Bluffing in Pot Limit Omaha

Since I’m trying to improve my Pot Limit Omaha game right now, I found this to be one of the more useful Full Tilt Tips from the Pros. Brandon Adams argues that,

One of the best bluffing opportunities in Omaha comes on paired boards, but to pull this off, you have to know what kinds of paired boards to look for. Let’s say you’re involved in a hand with two other players. You’re in late position and have called a pre-flop raise only to completely miss on a flop of K-K-8 rainbow. The flop is checked around to you, and you consider bluffing to see if you can steal the pot. My advice – don’t do it.

If your opponents are experienced and knowledgeable players who generally play premium starting hands, one of them probably connected with the board and is likely slow-playing a monster. Bluffing here gives him a chance to come over the top or just flat call and let you keep throwing chips into his made hand.

Now, let’s take the same scenario and change the flop to something like 3-3-7 rainbow. Bluffing on this board makes much more sense because it’s likely that opponents who are playing strong starting hands failed to connect on this board. Experienced players may read your bet here as being credible because you could have very easily called a pre-flop raise with a small hand and hit the board hard.”

I think that evaluating flop texture relative to my opponent’s range and the range that I think he gives me is one of the strongest parts of my NLHE game, and although Adams’ insight here isn’t particularly nuanced, I do think it’s a helpful starting point towards adapting this skill into PLO.