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He favors a solid, tight/aggressive style which I agree with. So, I found his discussion of turn play to be very short and overly simplified - he basically just says that if you liked your hand on the flop, then you should keep betting it on the turn, no matter what the turn card actually is.And I don't think there was a single hand in the book where he advocated going for a check/raise. He also does a good job of explaning the thought process that you should go through on the flop when you are deciding whether or not to continue with your hand. For instance, what if you have a solid 13-card draw on the flop, but you don't hit it on the turn. This book was very helpful for me and I highly recommend it, especially to relatively new Omaha players.
Omaha high/low could have been covered in a separate book.Having said that, it's a very good book and well worth the price. I would have liked to see the entire book devoted to PLO so that he could cover it in more detail. For the most part he says to keep betting it on the turn, but surely there are times when you should slow down, or even fold your hand on the turn. He covers pot-limit omaha high, limit omaha 8/b, and pot-limit omaha 8/b. I know he is saving most of his advanced plays for the next book, but still, there wasn't enough discussion of postflop play for me. The book stretches itself a bit too thin. Not enough postflop play. This is another area that he will probably cover in the next book.2.
The best part was Hwang's analysis of the different types of starting hands and their structures (which is more complex than you may expect). This seems strange to me because the check/raise can be a very powerful move, even in PLO.There wasn't enough discussion on reading your opponents based on their betting habits, and he made no mention at all of using deception and varying your play in order to make yourself harder to read. I just hope that volume 2 covers some of the "trickier" aspects of Omaha that were not discussed here. However I did have a few issues with the book:1. The turn is an especially tricky street, and he doesn't discuss turn play nearly as much as I had hoped.
A lot of the information presented (such as the weaknesses of having a gap at the top of your rundown) would probably take a long time of playing experience to figure out on your own.If there are any downsides to the text (and I didn't personally see it as a downside), its that you will most likely end up playing tighter than anyone else at the tables you are at; at least, I have since finishing it. Having been a relatively experienced semi-pro Hold'em player, I decided I needed to branch out and learn some other forms of poker; one of my good friends and mentors told me Omaha was the best form of poker for making money right now, so I decided to give it a shot. It's simply that the text will make you realize how many playable looking hands are truly trash that will only leave you vulnerable if you connect, and you will end up throwing away a lot of hands that other players would happily play.Overall, a great text for this novice and one I would recommend to anyone looking to enter the world of Omaha poker. That isn't to say that you will play passively; once involved in a hand, Hwang generally advocates for very aggressive play. With that in mind, the comments on this text come from a relative newcomer to the game of PLO (I started playing it around 2 months ago).Simply put, the strategy outlined in this book is easy to understand and will have you getting the best of it at low stakes (1-2 and 2-5) PLO games within a short time. Broad concepts are broken down understandably, and the synthesis of starting hand requirements to their structural components (full rundown, rundown with gap at bottom, rundown with gap in middle, etc)., with the flop opportunities available for each structure, make the large amount of information easy to process.
It's brilliant, and has helped me to become a very successful Multi-table tournament, SNG, and cash game player. This book seriously delivers. I can't wait for part 2 on Advanced PLO (and hopefully High-low)Concepts. I would recommend this book to anyone who is not sitting at a table with me. Hwang does a brilliant job laying out all of the strategies required to beat low and mid stakes Pot limit omaha. However, I believe that the real gold is hidden in the Pot Limit Omaha High-Low section.
I also found the Quizes/ practice hands to be helpful. A good read for the begginer. So def a good buy. I have read a bunch of Omaha/poker books, and I found this one to be good. It gives you basic info you can use and apply.
I am not saying the info is bad, but added nothing to what I have already known/seen before. I find this advice gets repeated over and over, so by this logic it would be profitable /+ EV to raise with stone cold bluffs when facing small/half size bet almost always. As many books on the subject advocating playing "good hands" using "position", no advanced strategy here. One problem I find is in many situational analysis (when having either a solid made hand or strong draws) is the author advices raising when faced with around half sized pot and folding to a full size pot.
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