limit your ability to bluff successfully here. However, more important-
ly, you don’t have a 10 in your hand. The 10 is a very valuable card for your
opponent because they heavily block our value-betting range when they have
a ten. Therefore they are more likely to hero call.
You are holding two Kings, but Kings are way less important cards to be
holding in this scenario than a 10. You don’t have a lot of fold equity and you
will often be called down by a hand such as J-10-9, or the opponent could
even shove with such a hand against a turn bet. In this situation, check-folding
is the way to go.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϱϱ

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
44bb
78.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
78.5bb 100bb

Diagram 124

dƵƌŶdƌĂŶƐŝƚŝŽŶƐĨƚĞƌƚŚĞ&ůŽƉWůĂLJŝƐŚĞĐŬͲĐŚĞĐŬ
When the IP player checks back on the flop, it often implies that their range is
capped because most of their strong holdings would want to build a big pot.
The OOP player isn’t capped because the they have a lot of strong hands in
their checking range that were looking to check-raise or trap. This means that
often, when heading to the turn, the OOP player is uncapped and has a range
advantage. They can therefore bet thinner for value and bluff more aggres-
sively.

Hand Example 111

08
You are in the Small Blind with AƇ-AƄ-KƆ-7Ƈ. The Button opens, you 3-bet,
the Button calls and the flop comes 6Ƈ-5Ɔ-3Ƅ (Diagram 125).

Ϯϱϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 125
This is a very light board which shouldn’t hit either range especially well.
However, your opponent will have a few more strong hands on this board then
you do. On this flop, you should check almost all your hands because you won’t
have too many strong ones. Your hand with the 7 and the backdoor flush draw
is a hand that you should check-call because you have equity, important re-
movals and your opponent’s preflop range isn’t interacting with this board very
well. You check and your opponent checks back.

Hand Example 112

The turn is the JƇ, which makes the board (6Ƈ-5Ɔ-3Ƅ)-JƇ(Diagram 126).
At this point, you are still blocking the straight, but more importantly, 08
the opponent capped their range tremendously by checking back on the flop.
Therefore, you can make a value bet on the turn. It isn’t necessary to bet too
large on this turn because you want to get called by weaker flush draws, weak-
er overpairs and potentially by a Jack. Therefore, betting half-pot is the way
to go.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϱϳ

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 126
Hand Example 113
You are in the Small Blind with Kƅ-Qƅ-9Ƈ-7Ƈ. The Button opens and you
3-bet. This hand is undoubtedly on the marginal side when it comes to 3-bet-
ting because of the low diamond suit and minimal connectivity, but it’s still fine.
You could also call this hand or even fold if you are facing a very tight Button
open-raising range.
In this instance, you decide to 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop is JƆ-
9ƅ-7Ƅ(Diagram 127).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb
08

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 127

Ϯϱϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 As you know, this is quite a good board for the preflop aggressor because
you have a lot of double-suited Queen-high, Jack-high, and 10-high rundowns
in your 3-bet range.
Your specific holding here has a lot of value because you are blocking many
good hands. You hold two pair, meaning that you block many of the set com-
binations and also have some additional equity in the form of an inside straight
draw and a backdoor flush draw. This is a good combination to bet, but you
decide to check and the opponent checks back.

Hand Example 114

The turn is the 4Ƈ, making the board (JƆ-9ƅ-7Ƅ)-4Ƈ(Diagram 128).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
24bb
88.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88.5bb 100bb

Diagram 128
As your opponent checked back on the flop, you can exclude many of their
08
strong hands as they would likely bet those on the flop. Therefore you can go
for a thin value bet on the turn.
Using a pot-size bet is not so good for the OOP player. You can still delay
c-bet a lot of merged hands on this turn after missing the opportunity to check-
raise on the flop. On this turn many of your medium-strength hands don’t want
to use a pot sizing because then you are building a big pot with a hand that isn’t
strong enough to play a big pot. Betting with a 50% pot sizing to protect your
hand, and to get value from, for example, weak straight draws such as 5-6 is
the way to go. So you decide to bet half-pot and the opponent calls.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϱϵ

 The river is the KƄ, making the board (JƆ-9ƅ-7Ƅ-4Ƈ)-KƄ. At this point,
you have a reasonably strong two pair but your hand is a bluff catcher. You
check and the opponent bets $220 into a $480 pot. Although you are getting
a good price here, I think that you should fold. The main reason is that you have
no straight blockers. There is a possibility that your opponent slowplayed 10-8
but could also have a hand such as K-K, K-J, or Q-10.
For your hand to be a profitable call, your opponent would need to turn the
5-6 combo’s into a bluff. However, few players play their 5-6 combos aggres-
sively enough on the river. You do block the main hand they are representing,
which is Q-10. However, I believe most players are not bluffing enough in this
situation. If you know that your opponent is capable of bluffing the river at a
high frequency, then calling would be better.

Hand Example 115

You are in the Big Blind with AƇ-AƆ-8ƅ-3Ƈ. The Button, who is a relatively
tight player, opens for full pot. Against a tight range, Aces do exceptionally
well because you are often going to run into a high Broadway pair which you
are crushing. So you 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes 9ƅ-7Ƅ-4ƅ
(Diagram 129).

Big Blind EP
89bb 100bb

08
Small Blind MP
22.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
89bb 100bb

Diagram 129
On this board, you should check to check-fold. The bare minimum that you

ϮϲϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

need to c-bet is the same hand with the AƄ, i.e. the backdoor nut flush block-
er. Alternatively the same hand with the Aƅ, which would block the nut flush
draw. Always realize that on these wet middle boards, you want to protect
your checking range, so if you do have a hand such as a bare two pair, or an
overpair and a flush draw, then you might want to consider check-raising. A lot
of hands that don’t have great playability but have a lot of raw equity are good
candidates to check-raise. This is because it helps you protect your checking
range and you can avoid playing turns at high SPRs. However, with this specific
hand, check-folding is best. So you check the flop and the opponent checks
back.

Hand Example 116

The turn is the 2Ƅ, making the board (9ƅ-7Ƅ-4ƅ)-2Ƅ (Diagram 130).

Big Blind EP
89bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
22.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff 08
89bb 100bb

Diagram 130
On this turn, you can allow yourself to bet merged because your opponent
has capped their range by checking back on the flop. Furthermore, the 2Ƅ
shouldn’t change much because this card is not often in their range. You have
a gutshot, which improves your equity and, although you don’t have a flush
draw, you do have the 8ƅ, which adds a bit of fold equity. At this point, you
should bet, and you want to do so by using a pot-sizing to maximize your fold
equity because you have poor river playability. You pot and the opponent calls.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϲϭ

 The river is the JƇ, which makes the board (9ƅ-7Ƅ-4ƅ-2Ƅ)-JƇ. You have
some showdown value and are winning, for example, against an overpair with
a spade or club draw. But you don’t have enough showdown value to bet. You
check, the opponent checks back and, unfortunately, they are holding two pair
with 4Ƈ-3Ɔ-7Ƈ-8Ɔ.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Always consider how the preflop ranges of both players influence

postflop ranges and actions.
Ƈ When you want to trap, you should think about how likely it is
that your opponent is going to stab, how much protection you
need and how bad it is if you face a check back on the turn.
Ƈ When you get to the turn with your flop range, you have to think
about which part of your range you will continue with, given the
turn, your opponent’s range and what’s likely to happen on the
river. Your river range benefits from some key bluffs and your
turn strategy should include continuing with some of them while
giving up with others.
Ƈ Remember that in making decisions on the river you need to
consider all the cards you have and take into account removal
effects and blockers. This will allow you to bluff and bluff-catch
effectively.

08 ϯͲďĞƚWŽƚƐ/W
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
The sections that discussed our strategy in 3-bet pots OOP included a lot of
theory. In the sections that cover 3-bet pots played IP, we will handle things
slightly differently. We are going to cover a minimal amount of theory and will
mainly be discussing hand examples. We will also not discuss the theory sepa-
rately for the flop, turn and river strategy. The reason is that we have already
thoroughly explained the theory of 3-bet pots in the OOP section and many of
the concepts also apply when it comes to playing 3-bet pots IP. By now, you
understand the fundamentals of playing single-raised pots and 3-bet pots and,

ϮϲϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

therefore, I am mainly going to be breaking down a lot of hand examples.
However, we need to start with a little theory. The main differences be-
tween playing 3-bet pots IP and OOP are:

Ƈ The IP player has a more polarized c-betting strategy, as a free

card is available.
Ƈ The IP player often uses a smaller sizing in 3-bet pots, such as
half-pot, as playing IP over multiple streets with a polarized
betting range is not a problem.
Ƈ The IP player needs to include a few traps in the check back
range. Otherwise, the checking range becomes too weak.

,ĂŶĚdžĂŵƉůĞƐ

Hand Example 117

You are on the Button with AƄ-KƆ-10ƅ-3Ƅ. The Cutoff open-raises with a pot
sizing. If you remember correctly, this hand is supposed to call preflop as it is
nutty. However, this situation is special because the Cutoff has extremely wide
opening ranges. Often when someone has extremely wide raising ranges, they
are going to make a lot of mistakes postflop because their ranges are out of
whack and they also might not have the best game fundamentals.
You decide to 3-bet to isolate, create a heads-up pot and increase EV. If
the raiser were tighter, it would be best to just call. If there is a weak player in
the Big Blind, a call is also possible. In this instance, you 3-bet and the Cutoff
calls. The flop is 10Ɔ-5Ƅ -4Ƈ(Diagram 131).
This is a mid-low dry board. On this board, you have stronger overpairs
08
that are beating your opponent’s overpairs and one pair holdings. Also, there
aren’t many hands in your opponent’s range that have our overpairs beat. So,
on this board you have a polarity and equity advantage but many of your over-
pairs won’t have great playability on future runouts. To exploit these advantag-
es, you use a pot-size bet on this board.
Given the profile of this specific player, they would not raise-fold any
Broadway pairs preflop, which means that this is a good spot to pot. They will
have a tough time with many of those overpairs because they are doing so
poorly against Aces, which is a significant part of your total range. Your oppo-
nent checks, you pot and they fold.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϲϯ

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 131
Hand Example 118
You are on the Button with AƄ-AƇ-6Ƅ-4Ɔ. The Cutoff, a loose-aggressive reg-
ular, raises. You 3-bet, they call and the flop comes 8Ƈ-7Ƈ-6ƅ (Diagram 132).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb
08

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 132
This flop is bad for your preflop range. You will have some double-suited
rundowns that smash this board but the biggest part of your 3-betting range
(overpairs) is doing poorly. The question now is, should you bet? Do you have
sufficient blockers with the 6Ƅ and AƇ in order to bet?

Ϯϲϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 On this board the OOP player, in this case the Cutoff, is supposed to lead
out with a bet around 40% of the time. Most players don’t have a 40% leading
range here because they have a hard time identifying the medium-strength
hands that they should lead-fold on this board.
An example of this would be a hand such as KƇ-Kƅ-5ƅ-2ƅ. This hand
can’t check-call, it has some relevant blockers with the KƇ and 5ƅ and also has
the backdoor club draw. Combining these points to a lead-fold. Leading with
this hand feels very counterintuitive. There are a bunch of examples like this
hand in a GTO leading range from your opponent. However, most people check
them which means that as the IP player, you are going to have less fold equity
when you c-bet because many medium-strength hands that should be leading
are check-calling or check-raising.
On the 8Ƈ-7Ƈ-6ƅ board, AƄ-AƇ-6Ƅ-4Ɔ has decent equity against some
of your opponent’s hands, such as most Kings, Queens, and Jacks. If you check
back and the turn is a diamond, you can still represent the nut flush because a
lot of your nut flush draws are checking the flop.
However, this hand has some blockers but it doesn’t have much playability
and you can’t continue against a bet on many different turn cards. You could
make an argument for betting half-pot here (and fold to a raise) or to check
behind. This hand is not strong enough to pot-size c-bet and stack off on this
board.
All in all, you can make a reasonable argument for betting because you
have a low straight draw with the 4-6 and because you lack future streets
playability. If you get raised, you are probably far behind and can easily fold.
Your opponent can easily take the pot away from you on many turn cards be-
08
cause there are very few turn cards on which you can call. Therefore, a half-pot
bet is best.
A hand that has a nuttier distribution and more incentive to check back
would be AƇ-AƄ-9Ɔ-6Ƅ. This hand doesn’t want to bet on the flop because
it has trouble playing against a raise and there are more reasons to see a turn
card.

