Midstake NL player here and starting to dabble a bit at PLO, but what I have very hard time is learning preflop hand not sure what's the most efficient way to study it.

Is there some software that lets you easily browse hands that in top x% of starting hands etc? Or how would you guys suggest learning preflop?

Also, is there some quick tool to check eg. what % of hands Qc7d7s3d is?

Poker Juice + Odds Oracle. Then google, "pokerjuice download ranges".

search plo from scratch if you don't want to invest money in studying preflop.

Hi doctor877, I'd recommend my streams on twitch, planning to make one today! You'll see tools that I use for preflop decisions, that are great for novices.

As per the question: I know people just download pokerjuice's ranges and just "unfold" them in OddsOracle just as .isolated posted.

This might have some benefits (to build a basis), but in reality I think that you should have a general idea of what type of hand suits to specific situation on the table. Especially, if you are going to play zoom-tables, where the table is different every time. Eg, I may fold a top-8% hand from UTG and open a top-25% hand from UTG just because the tables were different, and my total RFI UTG will be 17%.

Also, you may check the hand ranking here http://propokertools.com/simulations just enter a hand and press rank )

That ranking isn't worth as much as it's my understanding that the PJ + OO combo orders the hands in playability and hands you should actually play instead of just raw equity that PPT uses.

For UTG and MP you are right. But in CO, BTN and SB the ranges are already wide enough to play according to rating. At least for these positions it won't be a mistake for novice players to open hands simply according to their rating (surely, you need to mind who sits after you and act accordingly).

Well this is obvious. Same thing for preflop ranges in NLHE. These are baselines and we deviate from them depending on table conditions. I think that's incredibly basic, logical, and doesn't even need to be stated especially to a player who plays midstakes NLHE (OP).

Read Hwang, read slotboom, then watch isildur spewing on full tilt to antonious/ivey etc.

Play ability directly correlates with raw equity, I can agree with the notion that some hands operate on conjecture better (it doesn't matter what he has here because i've got a little of everything hurrr durr), prettier/lower ranked hands are only stronger than better PPT ranked hands to the novice.

PLO preflop is insanely complex but most don't understand or they choose to neglect the basic principles because they are basically deluded at the same time by the insane amount of variance.

There are alot of sub 50% hands that have widespread deck ownership without domination of that part of the deck, ie 8653ds, but it really is a **** hand unless you have a niche to exploit... I take AK99r over it in general but the relationship between equities is hugely dynamic in plo, i;e the ranking of hands changes depending on opponent ranges. Then nuts on the flop iosn't even the nuts alot of the time i.e J822r on 79T is a dog to TTKQ +FD, this applies preflop also, amount of players int he pot is a huge factor in altering the value/rank of a hand.

PJ-ranges are based on stats of winning players. PPT-ranges are only hands ranked by raw preflop equity.

Thems is the gems right there. PLO hand rankings are almost PURELY dependent upon the ranges of your opponents; this is especially true of heads-up scenarios, and thinking along these lines will lead you to make better decisions as far as when to enter a pot that has been opened. When deciding whether or not to enter a pot, this dynamism of hand strength is the big difference between NL and PLO.

Just as a simple example: You're on the button, and your opponent potted UTG. In this situation, 4678 low-rundown type hands would be much more preferable than AKQJ or AQJT type hands (forget suits for now) since your opponent will have a lot of AA, KK, and some QQ in their range.
Now let's say you are still the button but the opener is the cutoff, well now the higher card rundowns become much more appealing than the lower rundowns since the CO is opening so wide and you are likely to be crushing his range.

Good preflop play in PLO is all about thinking along these lines.

If I'm on the BTN and somebody opened for pot from UTG (I guess, you mean that UTG range should be tighter), I'd still prefer to have bigger cards than smaller. If I have bigger cards and UTG opened the squeezes won't be that often. And on certain boards which UTG will attack I will have the ability to pot-controll and still win, and on the lower boards I can represent the hit, as UTG won't be able to fight back often. Also PLO HI is about making nutty hands, especially in multiways, and BB will jump in quite often. So I really cannot get the passion for a lower rundown in your example.

You are scared with AKQJ against and open from UTG? I usually 3bet if it is at least ss in this spot. Or what kind of range does your UTG have? 5%?

I'm not unhappy with a high rundown, but it doesn't have much more value imo than a low rundown in that specific spot.

Since it's close though, that was probably a bad example. Let's say a hand like a big, non-AA pair vs a low rundown. There are spots where the big pair is preferable, and other spots (like being on button vs UTG open) where I would rather a rundown.

passiv, well, again, if you have a big distance you may filter your database for different situations, like above mentioned cold call on the BU, and then check the Hand Groupings Omaha report in HM2. I am pretty sure that low rundowns will suck very often.

For starters you might check http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/38...-6max-1227072/

After you master this start playing with PJ ranges. I think this might be the easiest transition there is.

Truth be told AVO I don't use a HUD, which I plan on changing when I have the time in the near future. On an off note, would you recommend PT or HM?
Also, what did you mean by a big distance?

I just feel like low rundowns play better vs a tight UTG opening range than do high-card rundowns. With highcard rundowns, unless you make a straight or a boat, you cannot play your hand with a lot of confidence. Now I know being in position means you don't need as much confidence in your hand strength post-flop(getting to cheap showdowns and such as people mentioned), but I just enjoy having equity on the low flops where I'm putting in small raises, more chance of getting paid with trips on the small boards, all these built-in small advantages that allow me to play my hand more profitably in a lot of spots.

Also, not having reverse-implied odds of top pair vs top set (or 2 pair vs a set) and putting in a bunch of money drawing very thin.

out of interest whats your stream link?

passiv, I have both hm2 and pt4. My imho is HM and Notecaddy are much better. I find HM filters to be more convenient. PT might need less hardware performance, but HM runs smoothly on modern PCs if properly configured.

Distances should be really big, like hundreds of thousand hands.

gdaviez, hope you have found it by now.

I was just about to comment saying nope not really been looking, then i noticed the hidden gem