From the Desk of the Poker Philosopher

This was a great idea for a tournament format, with half the hands playing as O/8 and half as PLO8. Many people are going to be good at one game but not the other. Personally, I'm pretty strong in PLO8 but not so good at O/8. Naturally, plenty of people suck at both as well.

I got off to a nice start, playing well in PLO8 and running well at O/8. There was an awful player on my left who was giving me a lot of chips, but eventually he monkeyed his way into winning a huge pot:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament
Blinds: t25/t50
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t6903
UTG+1: t2857
CO: t2540
Button: t3590
Hero: t12500
BB: t6035

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with :ah :ks :6h :3h
4 folds, Hero raises to t150, BB calls t100 (pot was t200).

Flop: :2d :qh :7h (t300, 2 players)
Hero bets t250, BB raises to t1050, Hero raises to t3450, BB raises to t5850, Hero raises to t8250, BB calls all-in t35.
Uncalled bets: t2365 returned to Hero.

Turn: :tc (t12070, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t12070)

River: :3d (t12070, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t12070)

Results:
Final pot: t12070


I flopped the nut flush draw and the nut low draw with counterfeit protection, and this guy got it all in with me for 120 BB's with the second nut low draw and an underpair to the board: Td As 4s 4c. The board bricks out, and I lose a pot that would have put me in top 1%.

I did get him back eventually though:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament
Blinds: t40/t80
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t7156
UTG+1: t2234
CO: t8584
Button: t8394
Hero: t5035
BB: t11526

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with :6h :ah :3c :7c
3 folds, Button raises to t240, Hero calls t200 (pot was t360), BB calls t160 (pot was t560).

Flop: :js :3h :as (t720, 3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t80, Button raises to t160, Hero raises to t1280, BB calls t1200 (pot was t2240), Button folds.

Turn: :4s (t3440, 2 players)
Hero bets t2515, BB calls t2515 (pot was t5955).

River: :qc (t8470, 2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks.

Results:
Final pot: t8470


I couldn't believe it when I scooped this pot. There was only about 1000 left in the effective stacks, but I was so sure I was smoked that I didn't even think I had good equity against his checking range. I was just hoping he would check it back and I could escape with half. Turns out he had 4d Qh 3d 5s, having called the turn with nothing but a bad low draw and two pair.

I lasted for about 6 hours, which only got me through 75% of the field or so, before getting pretty short and busting in some nondescript way.

Labels: 6-max, O8, PLO8, poker, Poker Stars, poker strategy, short-handed, tournament, WCOOP

Stumble It!

PLO8 is one of my favorite poker games, and it's also one of the toughest to find played for meaningful stakes, so I was pretty stoked for this event. I did in fact have a good time, even though it ended in disappointment. Early on I was pretty tight passive, limping into pots when I got involved at all. PLO8 is a tough game to play out of position, so i didn't want to bloat pots, and I also felt people were going to make their biggest mistakes post-flop. I chipped up a bit like this, then went up and down for a while in the second and third hours.

One key hand gave me some chips to work with:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t75/t150
8 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t5250
UTG+1: t3825
MP1: t8670
MP2: t14616
CO: t2525
Button: t9246
SB: t4035
Hero: t4745

Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is BB with :2c :9c :kh :ah
UTG raises to t450, 2 folds, MP2 calls t450 (pot was t675), 3 folds, Hero calls t300 (pot was t1125).

Flop: :5h :5d :4h (t1425, 3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets t1100, MP2 calls t1100 (pot was t2525), Hero raises all-in t4295, 2 folds.
Uncalled bets: t3195 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: t4725

I was pretty sure UTG had AA, because that's about all most people will raise UTG. I didn't know if he would fold to a shove or not, but it didn't really matter. As long as he didn't have AA2x, I would be in OK shape. Scooping with no showdown was pretty sweet.


About four and a half hours into the tournament, I'd gone card dead and blinds were getting big. I picked up Aces in a great spot, but it didn't end well:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t250/t500
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t8137
UTG+1: t14289
MP1: t8950
MP2: t11764
MP3: t22400
Hero: t9381
Button: t12625
SB: t8978
BB: t9928

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is CO with :6s :jh :ah :as
2 folds, MP1 raises to t1750, MP2 calls t1750 (pot was t2500), MP3 folds, Hero raises to t7750, 4 folds, MP2 raises all-in t11764, Hero calls all-in t1631.
Uncalled bets: t2383 returned to MP2.