Hand Example 119

You are on the Button with 9Ƅ-8Ƅ-8Ɔ-6Ɔ. The Cutoff, who has been playing a
very straightforward game so far, opens. Your hand flops quite smooth but has

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϲϱ

 no nuttiness, so you decide to 3-bet to minimize the risk of playing a multiway
pot. Your opponent calls and the flop comes KƇ-5Ƅ-2ƅ (Diagram 133).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 133
In this hand, you can make a very exploitable adjustment.
This board is quite static and your opponent will not have many strong
hands. This player is very straightforward so if you bet, they will continue with
any King, but fold almost all hands that don’t include a King, regardless of what
sizing is used. Therefore, you bet 33% pot and the opponent folds.
Normally, it is important to understand standard bet sizing strategies.
However, remember that you always want to keep an open mind to be creative
and use other sizings when it appears likely to be more profitable.

08 Hand Example 120

You are on the Button with QƄ-10Ƅ-9Ɔ-6Ɔ. The Cutoff opens, you 3-bet, the
Cutoff calls and the flop comes Jƅ-6Ƅ-3Ɔ(Diagram 134).
This hand started a little bit deeper, and the SPR is now about 4.5. This is a
low dry board on which neither player has many good hands.
There are not many draws possible and you have a 6, meaning that you
block many possible two pair combinations and sets. You have a lot of fold eq-
uity here, so a half-pot bet is reasonable. You also have an equity advantage on
this board because you have stronger overpairs. For those reasons, a half-pot
bet should get a lot of folds. On this board, you are unlikely to get check-raised

Ϯϲϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

since there are very few draws out there. The most likely hand that your oppo-
nent would be check-raising is J-J, against which you have terrible equity. So
here a half-pot bet, planning to fold against a check-raise, is fine.

Big Blind EP
124bb 125bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
124.5bb 125bb

Button Cutoff
113bb 113bb

Diagram 134
Hand Example 121
You are on the Button with AƇ-QƇ-Qƅ-4ƅ. The Cutoff opens, you 3-bet, the
Cutoff calls and the flops comes KƄ-10Ƈ-7Ɔ(Diagram 135).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

08
Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 135
On this board, the OOP player will frequently have hands such as top two
pair, top pair, a wrap and sets. You have to be careful here.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϲϳ

 You have some showdown value and you benefit from seeing a turn card
because you have future blockers and nutted outs. If you bet and get raised,
you have to fold quite a strong hand. So, this hand should be checked back.

Hand Example 122

The turn is the 3Ƈ, making the board (KƄ-10Ƈ-7Ɔ)-3Ƈ(Diagram 136).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 136
This card is a nice one for your opponent to go for a delayed turn check-raise
since some of their made hands would rather get all-in on the turn than play a
river OOP at a SPR of 1-2. You would be in a very tough spot facing a check-
raise while holding the nut flush draw and a gutshot; usually you would have to
fold and in that case you would be folding a lot of equity. But in this instance
08
there is no reason to bet. You already have showdown value, you are not making
many better hands fold and if you get check-raised you are in trouble. These
problems are easy to avoid by just checking back. The turn goes check-check.
The river brings the 10ƅ, making the board 10Ƈ-7Ɔ-KƄ-3Ƈ-10ƅ. Your op-
ponent bets 25%-pot and you have a reasonable hand to fold. With Aces or with
a King, you could certainly call but Queens should be folded here. When you are
facing this sizing after the flop and turn have been checked through, your op-
ponent is very likely to be value-betting. Your preflop range will contain 10-x, it
will contain K-x and it will frequently contain Aces. Postflop you would play those
hands the same way so your opponent must be careful here with their bluffs.

Ϯϲϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 In this spot, you could have a ten and a straight draw, a King and a straight
draw without a backdoor flush draw or you could have pocket Aces. All those
hands are better bluff-catchers than AƇ-QƇ-Qƅ-4ƅ. Therefore you can fold
in this spot without being exploitable.

Hand Example 123

You are on the Button with 10Ɔ-10Ƈ-8Ƈ-7Ɔ, and the Cutoff opens. This is a
great hand to 3-bet because it doesn’t play well multiway and can call 4-bets.
So you 3-bet, the Cutoff calls, the flop comes KƆ-8Ɔ-2Ɔand your opponent
checks (Diagram 137).

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 137
You have flopped a flush, but not a high one. This makes it hard to go for
three streets of value because if your opponent calls three times, you are of-
08
ten beat. You are also blocking some of the two pairs and set combinations
by holding an 8, which makes it more likely that your opponent holds a higher
flush when calling, so checking back is indicated.

Hand Example 124

The turn is the 7Ƅ, making the board (KƆ-8Ɔ-2Ɔ)-7Ƅ (Diagram 138).
Your opponent bets about 75% pot. This is a tricky spot because I think
most players generally under-bluff here, especially with this sizing. From a GTO
perspective, your opponent would be required to be bluffing with hands with

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϲϵ

 some random hearts and not only with hands with just the AƆ or the QƆ for
you to be able to call profitably. Not enough people play those kinds of holdings
with sufficient aggression.

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 138
There is no way you can fold this hand against one bet as you are removing
some flushes and you also have full house outs in the event you are up against
a higher flush, so calling is correct. Although folding this hand would be very
exploitable, you have to be cautious calling down every single time. Although
always calling down is probably the right line to take from a GTO standpoint,
this is a spot where people are under-bluffing so you can make an exploitative
adjustment.
The river is the 8ƅ, making the board (2Ɔ-KƆ-8Ɔ-7Ƅ)-8ƅ. You have riv-
08 ered a full house! Your opponent bets $5 into a $315 pot, which you can
treat as a check. You should raise with your full house, using about a 75% pot
sizing to get maximum value from flushes. Your opponent snap calls with Kƅ-
QƆ-JƆ-3ƅ.

Hand Example 125

You are on the Button with 8Ɔ-7Ɔ-6Ƈ-5Ƈ. The Cutoff raises, you 3-bet, the
Cutoff calls, and the flop comes QƇ-10Ɔ-7Ƈ(Diagram 139).
You have flopped bottom pair and a weak flush draw. You have a medi-
um-strength hand with relatively weak playability because the low flush draw

ϮϳϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

is low and the two pair outs are poor. Even the straight outs are non-nutted.
This is an excellent hand to check back even though you have a flush draw.

Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 139
If you do check back and the turn is a diamond, your opponent will have
trouble folding against a bet because most flush draws would have bet the flop
at low SPRs. You are also not going to have that many great bluff-catchers
when you do check back because a lot of good hands, especially at an SPR of
around 3.5, want to get the money in on the flop. This is a good hand to check
back because you are not sacrificing too much value by not building a pot and
stacking off and it helps us to protect your checking range on certain runouts.

Hand Example 126

You are on the Button with AƆ-Aƅ-10Ɔ-5Ɔ. The Cutoff opens, you 3-bet, the
08
Cutoff calls and the flop comes 7Ƅ-6Ɔ-4Ɔ (Diagram 140).
On this straightening board, the preflop caller should have a leading range
of about 44% but most players are leading the flop at a much lower frequency.
This means that their checking range is generally going to be stronger. They are
usually going to continue more often after checking because they are not go-
ing to lead as many strong hands such as sets or combo draws. They are more
often going for the check-raise or the check-call with those types of holdings,
which influences your c-betting frequency.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϳϭ

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 140
Your hand AƆ-Aƅ-10Ɔ-5Ɔ is blocking the straight, you hold the nut flush
draw and you have three hearts. Generally, hands that have a few good block-
ers and that have equity against the all-in range, are betting at a high frequen-
cy if betting pot is part of the strategy on that board.
In this situation, many turn cards are tough to play. You are not holding a
straight draw on this straightening board, and you block part of your oppo-
nent’s bluffing range by holding three hearts. By betting full pot on the flop,
you maximize fold equity and, by lowering the SPR, you will set yourself up for
easier turn decisions. You pot the flop and your opponent folds.

08 Hand Example 127

You are on the Button with Aƅ-AƇ-4ƅ-3ƅ. The Cutoff opens, you 3-bet, the
Button calls and the flop comes 9Ƈ-5ƅ-3Ƈ(Diagram 141).
Here you have the combination of a lot of blockers combined with equity,
but you lack in playability and relevant future blockers. Although you have the
nut flush blocker, it is very difficult to make any flush fold in a 3-bet pot when
the SPR on the turn is something in the region of 2. So holding the AƇ is not
very relevant here. It is best to bet full pot on the flop to maximize fold equity
while holding quite good equity in case your opponent shoves.

ϮϳϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
99bb 100bb

Small Blind MP
25.5bb
99.5bb 100bb

Button Cutoff
88bb 88bb

Diagram 141

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ Always think about playability.

Ƈ Think about hands with which you prefer playing a three-street
game plan, as opposed to a one- or two-street game plan.
Ƈ Don’t overvalue a future blocker. The SPR on turns and rivers will
be very low and you will have a hard time making your opponent
fold a good hand, even if you hold strong blockers.
Ƈ When playing IP, use a more polarized strategy than OOP because
you have more control over the hand and you want to maximize
08
your positional advantage.
Ƈ When playing IP, You are betting smaller and less frequently.

08 - Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Ϯϳϯ

 WŽƐƚĨůŽƉdŚĞŽƌLJ͗
DƵůƚŝǁĂLJWŽƚƐ
/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
The same principles covered so far will apply when discussing multiway pots
with a few adjustments. So what is different?
First of all, it is more likely someone else has hit the flop. This means you
have less fold equity and will face resistance more often than in heads-up pots.
The SPR is lower. Instead of the typical 11-13 SPRs for heads-up sin-
gle-raised pots, multiway single-raised pots have SPRs of around 8-9 for
3-way pots and 6-7 for 4-way pots. These SPRs are great for the OOP player
to put in a check-raise in order to avoid playing at a positional disadvantage.
Overall, you still have two or three streets to play in single-raised multiway
09 pots so, when OOP at these SPRs, you need to check more often. Many of
your strong hands also go into your checking range, in order to protect it and
because you often want to check-raise with it instead of check-calling.
Regarding 3-bet pots. Instead of an SPR of about 3.5-4 for a heads-up
3-bet pot, you now have SPRs of about 2, for 3-way, 3-bet pots. At an SPR
of 2, you have to employ a balancing act, guaranteeing you realize your equity
but trying to not get into situations where you are badly dominated versus one

Ϯϳϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

or, worse, multiple opponents.
Another important point is the “sandwich effect”. Playing postflop in mul-
tiway pots, any player can find themselves “sandwiched” between a bettor and
a player behind still left to act who can potentially raise or check-raise. When
you bet in a 3-way pot, the player next to act is now stuck between you and
other players, and therefore their threshold for continuing in the hand is much
greater than if they were facing just one opponent.

DƵůƚŝǁĂLJϯͲĞƚWŽƚƐ
Let’s first discuss multiway 3-bet pots because we’ve already often discussed
what is important in low SPR scenarios. A 3-way 3-bet pot SPR is typically
around 2 and for this chapter we will consider the c-betting strategy for the
Big Blind after squeezing a preflop pot versus the Cutoff opener and Button
caller. This is the most common 3-way, 3-bet pot in the game. Then we’ll re-
view a hand in-depth from multiple player perspectives.

