How to play 5 Card Pot Limit Omaha
The great game of Pot Limit Omaha, or so they say; 5 Card Omaha is as you might expect, PLO but with 5 cards dealt to you instead of the standard 4 cards. You are aiming to make the best hand using exactly 2 cards from your hand and exactly 3 cards from the board. Hand strengths mimic the standard poker hand rankings from High Card, pair, two pair… all the way up to the Royal Flush.
The game is also played with a button, blinds and antes where the antes don’t count towards the pot pre-flop but they do count towards the ante post-flop.
If you are unfamiliar with Omaha in general, make sure to check out pot limit Omaha rules for more details on PLO.
That being said, how does 5 Card PLO play differently compared to 4 Card?
With an extra card in your hand that means there are far more combinations of cards available to you! And equities run even closer in 5 Card Omaha than they do in 4 Card. When you’re looking at starting hand selection make sure you are aware that the relative value of your hand is less than it would be for 4 Card PLO and the overall absolute strength of winning hands will be higher on average.
You’ll likely want to 3-bet a little less frequently than in 4 Card PLO particularly Out of Position as again the equities run really close, and you’ll often be called and find yourself in positions where you aren’t dominating your opponents range by that much.
Stealing the blinds is less prevalent in 5 Card PLO and you should defend almost all of your hands in the big blind when playing a heads-up pot, given how close the equities can run and how much than can change on the flop.
You will want to focus on hands with a lot of nutted potential and strong redraws to be able to continue in big pots. Having suited cards and some connectivity across your hand will give you more options on the varying boards. Your mid pairs will have a lot less value as you are more likely to encounter a set over set situation and be left struggling to improve. Even if you have made a nutted hand on the flop, you’ll want to be careful and exercise some pot control if there are potential redraws available and adjust your decisions on later streets.
Limping pre can also have a lot of value! There isn’t as much of an equity differential between hands pre-flop compared to 4 card PLO so you can adopt a limping strategy and see how you might want to fight for the pot post-flop.
Additionally leading post-flop is more common as 1 card can shift the equity dramatically and bring in countless re-draws. Deferring to the pre-flop aggressor can lead to missed value or put you in some difficult decision spots unnecessarily.
Don’t forget to think about your blockers! You have an extra card in your hand interacting with the board; knowing the 5cards in your hand can be very useful information. Having blockers to the potential straights and flushes on the board can be very useful and can help dictate how you want to play your hand.
Good Luck at the tables!