Trouble and Eye Candy Hands in Pot Limit Omaha

See also

• Multi-Table Sit'n Go Strategy
• The Significant Aspects of Texas Hold'em Poker

Trouble hands.
There are a lot of beautiful hands in PLO that don't play well and often get you in trouble because they are often dominated by other hands; a NLHE equivalent would be calling ATo and KJo against a solid player's UTG open.

Trouble hands are single and double-suited small rundowns such as 4556, 5567, and 6778. Although these hands have the potential of making straights and sets, they often get overset and their combo draws are often dominated. Even if they flop the nut straight and some flush draw blockers, they are usually coin-flipping against a flush draw with higher straight draw. We also have to account for situations where they are getting freerolled.

This doesn't mean these trouble hands don't have any value; they do. They are good in single-raised pots where Villain has a wider range of hands and doesn't have a bigger flush draw or a straight draw as often. Additionally, you should play them if you open the pot from middle position, the cutoff, and the button. Unless you have a good read on your opponent and are comfortable playing postflop, it is best to fold small single-suited rundowns to a raise. You should fold them from the blinds as well when there is a raiser and no caller.

Knowing how troublesome these hands can be prevents you from overvaluing these hands when first starting out in PLO. Your equity isn't too good against the range that gets it in on a drawy flop. It's easy to get in all the money on a flop of 459 holding 6778 for a straight and flush draw but if we stop and run the equity of that hand against a hand such as 9AJT, your equity is only 39.39%. 39.39% isn't bad but in PLO, it isn't good either. Against 99xx on the same board, 6778 has 46.06% equity.

At first, it looks like a cooler because you have an openended-straight flush draw. If you take a minute and put your hand against a possible range that is getting all the money in on that flop, you are rarely a favorite. No decent player will get all their money in on this flop with a made hand worse than 22xx. Against that holding, your equity is 52.74%. If they do get it in on this flop with a draw, it is inevitably a higher flush draw with at least a pair. Against that range, you have about 44% equity in the best scenario.

Hands that are composed of two Hold'em hands such as 89T2, KJ63, 3467, and AK53 are troublesome as well. The reason is they don't work well together. It is rare for you to have a big straight or top two pair. You rarely have a strong wrap to the nuts and if you hit a straight, it usually on the low end and players can outdraw you. You should only play these hands when you open in the cutoff or the button. Unless it is suited to an Ace, calling a raise with this type of holding when you're not an expert in the game is burning money.

Playing with these guidelines, your pre-flop play percentage should be around 20%. If you decide to play these hands by calling a raise or 3-betting in position, your percentage will increase to the 25% range.

Eye candy hands.
Eye candy hands are hands that look great, have a ton of potential, but rarely reach their potential. They give the impression that they are good hands and cause you to overplay while in reality, they don't have a lot of value against the range they are up against. The prime examples are 6689, 88JQ, 99KQ, and 99JK; a NLHE equivalent would be calling reraises with small pocket pairs while stack sizes are 100BB or calling 4-bet pre-flop shoves with medium pocket pairs such as 88 and 99 without specific reads.

Eye candy hands are usually consist of medium pairs with two higher cards. They are more enticing to play when double suited because you can make two flushes. However, they don't have as much value as it appears because they don't hit flops that often. When you do hit a flop, you might overplay your hand with no redraw or a with an inferior draw. When you hit a set, someone might have a higher set. When you hit a pair, it is difficult to improve to two pairs. You won't hit a lot of straights either. Additionally, you don't have a lot of backdoor two pairs, trips, or straights which account for a few percent (5% to 8%) of your equity in the pot. Having backdoor draws may also allow you to continue the hand on the turn.

If you hold KQ99 on a flop of K83, you can improve with a 9, Q, or K; you can also make runner straights with JT or TJ. If you hold KQT9, you can improve with a 9, T, Q, or K. You also turn a draw with a 6, 7, J, or A. That is a lot of turn cards for you to continue and try to hit the nuts. As you can see, KQT9 is a lot better than KQ99. However, when first playing, the difference between these two hands might not be obvious.

By 3-betting and calling 3-bets with these type of hands (a pair with one suit), your pre-flop percentage will be at around 28%.