ͲďĞƚƚŝŶŐŝŶĂϯͲǁĂLJϯͲďĞƚWŽƚ͗
^ƋƵĞĞnjĞsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽĨĨZ&/ĂŶĚƵƚƚŽŶĂůů
It’s important to remember that hands in 3-bet ranges are often more defined
than in single-raised pots. The Big Blind is squeezing around 8% of hands here,
while the Cutoff was originally opening around 32% and continues against a
3-bet with about half of those, so 16% of hands.
The Button originally calls about 15% versus the Cutoff and calls in posi-
tion closing the preflop action with almost 90% of those hands.
So the typical ranges are BB (8%), Cutoff and Button 16% and 13% re-
spectively. Importantly, the Cutoff and Button are unlikely to have Aces but
the Button often does. That is the range asymmetry that is also seen in heads-
up 3-bet pots and it still implies the same thing. The squeezer can more freely
bet Ace-high and low-dry flops given their preflop range advantage. On most 09
other boards, the squeezer c-bets much less frequently.
Let’s consider some examples. In a 3-way, 3-bet pot, the Big Blind can
c-bet 100% of the time on AƆ-KƄ-5Ƈ as it just hits their range so strongly. In
that sense it’s one of the Big Blind’s “strongest” flops. On similar dry Ace-high
boards, you should c-bet frequently with a half-pot sizing. No more is needed.
On most non-Ace high boards, you c-bet less frequently and for a full-pot siz-

09 - Postflop Theory: Multiway Pots Ϯϳϱ

 ing. The Big Blind’s “weakest” flop is something like 9Ƈ-8Ƅ-2Ƅ or JƇ-10Ƈ-6Ɔ, me-
dium-high wet boards that your opponents could easily hit. Across these boards
you are c-betting only about 30% of the time and, when you do, for full pot.
A special mention is a board such as 7Ƅ-3Ɔ-2Ƈ which is difficult to hit
and therefore gives your Aces a solid equity boost in a 3-way pot with an SPR
of 2. On this board, you want to bet frequently with a big sizing to deny your
opponent’s equity and realize yours.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ On the flop, the Big Blind will look to use both half-pot c-bets
and full pot c-bets, depending on the board texture.
Ƈ C-bet frequencies are lower than in heads-up pots.
Ƈ Stack-off thresholds are tighter than in heads-up pots.
Ƈ The wider the checking range, the more traps you need to
include.

ϯͲǁĂLJ͕ϯͲďĞƚ,ĂŶĚƌĞĂŬĚŽǁŶ
Let’s break down a hand I played in a $500 PLO online game recently in order
to discuss GTO play versus exploitative play.

Hand Example 128

In this hand, the EP player open-raises, the Button calls, and the Big Blind
squeezes. The EP and Button players call. The SPR is 2 and the flop is KƆ-JƆ-
6Ƈ(Diagram 142).
This flop is not Ace-high and, given the K-J connectivity and flush draw, is
wet. It’s also a “heavy” board, meaning the EP and the Button can easily have
a set, two pair or combo draw. Given these factors, the Big Blind squeezer
09 should not often c-bet. Even at an SPR of 2, the Big Blind cannot simply stack-
off with most of their Aces hands. They pay too much of a penalty when run-
ning into a strong hand from either opponent.
According to a GTO strategy, on a board such as KƆ-JƆ-6Ƈ, the Big Blind
squeezer is c-betting around 40% of the time. This should be using both siz-
ings, half-pot and full-pot at similar frequencies. A GTO Big Blind player is
checking 60% of the time here and included in that range are hands such as
AƆ-2Ɔ-Aƅ-5ƅ and AƄ-2Ƅ-Qƅ-10ƅ.

Ϯϳϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Big Blind EP
$400 $400

Small Blind MP
$200
$500 $500

Button Cutoff
$400 $500

Diagram 142
In fact, a GTO Big Blind player should mix up their play with Aces and the
nut flush draw, by checking 35% of the time, betting half-pot 41% and pot-
ting it around 24%. The Big Blind is often checking strong hands because if
they don’t, their checking range will be too weak and, given the preflop ranges
involved, they have to check often on this board texture. The Big Blind is also
checking almost 40% of the time with sets.
When the Big Blind checks, the GTO EP player is checking 80% of the time
or betting using both sizings, split 10% each. After two checks, the GTO Button
player is only checking 63% of the time, betting half-pot 32%, and full-pot 5%.
After the Button faces two checks and takes a half-pot stab on the KƆ-
JƆ-6Ƈ flop, the Big Blind check-raises about 20% of the time to which the
Button folds 30%. That means the Button is bet-folding 30% of their range on
the flop (when they were betting 32% of the time) now that they realize they 09
were being trapped by the Big Blind.
However, this is not really how small stakes PLO plays out. In general, the
Big Blind squeezer is just going to shove 100% of Aces and nut flush draws on
the flop to stack-off and protect their hand. Almost no small stakes player has
the discipline to check and trap here. But is it a big mistake?
The reason the GTO Big Blind squeezer checks strong hands is because the

09 - Postflop Theory: Multiway Pots Ϯϳϳ

 Button can stab a lot on the flop after two checks. But how will a small stakes But-
ton player play? If they are straightforward in a 3-bet, 3-way pot, stabbing less
and checking back more then, as the Big Blind, you don’t need to risk a flop check.
If this is the case, maybe c-betting most of your Aces with a nut flush draw
is correct. If the players behind you will not bluff or bet the flop with a merged
range that you can punish by check-raising, there might be more value in sim-
ply betting the flop as the Big Blind.
As the Button, what should you do in a small stakes game when the Big
Blind squeezer does check the flop and the EP player checks? We’ve estab-
lished that both players are probably just stacking off with hands such as Aces
and nut flush draw or other strong hands. In a small stakes game, two checks
here often means they are check-folding or check-calling. As the Button, after
seeing two checks, you should bet exploitatively more often.
In these big, multiway 3-bet pots with low SPRs, most small stakes play-
ers are not thinking about GTO. There’s a ton of money on the flop, everyone
wants to protect their hand and get all the money in. Other players might shy
away from stabbing or bet-folding. It’s up to you to identify and adjust to these
players and how they approach these spots.
If your IP opponents are going to stab the flop when you check, you do
need to protect yourself by checking some strong hands in order to check-
raise. If they are playing more straightforwardly, then you probably get more
value from stronger hands by betting them yourself, especially if they are prone
to overestimating their pot equity in multiway low SPR scenarios.

DƵůƚŝǁĂLJ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐ
This principles examined in this section apply to most multiway single-raised
pots. However, for strategy reference we will discuss this in the context of a
Cutoff open, Button call and Big Blind call: a 3-way, 8.5 SPR scenario.
09
Remember when we discussed heads-up single-raised pots? How many
hands were actually good enough to bet as the OOP player on a mid-high SPR
on the flop? Hands that could potentially deal with raises and multistreet ac-
tion? Not very many. In multiway single-raised pots, there are even fewer of
these hands because there are two opponents and the SPR is still high. Obvi-
ously there are fewer hands that can bet facing two opponents than facing one.
As you will remember, when you are OOP and often checking, you need to

Ϯϳϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

include more strong hands in that checking range, so that the IP players cannot
exploit it. When you do bet, you should tend to bet big with a polarized range.
One aspect of the game that is relevant in multiway single-raised pots is
the leading range for the Big Blind. The Big Blind can lead in these spots on low
wet boards because, given the ranges in play, this gains EV disproportionately
versus their opponents.
Here is a comparison table to visualize this effect (Diagram 143):

Board >ĞĂĚŽƌŽŶŬ ƵƚŽīͲďĞƚ ƵƩŽŶ^ƚĂď/W

KƄͲϵƄͲϱƇ ϭй ϴй ϱϯй
QƄͲϴƇͲϲƇ ϳй ϵй ϰϳй
JƄͲϳƄͲϱƇ ϭϭй ϭϯй ϰϲй
10ƄͲϴƇͲϰƄ ϵй ϭϯй ϰϲй

Diagram 143: ĂůůsĞƌƐƵƐƵƚŽīZ&/ĂŶĚƵƩŽŶĂůů͕^WZϮ

As the cards become lower-ranked and more connected, the Big Blind
should be leading into the preflop aggressor to apply the sandwich effect. The
Cutoff is in a tough spot, not knowing how the Button will react behind.
When checked to, the Cutoff has a low c-betting frequency on all these
boards. When the Button is checked to, they should bet a merged range IP
because they are facing at least partially capped ranges. The IP player is incen-
tivized to bet small to play a higher SPR on the turn and river, thus increasing
their positional advantage. This helps in the event that the Button gets check-
raised or it forces weaker ranges to continue OOP. A half-pot Button bet is also
enough to put the Big Blind into an awkward sandwiched scenario.
A GTO strategy still means that the Big Blind and Cutoff will be checking
with many of their strong hands. Again, many small stakes players won’t play
like this, they will want to protect their hands and build pots faster with their 09
strong hands. Also, they correctly assume the players IP will not be betting as
often.
So, whenever you’re in a multiway pot, consider if the Big Blind actually has
a leading range, or do they check or bet most strong hands? Does the Cutoff
check some of their strong hands on the flop, or just c-bet? Whatever the an-
swer is will affect your strategy. If they bet with their strong hands, be careful

09 - Postflop Theory: Multiway Pots Ϯϳϵ

 when facing a bet, and stab even wider against their checks.
Remember this multiway stabbing frequency can be high but you’re often
just betting half-pot. This forces the OOP players to give up the pot, continue
weakly or announce their hand as strong by check-raising. Pay attention and
adjust to your opponents.

DƵůƚŝǁĂLJ^ŝŶŐůĞͲƌĂŝƐĞĚWŽƚƐ͗^ƚƌĂŝŐŚƚŽĂƌĚdžĂŵƉůĞƐ
Finally, let’s consider a multiway single-raised pot and discuss more deeply how
to think about these spots.

Hand Example 129

This a $5/$10 online 6-max game. You raise to $35 from the Cutoff with Aƅ-
10ƅ-6Ƅ-5Ƅ and get called by the Button as well as the Big Blind. You go 3-way
to the flop with an SPR of about 9 and the flop is 8Ɔ-7Ƅ-4Ɔ(Diagram 144).

Big Blind EP
$965 $1,000

Small Blind MP
$110
$995 $1,000

Button Cutoff
$965 $965

09 Diagram 144
You have flopped a straight on a board where the nuts are still likely to
change. The first thing you want to consider is the OOP player’s leading range.
As we saw in the table above, the Big Blind sometimes leads when the board
has low-ranking cards.
Although this is true, it won’t apply too much on this precise board. If you
look more closely, the top two cards are connected (7-8), meaning there are

ϮϴϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

many possible higher straight draws. The Cutoff and Button have many 10-9
combinations in their preflop ranges and even some wraps (J-10-9) or gut-
shot and flush draw combinations.
What the Big Blind would be doing by leading is building the pot to play
multiple streets OOP against IP opponents, knowing the nuts will often change.
It’s not easy to construct a range of hands that are happy to play this way.
When the nuts change as frequently as on this flop, the OOP player tends to
check and prefers a check-raising strategy.
The Big Blind is leading 20% of their 6-5 straights and only ones with
decent backup. This means those with a flush draw, a higher straight draw,
a backdoor flush draw or a combination of these. The other 80% of the Big
Blind’s flopped straights, including some with weak flush draws, are checking in
order to check-raise or check-call and protect these ranges. What other hand
could the Big Blind be willing to lead?
One that comes to mind is something like two pairs and a nut flush draw.
These hands help to balance the straight leads with hands that benefit from
the turn and river pairing the board or bringing a flush.
In the actual hand, the Big Blind does lead out for 66%-pot and you are
facing a seemingly very strong range with a vulnerable straight. You are probably
behind in equity given this lead in a 3-way pot. The important concept to under-
stand here is that, in this scenario, you should call and wait for the turn in order
to shove. Playing IP in these cases, you should just call unless you have a strong
equity edge against the nuts. You call and the Button calls behind. The Button is
getting a good price and so could also have a nut flush draw, wrap draw or a set.
Again, if the Button has a bare 6-5 straight they should just call the flop IP.