Flop: :4c :kc :2c (t-4381, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t21262)

Turn: :9h (t-4381, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t21262)

River: :2d (t-4381, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t21262)

Results:
Final pot: t-4381

The guy who called me with Ax 8h 5h 2x and rivered the scoop was none other than WSOP champion Joe Hachem! I was thinking it was kind of a questionable call, but when I ran his equity against any Aces, which is probably what my range is, he's only a 60/40 dog. Even if you give me one low card, it only improves to 63/37. In related news, Pro Poker Tools is an amazing free resource that enables you to run simulations like this.

Labels: Joe Hachem, PLO8, poker, Poker Stars, poker strategy, session review, tournament, WCOOP

Stumble It!

Here are two pretty interesting hands from a small PLO8 tournament that I final tabled on Saturday ($100 buy-in, like 135 players, I finished 8th, not a big deal). It's pretty rare that you would slowplay in PLO8 because a single card can easily make even huge hands an underdog. Moreover, when one induces bluffs, it's usually from hands with a lot of equity, such that you don't pick up value from snapping them off. Just in general even with big hands you gain a lot from folding people out and picking them up right away. But these I played differently:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t200/t400
8 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: t18739
UTG+1: t19416
Hero: t7646
MP2: t31489
CO: t9845
Button: t5398
SB: t11072
BB: t1246


Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is MP1 with :kc :7d :9c :ad
2 folds, Hero raises to t1111, MP2 calls t1111 (pot was t1711), 4 folds.


Flop: :kd :td :ah (t2822, 2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks.


Turn: :jc (t2822, 2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets t1600, Hero calls t1600 (pot was t4422).


River: :8d (t6022, 2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks.


Results:
Final pot: t6022
Villain shows [As 2c 3s 5h]



Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t400/t800
8 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: t15439
Hero: t27260
MP1: t21723
MP2: t7032
CO: t7895
Button: t7827
SB: t7222
BB: t9610


Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is UTG+1 with :ah :2h :tc :kc
UTG folds, Hero raises to t2222, 5 folds, BB calls t1422 (pot was t3422).


Flop: :jc :td :ks (t4844, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.


Turn: :9s (t4844, 2 players)
BB bets t2400, Hero calls t2400 (pot was t7244).


River: :4d (t9644, 2 players)
BB is all-in t4988, Hero calls t4988 (pot was t14632).


Results:
Final pot: t19620
Villain shows [8d 5s Kh Ad]

Sorry I know it sucks to look at these without suit pictures, but this is the only converter than can handle PLO8. In the first one I made top two and the nut flush draw on a broadway flop. In PLO high, it's very dangerous to give a free card here since a T, J, or Q are all disastrous cards. It's actually a bit less of a concern in PLO8 because hand ranges are weighted towards lower cards. In other words, four broadway cards on the board is a bit less worrisome because straights will be a smaller part of your opponents' ranges; they'll often be playing smaller cards looking to flop low. There are thus also fewer ways for them to pay you off.

In the first hand, the nut flush draw also makes it safer to induce bluffs. When I river the nuts, I stick with the plan of inducing a bluff, especially since my opponent will probably bet most of his flushes for value anyway. Even though I didn't get the bluff, you can see that the guy didn't have a hand that was calling a bet.

In the second hand, it's scarier since I don't have redraws, but my hand was less strong and I couldn't stand a check-raise. Having played it as I did, I feel compelled to call down. I though his range would be polarized to straights or bluffs. Mostly it was a bad pre-flop call on his part, even for a discount.

Labels: bluff, PLO8, poker, Poker Stars, poker strategy, session review, slowplay, tournament

Stumble It!

I was having trouble getting the ESPN360 feed to work. I finally got it streaming just in time to hear, "There are eight players left, Tom Chambers has busted out." Whoops. I don't know the full story, but apparently he got all in with top set and lost to a rivered flush. 20K's nothing to sneeze at, though. Nice run, Tom.

