PLO6 is an incredibly complex game. Six hole cards, deep multiway pots, drawing equities that shift dramatically between streets — there are many places to go wrong. The frustrating part is that most of the mistakes players make aren't dramatic blunders. They're quiet, recurring leaks that are hard to identify without stepping back and honestly examining your own tendencies.
This post covers the most common and costly PLO6 mistakes at every stage of the hand. If you're serious about improving, read through these slowly. Chances are, at least two or three will sound familiar.
Mistake 1: Overvaluing Non-Nut Draws in Multiway Pots
This is the single biggest leak I see in recreational PLO6 players. They pick up a second or third-nut flush draw, maybe paired with a mediocre straight draw, and they treat it like a premium hand. They call large bets, raise for value they don't have, and then wonder why they're losing when they hit.
In a multiway PLO6 pot, non-nut draws have significantly reduced value. The probability that someone else is drawing to the nuts, or has already made it, increases sharply with every extra player in the hand. Drawing to second-best costs you money in two ways: you lose when you don't hit, and you lose money when you do hit and lose to a better hand.
The fix: In multiway pots, give a strong discount to non-nut draws. Only continue aggressively with a draw when you have nut potential or significant backdoor equity that justifies the price.
Mistake 2: Overplaying Made Hands Without Backup
PLO6 players who come from Hold'em backgrounds often overweight made hands relative to draws. They flop top two pair and immediately think "strong hand, build the pot." But in PLO6, top two pair on a draw-heavy board is frequently behind or in thin shape against even a single opponent, let alone multiple.
The issue is backup equity. In PLO6, the best hands are those that are strong now AND have drawing potential if the board changes. A bare made hand with no redraws is more vulnerable than it looks, especially across three streets. If you're stacking off with naked top set on a four-to-a-flush board in a three-way pot, you need to recalibrate.
The fix: Always assess your made hand's vulnerability to the board and your redraws. Ask: "If I get raised and called, do I have equity on the next street?" If the answer is mostly no, your aggression should be more controlled.
Mistake 3: Playing Weak Rundowns Too Far
Rundown hands — consecutive or near-consecutive cards — are powerful in PLO6 because of their straight potential. But not all rundowns are equal. A hand like 6-7-8-9-T-J has beautiful connectivity. A hand like 2-4-5-7-8-9 with gaps and low cards is a fundamentally different proposition.
Many players see "connected cards" and think "rundown = good." But weak rundowns in PLO6 build low straights that frequently get counterfeited, lose to better straights, or hit the bottom of the board in spots where they're dominated. Playing them aggressively in raised pots, or calling off significant money preflop with them, is a consistent source of losses.
"Not every hand that looks pretty preflop plays well postflop. In PLO6, how a hand connects to the board matters more than how it looks in your hand."
Mistake 4: Bluffing Into Too Many Players
Bluffing is a core part of poker, but in PLO6, multiway pots make most bluffs unprofitable. A bluff needs all opponents to fold. In a three-way pot, the combined probability that at least one player has a strong enough hand to call is dramatically higher than in a heads-up pot. Yet many players fire big bluffs into three or four opponents based on a read on one of them, ignoring the others entirely.
This is one of the most expensive patterns in recreational PLO6. A player picks up a bad texture for an opponent, decides to represent strength, and completely forgets that there are two more players between them and the fold. The math simply doesn't support bluffing into wide fields.
The fix: In multiway pots, bluff less. Save your aggressive bluffing for heads-up situations where you have a credible story, strong blockers, and a clear read that your opponent's range is weak.
Mistake 5: Ignoring Positional Discipline
Position is valuable in all poker games, but in PLO6 it's magnified. Out-of-position play in PLO6 is genuinely difficult. You're making decisions on every street without knowing what your opponents will do, which means your bet sizing, draw evaluation, and hand reading all have to be sharper to compensate.
Many players consistently play too many hands from early position and out-of-position spots. They call raises from the blinds with marginal hands, continue without strong equity, and then make costly mistakes when faced with aggression on later streets. The result is a slow bleed that's hard to attribute to any single hand, but very real across a session.
The fix: Tighten your standards significantly when out of position. The hands that are marginal in late position become unprofitable from early position. If you wouldn't be confident playing three streets out of position with a hand, it's probably not worth entering the pot.
Building Honest Self-Awareness
The hardest part of fixing leaks isn't understanding the concepts — it's recognising when you're doing the thing. Most players know bluffing into four people is bad. Most players know weak rundowns underperform. But in the moment, with adrenaline and ego in play, the justifications come easily. "This time it's different." "I have a strong read." "They look weak."
Real improvement comes from building the habit of reviewing your session with honest eyes. Not to beat yourself up, but to identify patterns. The leaks listed above show up repeatedly in session after session for most players. Once you can name the pattern, you can catch it before it costs you chips.