When playing online most sites have this indicator in the corner of the screen or above the community cards which tells you what your holding is, for example 'ace high flush draw in the bottom right.

I feel like it can be a crutch and I have started covering the indicator with a sticky note on my screen so that I am forced to analyze each hand manually. When I dont cover it up i start using it unconsciously, especially when playing several tables HU. It definitely helps as a way to double check what your holding is quickly.

I am wondering how much you guys use this indicator? Do you feel like it leads to lazy play? or do you guys use it to check what you are holding?

+EVillain

I think before you even worry about strategy in plo the most basic thing to learn is reading what hand strength you have on the board at a quick glance (which is okay if you can't, just something to work on.) , if you are unable to maybe you are playing too many tables or just do not have enough hands (aka boards seen) played yet. I would guess the majority of people on here don't use it since until very recently it did not even exist on pokerstars (and it shows what actual hand you have currently example A high and it ignores any draws or further equity you might have).


You need to learn how to instantly read boards because you want to be able to think about what hand you currently have and equity you will have on runouts, what equity your whole range has and how you will play it on different run outs, what range your villain is representing, how does your villains range do on certain runouts, what he thinks you are repping etc etc if you are staring wondering if you have a straight or a flush draw you won't be going into much strategic depth with your hands :P

thanks for the feedback. yeah it definitely takes me a couple seconds looking at a board/hand in order evaluate the details. i dont understand how anyone can glance at a board and instantly see all the nuance/complexity, but i know some regs can. the majority of players must take at least three seconds if they are looking carefully.

I think i definitely posed my original question the wrong way, i didnt want the question to relate so much to experience/hand reading ability but it comes across that way. Iv never relied on the thing, I just thought that there must be other PLO players who have this bad habit of glancing at it to double check that they fit a straight together correctly or didnt miss something obvious.

i seldom notice it is there

I like to do a double take and check it to make sure I actually have a straight or that I'm not folding a straight flush

I rarely notice it. But when I do it's annoying.. gets in the way of my HUD. I wish they gave us an option to turn it off.

If the pot gets big enough I re-check my hand value sometimes. Everyone misreads the board sometimes.

The more you play, the less you look at it.

As others have noted, you will sometimes find yourself double checking it just to make sure you actually have the hand your brain is telling you that you have.

Its no different than people playing holdem for the first time have to use that little "possible hands" card when they first start, or a blackjack strategy card. Eventually you just get so use to reading the board, that you don't even give hand reading a second thought. Unless checking that you do in fact have a monster in the face of a shove lol

I use it when I 6-table or more. Often I have my attention in somewhere else so It is a quick way to double check that I don't missread anything.

If I 2-4 table it is absolutely useless.

I used Omaha indicator to show me outs, definitely helped expedite my mental muscle memory for knowing how many outs I had