Labels: PLO8, poker, tournament, wsop

Stumble It!

My buddy Tom (LearnedFromTV), who's already been tearing up the 2008 WSOP with a second place finish for $140K in the $2500 Stud/8-O/8 Mixed event and a shallow cash in the $1000 Razz, has made his second final table of the series, this time in the $1500 PLO/8. Once again, I'm very excited for Tom and for myself, the proud owner of 10% of Tom's winnings. It's nice to be freerolling the WSOP before I've even arrived in Las Vegas.

The Final Table:

Martin Klaser: 345,000
Erik Seidel: 320,000
Michael Fetter: 290,000
Tom Chambers: 283,000
Jonathan Maren: 210,000
Casey Kastle: 170,000
Larry Wright: 150,000
Joseph Haddad: 135,000
Chad Burum: 120,000

Average Stack: 216,000

Payouts

1 $216,219
2 $137,985
3 $83,538
4 $68,304
5 $56,019
6 $44,206
7 $34,389
8 $27,027
9 $19,656

This is going to be broadcast live ("with no hole cards and horrible commentary", Tom warns) on ESPN360 at 2PM Vegas time today. I've got a ton of work to do before leaving town tomorrow, but I'll probably have this on in the background anyway.

One Two times, dealer!

Labels: PLO8, poker, wsop

Stumble It!

In his Closing Thoughts, Jeff Hwang comments on what motivated him to write Pot Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy:

"...nowhere in poker literature was truly useful instructions on where to start. Everybody says the same thing: Play four cards that work together, A-A-J-T and A-A-K-K are the best hands, and four connecting cards are playable. But what else is playable and what am I trying to do when I see the flop?"

The resulting book is far from the definitive word on PLO strategy, but it is an excellent introduction to the game, which, as Hwang points out, was a market niche badly in need of filling.

The author proposes a simple but effective strategy geared towards the low-stakes, full-ring PLO games primarily found in brick and mortar casinos. Echoing the advice of other Omaha authors, Hwang argues that PLO is a game of straights. In other words, the winning hand at the river will often be a straight.

But PLO is also a flop game, even more so than Hold 'Em, and that is where most of the fireworks happen. Although big pots emerge most frequently when a monster draw runs into the flopped nuts, Hwang refutes the common misconception that PLO is primarily a game of luck and gigantic post-flop coin flips. Instead, he claims,

"there are a variety of common big-pot situations where not only does one player usually have the other one smashed, but in some cases will be on a total freeroll. Our goal is to be the one on the dominant end when the big pots get played: this involves first recognizing what those big-pot situations are, and then identifying the hands that have the potential to put us in the position to get the edge in those spots."

This is exactly what he goes on to do, beginning with a discussion of the most common profitable flop situations in which an Omaha player may find himself. Just as the Hold 'Em player is accustomed to winning big pots when he flops an overpair versus top pair top kicker or a set versus an overpair, the PLO player has his own set of dream flop scenarios, such as the Nut Straight Freeroll (nut straight with re-draws to a flush, full house, or higher straight versus the same straight without redraws) and the Dominating Draw (a 16-out draw to the nuts versus a lower draw to non-nut hands, or a pair and a wrap draw versus a bare wrap draw, for instance).

Having laid out these profitable situations on which one's sights should be set, Hwang next considers which starting hands are most likely to produce such situations: combinations containing suited Aces and four connecting cards (gaps at the bottom only, if at all), and pairs accompanied by either of these. Higher is better, in all cases. These hands form the core of Hwang's pre-flop strategy, which unfortunately cannot be laid out quite as clearly as can its hold 'em equivalents, given the much larger set of possible Omaha starting hands.

Hwang gives some consideration to how to play these hands pre-flop as well, such as whether to enter with a call or a raise, what can be played from which position, and what is still viable when the pot has already been raised. Frankly, this isn't the strongest part of the book, and the advice here sometimes feels haphazard and a little weak. Still, the reader does accumulate a feel for what works by studying Hwang's many examples, and this should be enough to get him started at the table, where he can work out his own answers to these questions.

