OP: Make Penneywize Not Suck At Omaha

So, here's a quick rundown of my poker experience:

• Donked around for about 6 years playing NLHE tournaments, was a marginally winning player from 2003-2009
• Banked one large tourney score once, pissed money away
• Re-started learning NLHE 1 year ago, built roll from 2NL to 50NL
• Stopped playing due to focus on 4th year Econ studies, got into sweet MA program beginning next fall
• Cashed out roll on Black Friday (didn't need to, as it turns out; I'm Canadian)
• Used most of the cashout on living expenses
• Redeposited 100$ two weeks ago

I've always wanted to learn Omaha, and given the reduced bankroll and the situation I am in currently, I feel now is pretty much the best time to make the switch over. Given that I was only playing 25s / 50s by the time black friday rolled around, it's not as though there is a huge opportunity cost for me to drop NLHE. Couple this with my vague understanding that 'PLO games are somewhat softer' and that in the long run, the game is likely to continue to be a real growth area in poker (especially if the market reopens to Americans sometime in the future), switching to PLO seems to be a bit of a no-brainer for a guy in my position. This all may end up being entirely wrong, and I'm sure some NLHE grinders are in serious disagreement with these assumptions, but what the hell, right? I've convinced myself as much, and I'm motivated.

So I'm learning Omaha from scratch, using Bugs' 'PLO from Scratch' article series as a starting guide. Thus far I've covered up to part 4, which works out to quite a lot of material. The explanations of concepts and examples provided are articulate, methodical and very informative. Kudos to dranger / roid rage for finding this gem, without it I doubt I would have been able to make the switch.

PLO From Scratch - Part 1 | Discussions | Donkr

At any rate, here's an overview of what this OP is about and what I plan to accomplish in the coming months.

I am starting out at 5 PLO with a BR of 250$ or 50 BI. I will use the 50+10 BI scheme as a guideline for moving up; that is, grind up 50 buy ins of the current stake I am at, plus ten buy-ins for the next stake. Once this is done, I use the ten buy-ins as my "shot", and either I will reach 50 buy-ins + 10 for the next stake, or lose the 10 buy-ins and move down to the previous one. Pretty straight forward.

Bugs posits that it would take somewhere in the region of 113,000 hands to move up from 5PLO to 200PLO, assuming a winrate of 7.5 ptBB/100 and that all shots work out on the first try. Seems pretty lofty, but is likely possible for an experienced player.

Personally, given the amount of time I will have to spend studying the game I think it seems imprudent to try and strive for a given winrate or amount of hands I should finish the OP in; but it should nonetheless be worthwhile to set a goal and see how I measure up when all is said and done. I will use this space to track my progress through the stakes.

/// modified the below on 7/4/11 ///

This OP will end when I have reached 100 PLO.

So here's the breakdown, given my starting BR of 250$:

• $5PLO to $10PLO: Grind in 20 BI ($100) at $5PLO and build the roll to 50+10 BI ($350) for a shot at $10PLO.
  ***Complete 8/05***
• $10PLO to $25PLO: Grind in 40 BI ($400) at $10PLO and build the roll to 50+10 BI ($750) for a shot at $25PLO.
  ***Started 8/05***
• $25PLO to $50PLO: Grind in 40 BI ($1000) at $25PLO and build the roll to 50+10 BI ($1750) for a shot at $50PLO.
• $50PLO to $100PLO: Grind in 35 BI ($1750) at $50PLO and build the roll to 50+10 BI ($3500) for a shot at $100PLO.

A total of 135 BIs will need to be won over the course of this OP. Assuming an average winrate of 5ptBB/100, I will win 1 BI per 1000 hands, so a total of (drumroll) 135,000 hands will need to be played. Guess I should move to 6 tables from 4 at some point, huh?

Other than tracking progress, I'll be posting hands and going over concepts that I either find troublesome or want to reinforce my understanding of. I should note, I might end up posting hands on 2p2, which I'll link back to this blog, because there isn't a large PLO community here at FTR.

If any FTR PLO regs (Ahem -- drmcboy, courtie, swiggidy) want to chime in every now and then, it'd be greatly appreciated of course, and might save me the rather unpleasant trips to 2p2.

Alright, gogogogogogogo etc.