Hand Example 130

The SPR is still almost 3 on the 3ƅ turn. The board is now (8Ɔ-7Ƅ-4Ɔ)-3ƅ
(Diagram 145). What would you now do as the Big Blind with AƄ-QƄ-8ƅ-4Ƈ? 09
Whenever you find yourself in a situation like this, you have to start thinking
carefully about your hand. You are blocking sets and some two pairs, as well as
the nut flush draw. What are your opponents calling with? Do you want to build
a pot against two of those hands?

09 - Postflop Theory: Multiway Pots Ϯϴϭ

 Big Blind EP
$895 $1,000

Small Blind MP
$320
$995 $1,000

Button Cutoff
$895 $895

Diagram 145
Betting and getting raised isn’t great with this hand because your equity
isn’t as good as it was on the flop. At this point, it is best to check from the Big
Blind and try to see a river.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ C-bet frequencies multiway are lower than in heads-up pots.

Remember, in heads-up 3-bet pots your ranges are more narrow.
As with heads-up situations, certain boards are definitely good or
bad for the 3-bettor.
Ƈ In single-raised pots, ranges are less narrow and more equal in
strength. In single-raised pots, it’s a lot more about the exact
09 four cards that you hold.
Ƈ In 3-bet pots it’s more about how your narrow range interacts
with the board texture. For example, in 3-bet pots you can
typically c-bet Ace-high boards with most of your range. In
single-raised pots that is not true at all, it depends on your
position and the exact four cards that you hold.

ϮϴϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

WŽƚͲ>ŝŵŝƚ
KŵĂŚĂ>ŝǀĞ
>ŝǀĞW>K&ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ
In this part of the book, you will learn more about how to approach live PLO
and how to adapt your now solid baseline strategy to a live game. We’ll cover
how live games are different and how you can maximize your earnings in the
casinos.
Live poker games are generally much softer than online poker, especially
at the higher stakes. A lot of recreational poker players like to go to the casino
to play poker, so the softest games in the world are live cash games and it will
probably remain that way for quite some time.
Higher win-rates are achievable compared to online since the field is so
much weaker. Live PLO generally plays much deeper than online. A lot of play-
ers, especially recreational players, make huge mistakes when deep stacked.
In online high stakes games, you need to be extremely good to achieve a win
rates of 4-5bb/100. But in live PLO games, much higher win rates are achiev- 10
able. Win rates of 15-20bb/100 are possible in soft games.
The only real drawback is that games can be slow, especially when playing
full-ring PLO. I think as players, we need to ask for shorthanded games when-

10 - Pot-Limit Omaha Live Ϯϴϯ

 ever possible. But you can use this time to help train your poker brain. You can
benefit from thinking about the adaptation needed to a new environment. It
can always help to switch up your poker environment from time to time be-
cause it helps you to see the game differently. Not only the structure of the
game but also the different player types that you will encounter and the dif-
ferent lines that you can take. Thinking about how to adjust to reads will also
massively improve your analytical skills.
During a big live tournament series, you will normally be able to find soft
PLO cash game tables. You might have to battle high rake but if you are going
to the WSOP for example, you will find some incredible cash games, especially
at the higher stakes, during a tournament series.

^ƚƌĂĚĚůŝŶŐ
The straddle is simply a third blind. One of the biggest differences between live
poker and online poker is the straddle. You have to adjust to having additional
dead money in the pot. There are three common straddle variants:

Ƈ The UTG straddle is the most common one. This type of straddle
is especially popular in the United States, and it’s less popular in
Europe.
Ƈ The Button straddle, also called the Mississippi straddle. If the
blinds are $5/$10, you can put up $20 of dead money before
you have looked at your hand, and you also get the last action
preflop.
Ƈ The rock straddle is especially common in Las Vegas and during
the WSOP. If you win the pot, you also win the straddle and it is
automatic for everyone at the table. So let’s say that you win a
hand from middle position. You will be the straddle, and you will
be last to act preflop.

dŚĞsŽĨ^ƚƌĂĚĚůŝŶŐ
10 In general, straddling is obviously minus EV because putting extra money in the
pot before looking at your hand isn’t a very profitable thing to do. Straddles
incentivize multiway action which is also not that attractive if you are one of
the best players at the table. In heads-up pots, you have more opportunities to

Ϯϴϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

exploit your opponent and you can potentially have a higher win rate in heads-
up pots in comparison to multiway pots.
Straddling also encourages you to enter pots with weaker holdings and you
will end up in tricky postflop situations where you are holding marginal hands.
This especially holds true for the UTG straddle because you will be OOP for the
entirety of the hand.

tŚĞŶƚŽ^ƚƌĂĚĚůĞ
When everyone is straddling, you are not at a disadvantage if you also decide
to straddle. When everyone is straddling, it means the stakes have effectively
more than doubled because the maximum open-raise sizing more than dou-
bles. When everybody straddles, no one is going to have an immediate edge
and the only way to gain an edge is to be better at adjusting your strategy to
the straddles than your opponents.
Another reason to straddle is to keep the recreational players in the game.
When recreational players are losing, they want to play bigger pots because
they are trying to recoup their losses. You don’t want to be the player in a game
where everyone is straddling, except for you. This will hurt your image and
might hurt your ability to get into games with loose recreational players. Rec-
reational players are there to have fun so help to make the game more exciting!
It can also be good to straddle when that means you can “buy the Button”
without getting punished for it. At a loose or nitty table, where people aren’t
attacking the straddle, it effectively means you don’t get punished as much
for putting in the third blind while using it to buy position. This is especially the
case if you can buy position against weaker players by straddling. It might be
a fine price to pay and keep the action going. This certainly applies if you can
adjust your strategy better than the other players.

ƵLJͲŝŶ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐŝĞƐ
There is no one single answer as to how much you should buy-in for. There are
a lot of different variables that can influence this decision and it can vary for
every session. In general, you want to avoid playing a strategy in which you are 10
always buying in as the deepest player on the table.
There are more important things to consider than covering everyone at
the table, such as:

10 - Pot-Limit Omaha Live Ϯϴϱ

 Ƈ Who do I have position on?

Ƈ If you see that you have position on a weak opponent, you

should make sure that you cover them when you are buying
into the game. If the tough player at the table has position on
you, you should buy-in shorter.

Ƈ What is the table dynamic?

Ƈ The more passive the game, the more likely it is you should be
buying in deep because passive players won’t often put you
in tough spots. They are not going to take marginal bluffing
spots and they won’t make complicated bluffs. So, the more
passive the game is, the better it is to buy in deep.
Ƈ The more aggressive the game is, or the more aggressive the
players who have position on you are, the more likely it is that
you should buy in short. This is a good strategy to exploit
over-aggressive players, and you can make their life very
hard.

The default buy-in strategy that I recommend is to buy in for is 50bb if

you are joining an unknown table where you have no reads on any of the other
players. You can always add more chips to your stack once you start to under-
stand the dynamics of the table but you can’t withdraw any of the chips once
they are on the table.

^ŚŽƌƚ^ƚĂĐŬŝŶŐ
If done correctly, short-stacking can yield excellent profits. Short-stacking
strategy would require a whole book in itself but we will have a quick over-
view. Be aware that short stacking requires a different skill set than playing at
100bb deep or more.
10 If you don’t know how to adjust your strategy when you are playing short-
stacked, you probably shouldn’t be doing so in the first place. However, using
this strategy can give you excellent EV for the following reasons:

Ϯϴϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Ƈ Players don’t tend to pay close attention to stack sizes. In live
poker, in contrast to online, the stack sizes are not displayed
clearly. This means that many of your opponents will not adjust
correctly to your short stack.
Ƈ Even if your opponents do pay attention, they usually don’t adjust
to short stacks well. When up against a short stack, players often
call too many 3-bets and then either fold too much or too little
postflop. Every player has different leaks when they are playing
against short-stacked players.
Ƈ By playing short-stacked, you can massively benefit from dead
money in multiway pots. Let’s say that you squeeze preflop as
the short stack and you get two callers. You can go all-in on the
flop. You usually get to play a simpler game focused on preflop
and flop strategy. The other two players must still make decisions
on turns and rivers because they are deeper-stacked and not yet
all-in. If one of the players folds on the turn or river, you get to
realize your hand equity against one player rather than two.

Even though the arguments for short-stacking can sound compelling,

there is also a considerable drawback to playing as a short stack. If you have a
significant edge against some of your opponents, then you are giving up some
EV by being short-stacked. The reason is that when you have a short stack, all
the money will often go in on the flop or turn. Against weak players, the street
on which you will be able to win the most chips is usually the river. When you
play with a short stack, you won’t often be able to realize this major edge that
you might have against your opponent(s), which could harm your overall EV.
You should also be aware that when the rake is very high, as it is in many online
low stakes PLO games, you shouldn’t be short-stacking because the rake will
eat up too many chips for you to be able to make a significant profit.
As mentioned before, a good idea is to start with 50bb, or the minimum
amount, and then add more chips when you identify you are in a good situation
to do so or, better still, double up through someone by taking advantage of 10
their wide ranges and your increased realizability.

10 - Pot-Limit Omaha Live Ϯϴϳ

 ZƵŶŶŝŶŐŝƚKŶĐĞŽƌdǁŝĐĞ͍
Many of my students ask me if they should run it once or if they should run it
twice. I advise you to run it once if you:

Ƈ Have a big bankroll or if you are playing in a game for which you
are over-rolled. Although you are going to encounter some more
variance and it might sometimes sting to get sucked out on in a
big pot, it is equally awesome when you suck out on someone in
a big pot and it hurts them. If you are properly bankrolled and you
are mentally capable of handling the swings, I recommend that
you run it once.
Ƈ Want more fold equity. Every live player has been in that situation
where the stacks have gone in and the players don’t agree on
whether they should run it once or twice. Almost everyone is at
least a little bit scared or intimidated by the guy who says, “One
fu**ing time.” If you are known for always running it once, your
opponents might keep that in the back of their mind, and it could
influence them if they have a very close decision between folding
and calling for their entire stack. At the end of the day, running it
once might give you slightly more fold equity.
Ƈ Are in an unfamiliar setting. Unless you are 100% sure what
the running it twice rules are and how they are enforced, I
suggest running it once and avoiding any miscommunications or
misunderstandings.

Run it twice if you:

Ƈ Want to reduce variance because you’re under-rolled or taking a

shot.
Ƈ Are in a familiar setting and a friendly game where everyone is
running it twice and you prefer to maintain the mood and seat
10 positions as they are.

