Hey there,

Quick intro
Time to set myself for a challenge. I'm playing poker for a while and had some decent tourney result in NL Holdem (somewhere around 10k profit). However, lately I've been a bit bored by NLHM and i've decided to take upon myself to pick a new game and learn to crush it like never before. From what I've heard and my limited experience, Omaha is very hard to learn and the learning curve is pretty steep. Sounds like a fun / good challenge to me !

The challenge

Win condition : Beat 0.25/0.50$ over 2bb/100 hand over a 100k sample.

Lose condition : Lose my BR

The starting bankroll
I shall start with what I have currently in my account : 457.50$. I am ready to lose it all !

Addenda

• I will start at 0.05/0.10$.
• I will play 6 max 100bb deep only.
• I can play up to 15-18 tables in NLHM full ring tourneys, I will start at 6 tables and see how comfortable I am from there. Hopefully I can get up to 10-12 but I don't want to hurt my win rate too much.
• Any form of bonus / rakeback will be included in my results separately.
• I don't have BR management rules yet, I need to read a bit more on the subject I know that the swings are much bigger then NLHM
• I will post at least once every weekend and maybe once or twice during the week.
• If you have any training videos / books you think I should read feel free to share them with me

Last thing :
I am in no rush to complete this challenge, the money doesn't really mean much. I have my own business and I really love it. I have no pressure whatsoever to perform and might take a week off here and there. Poker is a hobby and I'm just a casual grinder who likes to improve my game and have fun! Any mean comments will simply be ignored I only want to focus on positive stuff and hopefully entertain you a bit

Enough typing, let's start the grind.

Alright first day of the challenge, I was greeted with the omaha gods who wanted to teach me a thing or two about the crazy swings.


Ran 500bb+ under ev lost couple of 90/10 situation. But whatever I was expecting it and I'm just overall happy about my decision making post flop. My hand range def. sucks.

Alright first week over, let's look at the results :



I think overall I did okay for a complete newbie at the game. I'm definatly clueless about hand range at this stage, this month, my PF action will be my main focus.

Week 1 Recap
Hands : 3 922
Won/Loss ($) : -12.04
Bonus / Rakeback ($) : +13.00 (1000 stars point for 10$ + 3$ for the omaha week challenge)
Total ($) : +1.04
Bankroll : $458.54

How much did you rake in that sample? Maybe post a few hands as well if you want opinions.

My rake contr was 22.09 last week. It is most likely the biggest opponent I have to face. But I guess as you move up stake from what I've seen it's a lower part of your winrate because you hit the limit a bit quicker. Nonetheless if I do succeed in my challenge, I think I'll pay at least 5 to 10k in rake.

I will def. post hands this month esp. post flop action to get people's input. Thx for dropping by

My rake contr was 22.09 last week. It is most likely the biggest opponent I have to face. But I guess as you move up stake from what I've seen it's a lower part of your winrate because you hit the limit a bit quicker. Nonetheless if I do succeed in my challenge, I think I'll pay at least 5 to 10k in rake.

I will def. post hands this month esp. post flop action to get people's input. Thx for dropping by

Oh boy I got soul crushed today. Everything was going just fine and in the span of like 15 minutes I lost 7 buy ins. Will take a short break got some hands tagged I want to discuss!

Ok so here are a 3 hands were I'm really not sure about my pre-flop play. If you want to help me improve, I'd appreciate if we could focus on pre-flop play and not post flop. I know that I still need to improve in every single field of omaha!

Hand #1 : 3 deep handed - Flat in position a 3bet.


Hand #2 - Is my UTG range too wide?




Hand #3 - This one I'm pretty sure it's a mistake. I'm oop and my hand isn't very well connected. And even if I flop something good it will most likely not be the nuts or drawing to it. What's your take on it?

Wow... I guess it's maybe? normal. I lost like 24 buy ins in 3000 hands. I'll take a break for the rest of the day and start with a fresh mind next week. This weekend has been brutal.

24 buy-ins in 3000 hands is NOT normal, although definitely indicative of a downswing. Definitely some spew in there too though. Other things it indicates is that you have some major leaks and also maybe play a high variance style. If you want to lower variance, think about peeling flops more in general rather than shoving money in on the flop and bloating the pot on the flop vs hands that may still have very decent equity vs you.



