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Omaha is a community-card game played with two to ten players on one table. You win chips by winning a pot and you win a pot in one of two ways: All the other players fold their hands, making you the only player left in the pot. You have the best hand at the showdown. It’s easy to watch PLO online or on TV, see crazy hands go down and get caught up emulating the pros. Here’s the thing though: The pros have played enough Omaha to know when to break the rules and when to stick to them, when to go with their reads and when to gamble.
Short Stacking Will Win You Many Pots – But Little Respect From Fellow Omaha Players. Here We Introduce The Basics Of Short-Stacked PLO Strategy.
Many of the characteristics of Pot-Limit Omaha make this game particularly suited to short stack play. This involves buying in for the minimum amount and exploiting some of the plays that deep-stacked opponents will make when (correctly) playing pots with other deep stacks. While this system is undoubtedly profitable when used correctly the circumstances must be exactly right for you to make money. While an adapted short-stacking system was made famous by pro Omaha player Rolf Slotboom – the system we describe here will in fact be a simplified version.
First a friendly warning!!
PLO Rules Omaha Hold’em, commonly known as Omaha, is currently the second most played variant of poker in the world, right after Texas Hold’em. Omaha has traditionally been played in Europe but in recent years it has also become a mainstream form of poker both in the United States and online. Pot Limit Omaha – 5 card (PLO) The three key points about Pot Limit Omaha 5: Pot Limit Omaha 5 is a derivative of Texas Hold’em where each player is dealt five private cards, and must make the best hand possible using two (and only two) of their private cards and three (and only three) of the five community cards which are available to every player. Each player is dealt 4 pocket cards, face down. After the first betting round, 3 community cards are dealt on the board, the flop. Then comes another round of betting and another community card, the turn. After the 3rd betting round comes the final community card, the river, followed by the last round of betting.
Short-stacking Omaha games, when executed correctly, will make you a lot of money. The one thing it will not win you is any respect at the tables! The reason is simple, deep stacked players have little defense against a thinking short-stacker and find the system hinders their own strategy… if you want to make money short-stacking PLO games then read on!
The idea behind omaha short stacking is deceptively simple. You buy-in to a full ring game for the minimum possible amount. You fold all but the very best starting hands. When you get a premium starting hand such as aces you limp into the pot and wait for the deep stacks to raise, you then re-raise all-in (or close to it). Trapping ‘dead money’ from those players who have called in the pot with a strong likelihood of having the best hand.
Short-stacking works for 2 main reasons. Firstly it is important to realize that deeper stacks will be raising, re-raising and calling raises with a wide variety of hands. This enables them to play good, strategic post-flop poker in an attempt to win the whole stack of an opponent. Thus when a deep stack raises and gets called you do not need to assume that they have a premium starting hand – your aces (or double suited Kings / rundown hands etc) will have an excellent chance of winning in a showdown.
End Of 2011 Update: Short-Stacking Omaha has become harder at some of the biggest sites – who have introduced 40 Big Blind minimums on many tables (there are special ‘shallow’ tables, though everyone is short on these!). You can still make some cash, though you need to find those sites which allow 20 blind buy-ins on full tables. We highlight 3 great candidates for this at the end of our Short-Stacking Part #2 article.
Secondly, the deep stacks who call your all-in bet will not necessarily check the hand down. There is likely to be more betting – often big bets – on the flop, turn and river betting round. It is thus highly likely that a hand that would have beaten you at showdown will fold to subsequent bets. This is known as ‘protection’ – the big stacks betting protecting your hand from having to show-down against 2 or 3 opponents.
Let us look at a mathematical example. After buying in for the minimum of $20 at a 50c / $ 1 table, you are dealt A-A-J-10 with one suited ace in early position. You limp and see a mid-position player raise the pot (to $2.25c) 3 more players call this bet including the blinds. When the action returns to you there is $9.50 in the pot – allowing you to come in with a pot-size re-raise for around $12 – meaning you get more than 60% of your stack into the pot pre-flop.
Your intention here is to get the rest of your money in regardless of the flop. Many good things can now happen. If your raise is called then you have potentially trapped the ‘dead money’ of those players who fold in the pot. If you are called in more than one place then you only need to win the pot 30% of the time to show a profit. Once the flop comes the protection from the big-stacks will kick-in, pot-size raises will now be large enough to get a number of hands to fold. You may end up showing down against just one player will odds from the pot between 2/1 and 3/1. With a hand that will win more than half of the time this is a huge and very profitable edge.
In part 2 of our series on short-stacking strategy we look at vital ways to keep your online short-stack Omaha profitable including tips on how to find the games where this strategy brings in the most money. Check out Short Stacking Part 2 now!
When social services are very concerned about the welfare of a child, the social worker may wish to consider taking the case to Court so they can make Court Orders to protect the child.
PLO stands for 'Public Law Outline', a set of rules which tells social workers how to deal with these sorts of cases.
The Public Law Outline rules say that when social workers are thinking that they may need to go to Court they should invite the parents to a meeting to discuss their concerns. This is also known as a 'pre-proceedings' meeting.
This meeting considers what needs to be done to protect the child from harm, and how an agreement can be reached to ensure this. The aim here is to see if any problems can be fixed without needing to go to Court.
For initial advice get in touch with our Care Proceedings Solicitors.
How is a PLO Meeting Different?
A PLO is different from other kinds of meeting with your social worker:
- If you don't go to the meeting to talk about the social services' concerns there is a real risk that social workers will decide to go to Court about your child
- A Lawyer from the social services' legal team will be at the meeting to give the social workers advice
- You are entitled to have a Lawyer/Solicitor attend the meeting with you
- If you are the parent of the child or a person with Parental Responsibility you will be entitled to Legal Aid to cover the cost of your Lawyer's involvement
You should have received a 'letter before proceedings' inviting you to the meeting. The letter will set out exactly what the social workers are worried about, what they have done in the past to help you and what they would like you to do in the future.
How Important is this?
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A PLO meeting is usually a sign that, as far as the social workers are concerned, things have reached a very critical stage. This can often be the last chance a parent will have to work with the social workers before the case is taken to Court. Because of this, it really is important that you attend this meeting, even if you have had difficulties talking with social workers in the past.
We understand that now we are at the point of a PLO meeting, there is probably a long history of social work involvement. Relationships between parents and social workers can be very difficult and parents can be angry and upset. We advise you to put these understandable emotions aside when you go to the meeting; your Solicitor will give you every support in helping you to focus any issues of concern.
Why Haven't I had a PLO Meeting?
When a social worker feels that the risk of harm to the child is so great, or that the case is very urgent, then there may be no meeting. In this situation the case could go straight to Court for the social workers to ask for an Interim Care Order, an Interim Supervision Order, or perhaps an Emergency Protection Order.
This will only be done if your child is suffering, or is likely to suffer significant harm. If you have been told that social services are to go to Court about your child, you should get legal advice without delay. If you are a parent (or person with Parental Responsibility) you will still be entitled to Legal Aid, regardless of your financial position.
How Can I Get Help?
The letter you receive inviting you to the meeting will advise you of your right to have a Solicitor present for the meeting. At the meeting your Solicitor will be able to help you to reach an agreement with social services in the hope that this can avoid the issue going to Court.
Because of the importance of these meetings, Legal Aid is provided for parents (and anyone else with Parental Responsibility for the child), regardless of your financial situation. This means you do not have to worry about representing yourself, as you are entitled to representation at this meeting, and any further meetings are also covered.
This information was originally published on our website on 23/04/2015.
For free legal advice call our Care Proceedings Solicitors
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