Hey everyone,

I started playing NLHE full time in November and began hearing the siren's call that is PLO. I read Jeff Hwang's PLO book but was curious what people thought about how to learn the game from scratch without dumping thousands of dollars in buy ins. I've only had about 10 hours at 5/5 PLO ($1000 buy in, can match the biggest stack after that) and that game can play much bigger than my Holdem bankroll could sustain. We also run a 1/2 PLO with $200 max buy in (no matching big stacks) but that was worse than 1/2 NLHE in my experience. No one folds to any preflop bet, too many players who can barely read their hand/board so the game just slows to a crawl.

So my current strategy was just wait for a 'light' must move table that wasn't full of regs and get some seat time and play tight (I'm naturally tight/nitty). I also wanted to see if this forum was open to a super beginner's questions.

From the poker room chatter it seems like the skill gap in PLO is much bigger than holdem, which is intriguing. Obviously, the variance is higher so that makes me nervous.

Here's an example of not knowing what to do:

Button straddle to $10 is on and I'm in the blind. I complete with

K7QJ
I call the $5 to me and will fold to any raise. 5 players to the flop and Hero has $600 and is covered by main V.

Flop ($50) J35
I bet out pot and folds to V in MP who raises to $175. I've seen this V get annoyed when he potted preflop with AK34ds and get drawn out on by an Indian guy who calls with just about anything. No other real reads.

Hero? What should I be thinking about here to make my decision? I feel like a call commits me and I'm not loving it. I suppose I could smooth and then fold any paired turn. Should I even bet out here? Just check call?

From the little I've played I've seen players commit with HORRIBLE hands, but having second nuts with no redraw with pressure makes me a little nervous.

Thanks everyone. And if you don't feel like having n00b questions just let me know and I'll look somewhere else.

Marsh

Fold pre, check the flop. If you must bet, then bet much smaller. As played you should fold, going broke in a limped in pot here would be a substantial mistake.

I dont like leading out here, you put yourself in a really bad spot when you get raised and youre just inflating a pot. Basically you have to decide against this villain if you're willing to get it in. He's either gonna gave the nuts or dry ace and you're gonna pay to find out, this is why i check here.

Despite this being a small game, I would love to play in a game with players who never fold preflop, and can barely read their hand. Sign me up.

This, exactly.

Also, I love the sound of your 1/2 PLO game

Only way to learn PLO is to read, study, and play, which you seem to be doing. Tighten up pre-flop, too, until you are more sure of yourself and your game. This hand should always be folded here.

Your hand isn't strong enough to play for stacks, so your goal should be to win a small pot and avoid losing a big pot. As you become more experienced, you will realize that sometimes a check-fold line is correct in this spot.