Hand 1 is fine, you could debtably fold to the 3b, but I'm not doing that once everyone calls...

Hand 2 is a fine UTG open imo. But I mean, I'm kind of loosey goosey, for sure lots of tight guys will say otherwise... But I'm opening it quite happily unless at a very tough table. Sometimes checking back that flop isn't a bad idea since it hits BBs range harder than ours with the two low cards. But at PLO10 just bet since people aren't bluff raising enough...



Hand 3 I'd call HU, lots of nice low boards to flop, but 4-ways this hand just gets dominated too much.

Thx for the feedback. I lost 2 400bb pot with set over set on dry board :/ then got lots of 2nd nut vs nuts. But I think most of it is due to my poor hand selection preflop I kind of see too much in too many hands. I put myself in tough spot after. I will look back on it next session with a fresh look at all of this.

btw, running 16 buy ins below EV.

well i think going broke with the non nuts on a dry board for 400 bb should only be done vs super morons. Since rake is so high at micros, it makes natural sense to play tighter.

If top set makes up a decent portion of villain's range then why would you want to shove money into the pot on a dry flop with second set when you don't need any protection? Peel, if turns are again blank, no need to shove money in again, if turns become wet and bring draws then maybe think about putting more money in now, but still don't be surprised to be up against top set.

2nd nuts vs nuts happens all the time in PLO. Good players can lay down 2nd nuts when everything indicates villain has the nuts. Good players can also make hero calls when villain is polarized to bluffs and nuts and has more bluffs in his range than nuts.

Losing 400bb on the flop with second set is imo very big spew btw.

Running below or above EV shouldn't matter is very results oriented thinking. Yes it sucks, but all you can do is wait until the downswing is over and start running above EV. So keep playing your A-game no matter how tough it is.

Hand 1 may seem ok in a vacuum, but over the long run it's a leak to play this hand. You are getting 4 to 1 on your call, but you will never have more equity than that pre flop. The big issue with a hand like this is that you are only drawing to the hearts, Otherwise, what are you hoping for? Any straight is likely to be non-nutted. The clubs are pretty useless. Any trips except the ace are too low to bet on. If you flop AA's, your kicker is bad. This is a hand where you can win a little or lose a lot.

Hand 2 I would fold utg. I might open it or call it in late position, but it is not very strong. Your flush draws are of little value. A good rule of thumb regarding straight draws in Omaha is this: always have the 10 (or the 5) in your hand if you want to chase a straight. All straights must include either a 5 or a 10. If you are hoping for a straight and do not posses that card, your odds of getting there go down enormously. I see you did win a nice pot here but your opponent was bad and you were lucky. When people say don't be result-oriented, that means the good results too.

Hand 3 fold pre for exactly the reasons you gave.

Also think about this. In Omaha, try to go to the flop with hands where all the cards are working. You must use 2 of your hole cards (as we all know.) Therefore, each hand includes 6 combo's of 2 cards, from which you must select one combo at showdown.

Now look at the combo's in hand 1. You have one, the A5, that is not great, but you do have a nut flush there. The others? 23, A2, A3, 52, 53.

Or hand 3, you have J5, J7, J3, 73, 75, 53.

If you think of those hands like this, are they worth playing?

Play hands that give you as many chances to flop good as you can. Avoid baby straights and baby flushes. You can lose a ton with hands like 5/6/6/7 or 7/8/8/10. And if you don't have the nuts or a big draw to the nuts practice pot control at all times. In Omaha, if you don't have it somebody else often does. Good luck and best wishes for your success.

So you contributed $22.09 and got $13 in bonuses/rakeback? Or am I missing something?

My quick thoughts on hands (it's been a little while since last playing).

Hand 1: Nut hearts, in position. Although unfortunately you have cards to make low straights and can lose to better straights. Unless you flop a nut flush or some amazing flush draw then your hand is trash. You could find a fold here - it's probably not terrible to call though as in position.

Hand 2: I'm personally fine with this hand pre-flop. I'd say you don't need to jam it in on turn, stack size possibly influenced your decision to do so as you weren't playing 100bb effective.

Hand 3: Horrible trashy hand, muck it - there's nothing I like about it at all. You want to play hands which have connected cards as it will increase your possibility of flopping well.