check or bet?

Betting is fine. Obviously fold to a raise and don't put in any more money on the river. If you check behind, villain will probably fire river and you'll have to fold. I think the 2 is a good card for you considering how much people like to chase with bare A2. If on the other hand a 3 hit, giving you 2 pair, I'd be more inclined to check behind and hope to boat up (though you could bet/fold that as well if you want to stay aggressive).

when I bet i thought it's not like I can't have a real hand here, i can easily have A3 or A4 +hearts or a pair or even better. and i thought he def could've counterfeited a2 there.

i thought if he has counterfeited A2 then i am gonna win the pot if i check and he doesn't spike a better two pair. but he could also catch another low card to get the low and i get put in a really crap spot if i check and then he bets the river.

on the other hand i am firing a huge bet when i could be getting totally freerolled. the problem is if i don't bet huge then it looks different from when i do have a huge hand.

on the flop i am planning to bet turns with any board pair or high card or A, this 2 caught me off guard.

I'm nearly always betting here. Basic rule of aggressive play - he's calling I'm betting, until he gives me a reason not to.

Digging up old hands #1.

Let's talk bet sizing this hand.

I think betting the turn is good, but sizing is another matter. I'd check the flop btw.

Got excited thinking there were PLO8 Rush tables running in the UK then, then I noticed it was an old hand :-(

What sizing do you think is best?

I agree with this now. At the time I was thinking I have top pair so I should bet, but actually on this type of board I will get a lot of calls and I don't really want any action. Looking back, I don't really mind giving a free card to beat me because I don't have much of a hand anyway. There's also plenty of draws that are ahead of my hand.

Going back to how I was thinking at the time, I remember thinking that I was trying to avoid betting on 2-low flops in general because these are usually terrible flops to bluff.

Looks like I wasn't following my plan through.

I think potting is ok, since you are so deep. To me, the question is not as much "how much to bet with this exact hand here?" but how much to bet with whole range. On the larger side should be better, like 70-100% of the pot (mainly due to stack depth).

It's more like if you cbet with such a merged range, you will be cbetting too much. You probably also can't profitably cbet 100% of the time, so you need to find some decent hands to check back with, otherwise he can profitably bet 100% of the turns against your check backs.

This is a hand that can continue on nearly all turns and you aren't really pushing a lot of equity if betting the flop, like you noticed. This actual hand is also in trouble when check/raised.

Is a turn check okay here? Or is that a mistake?

I think it's just a mistake. You are capping your range and villain can bet the river profitably. Hand plays much better as a bet intending to check back many rivers. We even have a 3 blocking nut low.

Any reads/notes on opponent??

Hey Dave! Nice to read you again. I wondered what had happened to you.

Buzz

Thanks Buzz! I have not played much poker since Black Friday (I went on a massive losing streak by then, playing high stakes heads-up PLO8). I am playing very low stakes PLO (high) online again now that online poker has returned to NJ. Hopefully my game has matured a bit since then.

Hi dave

Been a long time

Nope, no reads, can't remember this hand at all

It is very important to make notes of your opponents. Looks like betting is much better than checking behind here, could easily be an "orphan pot".

I don't like the flop bet but as played perfect card to barrel on the turn.