Ok, i'm just not seeing any point in 3betting with AArags. When I do it, if the pot is 3 way, it's almost impossible to be ahead, unless the flop is ultra dry.

If I'm HU, the flop is dry and they'll fold. They're calling me with at least two pair, or a pair + open ended, which gives them around 55-45. Running the equities, I don't see any point in 3betting. They always put me on AA (even though I 3 bet other stuff too). So why 3bet if most of the times I'll check/fold?

Some hands:



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In this hand, villain was a maniac (90,90, 100% of 3bet), so I'd shove any flop anyways.




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[converted_hand][hand_history]Poker Stars, $0.02/$0.05 Pot Limit Omaha Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #10469102

CO: $10.34 (206.8 bb)
BTN: $6.57 (131.4 bb)
SB: $5.16 (103.2 bb)
BB: $8 (160 bb)
Hero (UTG): $6.27 (125.4 bb)
MP: $8.26 (165.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 5 9 A A
Hero calls $0.05, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.05, SB folds, BB raises to $0.22, Hero raises to $0.73, BTN folds, BB calls $0.51

Flop: ($1.53) 5 7 T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.46, BB raises to $5.84, ???????

Once I get check-raised here... Insta fold?

Hand 1 is standard. If you were full stacked or deeper I wouldn't 3bet.

Hand 2 is very bad. Your limp is terrible if your opponent is 3betting 100%, you should open and allow him to 3bet and then come back over the top with a 4bet to get most of your stack in.

Hand 3 is also very bad. You should open-raise rather than limp-re-raise except in extraordinary circumstances - this isn't one of them.

Was gonna write an answer, then realized what I was saying was essentially:

I agree with Roy.


The only thing I'll say is what are your usual limping and raising ranges UTG? Although the optimal play here is to open with a raise, if you only ever do that UTG with aces then I think it is better to limp in. Having said that, if that is the case, open up your raising range. Assuming you are playing 'correctly', Roy is spot on, as usual.

I don't think any of the flops are really good ones to be donking on since your OOP 3 betting ranges presumably consists of just AAxx hands (stop doing that btw without a premium ace hand or if you're against a shorty) and high premium rundowns. Your range almost totally misses all 3 flops and your opponents might know (perhaps I'm giving them too much credit at this level) that the most you can have is an overpair and, in the case of the latter 2, a NFD.

Yeah I was going to mention that too in my post but basically just couldn't be bothered - it's a very good point though that the worst thing of all is to only raise AAxx and limp everything else. Ideally you should raise AAxx + many other hands, but if you're limping everything else, you should also limped aces. Basically just echoing what you're saying here but I think it's something most people don't think about enough (this particular spot is very black and white but when you get into areas of 3betting ranges and especially 4betting ranges, people tend to diverge back towards cut and dry situations of raising only AAxx and flatting everything else, which is still bad - just less obviously so).

Since my main game is NLHE, I used to never limp. Then as studied foruns, vids and stuff, I realized in PLO it's ok to limp, specially oop, or IP if there are a lot of limpers. So I'm not only limping AA, and I'm opening many more hands in position.

Anyways, if the AAs have other good cards I raise. If it's rags I see no point in raising, since Ill be OOP against tons of guys and basically playing for a set.

Are you limp-raising any other hands than AAxx? If not, you fall into the same trap as discussed above.

I'm going to have to disagree with those who faulted limp reraising with AAxx...but only if you're limp reraising with other hands too.

I feel limp reraising with a few types of hands is useful to limit the field and take control of the action. I'll do it with 3456 dbl sooted with the board coming A103 and fire the barrel as I would if I actually had AAxx. I'll fire it when I actually do have AAxx. Meaning in both cases i'm applying the pressure and the opponents will have to figure me out.

In your examples, I would not do what you did post flop in any of the situations. In the first hand, I'm thinking "I missed, what are cards that can improve my hand? What hand types can he have? If I bet and get reraised what will I do?" Well, any club (even if it pairs the board), a 10 or an 8, and obviously the 2 aces improve my hand. Only the 2 aces improve me above anything else that's out there. If I bet and get reraised, I hate making the call as now the pots really inflated and unless a club hits the turn, I'm a dog to a lot of what he's reraising with. To me, I often see people pot this board with AAxx and I'm holding 79xx and I'm willing to go to the river with them because if I have 79xx in my hand the xx are usually straight draw outs whereas they'll need to improve a lot to out race me. And if you're only limp reraising with AAxx, I'm purposely playing hands that play better against AAxx in the hopes that if I hit, you'll pay me off and if I miss, I won't touch your hand. At low stakes this strategy has worked well for me.

But back to you in this hand...what's wrong with checking here? Your aces are bluff catchers, imo, and not much more. I'd go with reads on your opponent. Some people will bet straight draws, some will bet hands like TTxx+, and others will bet 2 pair or better. But how much your opponent bets will give you a good deal of information relative to how they've played other hands. If I have no reads on opponents in situations like this, I'll c/f. Reason is, all I have are two aces and I haven't the foggiest what he has. I know I'll get in better spots later on and I'd much rather have a better idea of what he has and my odds of beating his hand than no reads at all.

With reads, I might c/r or c/c depending on the opponent. I'd also consider how I've been playing my monsters. Have I been c/r or betting out strong on flops? That would influence my flop betting decisions a lot. But I really hate the pot bet here as you increase the size of the bet and it really looks like you want the hand to end right away.
the only thing you can beat are TTxx+ hands that don't have straight outs. Unless the player is thinking this is NLHE, you're going to lose a lot.

In the first hand, if you had hit your A would you have still pot bet? I don't think you would and if your opponent has been paying attention he'd see your pot bet as weakness and pounce.

But pre, I like the limp reraise because it limits the field and I like limiting the field in omaha with AAxx hands that aren't double sooted AND coordinated. But if you limp reraise with a variety of hands very difficult for opponents to put you on the right range. But if you only limp reraise with AAxx or KKxx I'd love to be at your table.

Thanks for the kind response. I definetly have to improve the way I play aces. I'm bleeding money when I play them, as my PT3 tells. (1 buy-in UP in 159 hands)

Also, disagreeing with Ron generally makes you wrong.

*Roy, whoops, my bad, no idea how that happened.