Returning to the discussion of ideal flop situations, Big Play Strategy next discusses how much heat different kinds of hands can handle post-flop. Hwang devotes quite a lot of pages and examples to what is really a fairly simple strategy: only draw to the nuts, play big draws aggressively, don't slowplay, bluff when your opponents show weakness. It's not quite fair to call the many quizzes and example hands "filler", but I'd rather poker books stuck to content and left the study aids to high school textbooks. A lot of the material is repetitive or downright irrelevant.

Hwang's strategy is a good one, especially for relatively passive and straight-forward full ring live games. I don't imagine it would adapt well to the short-handed games that are more popular online or to games with tricker and more aggressive opponents. One weakness in particular that shows up in some of the sample hands is an eagerness to bet big and take down the pot in situations where a hand is likely to be way ahead or way behind of an opponent. Though Hwang's admonitions against slow-playing are generally well taken, it may not be best to bet pot again with AQQ8 on an AA6K board after getting called on the flop.

When I saw that Hwang included sections on O8 and PLO8, I was more than a little skeptical that he could cover three games adequately in one book. After seeing how little space he required to offer some excellent insights into PLO, though, and how much space he devoted to review, reiteration, and even the occasional bad beat story, I had renewed hope. As it turns out, he does an admirable job with both of the other games.

His approach is similar, identifying the most profitable post-flop situations and then working backwards to derive a pre-flop strategy. His recommendations concerning starting hands and how to play them is generally solid in both cases, though his bias for post-flop play occasionally leads him to disregard preflop edges. With A-A-3-x or A-A-4-x in O8, for instance, he advises a limp "in a 'zoo' game where everybody is going to call your raise." Even if it will be necessary to give up on many flops, it's hard to see a reason not to make a raise that will be called by so many hopeless hands that will both lose equity pre-flop and connect with fewer flops than this relative monster. Hwang also seems a bit too willing to give up on non-nut high hands for a fixed limit game where most opponents are playing primarily low cards.

Aside from these shortcomings, though, the O8 section is nearly as strong on post-flop play as on pre-flop strategy. It contains good advice on value betting, raising to clear the field and promote hands, semi-bluffing, and 'demi-bluffing' the river with the nuts in one direction in hopes of knocking an opponent off of half the pot.

Demi-bluffing plays an even larger role in the pot limit version of the game, where the bets are bigger and the bare nuts in one direction must sometimes be folded. In PLO8, high hands with any kind of low potential, like K-K-3-2, gain a lot of playability from the demi-bluff.

Hwang clearly highlights this and other differences between PLO8, O8 , and PLO. On the other, he makes good use of the similarities between the games to cover all three in a single book. Of course, none is covered in all its intricacies. But Pot Limit Omaha: The Big Play Strategy does a surprisingly good job of introducing all three of these games by orienting new players not just to the nuts and bolts but to the guiding objectives, the profitable situations towards that game's strategy is directed.

Perhaps more importantly, Hwang's fondness for Omaha shines through on every page, encouraging readers to recognize that it can be both fun and profitable. His book will certainly contribute to his dream of seeing "small stakes PLO games... become standard in card rooms across America."

Labels: book review, O8, PLO, PLO8, poker, poker strategy

Stumble It!

After two days off, I came back to the UBOC with a bang last night, final tabling the $200 PLO8 event. There were nearly 400 runners, which surprised me, because in general even UB's NLHE events don't get that many runners. Predictably, only about 10% of them had much idea how to play PLO8, and I was able to get up a stack right away. I don't have the HH, unfortunately, so for now all I can do is sketch a few hands.

One of the first I played, I opened from late position with AQJ3 and was called by the small blind. The flop was Ac Qc 4c. I had no clubs, but I bet it anyway when it was checked to me, since I didn't want to give a free card to a bad low draw or invite a turn bluff. He called very quickly, and I was ready to be done with it, but then I turned an Ace, giving me the nuts. He checked, I potted it, and he quickly called again. The river was a fourth club, functionally a blank. He checked, I potted it again, and again he quickly called with 44xx for the worst possible full house.

Just like that, I was one of the chipleaders, but it didn't last. I forget how I lost the chips, but by the 50/100 level, I had about 1100 chips. I won a pre-flop all in with AAxx vs QQxx, picked up another medium pot with a bet when I flopped the nuts against multiple callers of a pre-flop raise, and then I just kind of built from there for a while.