In general, I suggest sticking with one decision per session, to avoid mis-
communications with other players and the dealer. But if you feel communi-
cation isn’t an issue, you can also employ a strategy that allows you to lower

Ϯϴϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

the variance while maintaining a more intimidating table image. For pots up to
200-300 Big Blinds or lower, just run it once. If the pot is larger than 300 Big
Blinds, run it twice to keep the variance lower.
Live poker is much more about your image than online poker. You benefit
from the image of being someone who is willing to gamble, someone who is
not afraid and however you get that image is up to you. Using this strategy is
something that could help you.

dŚŝŶŬŝŶŐďŽƵƚWůĂLJĞƌƐ
It is important to understand what motivates an individual to play in your game.
That motivation and incentive can change somewhat, which means that you need
to be hyper-aware. Some people are very passionate about poker. They want to
hold cards, hold chips and put the chips into the middle to see what happens.
Of course, they are trying to win but they are not always necessarily think-
ing about strategy. Players might be looking for a platform to socialize and
poker is a great one, specifically if the table is fun. Others are just looking to
gamble and they want to be the center of attention. If so, you can help them
by being more engaged. Your goal as a winning poker player is to understand
your opponents and their motivations.
Some of the time the table will be filled with regulars and their goal when
playing poker is to make money, rather than have a good time. They might be
after both but making money is the priority. When you face a recreational play-
er at the table, your goal should be to empathize with their motivation. Then
they will play longer, have more fun and eventually come back.
Everyone is competitive at the poker table but some players are more so
than others. Your aim should be to make it a fun experience and less about com-
petition and strategy and there are many different ways to achieve that goal.
In general, it is useful to think of six different personality types that you
will encounter to get a better idea of who is on your table. Ultimately every
player is unique but here are some basic profiles and factors to look out for in
live poker play.
10
ϭͿdŚĞWŽŬĞƌŶƚŚƵƐŝĂƐƚ
The poker enthusiast is someone who loves the game and has a deep passion
for it. They are competitive and they like to play a lot, probably playing mul-

10 - Pot-Limit Omaha Live Ϯϴϵ

 tiple times a week. The way you can recognize this player is because they are
usually very active and lively at the poker table. They are often talking about
the game, talking about strategy and talking about poker content. When they
are on a winning streak, you will see this type of player in a very talkative and
happy mood. At the same time, they are going to protect their winnings. They
remember the nights before when they were winning big and then lost it all,
and felt terrible. When they start losing, they become very frustrated.
The poker enthusiast can spot the professional players at the table. They
understand the pros have probably studied the game more than they have, and
generally want to stay away from them. Every so often though, they will decide
to get involved and will generally give the pros too much credit for being creative
and aggressive. For that reason, they are also willing to take a stand, especially
against a big bet. In some situations, you should be careful not too over-bluff
them because they will call you down if they perceive you as a strong player.
Against recreational players, they usually play straightforwardly and their
perception of them is as players who are never folding. For that reason, they
bet big when they have it and they usually shy away from bluffing them. Once
again, the biggest weakness of the poker enthusiast are their emotions. They
become frustrated when losing, especially when they have previously been
winning. The most obvious and easiest way to tell that someone is a poker en-
thusiast and not a professional is that they get upset when a bad player wins a
stack from them. Then they become frustrated, trying to win it back. Be aware
of situations where this player becomes frustrated and then starts tilting.

ϮͿdŚĞƵƐŝŶĞƐƐŵĂŶ;ŽƌtŽŵĂŶͿ
it. It can be in subtle ways, like having an expensive suit or watch or answer-
ing business emails on the phone. But sometimes they also really like to show
off by buying in deep. Their primary motivation for playing the game is the
competition. They like to outplay the better players at the tables and they are
in there for the action. They are competitive and can try to push you around.
10 They don’t like getting bluffed so they can also make a big hero call if you put
them under pressure.
Keep track of how much action this player has been getting in the last
hour. If they had a lot of good, exciting hands, they might just be leaning back
a little. But if they have been card dead all day long, they might try to force

ϮϵϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

the pace with weak hands or pull off a big bluff to try and initiate a big swing.
For the most part, this player has a set time they are willing to play, so be at-
tentive when they are going to leave and how their style might change during
the night.

ϯͿdŚĞ͞^ĐĂƌĞĚDŽŶĞLJ͟WůĂLJĞƌ
are willing to get run over, especially at the beginning of the session, because
they are scared to make big call downs without having much information on
their opponents. They might quit early when up a bunch or when losing.
They want to book a win and they are going to take preflop and postflop
lines to lower the variance. This player can be overrun, while trying to protect
their winnings but will take a stand if they pick up on your high level of aggres-
sion.

ϰͿdŚĞ'ĂŵďůĞƌͬDĂŶŝĂĐ
The gambler or the maniac type is a player who is always looking for action.
They play a ton of hands and are generally behind when it comes to equity.
However, they have a blast when they outdraw other players.
One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about this play-
er-type is to think that because there is a gambler on the table, they must also
loosen up and gamble. A lot of gamblers like to draw attention to themselves,
so by playing too many hands and being overly loud, you will be drawing at-
tention away from them. You want to stay positive towards them and never
berate them and definitely don’t steal their show. They generally order a couple
of drinks, are very talkative, play tons of hands and get the money in. You want
to stay disciplined and positive, embrace the higher variance and know that, in
the long run, your winnings increase when these players are around.

ϱͿdŚĞĞŐŝŶŶĞƌ
The next player type is the clueless beginner. The beginner likes and is inter-
ested in poker but doesn’t know much about it. There is not much to say about
this player type but the last thing that they want is to be judged for not know- 10
ing the rules or making a terrible play.
You should be supportive of this player and let them know how things work
without embarrassing them. Be supportive and don’t act in a strange way in

10 - Pot-Limit Omaha Live Ϯϵϭ

 case they have a huge blow-up and become overwhelmed with the situation. If
other players become negative towards them, they will rightfully quit playing.

ϲͿdŚĞWƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶĂů
Finally, there is the professional poker player. There are different types of pro-
fessional players with different experiences, different strategies and different
leaks. Some of them get tired quickly, some get upset faster, some have poor
bankroll management and all adjust differently to recreational players, etc.
Professional players who are upset by recreational players are usually less
experienced when it comes to live poker. Players who understand social dy-
namics and how to adjust to their opponents are better at live poker.
The human element in live poker cannot be underestimated and also can’t
really be learned by only reading books or playing a few sessions. Experience
and hyper-awareness are crucial when it comes to your poker sessions. Start
labeling players and think more about the psychology of individuals rather than
only about the hands. You will pick up these skills over time.
In the following live PLO hand examples, we are going to see in more detail
how to differentiate between different player types and what kind of reads to
pick up throughout a session.

WůĂLJŝŶŐĂƚƚŚĞƌŝĂ
Now that you understand some live poker dynamics and the different types of
players you can face, I am going to discuss some hand examples from a night
of poker I played at the Aria in Las Vegas.
At around 7 pm, I walk over to the Aria and I look at the waiting list. There
are six games running at the 5/10/20 blind level, which is great news for me.
When the city is full, especially during the weekends, you can expect a lot of
recreational players to hop into the games. The 5/10 or 10/20 games are usu-
ally the games where you will find many recreational players, and in the 25/50
game, you will see more professionals.
After waiting 30 minutes I sit down at a table and buy-in for the minimum
10 $1,000. I can always top up if I want but I can never take away from my stack.
I sit down in a 5/10/20 game with a mandatory straddle. There are a few
guys to my right who look recreational. They are not as attentive and they are
also drinking. I realize that most likely, I am in a pretty decent seat. To my left,

ϮϵϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

I have two younger players that I would label as most likely professionals or at
least poker enthusiasts and they are much deeper. So, it’s an excellent spot to
be short-stacked because the guys to my left can make my life quite tough at
high SPRs.

,ĂŶĚϭ
Before I am even dealt into the game, the following hand unfolds. There are sev-
en players at the table and the UTG player open limps for $20. The next player
limps along. The (professional) player to my left raises full pot. The Big Blind,
who also seems like a professional player, comes in for a call rather quickly.
They see a four-way flop, which comes down Kƅ-9ƅ-5Ƅ. The Big Blind
bets, the first limper calls from UTG and the two other players fold.
The turn is the 2ƅ, which brings in the flush. The board is now Kƅ-9ƅ-5Ƅ-
2ƅ, and both players check quickly. The river brings an offsuit Ace.
Both players check again on the river and the pro-looking player in the Big
Blind tables KƄ-KƇ-6Ƅ-5Ƈ for top set and the EP limper shows Qƅ-10ƅ-8Ɔ-
5Ɔ. Now, why exactly is this such an interesting hand?
What is happening here? When I see the recreational player checking both
the turn and river quickly with the second nuts, I understand where his thresh-
olds are. He doesn’t consider a Queen-high flush to be strong enough to con-
sider going for value. That is a very passive play. He limps in with Qƅ-10ƅ-
8Ɔ-5Ɔ and calls a raise to play a multiway pot with a very non-nutted hand
and poor position. I have to determine in future hands how willing he is to come
along for the limp to make a proper decision when it comes to isolating these
players.
The Big Blind is holding KƄ-KƇ-6Ƅ-5Ƈ, a strong hand that should be 3-bet
preflop. We need to understand why he just called. The reason might be be-
cause he values keeping the recreational players in more than 3-betting against
the other regular.
Understanding his approach to the game in this situation is essential for
future decision making. We can isolate the recreational players more aggres-
sively if the other regulars are finding value in playing the recreational players 10
rather than 3-betting light or even with strong hands.
This hand already gives us a lot of information that will influence our future
decision making when it comes to isolating the loose-passive players on my
right. Once again, it is crucial to be hyper-aware in these situations, even if

10 - Pot-Limit Omaha Live Ϯϵϯ

 you have not yet been dealt into the game. Use your downtime to think about
how, given these factors, your opponents are playing their ranges, how they
approach the game and how you can maximize your EV.

,ĂŶĚϮ
In the next hand, the other professional or poker enthusiast stacks the rec-
reational player to my right who had $1,000 left. That player now instantly
rebuys for $3,000 while the winner announces that he is about to leave soon.
A lot of times, when players stack each other, they announce it if they plan to
leave soon because they don’t want their opponents to feel like they are doing
a hit and run.
The point is that we understand the metagame here. The recreational
player is going to try and win back his money. I also think there is a dynamic
that when I isolate a recreational player, the pros to my left are most likely just
going to come in for the call. I therefore add $2,000 to my stack to cover the
player to my right.
Soon after, I am straddling and look down at 7ƅ-7Ƈ-5Ƅ-5ƅ. The Cutoff
raises, both blinds call and I decide to call as well, making it a four-way flop. The
Cutoff is the likely poker enthusiast who is about to leave and seems to be up
about $2,000. This player has been counting his chips a lot, which makes me
think that he cares about exactly how many chips he has and how much he is
up. It looks like he is about to leave, he is trying to book a win and I am going
to keep this in mind during the hand.
We go to the flop and see a board of 6Ɔ-3ƅ-2Ɔ. I have flopped the block-
ers to the straight, an inside straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. Other
than the flush draw the flop is dry. The Small Blind and Big Blind check and I
make a big bet on the flop to bluff, hoping to take the pot down. The Cutoff
calls quickly and the Small Blind and Big Blind fold. The turn is the 3Ɔ, so the
board is now (6Ɔ-3ƅ-2Ɔ)-3Ɔ. The turn brings in a flush but, at the same
time, it pairs the board. I am convinced that my hand is not good and, I must
make a decision as to whether I want to start bluffing or if I want to check and
10 give up.
The thing to consider here is my opponent’s situation. He is about to leave,
he wants to book a win and, at the same time, it is unlikely that his preflop
range generates a lot of full houses on this board. I am in the straddle and I can

Ϯϵϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

have tons of full houses here with hands such as 6-6, or 6-3. For that reason,
I can represent some powerful hands. When I bet the turn, I will be called very
often by the nut flush. To make my bluff effective, I will have to come in for a
double barrel and I am planning to do that. I even have some outs to improve
but, overall, I think the bluff will be successful because my opponent is about
to leave. As we know, he also wants to book a win so he is unlikely to make big
risky call downs against someone on whom he doesn’t have a read.
I bet $550 on the turn into an $800 pot, and my opponent tanks. You can
see that he is trying to figure out how much he is still up if he calls and how
much money there is behind on the river after he calls the turn.
Eventually, he goes ahead and calls the $550, and we see a river, which is
the 8ƅ. The board now is (6Ɔ-3ƅ-2Ɔ-3Ɔ)-8ƅ. Of course, at this point, my
hand is no good and I have to decide if I still want to bluff. I already decided on
the turn that, in order to make this an effective turn bet, I have to double-bar-
rel. So I go ahead and I bet full pot. My opponent thinks for a while but then
ends up folding and leaves the table after a few hands later.

