Hi,

I am fairly new to 2+2, but feel confident enough to start my first PGC thread.

A bit about me. I am a 33 year old Brit and work as a Commercial and Residential Property Lawyer. As such, I probably get to play maybe 6 hours a week tops. Like most, my introduction to poker was at a home game and it must have been about 5 years ago now. Plodded along playing home games for about 3 years, getting lucky but generally feel like I had an edge because I understood position.

About 2 years ago I decided to have a crack at internet poker. I actually did ok to begin with (insert picture of fish on a heater!) and ran up my £25.00 to about £60.00. I played around with tournaments mainly and a bit of sit and go. I played on Ladbrokes and the competition was fairly soft.

As expected, I ended up blowing that roll. It was all related to tilt. I would either play like a twit or simply load up roulette or blackjack and spank off the rest of the money after a bad beat.

Started taking poker seriously about a year ago. The first change I made was to move to pokerstars. This took away the instant ablity to move from poker to casino games. It has likely saved me at least $100. The competition is a little tougher, but it was still beatable.

The next move was to try out both PT3 and HEM2. I am at the point now where I need to purchase one of them. At first PT3 was a clear winner and then the more I used HEM2, the more I liked it. The problem is that I am hearing such good things about PT4, that it is making my decision difficult. If you get PT3 now, I think you get the upgrade to PT4 free. Decisions decisions.

Anyhow, after reading and reading all I could on micro NLHE, I put it into practice and made a steady profit. Took some out for bits and bobs and was sitting with about $60. The problem is that I am generally bored playing NLHE and had dabbled with PLO when playing at ladbrokes.

A week ago I shelved NLHE and moved to PLO. I now have a roll of $80, though todays session was up and down. I know PLO is swingy as hell, but it really is one hell of a rollercoaster! I have learnt to take bad beats from NLHE and think I have my tilt under control, so PLO should give me back the excitement I used to have for poker.

I hope this thread will serve two purposes. The first is that it will document my progress (both monetary and in terms of skill). The second is that I will get some constructive feedback on my play. None of my poker friends play PLO and the new chums I have made on here are all NLHE players as well.

I have a basic understanding of starting hands in PLO. I understand the importance of position (of course). I have a basic grasp of the maths, but it is the one area I really need to work on. Do I have the odds to chase this flush etc.

I am currently playing 3 tables at a time at 0.01/0.02. I tried to move up to 4, but it was a bit hectic.

I am going to set some realistic goals to begin with and then move on

Goals

[ ] play 2000 hands of PLO by the end of July
[ ] man up and make a decision on a HUD
[ ] get bank roll to $100 by end of July
[ ] every 3 days post 1 hand I played well, 1 hand I played badly and
one completely random hand from that days play

Would love to get some PLO players subbed for some feedback.

PLO is a cruel cruel bitch. Get Bugs' free guide to plo...the pdf is around.GL!!

First session under my belt and it was a frustrating one. Could not get anybody to stack off with less and everytime I went in with the 2nd nuts they of course had the nuts.

Bankroll $76.46
Loss $3.54

Hand 1 - Happy with how played (pretty easy with a boat on the flop!)

Poker Stars $0.01/$0.02 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 4 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $3.10
BB: $0.87
CO: $3.00
BTN: $1.57

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB with A A 2 8
CO raises to $0.06, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.05, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.18) 3 3 A (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, CO checks

Turn: ($0.18) 2 (3 players)
Hero bets $0.08, BB calls $0.08, CO folds

River: ($0.34) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.33, BB calls $0.33




Hand 2 - Random hand

Poker Stars $0.01/$0.02 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: $3.59
BB: $1.46
UTG: $1.80
MP: $2.36
CO: $0.54
Hero (BTN): $3.00

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN with K 7 K 4
1 fold, MP raises to $0.04, CO calls $0.04, Hero calls $0.04, 1 fold, BB calls $0.02

Flop: ($0.17) 2 T Q (4 players)
BB checks, MP bets $0.06, CO calls $0.06, Hero folds, BB raises to $0.16, MP folds, CO calls $0.10

Turn: ($0.55) A (2 players)
BB bets $0.32, CO folds

Welcome to PLO. 2nd nuts will lose you a ton of money in this game.

Played another shortish session last night to bag a small profit

So total stats are as follows:

Hands 286
Bankroll $77.40
Total Loss -$2.60

A quick hand I would like a point of view on.....was it too nitty to fold this? I don't feel like putting in half my stack on bottom set

Poker Stars $0.01/$0.02 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $1.76
SB: $4.58
Hero (BB): $3.10
UTG: $1.52
MP: $2.00
CO: $4.05

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB with 3 4 4 A
UTG raises to $0.07, 3 folds, SB calls $0.06, Hero calls $0.05

Flop: ($0.21) A 4 5 (3 players)
SB bets $0.08, Hero calls $0.08, UTG folds

Turn: ($0.37) 6 (2 players)
SB bets $0.36, Hero calls $0.36

River: ($1.09) J (2 players)
SB bets $1.05, Hero folds

gl op with your goals

i would fold that hand too

Another frustrating hour session in which I lost $0.45. No spots whatsoever.

Session Hands 237
Total Hands 518
Bank Roll $76.95
Profit / Loss -$3.05

As there was no hand I played particularly well or badly, i'll just pick a random hand. I am hoping that someone will pick something up in these random hands which is a leak

PokerStars - $0.02 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $4.81
Hero (BB): $3.32
UTG: $1.37
MP: $0.65
CO: $5.46
BTN: $0.98

SB posts SB $0.01, Hero posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has J Q A K

UTG calls $0.02, fold, CO raises to $0.08, BTN calls $0.08, fold, Hero calls $0.06, UTG calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.33, 4 players) T K 2
Hero bets $0.16, fold, fold, fold

Hero wins $0.32

Fold pre bro! horrible hand.