Obviously I'm leaving a lot out, but the next hand I remember, I was sitting on like 25,000 chips at the 300/600 level. Action folded to me in the SB with AA25, one of the best possible PLO8 hands. I raised to 1800, and the BB, who had me covered, called. The flop came 774r, giving me the nut low draw and likely the best high hand. Still, I didn't like the idea of getting raised on this flop, so I elected to check and try to induce a bluff, since there weren't really any turn cards I was worried about. My opponent bet about half pot, and I called.

A 9s on the turn didn't change anything, and I checked and called another half-pot bet. At this point, I was representing just a low draw, and I was hoping that it wouldn't get there on the river so that my opponent would give more action with worse hands. Frankly, even though I was inducing bluffs, all his betting was making me nervous, because people tend to play pretty straight-forwardly in PLO8.

The river was indeed a non-low brick, and I checked. He quickly shoved. I wasn't happy about it, but as played, my hand looked a lot like a busted low draw, and I had to call. To my delight, my opponent had like QT35 or something, and I won a monstrous pot that catapaulted me into the chiplead with about 50 players left.

There 40 spots getting paid, and almost everyone seemed concerned about cashing. The two players on my right were very vocal about how much they didn't want to bubble and how intently they were watching short stacks at other tables. I proceeded to absolutely rape the bubble, raising at least 75% of my hands at an 8-handed table. The only guy who ever played back at me over the course of more than an hour had AA26, but he had been ground down too short to do much damage to me. By the end of the bubble, I had 130,000 chips and was still chipleader.

I had to slow down a lot at that point because I had the image of a bully and all the short stacks were eager to double up and go home now that they had made the money. I folded around for a while without ever losing the chiplead, and eventually I got AAxx in my BB against a button raise. I re-potted, which conveniently left just barely a pot-sized bet in my opponent's stack. The flop was Ac8c3, giving me the nut high. However, I didn't have any kind of low so I decided just to shove and hope that my opponent would fold some hands, like 75xx, that would be entitled to half the pot. He tanked and eventually called with something like Ax Qd 6c 2c x. It wasn't a bad call, and unfortunately he turned a flush to scoop me.

That put a real hurting on my stack, as did a bluff I attempted after calling a raise with A236 or something similar. The flop came T94, not doing much for me, and my opponent, one of the more aggressive at the table, bet at it. The thing is that of the hands he'd be raising from early position, most don't hit this flop very well. Most of his range should consist of low cards. He called the raise, though, and a turn J deterred me from any further bluffing.

After that I rebuild, again I don't recall exactly how. Nath from 2+2 was at my table and getting really upset with my aggression. He was actually being a giant ass about it, insulting me and my play in the chat box off and on for over an hour. I don't think he recognized my UB screenname, but that's really beside the point.

Anyway, at one point, I called an early position raise of his with A237 and got pretty much a gin flop: 456, giving me the second nut high and the nut low. He checked, and I was 100% sure he was looking to check-raise, so I just bet my hand. Sure enough, he moved in with I think AJ36, which I guess made second nut low, a flush draw to the J, and top pair. I was in pretty good shape, but his flush got there and we ended up chopping.

I quieted down for a while, but opened back up on the final table bubble. I pulled off a pretty key suckout with QQxx > AAxx and came into the final table 2nd of 10. Unfortunately, early on I called another Nath raise with A236 and a Kh 7x 4h flop. I had the Ah but nothing to go with it, so it didn't affect much. This time he bet out, and I elected to shove. Even though I pretty much have a low only hand and he could easily have A2 as well, I have good counterfeit protection (ie a 2 or an A will still give me the nut low, since I also hold a 3), I have a gut shot that provides 3 nut outs, and frankly this is a tough board for Nath to hit hard. The thing is that I don't know how much of his betting range consists of hands that would fold, but as for his pre-flop range, only his AK, AA, and sets are really happy as high hands.

Unfortunately, he did have a set of 4's and snap-called my shove. He had no low, but none got there, so he scooped me. The next hand, I committed with 9 BB stack with A224 or something and lost to a really dominating hand like AA24. I finished 9th, which was pretty disappointing given where I'd been sitting for the latter half of the tournament, but I did run pretty well to get there, so I can't complain too much.