,ĂŶĚϯ
A few orbits later, I have a $2,500 stack and wake up with Aƅ-AƇ-7ƅ-3ƅ
in the Hijack. Including myself, there are eight players at the table. The UTG
player straddles and the next two players call. Remember that we already un-
derstand the metagame here: if I raise, the professionals on my left will usually
call because they want to play against the recreational players who limped in.
When I am over-limping I often hold a marginal hand, since I would be trying
to isolate the recreational players if I were holding a strong hand. The pro-
fessionals sitting behind me probably understand this, so they will often raise
when I decide to limp to get value from my marginal holdings while they are in
position. If they raise, I would have the option to come over the top for a very
significant amount and get some players to fold, some players to call and lower
the SPR to a point where I can over-realize my equity.
Although my hand does have some nuttiness, it doesn’t play too well in
multiway pots. The only flops on which I could get a lot of money in the middle 10
in a multiway situation would be if I flop a top set, a flush or nut flush draw.
It will be tricky to play this hand postflop, especially at medium to high SPRs.
Therefore, two situations are promising ones for me. I should either try to keep
the pot small and hope to hit a very strong hand. Or, I should try to get a huge

10 - Pot-Limit Omaha Live Ϯϵϱ

 chunk of my stack into the pot preflop to lower the SPR and set myself up to
go all-in on many different flops.
This time I come in with the over-limp with Aƅ-AƇ-7ƅ-3ƅ. I am hoping to
either keep the pot very small or to be able to get a lot of chips in the middle
in the event that one of the other players decides to raise.
The professionals behind me decide to over-limp and the flop is JƄ-10Ɔ-
5Ƈ. I have completely missed the board and I check-fold. This time my plan
didn’t work out as I hoped but this is a great hand example to illustrate how
you should think about adjusting your strategy in view of the metagame con-
siderations.

,ĂŶĚϰ
The final interesting hand of the night occurs when I am once again in the
straddle for $20 and I hold AƆ-QƆ-6Ɔ-4Ƈ. There are currently six players at
the table and the first two players fold. The Button open limps, the Small Blind
calls and the Big Blind checks. I also check.
The flop comes Kƅ-7Ɔ-5Ƈ, giving me an open-ended straight draw and a
backdoor nut flush draw. The Small Blind checks and the Big Blind quickly bets
$60 into an $80 pot. With just an open-ender this is usually a fold. However,
in this instance, my opponent is very attached to strong hands and he has been
playing very passively for the last 3-4 hours. I believe that against this player I
am very likely to win a big pot if I do hit my straight so I give myself additional
implied odds. I call and the other two players in the hand fold.
The turn is the 3ƅ, giving me the nut straight on a (Kƅ-7Ɔ-5Ƈ)-3ƅ board.
Of course, the straight got there but it’s one of the unlikelier straights I can
be holding. I think that my opponent was holding a very strong hand on the
flop because he bet into multiple people and passive players usually only do
that with very strong hands. In this situation, I want to maximize my value
against his hand so, after he checks, I use a pot-size bet. My opponent calls
very quickly. When somebody calls very quickly, they are sometimes sending a
subconscious message saying, “I am strong, don’t try to bluff me on the river. I
10 am willing to go to showdown.”
The river brings the meaningless QƇ, making the board (Kƅ-7Ɔ-5Ƈ-
3ƅ)-QƇ and my opponent immediately checks. I go into the tank before bet-
ting almost the full size of the pot without announcing that I bet full pot. My
opponent quickly calls and I win a $1,600 pot. You don’t always have to think

Ϯϵϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

deeply about polarization or board texture to choose the correct bet sizing. In
multiway pots, passive opponents who bet are usually very strong and won’t
like to let go of their hand when a very unlikely straight comes in. I wouldn’t
suggest bluffing in a spot like this even with a blocker or two.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ
Ƈ From the moment that you sit down at the table, you should start
to analyze your opponents.

Ƈ What is their motivation for playing?

Ƈ What adjustments should you start making preflop?
Ƈ What adjustments should you start making postflop?

Ƈ Think about your own image. How will your opponents adjust their
strategy based on that perceived image? How should you adjust
your ranges accordingly to exploit their perception of your image?
Ƈ Pay attention to your opponent’s timing.
Ƈ Pay attention to the stack sizes.

10

10 - Pot-Limit Omaha Live Ϯϵϳ

 ǁĂLJ&ƌŽŵ
ƚŚĞdĂďůĞ
ĂŶŬƌŽůůDĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ
'ĞŶĞƌĂů/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ
overall poker journey. Bankroll management is the practice of creating financial
rules that you set for yourself regarding the stakes you will play with a specific
bankroll.
If you don’t manage your bankroll well, you can lose it all, which means that
you can’t play anymore. It doesn’t matter how good you are; it doesn’t matter
how hard you worked in the past and how many hours you put into your game
off the tables. When you lose your entire poker bankroll, you also lose the abil-
ity to realize your edge and your ability to make money in poker. Mismanaging
your bankroll runs the risk of placing you in a disastrous scenario.

/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶƚŽsĂƌŝĂŶĐĞ
One of the biggest causes in poker for mental game problems and tilt, is being
under-rolled. To strengthen your mindset and to avoid tilt, you must under-
11 stand variance, the implication that it has and how to deal with it.

Ϯϵϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Variance is a representation of how much results can differ from expectations.
Let’s say you are going to play in a game where you expect to win $50 an
hour. You are going to play a four hour session, so you are expecting to make
a profit of $200. At the end of the session, you find yourself $200 down. This
can happen often and it can be frustrating.
There is no denying variance is a big part of the game. However, the good
news is that variance is what brings action to the game. It hides the truth and
means that losing players who win a few times in a row can be in denial regard-
ing their true strength. It also affects winning players who go on a heater and
now overestimate their edge. Variance can also negatively impact the confi-
dence of winning players who are experiencing a downswing.
In most cases, your edge will be impacted by how well you run. There are
very few players in the world who are not affected by variance and who are
playing equally well when they are on a big downswing as to when they are on
a heater. Very often, players who are losing money start to play worse and, be-
cause of this, they can lose their edge and become losing players in the games
they usually are winning players in.
You want to stop thinking about yourself as either a winning player or a los-
ing player. You want to ask yourself: “In this game, at this time, with these play-
ers, and with this level of focus and confidence, am I a winning player or not?”
If you are on average a 3bb/100 winning player, that doesn’t mean that
you were a 3bb/100 winning player last night when you were way too tired.
You probably were a losing player in that game. It is important to understand
that the win rate you have is fluctuating and depending on many different
factors. Always ask yourself: “Am I a winning player in this game, right now?”
If the answer to this question is no, then take some time to reflect on why you
are playing.

ŽǁŶƐǁŝŶŐƐ
Players often ask me two different questions related to downswings:

Ƈ What have my worst PLO downswings been like?

Ƈ What they should do if they’re in a downswing?

Before I answer, let me just clarify what a downswing is. A downswing

is when you lose money for an extended and unexpected amount of time or 11

11 - Away From the Table Ϯϵϵ

 sessions. Downswing is a word that mostly applies to players with positive win
rates, who should be winners.
For online poker, my worst downswings have been around 50 buy-ins and
I have had one every year or two since 2011. In my worst sessions online, I
have lost almost 20 buy-ins but that doesn’t happen nearly as often now as I
usually just stop playing after I lose the tenth stack. For live poker, I mostly play
sporadically during events, so I wouldn’t say I have experienced any long-term
downswing yet, but I have won and lost 20 buy-ins in single sessions.
I assume there are winning players who have lost more than 50 buy-ins
before getting upside traction or quitting. A 6-max PLO player with a win rate
of 8bb/100 has a about a 3% chance of losing after 100,000 hands, given an
average standard deviation. Imagine how losing after 100,000 hands can de-
stroy someone’s confidence and motivation. Feeling like you should be crushing
the games and yet still losing. This can really impact on your mental state and
your ability to perform well at the tables.
When you are stuck in a downswing, it is very tempting to drop down in
stakes or to quit playing entirely because you feel like you are a losing player.
And, worse, it feels like there is nothing you can do that will change this. You
might be crushing the games and the only thing you must do is keep playing
more hands and consistently improve.
You need to accept that in order to get a good enough sample to accurately
know your win rate, you will have to play a lot and your game will have changed
over time. Game dynamics will also change both positively and negatively. You
can only get an average of your true win rate because it changes over time,
so don’t worry too much about it. Focus on making the best decisions at each
point of each hand. Learn strategy and execute it. That’s all you can do and
that’s all you must do.
It is important that you realize the impact variance can have and that a bad
run can happen to anyone. The best way to know whether you are in a down-
swing or just losing because of poor strategy, is by identifying variance and
identifying your opponent’s mistakes and your solid thought process.

ůůͲŝŶs
All-in EV stands for all-in expected value. It’s a statistic commonly used in
poker trackers and it calculates the EV of your hand for the times you are all-in
11 against your opponent’s hand. That’s all it does.

ϯϬϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 You can then see what your winnings were over time and also what your
all-in EV adjusted winnings should be. Maybe you ran hot and won more in
all-in scenarios than you should have. Maybe you ran bad and you won fewer.
The point is that many players think of this number as an accurate way to tell
if you’ve been experiencing good or bad variance.
In reality, all-in EV is just a small part of the variance you experience when
playing PLO or, indeed, poker in general. How did you end up going all-in in
the first place? The cards you got, your opponent’s cards, the board? It all had
to line up for an all-in scenario. That’s a lot of variance before the all-in even
happens.
What about the hands that didn’t end up in an all-in? Most hands don’t.
How many hands did you see the flop with and how strong did your hands re-
main on the flop? Did you get good flops or bad flops for your preflop range?
What about turns and river? How many mistakes did each opponent make,
how costly were they and were you able to profit from them? I could go on and
on about how much variance there is in poker.
The only elements that aren’t variance are the decisions we make. How
much we prepare off the table and how we execute at the table. How much
we buy-in for, which hands to play, how to react to what happens during the
hand and what we do with the information we get. Once you accept that, you
will have an easier time dealing with inevitable downswings and be able to keep
your confidence grounded during them.

ĂŶŬƌŽůů^ĐŚĞĚƵůĞ'ƵŝĚĞ
Everyone has different poker goals and motivations. I am not going to provide
set in stone rules on precisely how many buy-ins you “need” to be able to play a
specific stake. The truth is that everyone’s situation is different and that every
different situation requires a different optimal bankroll management technique.
If you play non-professionally, a lot depends on your income. Maybe you
don’t need strict bankroll management rules because, within reason, you can
replenish your bankroll. Play within your means and play at tables where you
see other players making big mistakes. Play only with money you can afford to
lose and try to win to the best of your abilities so you can consider moving up
in stakes. More on taking shots later.
If you are a professional and cannot replenish your bankroll, you need to
protect your risk of ruin. I recommend that professionals use the standard rule 11

11 - Away From the Table ϯϬϭ

 of 100 to 150 buy-ins. This sounds rather conservative, but it will prevent you
from having mental issues because you are under-rolled. When you are appro-
priately rolled, you are way less likely to tilt after losing a few buy-ins.
Let’s say you are playing online PLO $500 with a $50,000 bankroll (100 buy-
ins). You should move down as soon as you have only 100 buy-ins for the next
lower limit which is, in this case, 100 buy-ins for PLO $200, which equals $20,000.
The higher your win rate, the lower your variance is going to be. This means
that if you have a big win rate, such as in live PLO games, you could be less
strict and go as low as 50 buy-ins. If you have a small win rate, you should be
stricter because you will experience bigger downswings.
You may be more confident that you are a good winner at your regular
game. This could perhaps be because you can assess the (poor) quality of the
typical decisions the players are making. In that case you can be less strict and
can operate with a 50 buy-in bankroll. Just keep in mind you also must be hy-
per-aware of variance and move down if you need to.
You must move down before it is too late because that can have you end
up in a situation where your entire roll is in danger.