Another hour session and booked a small profit. Would have been more if not for the hand below....another 3rd nuts suck out. I only played it as I was in postion. Was well played by him I think though. I had him on Ace Flush, so went it, but was also muttering "please dont have kings, pleeeeeease".

Session Hands 142
Total Hands 669
Bank Roll $78.28
Profit / Loss -$1.72


PokerStars - $0.02 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $4.56
BB: $0.86
UTG: $1.87
CO: $4.29
Hero (BTN): $3.00

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has J T 5 J

fold, fold, Hero calls $0.02, fold, BB checks

Flop: ($0.05, 2 players) 6 6 8
BB checks, Hero bets $0.05, BB calls $0.05

Turn: ($0.15, 2 players) K
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($0.15, 2 players) J
BB bets $0.10, Hero raises to $0.35, BB raises to $0.79 and is all-in, Hero calls $0.44

imo just play 1 table at a time and give it your full focus. Work on getting your game correct before multiplying your tables. If you've leaks then you're just multiplying them by playing more tables. Take time to learn about odds, while it may not turn you into an instant genius, it will give you a better understanding of the game. You should also devote a good percentage of your time to study. I still go over hands after they've taken place or at the end of a session.

I'm not a good PLO player, I don't even know the rules of HiLo but it's a game I'd like to learn. NL is getting harder as more learn it. 5 years ago I was the shark at $25 STTs, now there are players of my ability or better at $3.50. My thinking is find a game you can exploit, PLO is one such game.

gl with your quest.

Thanks Ovalman.

Defo thinking PLO will be the "next big thing" and am hoping to have a head start.

Will start the grind of studying. I have read quite a lot about it through 2+2, but probably need to get a decent book asap.

Last session for today and won a buyin on the last 2 hands :-)

Session Hands 161
Total Hands 830
Bank Roll $81.97
Profit / Loss $1.97

This was the big win hand. Got slated in chat and I can understand why, but not sure how I should have played it. Should I be calling the turn and then getting away from the hand if I don't connect? Or was getting it in whilst I was ahead the correct move i.e. should I have shoved on the flop?

PokerStars - $0.02 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

CO: $8.65
BTN: $2.04
Hero (SB): $3.00
BB: $1.52
UTG: $2.05

Hero posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has 3 A 2 A

fold, CO calls $0.02, BTN raises to $0.06, Hero calls $0.05, BB raises to $0.26, CO calls $0.24, fold, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.84, 3 players) T Q A
Hero checks, BB checks, CO bets $0.22, Hero raises to $0.84, fold, CO calls $0.62

Turn: ($2.52, 2 players) 8
Hero bets $1.90 and is all-in, CO calls $1.90

River: ($6.32, 2 players) 8

Hero shows 3 A 2 A (Full House, Aces full of Eights) (Pre 50%, Flop 61%, Turn 23%)
CO shows 7 J 9 T (Straight, Queen High) (Pre 50%, Flop 39%, Turn 78%)
Hero wins $6.10

Above hand, I like your initial call in the SB, when it comes back to ya though I would reraise, we can get at least a third of our stack in, so we can decide on flop whether we wanna jam or not. When we call, the SPR is 3.5 which is okay I guess but pretty awkward. Flop, dont think I like the CR, not much worse is calling us, and we get it in vs KJ and flip. Id prefer calling.

Turn, jam is good, sucks he has J9


If you wanna discuss hands on Skype, send me a PM, I gotta PLO PGC thread too

Only a quick sesion tonight and again my wins came in the last 20 or so hands.

Session Hands 182
Total Hands 1008
Bank Roll $87.52
Profit / Loss $7.52

This was an interesting hand. I had absolutley no idea what hand this guy was repping. I had to check and re-check my hand and make sure I had the ace and that the board had not paired. Very odd move.

PokerStars - $0.02 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BTN): $3.00
SB: $1.54
BB: $3.49
UTG: $1.22

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has K A T 5

fold, Hero calls $0.02, SB calls $0.01, BB checks

Flop: ($0.06, 3 players) T Q 4
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $0.06, SB calls $0.06, fold

Turn: ($0.18, 2 players) 6
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($0.18, 2 players) K
SB bets $0.17, Hero raises to $0.34, SB raises to $0.51, Hero raises to $0.68, SB raises to $0.85, Hero raises to $2.72, SB calls $0.61 and is all-in



Here is a random hand....no feedback on these yet which I hope means that my opening range is right and and I folding / raising in the right spots

PokerStars - $0.02 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $1.64
Hero (BB): $3.24
UTG: $4.35
CO: $5.38
BTN: $1.84

SB posts SB $0.01, Hero posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has J 6 3 5

UTG calls $0.02, CO calls $0.02, BTN calls $0.02, fold, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.09, 4 players) 4 K 8
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.09, CO calls $0.09, fold, fold

Turn: ($0.27, 2 players) 7
UTG checks, CO bets $0.26, fold

Let's talk HUD stats. As a plo player, should I be changing my usual HUD stats of Vpip/pfr/foldc-bet/hands or do those hold up best in plo. My initial thoughts are that c-bet fold on flop is less important as people will float more with flush draws etc. Maybe fold to c-bet on turn is better?

Also, would you say vpip for a fish is over 35 or higher?