Labels: PLO8, poker, poker strategy, session review, tournament

Stumble It!

This was a $200 PLO8 tournament, and needless to say there was some extraordinarily bad play to be seen. I ended up bubbling it, but you don't care about that. Let's look at some hands.

Coming Through the Back Door

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Blinds: $25/$50
9 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is UTG+1 with
UTG calls, Hero calls, 5 folds, SB calls, BB checks.


Flop: ($200, 4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $200, SB calls, 2 folds.


Turn: ($600, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $600, SB calls.


River: ($1800, 2 players)
SB bets $1800, Hero raises all-in $2065, SB calls.


Results:
Final pot: $5930
Hero showed Ac 9c 2s 7d
SB showed As Tc 4d 9s


Flop is just a pure bluff, and probably not a good one. The thing is that this is a very tough board to hit hard, since sets are the only truly strong high hands, and the low combos that people play most often (A2 and A3) both missed. Turns out SB did have the nut low draw and a gutshot and just didn't know enough to fast play it. Works for me.

A Little More Follow-Through

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Blinds: $40/$80
9 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is UTG+1 with
UTG folds, Hero calls, 6 folds, 6 folds, BB checks.


Flop: ($200, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $142, BB calls.


Turn: ($484, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $484, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $484 returned to Hero.


Results:
Final pot: $484

Same bluff as before, but this time I fire again because this board is pretty scary for a guy playing a hand out of the blinds. I could easily have a scooping hand like A5, and with so much money behind, it's tough for him to continue against a pot-sized bet here.

Double Barrel Vs. Gobboboy

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Blinds: $80/$160
9 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is MP3 with
4 folds, Hero raises to $448, CO folds, Button calls, 2 folds.


Flop: ($1136, 2 players)
Hero bets $750, Button calls.


Turn: ($2636, 2 players)
Hero bets $2636, Button folds.
Uncalled bets: $2636 returned to Hero.


Results:
Final pot: $2636

This was against 2+2's Gobboboy. I just had a feeling he was going to float the flop kind of light against me, even though he should probably have a 2 to call here, so when I picked up the nut low draw on the turn, I figured it was a good spot to semi-bluff.

Go Ahead

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Blinds: $100/$200
9 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is BB with
2 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, MP3 calls, CO calls, 2 folds, 2 folds, Hero checks.


Flop: ($900, 4 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP3 checks, CO checks.


Turn: ($900, 4 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP3 checks, CO bets $900, Hero calls, 2 folds.


River: ($2700, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $2700, Hero calls.


Results:
Final pot: $8100
Hero showed 4s 5c 2s 8c
CO showed 7h 4d 6s 5s

This pot was against a guy named The Omaholic. I believe he was ranked on Pocket 5's, and you'd think a guy with a name like that would be good at Omaha, but he was actually an overly loose and aggressive maniac. Hence my check and call line.

Another Nice One Vs. The Omaholic

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Blinds: $120/$240
9 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is SB with
4 folds, MP3 raises to $480, 2 folds, Hero calls, BB calls.


Flop: ($1440, 3 players)
Hero bets $1261, BB folds, MP3 raises to $5223, Hero raises all-in $6261, MP3 calls.


Turn: ($13962, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $13962)



River: ($13962, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $13962)



Results:
Final pot: $13962
Hero showed Kh 2d Th Ah
MP3 showed Ac 9h 7c 4s

Classic Omaha Bluff

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Blinds: $250/$500
9 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is BB with
5 folds, CO raises to $1500, 2 folds, Hero calls.


Flop: ($3250, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks.


Turn: ($3250, 2 players)
Hero bets $3250, CO calls.


River: ($9750, 2 players)
Hero is all-in $9375, CO folds.
Uncalled bets: $9375 returned to Hero.


Results:
Final pot: $9750

Since I hold the As, I know my opponent can't have the nuts. So it's a clear semi-bluff spot on the turn, and with no showdown value, there's only one thing to do on the river....

This Was Painful

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Blinds: $300/$600
9 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: $15469
UTG+1: $28344
MP1: $12940
MP2: $14371
MP3: $35081
CO: $5436
Button: $17019
Hero: $11303
BB: $15488


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is SB with
2 folds, MP1 raises to $1501, 4 folds, Hero calls, BB calls.


