Sunday, May 30, 2010

Anatomy of a PLO game

Here are some interesting hands from a deep-stacked PLO game I played earlier today. This was at low stakes, obviously, but it was a good opportunity to shake off some rust as I shift attention away from tournament poker back to the cash games. The mixed games are still my bread-and-butter, but today I felt like something fast-paced, which Omaha definitely is!

Hand #1: Backing into two pair



This guy could have had anything. It turned out he had two club blockers and luckboxed his way to a mediocre two pair hand, which I was able to vanquish.

Hand #2: Value-betting a straight



Pretty trivial spot. I love the power of position.

Hand #3: Folding a set



I was probably priced in to call off my stack hoping to boat up. I had one of my outs in my hand and this led me to wuss out and fold (incorrectly I would guess).

Hand #4: Losing the minimum with a premium draw



Villain pretty much has to have me beat on the flop given this action. I was happy to take free cards for the chance to go to valuetown if I made a better hand.

The following three hands had me squaring off with a particular villain. His play led me to believe I should give him action, but he was very transparent with made hands, as we'll see below.

Hand #5: Folding the nut flush



I got too cute here. I should have led right out on the turn with the nuts. Check-folding the river was painful but necessary.

Hand #6: Overplaying a draw



I was still steaming a little from Hand #6 and decided to gamble against what was pretty obviously a set of queens. I didn't get there.

Hand #7: Getting even with trips



Given the last two hands against this villain I absolutely cannot fold here.

Hand #8: Snapping off bare aces



I like to have a little more equity on the flop but I was more than willing to get it in given all the possibilities I had to improve. I probably should have waited until the turn to get it in.

Hand #9: Properly played aces



I'm willing to pay off against the miracle quad fives. Villain is much more likely to have a big pair in the hole.

Hand #10: Letting the new table maniac bet for you



If I had been certain he only had two pair and would pay off a raise, I would have re-popped it. But I chickened out in case he had the straight. If I had felt like pushing the action I could have given more action on the turn with the nut flush draw and an overpair.

Hand #11: My boat is bigger than yours



Given my recent run of cards people were looking me up with inferior values.

Hand #12: Missing my freeroll



The final hand of our session. The Austrian villain was seduced by the quantity of crappy draws he had and avoided a lot of disaster cards by making a nut straight right along with me. This hand more than anything illustrates the beauty of a superior hand structure where you can dominate someone's draws.

I happily booked a +4 buy-in win for the session and will be back for more, once I've fixed a few leaks that have revealed themselves (see in particular Hands 3, 5, and 6) from this session review.

4 comments:

DrChako said...

Hand #5: I agree - you should have pushed all in there. Since you didn't, how are you certain he has a set (and therefore the FH on the river)? What is the likely hood of him not betting out (to see if his set it good) when the 3rd club hits the turn? You didn't play this hand like you had the flush. You played it like you had AAxx. Heck, you could also be advertising KK with a flopped top set. Your check could have been fear of the turn, too.

I think I'm calling that river.

-DrC

-DrC

Shrike said...

Doc: this particular villain always played sets fast on the flop (see Hands 6 & 7; there were others prior to this where I wasn't directly involved which factored into my decision). He was good enough to check back a scary turn, or so I figured. I'm willing to be bluffed occasionally in Omaha and fold the best hand. I was *this close* to calling to make him show me a boat.

Memphis MOJO said...

Omaha-8 is so much fun. It's hard to fold because you always seem to have outs!

Shrike said...

MOJO: whilst PLO8 is probably my favourite game (Stud 8/b is the other strong candidate), the hands I've posted were from a straight PLO high game.

Split pot games are awesome, but this was a deliberate choice by me to mix up my game selection routine.