Monday, February 07, 2005

Change of Omaha tactics

Made my first visit to the Vic for a while on Friday and eventually got a seat in the £100 PLO. Surveying the scene they were rocks, rocks and more rocks.

Ok time for a change of tactics me thinks. I decided to sit down with the most money on the table and raise pre flop on every hand blind if there hadn't been a raise before it reached me. I knew the players and the majority would be very happy to see every flop as cheaply as possible. I was actually raising most of the time before the flop blind. Whilst many would see this tactic as crazy i know that post flop play is far more significant in Omaha and a good pre flop strategy doesn't necessarily make you a good player. In an instant i had changed the table from one that would often only have £10-£15 in the pot on the flop to one where there was always over £50 on the flop. My persistant raising also made it very difficult for the short stacks to play because having £100-£200 is not going to get you far when every hand is £10-£20 to see the flop.

The result...

Well i sat down with £1000 and stopped about an hour later with £1450. My tactic had worked. I picked up a lot of £50 pots on the flop because my opponents knew i was playing blind and therefore could literally represent any hand on the flop. If i had played my usual game on that table i would have ended up about even. It also seemed to force my opponents into calling me with more marginal hands than they usually would.

I also played in the Dealers Choice for a while but nothing interesting to report there..... ended up +£450 to put me in profit for February for the first time.

1 comment:

Milkybarkid said...

It changes but your average £100 table at the Vic will consist of a couple of good sharks and alot of average players. Many just sit and try and wait for the nuts which means when do eventually come out betting everyone passes anyway. You will sometimes have 1 or 2 loose/crazy players. If you have the confidence to play in this game my main advice would be to not leave yourself short stacked. Typically i like to sit down with £500+ as it allows me to play. If you sit down with the minimum you will be all in on the first decent hand you pick up.