Does playing PLO help your NLHE Game?

[Cleveland Guy]

First off I want to thank everyone here on the boards for their help. I have really started to love PLO, and it is my favorite ring game to play. I also feel that while I have a lot to learn at it still, I have become a winning player at it, and I have gotten used to the swings.

The other thing I have noticed since learning PLO is how my NLHE tournament game has improved. I am wondering if there is any real correlation between the 2? I know they are completely different games, and maybe I have just learned to play tighter, but I do think I have learned something.

I have gotten much better at laying down a set that isn't the nuts, or realizing when a full house might beat my straight. I don't know if I am fearing the monster in the closet too much in NLHE, but I seem to be picking better spots, and getting people to call me with 2nd best hands vs. the other way.

I wasn't sure if I have just become a better player, or if learning PLO has let me see some betting patterns that I have been able to use in NLHE?

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

[LA_Price]

I think learning to play all types of games makes you a much better player. I think learning NL helps your limit game and learning omaha really teaches you to read the board. I think ray zee said once if you don't play all games well you're destined to go broke at some point.

[pete fabrizio]

[ QUOTE ]
I think ray zee said once if you don't play all games well you're destined to go broke at some point.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did Ray really say that? I guess I'm screwed then, because my Anaconda skills just aren't up to par.

As to the original question, I think that when I started playing PLO almost full time, it hurt my NLH game for a while, in that I started giving my opponents much more respect than was due and I wouldn't be on the lookout for profitable "pure" bluffs enough and such.

After some time, however, the greater complexity of omaha forces you to think about poker in more foundational terms, and helps you recognize and analyze all the relevant factors that go into every decision. This skill is essential in just about all forms of poker, and can really help you break through the confines of conventional wisdom that keep so many hold'em players marginally profitable at best.

[Spidurman]

Personally, I have found that playing pot limit (anything) helps your no limit game.

I've always been fairly grounded in the math side of poker, but I have really noticed that the ability to notice betting patterns and control my own bets to induce a desired result has increased via pot limit play.

As far as Omaha helping my Holdem game, I play more PL O/8 than PLO, but it does help. You'll get to see more of the non-monster hands (AA98 ds and evaluating the straight) and you'll just get the extra reps in those spots, which I personally find valuable.

[Acesover8s]

As LA said, learning any new poker game should help you with your others, but I personally can't help feeling than hours of playing PLO has made me 'fear the nuts' a little more than I should while playing holdem.

[LA_Price]

Pete,

I'm just paraphrasing but I remember reading it in the "other poker" forum. . I misquoted. Here's what he actually said in response to which game gives the skilled player the biggest edge.

[ QUOTE ]
skilled player against bad players is stud eight. tight player will do better at omaha eight and maybe lose at the stud game.
andy is baised toward stud so we throw out his opinion. buzz is baised toward omaha but says stud, so his opinion has weight.
i never thought about it much so mine is speculatory. if that is a word.
basically if you dont play all games well you are in danger of becoming extinct.

[/ QUOTE ]

[6471849653]

At holdem one plays more the situations, tries to sell hands. Holdem is more irrational. At omaha one plays more the cards and the betting is quite different, also from sizes; often just the opposite than at holdem.

PLO is looser, that makes much of the difference.

[Cleveland Guy]

I have found this too a bit, and I am probably a bit weak/tight at times in NLHE. But i have also found I am saving myself for better situations, and not going broke on bottom set with a flush and a straight out there.