How many people actually ENJOY a game of Omaha?

YTD: +$20851.69

This post was sparked off by one of The Hendon Mob forum's most prominent posters. Needless to say he doesn't post about poker a hell of a lot. The general thrust of the thread was that Pot Limit Omaha was a very dull game, mostly revolving around playing the nuts without the flair of big bet holdem. My view was different:

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What you are describing is a means to which you can seperate mug players from their money and is the starting point of a strong game. Its also probably all you need versus such players and is also really the complete heart of a game such as plo8b, the ultimate mug murderer :-)

However when you start playing better players, you can take it to a different level, and the psychology, tells, reads and the other intangibles come into play. Maybe some examples would help.

Back in the annals of time, I raised on the button with QJ98 double suited. A short stacked fish and a strong limper called. The flop came AT8, two of my suit. The fish went allin for a trivial amount and the strong player raised the pot to about 200 or so quid. This was an interesting move by him, considering that I am seen as a tight player and may have the Aces. My view was that this move could have been with two pair or lower trips and the foe in question was good enough to pass to a reraise, representing the Aces. I moved in for another 3-400 quid and the foe called...he actually had the trip aces and lost to my flush on the river, but the thinking remains the same. So even though this hand was at the very start of my career, it shows that it is possible to represent and make moves beyond just peddling the nuts.

More recently, and more interestingly, I played a small pot against another strong tight player. I limped in with high cards and the flop came KJT mixed suits. I had AQ and hence the nuts. The tight player bet out utg. Conventional play is to raise here but my thinking was different. I was fairly sure he had the same hand, and I had no improvers. Maybe a sneakier play was available. The turn was a blank, and our foe bet the pot again. Now I know he has the nuts too. I just call. The last card pairs the board and the foe checks. I bet about 3/4 of the pot. The foe passes and I win a nice pot with exactly the same hand where a conventional maths lead play would lead to a simple split pot.