Flop: ($4503, 3 players)
Hero bets $2802, BB folds, MP1 raises all-in $11439, Hero calls all-in $7000.
Uncalled bets: $1637 returned to MP1.


Turn: ($24107, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $24107)



River: ($24107, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $24107)



Results:
Final pot: $24107
Hero showed 2s 2h Ah 3c
MP1 showed 8d 2c 4d Ac

It was tempting to check-raise here, but I didn't want to see the flop check through, and a lot of the hands that will get it in against me on the flop are going to be in pretty bad shape since I have so many nut draws and redraws. I was actually really surprised to run this on Two Dimes and learn that I was only about a 57% favorite. Goes to show you how much even a weak pair can improve your equity when getting it in with a draw.

Oooof

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Blinds: $300/$600
7 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (7 players) Hero is BB with
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, 3 folds, SB calls, Hero checks.


Flop: ($1800, 3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 checks.


Turn: ($1800, 3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1275, UTG+1 calls, SB raises to $3000, Hero calls, UTG+1 folds.


River: ($9075, 2 players)
SB is all-in $3972, Hero calls.


Results:
Final pot: $17019
SB showed 3c 2h Th 6c
Hero mucks 3h 4h 8h 8c

This was against Assani Fisher, also from 2+2. I was thinking his tiny turn check-raise meant that he had the nuts for half the pot but no shot at the other half and wanted to keep both of us in the pot so that we'd get quartered. I still don't know whether I should have folded turn, but I never really recovered from this. I short stacked it a while but eventually lost some uninteresting showdowns and that was that.

Thankfully, I made more than enough playing PLO8 cash games at the same time to pay for the tournament!

Labels: PLO8, poker, poker strategy, session review

Stumble It!

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
7 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $588
UTG+1: $1034.10
Hero: $531
CO: $276.10
Button: $405
SB: $193.50
BB: $770.30

Pre-flop: (7 players) Hero is MP1 with :ad :7s :4s :jd
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls $6 (pot was $15), 2 folds, SB calls, BB checks.

Flop: :8d :as :3d ($24, 4 players)
SB bets $24, BB calls, UTG+1 raises to $102, Hero calls $102 (pot was $174), SB raises to $204, BB calls, UTG+1 raises to $948, Hero calls all-in $423, SB calls all-in $7.5, BB calls all-in $584.3.
Uncalled bets: $159.7 returned to UTG+1.

Turn: :4c ($2023.6, 1 player + 3 all-in - Main pot: $870, Sidepot 1: $940.5, Sidepot 2: $213.1)

River: :kc ($2023.6, 1 player + 3 all-in - Main pot: $870, Sidepot 1: $940.5, Sidepot 2: $213.1)

Results:
Final pot: $2023.6
SB showed 9h 5h 2c 8c
BB showed 4h 2s Th Ah
UTG+1 showed 4d Kd 2d Ts
Hero showed Ad 7s 4s Jd


Hand reading can be difficult in PLO8, especially in big multi-way pots, because there are so many different combinations of draws and made hands that anyone could have. Initially I'm trying not to play too big of a pot with top pair and the nut flush draw but only a very weak low draw, so once all the money started going in, I was worried. I tanked for a while before calling. I just didn't know how to determine how likely it was for others to be holding some of my flush outs, for any of my two pair outs to be good, whether I had any outs to take the low, etc.

I lated used Poker Tracker Omaha to look at everyone's equity, and it turns out I was the favorite, with 35.9% equity. UTG+1 had 25.2% with the nut low and second nut flush draw- her equity would have gone through the roof if I had folded. The BB had 26.9% with top pair and the nut low, and the SB had only 12% equity with the second nut low and middle pair.

According to Two Dimes, I'm in even better shape for the side pot, with 43.7% equity.

Of course, my equity versus the hands they actually had is only part of the story. Ideally, I'd want to know my equity versus the range of hands they could have, but that quickly becomes a nightmare to calculate in PLO8. but if someone had had, for instance, a set of 8's or 3's, my equity would have gone way down.

Labels: PLO8, poker, poker strategy, session review

Stumble It!