Tuesday, February 10, 2009

"Pot-limit Omaha Poker"

I wish more poker books were like "Pot-limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy," by Jeff Hwang.

Hwang explains fundamental concepts better than most videos. He provides a detailed outline of recognizing various wrap draws and their value. The hand quizzes are well explained and filled with practical examples.

To put it simply, this book does a great job of teaching you how to play a solid Omaha game. It also goes beyond the basics into continuation betting, bluffing, barrelling and hand reading.

Hwang's book succeeds where so many fail. The hand quizzes are based on real hands and clearly convey the author's concepts. The discussion on wrap draws filled in a critical gap in my knowledge that wasn't already covered by the poker training sites. Starting hand analysis was complete but rarely redundant. The section on postflop play was sophisticated yet easy to understand.

I can't think of any part of this book that seems wrong, uninformed or misleading.

Hwang knows what he's writing about, and he does it in a way that makes you ready to start making money at PLO.

4 comments:

Shrike said...

I should add that there are a handful of corrections posted on Hwang's website (and linked in a permanent 2+2 thread) for some of the quizzes.

This book features a much higher quality of writing than most poker books. Hwang is a lucid stylist who rarely takes any lazy shortcuts or lapses into vagueness.

-PL

Memphis MOJO said...

If I know absolutely nothing about Omaha, is it appropriate, or would I need to read something else first to learn the basics?

For example, you talked about a wrap draw, and I have no idea what that means.

Gnome said...

Memphis MOJO, I think you'd do fine with Hwang's book. A wrap draw is simply a straight draw with 13 outs or more, like JT9x on an 87x board.
While I believe the book is easy enough to understand, it may help to play a little Omaha first to grasp the underlying concepts. For example, only after playing a few hands did I comprehend how important position is and how postflop play is much more literal than in hold'em. You'll also see that discussed in the book, though, so I say, "go for it."

spritpot said...

I read and liked this book, too, although I still haven't played much PLO. You can definitely read it knowing only Hold 'Em though.
bruechips