DŽǀŝŶŐhƉĂŶĚŽǁŶŝŶ^ƚĂŬĞƐ
So, what stake should you play? This is a question that comes up a lot during
my Twitch.tv livestreams.
If you’re a beginner, I suggest first jumping into a micro or small stakes
game. Play your first few thousand hands anywhere and just get more com-
fortable with the game against easy opposition. Start getting better at making
the right adjustments preflop and using the Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis.
There’s no need to jump into a game where losing a few stacks will sting you.
Once you are more confident with your game, you can continue there or
test out a higher stake. You don’t have to officially become a $2/$5 regular
to play your first $2/$5 session. If you feel ready and can afford to lose a few
buy-ins, you can give it a shot. Know that you are still at a stage where you will
make mistakes. If you can’t afford it or won’t have an edge when you do, there’s
no great reason to do it. Keep building your poker bankroll until you’re ready.
In the end, there are only two things that you should focus on when you
are thinking about what stake to play:

11

ϯϬϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Ƈ Do I have an edge in this game after the rake, based on the skills
that I have, the level of play of my opponents, and my mental
state?
Ƈ Does my bankroll allow me to play this stake?

If you answer both questions with a yes, you should be playing that game.
Never make decisions about what games you should play based on how much
you are winning or losing, or on “how good you are running.” Only play the
games where you think you can make the most profit while staying within the
limits that your bankroll allows you to play at.
Moving up the stakes is more complicated than moving down in stakes.
A lot of players who go on a heater and win a lot of money think they should
move up. The problem with this way of thinking is that these players don’t
consider what their edge might be at a higher stake.
They only look at the financial results, which are usually highly influenced
by variance. Past results are not a good predictor for their edge at a higher
stake. However, some players fall on the opposite side of the spectrum. They
are crushing the games at their stake but they don’t yet have 100 buy-ins for
the next stake, so they are waiting until their bankroll allows them to move up.
Waiting too long before moving up can also be a mistake. If you are cer-
tain that you are crushing your normal games, after accounting for variance, it
could make sense to be more aggressive in your shot-taking.
Try not to consider yourself as a player who plays at a specific stake. You
can usually play at least at a couple of different stakes and you should always
look for the most EV game that is available within your range of stakes. One
day it might be a lower stake and the next a higher one. It depends on who’s
playing it and how good a mental state you are in.

dĂŬŝŶŐ^ŚŽƚƐ
Taking a shot is a high risk, high reward scenario. To justify it, you should
look for situations where you have a big edge. When you are taking a shot, you
want your success rate to be as high as possible.

You never want to just take a shot. You want to take a good shot.

To take a good shot, you must consider many different things. When are 11

11 - Away From the Table ϯϬϯ

 the regulars at the new stake playing? When are the recreational players play-
ing? At what time am I in the optimal mental state to take the perfect shot?
What do I need to do to prepare myself to get into this state?
Let’s say you want to take a shot at a PLO $200 online. You set aside $800
or $1,000 to do so. Then, you want to think about what the best time to take
the shot is. For example, Sunday evening is the time where most of the recre-
ational players are playing. But the regulars are also online on Sunday to exploit
all the recreational players who are playing there.
Most of the regulars might play long hours on Sunday. If you come in to-
wards the end of the night, most regulars might be very tired because they
have already been playing the entire day. This means that the regulars are not
playing their best game. So, you have potentially found a time slot where a
lot of recreational players are online, while the regulars are not playing their
A-game.
The next step is to make sure that you are showing up in a good mental
state. You want to be well rested and sharp at the start of your session. If you
can make these factors come together, it truly is a shot worth taking and that
is how you maximize your chances to succeed and subsequently move up to
the next stake.
Before taking the shot, you want to ask yourself, “if I will lose all the money
that I have set aside for this shot, am I going to regret it?” If the answer is yes,
then you are probably not taking a good enough shot. If the answer is no, then
you have prepared yourself optimally, and you are ready to take the shot.
Now all you can do is focus on playing as well as you can. If you lose the
money you had set aside for the shot, then move down, rebuild and try again.
Eventually the shot will work out and you will find yourself playing at a higher
stake when games are good.
When taking a shot, you want to ensure that you don’t have to drop down
two stakes if the shot goes wrong. For example, you are playing PLO $200
and you are making $100 an hour. You are confident that you are crushing this
game and you have a bankroll of 100 buy-ins ($20,000). You want to start
taking a shot at PLO $500. The important point is that you must make sure you
can always keep playing at PLO $200 even if your shot goes wrong!
You don’t want to risk a major percentage of your bankroll. If you take a big
shot at PLO $500 and lose 20 buy-ins, you are left with a $10,000 poker roll.
11

ϯϬϰ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

This would mean that you would have to drop back down to PLO $100, where
you might only be making about $60 an hour. Set aside a reasonable amount,
such as five buy-ins and try it out. You can win back $2,500 at PLO $200 and
it doesn’t affect your ability to play at your main stake.
Remember, you shouldn’t wait until you have 100 buy-ins for the next
stake and then play the higher stake every day. You should decide before
whether you want to take a shot, then find a good scenario to do so. It will take
some time to get used to the new stake because you are facing new players
and you need to adjust to playing for larger sums of money. By being in this,
“take a shot” mentality, you will gain experience at your new stake and you will
have a chance to move up and simultaneously limit your risk.

DĂŝŶdĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐ

Ƈ If you bust your bankroll, it’s over. Don’t risk it. Proper bankroll
management is crucial and is needed to survive normal poker
variance.
Ƈ Be careful moving up too fast or too slow. This could massively
hold you back in your poker journey. You should play the game
where you can make the best possible hourly rate and is within
your bankroll.
Ƈ Stay in a “shot taking” mentality, while maintaining proper
bankroll management. When you take a shot, make sure that you
have an edge and have limited the potential downsides.

dŚĞDĞŶƚĂů'ĂŵĞ
When I decided to transition to playing Pot Limit Omaha in 2011, I simultane-
ously started working with mental game coaches. These have been my best
investments and I don’t think I would be where I am today without their input. I
refer you to those experts in their field and I will talk about my experience with
the mental game mainly as a PLO player.
I have spoken to many poker players with different abilities, talents and
aspirations. Especially in private one-on-one conversations through coaching.
Most poker players label themselves as, “lazy, unproductive and certainly not
structured or self-disciplined.” 11

11 - Away From the Table ϯϬϱ

 Napoleon Hill wrote, “Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your
thoughts. If you don’t control what you think, you can’t control what you do.
Simple self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterwards.”
The way you speak to yourself or the inner dialogue you have with yourself
can be a huge problem and a limiting factor in your development as a player. If
you want to do something, you first have to identify as a person who would do
that thing. For example, if you want to live a more disciplined life, then you first
must identify as someone who can be more disciplined.
You must always look to be congruent with your thoughts. Deep down this
is a natural bias that humans have. If you think that you are lazy, then you are
going to be lazy. So, you have to work on the basic level of your mind to fix the
self-dialogue that you have. You must talk to yourself in a productive way and
fashion and that always starts with clear thought processes. If you want to be
a better PLO player, you must identify as someone who can learn more about
the game.
We have thousands of thoughts every day and it’s going to be tough to
have productive thoughts if you lack clarity. It’s important to find time in the
day where you are structuring your thoughts. This is something you can learn
and something you can train. If you have clarity about your goals and who you
are, it is much easier to act upon that.
Think first and act later. This relates a lot to poker, especially while playing.
Mistakes often occur because a player acts before they think clearly. It’s called
tilt. If you can avoid acting before you think, you are going to execute a more
successful strategy.
You are going to play your A-game much more frequently if you focus on
being self-aware about what you’re thinking and only then act. There are three
different high-performance areas that are the most important ones on which
to focus if you want to improve your game.

WƌĞͲŐĂŵĞZŽƵƚŝŶĞƐ

Session planning

Ƈ How long will you play?

Ƈ How many breaks will you take and how often?
11 Ƈ How many sessions per week will you play?

ϯϬϲ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 Ƈ Do you have a stop loss?
Ƈ Do you want to focus on playing at a specific stack size?
Ƈ Do you have strategic reminders with you to help you stay on the
correct path?

Environmental optimization

Ƈ How do you improve your workspace so that you are fully

focused?
Ƈ Have you removed all potential distractions?
Ƈ How do you make sure that you stay hydrated while you are
playing?
Ƈ What kind of music are you listening to, if any?
Ƈ What do you do right before you play in order to be fully
optimized for playing poker?

/ŶͲŐĂŵĞZŽƵƚŝŶĞƐ

Ƈ Tilt control. How to stick to using logic instead of focusing too

much on your emotions?
Ƈ Awareness. Do you fully understand how you are feeling when
you are playing? Do you know if you have an edge? Are you
playing for the right reasons?
Ƈ Motivation. How do you stick to your pre-game plan? Maybe
you are up a lot and you feel like quitting. How can you stay
disciplined then?
Ƈ Breaks. How do you optimize your breaks and what do you do
during them?

WŽƐƚͲŐĂŵĞZŽƵƚŝŶĞƐ

Ƈ Sleep, diet, exercise, meditation. Are you doing what you

know you should do?
Ƈ Handling losing sessions and downswings. Are you paying
attention to variance, both when you win and when you lose?
The point is not to focus on variance but accept it and then focus 11

11 - Away From the Table ϯϬϳ

 on your decisions. Can you look back and work out when you are
playing badly, why it happened and how to fix it? If you don’t,
you can join our online community for help. Work on your mental
game by reading books or listening to podcasts.
Ƈ Regulating stress. Find something to do for fun or that you
like. Be grateful for the good things in life, like being able to play
poker. Accept variance.
Ƈ Working on your game. What should your study-to-play ratio
be? How do you work on your game? Let’s examine this one
more deeply.

^ƚƵĚLJͲƚŽͲƉůĂLJZĂƚŝŽ
A question that I often hear from my students is, “How much should I balance
my poker time between studying and playing?”
I hope that by now you understand that in this book I am not trying to
provide you with universally applicable answers. That’s not the approach that I
think will give you the best possible results. The main goal with this book is to
help you become a self-learner who will be able to find their own path in poker.
Let’s first differentiate between different types of study sessions. May-
be you have already been working on your PLO game off the tables by doing
things like watching PLO videos or reviewing hands. Or maybe you are com-
pletely new to the idea of “studying poker”. Or, you might have no idea what
type of study sessions are the most beneficial for your current situation.
There are, broadly speaking, four different types of study sessions:

Ƈ Session warm-up.
Ƈ Play and study.
Ƈ Session review.
Ƈ Deep work.

^ĞƐƐŝŽŶtĂƌŵͲƵƉ
The session warm-up happens right before you play. In this session, you are
reading notes that you made from your previous study sessions. Mainly, stra-
tegic reminders of what to do and what not to do. Maybe you identified a
11 common mistake you make. Maybe you are using a tool to practice a specif-

ϯϬϴ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ic situation, get feedback and warm up your cognitive poker abilities. Or you
might be doing meditation and training your conscious mind to prepare and get
ready for your session.
This type of study session is not intended to improve your strategic un-
derstanding of the game but is geared more so that you can execute what
you have already learned. The big strategic takeaways are not achieved in this
type of session. However, they are important and you should do these session
warm-ups every single time before you play.
In fact, you already have a session warm-up. It might not be very good
but whatever it is you are doing in the 30 minute window before you play is
your session warm-up. Since you already have one, you can easily change it
to whatever kind of method you prefer to use as a warm-up for your poker
session. This will make it more likely that there is a certain consistency when it
comes to the quality of play that you have.
I suggest it’s not related to highly complex and new subjects. So, watching
a video, especially a theory video, is not a great idea because it generates new
questions and you don’t want to have to think about new questions before
you play. You just want to reconfirm what you already know. Go through the
sessions of common mistakes that you have already made and know how to fix
them. And then head into your session.
The goal here is more to get a refresher of your existing strategic under-
standing and not to try to integrate new understandings or insights. So, make
sure to not do any complex work right before you play.

