The challenging game of Pot Limit Omaha

Watched some Joey Ingram PLO vids on youtube for study time. I remember him emphasizing about being on the right side of the "Math" / odds / percentages.I highly recommend the his channel. I will be studying his videos.

Here are a few pots that I played today and we can see room for improvement. There is hope! There is money to be made...


Wrong side https://www.boomplayer.com/22819775_ACE35BC3EA

Right side vs other hands except against a set https://www.boomplayer.com/22822688_8F29BCF38F

Wrong side, lower side of straight only, only 3.72% chance to win https://www.boomplayer.com/22822703_8C18692D48

Wrong side, lower side of straight again, only 10.67% chance to win https://www.boomplayer.com/22823193_AFE9363295

Wrong side, did not notice the straight, I thought he would have kings and jacks but I forgot again it was a limped pot. Distracted? https://www.boomplayer.com/22823300_D77273F91C

• 75% equity on the flop
• Ah turn: equity drops to 40%
• should have bet the flop
• villain not folding to any river bet

My thought process for playing Omaha is

1. Fun - I enjoy it because there are a number of good players mixed with really bad players.
2. Street by street variance - Unlike NLH, the board texture in PLO can change quite drastically after the turn and river due to more combinations possible. Here we can see more experienced players set themselves apart from the newer players. Emotionally I feel ways better playing this game and exerting effort because the result is not completely dependent on what cards you have. Instead skill and quality of decisions are the two key ingredients for profit. 

The downside of myself playing Omaha is

1. Tilt - due to the incredible action in the game, if the session goes bad, in the past I have seen myself turn the bad situation to worse. Emotions are fine but as a professional, I need to put myself in the position to profit. Distractions and stress from external factors of the game play a big role for my tilt. To minimize it, I need to operate this mentally taxing business in hours that enable me to perform well.  This time frame is quite challenging considering I have to wake up very very early in the day to play and still have the rest of the day for my day job. 
2. Impatience - game is not good for impatient minds. Playing PLO is almost like meditation. The mind must be quite relaxed but wide awake. No such thing as quick money in poker. Every hand is for long term results. Now I realize my mind is still prone to short term rewards. At least now I am aware of it. 

"Gaming for a living." is the idea I really seem to be moving towards to. Since I was a kid I loved to play games. I am 30 years old now and I still love games. I am hoping to slowly progress towards this and make something out of it.

It is late in the evening now so I better prepare for the next day.

For next blog I will review the tournament I played today where at one point I was second in chips and a few minutes after, I thought it was over after just making one mistake. It appears getting second in chips actually tilted me off to bust the game.