I'm a NL multi-tabler and I usually have a couple of tables of PLO8 open. I don't have PTO yet (!!) so no stats on villain, but he's been playing tight (I make a steady profit just playing tight). My reasoning here was "Well, the chance of two people having AAxx here is very low, so I'll push, even though I don't have a possible low helping me out in my hand, so therefore I should just get it in". Thoughts?

Party Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $/$
8 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $4.75
Hero: $0.60
MP1: $4.12
MP2: $07
CO: $0
Button: $90
SB: $94
BB: $50

Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is UTG+1 with A A K 9
UTG folds, Hero raises to $4.5, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, CO raises to $18.5, 3 folds, Hero raises to $60, MP2 folds, CO calls all-in $80.5, Hero calls.

Argh! Sentence no good! Me no can edit my OP, WTF???

i think you really need a read. i've seen players reraise w/ A23x or even janky KKxx hands. on the other hand, others will only reraise pf with AA2x or AA3x.

given your flush draw and your K, i'd be happy to get it all in pf barring a read on villain as tight. that being said, i'd like it better if the nine was any low card.

I will usually only go to the felt preflop with AA and a wheel card your opponent gets too much value if they have any possible low and if he has AAX any low you are in trouble and likely to get quartered or worse

I often limp AAXXs (w/o wheel card) and play it for set/broadway/flush value, much the same as other big pairs, I'm looking to catch and trap here. Meanwhile, that is protection from AAXW raising wars. Not to say you played it wrong...

Actually I feel a limp here is the "PokerStars way", as the site is more passive in general than Party Poker at most stakes. Specifically at $50-$200 levels.

Thoughts from other regulars?

dont take this offensively.

this is terrible.

you'd be better off folding for a single BB than playing it this way.

limp this hand and play it for the nuts.

this hand is basically [censored].


a good example of how bad this hand is- it's not much better than KK94, other than you hold two key cards in O8.

i fold to the raise here PF.

AA2x would be well played in this spot this way, but why would you ever want to risk your whole stack on a hand that has no low potential, and hardly any high potential, too? i.e., you're only a slight favorite over J-10-9-8 DS.

that being said, the hands I play all-in with PF have you bent over the table and biting the felt if you come at me with this hand.




next time limp, and remember this isnt hold'em....AA is one pair that sucks PF without a wheel card.

hmm. I'm a bit confused. when I started plo8 after plo, I decided that aces with no low was nothing to go to war with pf, b/c it's easy to be behind a raggedy hand with a low. but now I just ran a bunch more hands and AAbb seems to do better than I was thinking. now I don't know what to think.

cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
As Ac 9c Kh 188158 307625 192375 0 0 0 0 0.496
2s 5c 8d 4h 192375 192375 307625 0 269325 0 0 0.504

cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
As Ac 9c Kh 170434 302690 197310 0 0 0 0 0.473
2s 5c Th 6h 197310 197310 302690 0 248103 0 0 0.527

cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
As Ac 9c Kh 168383 310437 189563 0 0 0 0 0.479
Qs 5c 8d 4h 189563 189563 310437 0 247256 0 0 0.521

cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
As Ac 9c Kh 195093 309438 190477 85 0 0 0 0.505
Qs 5c Td 4h 190477 190477 309438 85 180198 0 0 0.495

cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
As Ac 9c Kh 184343 291817 208108 75 0 0 0 0.476
Qs 4s 5c Td 208108 208108 291817 75 180244 0 0 0.524

cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
As Ac 9c Kh 183067 321578 178347 75 0 0 0 0.505
8s 5c Qd Jh 178347 178347 321578 75 180130 0 0 0.495

cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
As Ac 9c Kh 193057 328526 171474 0 0 0 0 0.522
4s 5c 8d 8h 171474 171474 328526 0 236864 0 0 0.478

cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
As Ac 9c Kh 224133 342198 157802 0 0 0 0 0.566
4s 5c Qd Qh 157802 157802 342198 0 180222 0 0 0.434

cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
As Ac 9c Kh 169881 337730 160444 1826 0 0 0 0.509
4s Qd Ah 6h 160444 160444 337730 1826 266814 0 0 0.491

edit: well I got carried away running crappy hands just to see. now remembering that they like their hand too to go to the second raise or more, then yeah aces no low looks pretty bad.

I don't at all - I totally agree! In hindsight I thought it was totally [censored] too, but wanted opinions here too. Like I said my reasoning was simply:

Basically I though I was a slight dog at most with some folding equity (again in hindsight I probably had very very very little folding equity here, right?)

Preflop I was biting the felt hard, which was bad enough, but the next five cards made me spew all over the table! Villain showed AA78 single suited, and - get this - hit his low plus a 7 and and 8 for a two pair high to scoop the pot.

Anyway I deserved it. It was a relatively cheap instruction in the counter-intuitive preflop equity distribution of Omaha8. Thanks for the advice guys. My respect for the low has just skyrocketed.

wait till you have AA56 vs. AA78
on 226 board and end up with nothing,
then cry about AA78 beating you.

It only takes a few preflop all ins and losses to realize that the hand values are really close before you see the flop. If you limp this hand and then call the raise to see the flop, you can trap a habitual continuation bettor easily if you flop well. That is my most profitable play at the lower limits on Party.

I did not know you had a profitable play