WůĂLJĂŶĚ^ƚƵĚLJ
This is a form of studying that is overlooked as it requires active self-aware-
ness. The benefit of this type of study session is not necessarily to confirm your
strategic understanding of how you play. It is more to understand how your
execution works. How can you improve your thought processes? What kind of
questions are arising in the first place? How do you plan to review hands? How
long is your attention span and at what point do you need a break?
For online players, the way to practice this is by playing fewer tables than
usual. Playing one or two tables means that you have more time to make deci-
sions and think about adjustments. It frees up some time while you are playing
so that you can train your attention span and be able to observe your own
11

11 - Away From the Table ϯϬϵ

 emotions. You can practice being more self-aware, which helps you to improve
your performance mode. Live players can decide to do this anytime.
Observe your behaviors in order to gain more knowledge and a better un-
derstanding of your performance. You are studying your execution process a
lot more than your strategic understanding of the game. There is a lot of value
in this but you don’t need to do this multiple times a week. You can do this once
or twice a month and still generate useful information.
The difference between not doing this at all and doing it once or twice a
month can be significant. So, make sure to plan these play and study sessions
into your schedule occasionally.

dŚĞ^ĞƐƐŝŽŶZĞǀŝĞǁ
This is third type of study session that many players use. This is especially the
case for online players who can easily review hands they have marked and
labeled during sessions. They can do so by themselves, post the hands online
or partner up with other players for a session review. There is a lot of value in
doing any of those things.
The most important thing though, is not the quantity of how many session
reviews you make or how many hands you review. It’s more about the quality.
What kind of questions are you asking? What is your thought process when it
comes to analyzing a hand?
The goal of a session review is to formulate your thought processes as
accurately as possible so someone else can give you feedback on them. You
want to mark hands while you play and review those hands after the session.
You want to focus on finding answers to questions such as, “What is actually
the problem here? Why am I struggling with this hand? What decision point
was the most difficult for me to find an answer to? And why was it difficult?”
When you review hands from a particular scenario, such as those in a 3-bet
pot, the first thing that you want to do is to go through your current under-
standing of the situation. If you don’t have enough information, try to find it
somewhere. In this book, software or in any poker community.
You are essentially using an approach that is very request-based. You take
a hand, you request information, you find that information and then you have
an answer to your problem. That sort of format is very valuable but not nearly
as much as the next type of study session.
11

ϯϭϬ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

ĞĞƉtŽƌŬ
Deep work is where you should be spending most of your time when it comes
to studying away from the table. As the name implies, this is when you focus
on a specific topic and examine it deeply. Focus on a topic, then go through
different strategies and strength buckets and variations of scenarios within
that topic. For example, c-betting on Ace-high boards, c-betting on monotone
boards, etc.
You should study the different routes that a hand can take. That will enable
you to dive really deeply into the subject and get a more thorough and com-
prehensive understanding of the topic. This might be by going through solver
output or you might be reviewing stats and hands based on someone else’s
research.
When it comes to reviewing hands in deep work, the difference here is that
you are going very deeply into a subject. You choose a helpful subject, create
a hypothesis, and then find appropriate solutions and hands in your database
to test.
A session review is focused on reviewing the hands you have played re-
cently, independent of the topic, and then finding answers. It’s a different pro-
cess. In general, it’s more valuable to spend a lot of time based on a specific
topic instead of finding random recent hands to review. The reason is because
the work will then be more focused. There are certain situations in the game
that are more important to fix than others.
By focusing on a topic that is highly influential for your win rate, you are
really able to fix those leaks and obtain a greater understanding of this specific
subject that will be very important to your bottom line. However, if you focus
on individual hands the problem is that your study will be quite random. So,
decide, what topics are you going to review and learn more about? Sometimes
it’s going to be spots that are actually quite insignificant to your bottom line.
And by doing a lot of session reviews you can easily “waste” a lot of time on
reviewing insignificant spots. That’s why you should spend most of your time
in deep work.
Meditation and visualization can also be considered deep work as you are
going through the same process with yourself as the subject.

11

11 - Away From the Table 311

 >ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐdLJƉĞ,ŝĞƌĂƌĐŚLJ

Play
and Study

Warm-Up

Session Review

Deep Learning

Diagram 145

Diagram 145 illustrates the hierarchy of learning. Deep learning is at the

bottom and builds your deepest and most fundamental understanding of the
game. Then session reviews, warm-up and right at the top is the play and study
session.
All learning sessions are important but to a different degree. When we talk
about the ratio of study-to-play time, you should realize that most of the time
spent away from the table should go into deep work.
A lot of people talk about the hours that you put in away from the table but
watching some videos and looking at your biggest pots is not enough. When
you are following a certain process over and over again, you will become faster
and smarter at it.
For example, a process would be watching a training video, taking notes,
then doing three to five quizzes afterwards. Then finding hands in your data-
base and formulating good questions to ask the poker community or to submit
in a Q&A session to get feedback. That’s one process.
If you implement cycles repeatedly you will become smarter and more ef-
ficient. And that’s really the goal here. To have sessions away from the table
that are deep and profound and that at the same time are not going to eat up
hours and hours of your time. And the way to do that is by not having random
sessions away from the table but to be focused on a certain process that you
11 are integrating continually.

ϯϭϮ MASTERING SMALL STAKES POT-LIMIT OMAHA

 What that process looks like depends on your preferences, your learning
type, and on your existing skill set and understanding of certain concepts. It
varies from individual to individual. The point though is that you have to find
a certain improvement cycle that works best for your current situation and
it should be mainly based on deep work. If you are reviewing a lot of random
hands from recent sessions then, essentially, you are wasting your time.

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How much you study or play depends on your current situation and the goals
that you have.

Example 1: Total Beginner

The current situation for a total beginner is that they have little experience of
PLO and start off with a $1,000 bankroll. This enables them to play PLO $10
with 100 buy-ins. The goals of this player is to become a winning player at
PLO $50 online with a win rate over 5bb/100 and a bankroll of $5,000. This
player is trying to make quite a jump and their goals might be like yours. This
player is trying to move up to a stake where they can make an hourly that is
significant to their real life. This player is looking to climb up multiple stakes in
a reasonable timeframe.
There are a few different paths I am going to showcase for you now. You
can then think about them and try to figure out what would make the most
sense to you.

Path 1: “Volume”
Study 5h/week, play 20h/week. This would equal a study-to-play ratio of
1-to-4. This is the path that most people choose as a default.

Path 2: “Balanced”
Study 10h/week, play 10h/week. This would equal a study-to-play ratio of
1-to-1.

Path 3: “Learner”
Study 15h/week, play 5h/week. This would equal a study-to-play ratio of
3-to-1.
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 After One Month
The player who followed the “volume” path has spent 20 hours studying and
80 hours playing. Assuming a 1bb/100 win rate and 400 hands per hour they
played 32,000 hands and won $32. The win rate of this player is quite low
because so far they have only spent 20 hours studying PLO.
The player who followed the “balanced” path has spent 40 hours studying
and also played for 40 hours. Assuming a 2bb/100 win rate and 400 hands per
hour they played 16,000 hands and won $32. This player has a higher win rate
because they have studied twice as much as “the volume player”. This player
has played only half of the hands of the volume player but they have double
the win rate, leading to an equal amount in winnings.
The player who followed the “learner” path has studied for 60 hours and
played for 20 hours. Assuming a 3bb/100 win rate and 400 hands per hour,
they played 8,000 hands and won $24.

After Three Months

The “Volume” player has been studying for 60 hours in total and has played for
240 hours. Assuming a 4bb/100 win rate and 400 hands/hour, they played
96,000 hands and won $384.
The “Balanced” player has been studying for 120 hours and played for 120
hours. Assuming a 5bb/100 win rate and 400 hands/hour, they played 48,000
hands and won $240. This player has a better win rate because they are less
burnt out and studied more.
The “Learner” player has been studying for 180 hours total and played 60
hours in total. Assuming a 6bb/100 win rate and 400 hands/hour, they played
24,000 hands and won $144. This player is able to do more deep work than
the previous two players and therefore he has a higher win rate.

Who would you rather be?

“Volume Player” Bankroll: $1,384, has studied 120 hours. 4bb/100
win rate.
“Balanced Player” Bankroll: $1,240 and has studied for 240 hours.
5bb/100 win rate.
“Learner Player” Bankroll: $1,144 and has studied for 360 hours.
6bb/100 win rate.
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 Who is closer to their goal of beating PLO $50?
Unfortunately, no one is really that much closer. So far, these players didn’t
take any shots and didn’t bring in any more money from outside poker. By taking
such a conservative approach, it could take a long time before they are able to
move up in stakes. Even if the learner played another 100,000 hands in the next
three months at a 6bb/100 win rate, they would only earn $600 more at PLO
$10.
For most of us, fuelling the bankroll with some extra money from our main
source of income is a much better idea than trying to play hundreds of thou-
sands of hands before having the bankroll to move up.

Realize, that while you are playing at the lower limits you real-
ly shouldn’t care about volume at all. Instead, you should care about
knowledge and skills.

Taking variance into consideration, it’s hard to say where their bankroll is
going to be. What is certain, is that the “Learner” has the most potential to be
a long-term winner in the game because their study routines and their under-
standing of the game is much deeper than the other two players.
They are the one most likely to be able to take a successful shot at PLO $25.
The player that will climb up the stakes the fastest is the one who has more suc-
cess taking shots and then sticking to a new level, until they are ready to take
the next shot. That’s how players move up in stakes in a reasonable timeframe.
A lot of players really enjoy playing poker and I completely understand
that. Because if I didn’t love playing poker, I wouldn’t have been a professional
poker player for more than 10 years. But at the same time, you have to be re-
alistic with your goals and understand what you are trying to get out of poker.
If the answer is that you don’t only want to have fun while playing poker
but you also want to use poker as a vehicle in order to make more money than
you need to thoroughly review the approach you are taking in order to achieve
your goal.
All three options are viable but you have to ask yourself which one is most
congruent with your goals. Even if you are playing much higher stakes right
now than PLO $10 and your goal isn’t PLO $50, but maybe PLO $2,000, you
should still ask yourself the same thing.
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 Is the best approach to put in the volume and not to try to become much
better? What will make you confident that you can actually beat the higher
stakes and that you can take some shots?
If you are playing higher stakes, for example PLO $200, and you want to
play PLO $1,000, it’s a 5x jump. At PLO $200 there are already quite a few
people playing who are professional poker players. The issue here is that what
they are making in poker is pretty much their total income. They are using their
winnings to support themselves and that doesn’t allow them to move up in
stakes because they can’t build a bankroll.
At that point you have to ask yourself, “Okay maybe instead of grinding a
bit more and making $500 more a month, why don’t I just try to study more
and change my lifestyle a little bit?” Or maybe you can try to make some mon-
ey outside of poker in order to increase your bankroll to enable you to take a
shot at the next stake after you have put in a substantial amount of study time
away from the table.
Whatever your goal is, choose the path that makes the most sense to you
and don’t become attached to just putting in massive amounts of volume. I
hope this book will help you crush the small stakes. If you enjoy playing PLO,
seek out more resources and keep working on your game and moving up.

Good luck!
Fernando

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