I host a regular $1/$1 No limit holdem game and have been wanting to introduce my players to some of the other games, so this Friday I have scheduled a HO game to introduce the players to PLO. I thoughts are to do an rotation of an hour of $1/$1 NLH and then a half hour of PLO.

Question: I want the PLO to play smaller than the $1/$1 while players are learning the game. What stakes should I play PLO at? $.25/$.25, $.25/$.50 or other limits? The smaller chips would only be used during PLO.

We play with a $100 max buy-in

Thanks

I'd say 25c/25c with a $50 cap. Keep the swings small so people don't go busto quick. Jz does similar to this as I'm sure PLO without a cap can quickly kill a home game.

There are a few ways to do it, probably the easiest is just to have one blind -- then you don't need to introduce new chips. I've seen some people do this by putting the single blind on the button.

Also, it's pedantic, but HO = Hold Em & (limit) O8. What you're describing is known as HA = Hold Em & (pot limit) omahA. It's written as HA just to distinguish it from HO.

We've been running a PLO home game for over 2 years... strong as ever!

Nice! Wish I were closer to Rochester.

What denomination of chips are you using? If you're gonna play PLO, just keep it normal with the small blind, big blind, .25c/.50c would be nice if you had 25c chips, $1 chips, $5 chips.

I normally only use $1 & $5 chips for $1/$1 NLH game but will add a $.25 chip for the PLO game. We went from $.50/$1 to $1/$1 to speed up the game. I am thinking $.25/.25 for the PLO game will keep new players from going broke while we are learning the game.

How deep is your buyin?

Even at .25/.25 people can still stack off easily especially if there's even one agressive person. Scenario: Pre-flop raise to $1 is called by 4 (pot $5). Flop is potted at $5 then repotted to $20 and called (pot $45). Turn action can easily get it all in.

Btw, my game has one bb of 0.25, but plays deep, and last weekend we had someone lose $130 in a single hand.

So my recommendation is to lower stakes and play with a cap. (Read up on caps if you don't know what it is.)

The cap should be half your normal hold'em buyin.

As for stakes, if your players are aggressive, .25/.25 will be enough. If your players are passive then 0.50/0.50 should keep things fun. All this should be done with a cap.


If, for whatever reason you play uncapped, I think you should encourage all-ins to run it twice (or 4 times). Maybe even require it. If there are short-stackers in your game, allow running it twice in sidepots.

Also, educate your players about basic strategy, and remind them frequently about the 2-in-you-hand rule.


PLO is like playing with explosives at the dinner table. Be careful and protect your players from themselves and each other.

The PLO fanboys will tell you how great it is and (for them) it is a very fun and profitable poker variant. But check your Bravo Poker Casino tables listing and see how many Omaha tables are running compared to NLH of all stakes. Jumping into it with a group of NLH players without taking the steps needed (that have been suggested) can really bust up a good home game group real quick. I don't say not to try it, just do it with caution!

I'll admit that I'm biased when it comes to PLO... I really like the game. But yes, the variance can be a bitch, but it works both ways. You can have fairly bad players go on absolutely amazing heaters.

In any event, something you can tell your NLHE players that will broaden their understanding of the game a bit... ask them how many NLHE hands they have in one PLO hand. Then show them that they don't just have "two NLHE hands" because they have twice as many cards... show them that they have 6 NLHE hands... and to think of things in terms of card combinations of cards that work together, not "starting hands".

I usually show people after dealing them 4 cards (ABCD) all of the combos:

AB
AC
AD
BC
BD
CD

Then tell them to imagine that instead of sitting at a table of 8 people (or whatever), they can think of it as sitting at a table of 24 people. Usually the light switch turns on.

Moki I have to get out to your game at some point. My wife's family lives in Walworth so not too far away and we usually visit them a couple of times each year.

Sent from my EVO 3D

Important first pointers. Having to use 2 cards instead of one or none makes it a little less powerful than 6 hands in holdem, but that is putting a fine point on an eye-opening concept.

The mixed game went very well and many of the players are wanting to try out other games also. I decided to go with 30 minutes of PLO with $.25/$.25 blinds and 60 minutes of NLH with $1/$1 blinds. We started with PLO and played a couple of hands face up to get everyone familiar with the game. After the first rotation of games we changed to 45 minutes of each game and we ended the night just playing PLO. What I found interesting was most players would show their winning hand even if not called down and we would discuss the strategy of how the hand played out. Everyone was very eager to learn the ins and outs of the game. One thing which I think helped this particular night to be successful was that my two biggest LAGs where out of town and this allowed us to play and learn without someone trying to buy every pot.

Personally I ended the night down 2 buy-ins but I lost my big hands in NLH.

The next cash game is going to be two non-NLH games. Any suggestions as to which two games should be played together for newbies to learn?

Reminds me of a quote from Limon: "I've never seen a NLHE/Omaha HA game that didn't end up being nothing but PLO by the end of the night"