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If we had to pick one low- or mid-stakes poker game characteristic, we'd say that people hate folding. It is especially apparent when you think about live cash games, which are filled with recreational players who quickly get attached to their hole cards.
Since four-card hands offer more ways to connect with community cards, multiway pots are even more common in PLO than NL Hold'em. Everyone who has ever played a casual $2/2 or $5/5 game will likely agree that in these games, almost none folds preflop, and pretty much everyone wants to see the flop.
Such an environment gives you an excellent opportunity to achieve a high win-rate; after all, when people are too splashy, they will eventually lose money, but it requires skill to navigate pots with multiple players accordingly.
In this article, we share a few tips about playing the pots against multiple players.
Do not get carried away with mediocre holdings
Some say that PLO is a game of nuts. While it's not necessarily true, it's undeniable that you require a higher equity hand to continue in multiway pots than you usually do in heads-up situations. It is crucial to remember about it with mediocre hands like draws to second-nut straights or flush draws or middle sets.
Such hands are usually good enough to put more money into the pot against one opponent - since your outs will be live quite often. This principle shifts significantly when you're against two or more opponents, and it's very likely that when you're drawing to non-nut flush or lower straight, you are drawing dead.
Be careful with hands without a nut potential against multiple opponents; usually, it'll be best to ditch the weaker combos since they won't have enough equity to continue.
Since equity is defined as a share of the pot belonging to the player (assuming there would be no more actions until the showdown), try to evaluate the equity of your hand on the flop when multiway. If you assume it is higher than your average share of the pot, meaning it's higher than 33% in the three-way pot, 25% in a four-way and 20% in a five-way, that's likely a hand that you should put more money into the pot with.
Bonus tip: Be careful with AA combos when playing a multiway pot on a high stack-to-pot ratio. While they always have a lot of equity preflop, it often changes after the community cards are dealt. Usually, if you've flopped only an overpair without any backup, you should be very cautious against multiple opponents. You'll often be better off folding the flop with your worst combos of AA against multiple opponents since you will not have many outs to improve your hand.
Estimating your equity multiway is not easy, but you'll help yourself tremendously if you incorporate proper hand selection.
Do not cold call trash hands while on the Big Blind
It's tempting in NLH and even more alluring in PLO, but do not do it on autopilot. You can easily find yourself in a situation where a wrong preflop decision will lead to other misplays on the flop, turn or river. Calling opens while holding hole cards with no postflop playability is a costly leak, which even experienced players are often unaware of.
The correct preflop Pot Limit Omaha strategy is a must to avoid finding yourself in tough spots costing you a lot of money. Too loose preflop plays in PLO will punish you even more severely than in Texas Hold'em since you often find yourself with deceptively strong hands, which won't be good enough to continue versus multiple opponents.
For example, there are very few occasions when stacking a bottom or middle set in No Limit Hold'em would be a mistake, but using the same logic in PLO will hurt your win rate severely.
The position is the key
Being out of position in poker is generally not where you want to be. It is an even more undesirable state in PLO since position matters more than other games. If you are out of position against multiple opponents, that's an even harder condition to combat; therefore, you should be very selective not only on the Big Blind but also in early-to-middle positions.
Even if the players on your table won't punish you with 3-bets, you shouldn't play significantly looser on early positions. You won't be able to profit from playing the multiway pots with mediocre holdings, even if the price for seeing the flop is low.
Consider playing your (nut) draws aggressively
If your hand selection is on point, you'll often end on the better end of available draws. If your opponents are happy to put more money into the pot with inferior draws or weak showdown value, you should charge them to do so.
By playing your draws aggressively, you are more likely to realize the equity of your unmade hands. We've already underlined that being in a multiway pot with a mediocre draw or made hands is the wrong place to be in; whenever you play aggressively with many outs to the nuts, you punish your opponents for doing so.
They either put more money in with inferior draws, risking "being coolered", or fold, allowing you to win without a showdown.
PLO Genius will improve your understanding of multiways
Solvers are most helpful whenever you study heads-up situations. PLO Genius will help you with one-on-one pots and hint about what you should do when multiple players are already in the pot.
That's an enormous edge to gain; you can also choose different stack sizes, game formats and rage structures - all conveniently stored in one app.