u had nfd & 2nd set, i'm pretty sure you were priced into whatever on the turn there...

Hello Wilson, nice to see your journey in PLO. I am one of the greek guys from TCH Spring (October-December 2022), the one with the big difficult name lol. Nice to see some pics from the poker room. Btw I am sure you don't need a coach to crush these games. Keep it up!

Oh, is this Eleftherios?? Or one of the others? I am going to grind at Legends tomorrow where the Greeks are putting in their hours this time around (and where the best Houston action is).

In any case, thank you so much for reaching out and I hope you are well!

It's impressive that you write it correctly! I know about Legend's juicy games but I preferred Spring as a more safety area. I am really fine and I will be back in USA soon but not in Texas this time.

Was looking forward to your Legends write-up as I saw you playing there over the weekend.

Yeah, I'm absolutely behind here. I've got a couple of sessions in at Legends since my last post, and I'm at Harry Reid right now about to fly back to Houston from my Vegas trip. I guess I'll go chronilogically here.

Last Saturday and Sunday, I decided to grind at Legends after avoiding the area in large part due to safety concerns. It is located in an area of downtown Houston that is quite rough. To my knowledge, this room still has the best action in Houston. A couple of mentors I have in the poker world each separately recommended that I make other rooms a part of my grinding routine instead of just grinding at TCH Spring while I'm in Houston.

I arrive Saturday morning at 9:45 AM. The mustard yellow walls and black finish don't do a lot in way of brightening up the dreary atmosphere in the room. It's not a dirty place by any means, but even the most jovial whale yucking it up at the table with a big stack would be overshadowed by the unmistakable aura of degeneracy and shadiness. Lee, the floor guy, says I have to wait a sec - the three tables are full. I step outside to the smoking patio to find three dudes and one of their girlfriends rolling a couple grams of weed into a Backwoods.

One of them catches me blatantly oogling. "What's good, potna?" They all glance over.

"They don't **** with y'all here about that?" I inquire.

"Naw. We keep it respectful and so do they," another one replies as he finishes up his rolling job.

Fair enough.

I head back in, and there is a seat ready for me. I sit at a table with three empty seats from players on break. Hmm...

Sure enough, five hands later, the gentlemen from outside emerge from the smoking patio doorway and all leisurely, stoned-ly, take their respective seats at the table. I'm in seat one. Of the three guys, only two appear to be playing loose. Sadly, these two each kept falling asleep at the table, so any loose play they would typically do was negated by their exhaustion and how high they were. I request a table change, but when I am finally moved, the table I end up at is even tighter than the original one.

"It's Sunday morning, dumbass," you're probably thinking. One of the Greeks in the stable grinding there had told me Sunday mornings were just as good as any other day. Mind you, we are talking about a place that has 5 PLO games going by noon on a weekday.

Sunday was better and felt much more like the TCH Spring game. Plenty of loose passive regulars and a few loose aggro guys that I'm quite comfortable playing against and exploiting.

I have As10s9d7d in the cutoff, $1100 in front of me. There is a $6 button straddle. It limps to UTG+2 who makes it $35. He has been raising over half of his hands preflop. I 3b to $115. I am doing this lightly in late position when s person who is raising too much raises in EP. Do I need to exclude suited A, connected xxx from this kind of play; do I need a stronger hand? Or is this something we can be happy about doing against someone raising pre too much from our position?



The floor and management were professional by all accounts, but I still have security concerns. In about 13 hours there, I only witnessed one altercation that required security. Two guys at a separate table were exchanging words and one of them stood up and was being held back by the floor manager. Of the five-man security team that seems to constantly be there, only one member was consistently inside, posted at the front. In this instance, I witnessed him watching this altercation occur, only to intervene when someone at another table shouted, "Security, what are you doing?"

I still don't feel great about playing here. It's 20 minutes further away from me than Spring and from what I have seen, the action isn't different enough to warrant this trip, even seldomly. These trips contributed to my string of losing sessions, but I am confident I'm not being nearsighted and would feel the same if I was up big.

I was just informed my plane has a 4 hour delay, so I'll be doing my Vegas write-up soon!

This is a 3b even against a normal raising range. It's a monster since it is blocking AA and unblocking KK, QQ and also plays fine against a 4-bet.

Hi, Cardiff - thanks. I think I may have initially done a poor job of constructing live opening ranges based on what I was learning from PLO Mastery when I first started playing, which directly applies to 100bb 6max online games. I have come to this conclusion recently reading old must-read Omaha threads. It's something I'll need to consider when studying.

Vegas was good to me this time around! I played $1/$2 $5 PLO at Wynn for a few sessions and profited around $1000 in each of them. Inadvertently, I arrived on the same weekend as a construction tech convention and spring break, as well as the beginning of March Madness. I must say this this is a great time for the poker tables. Any business conference plus some kind of holiday factored in makes for great action. However, I played my two biggest hands with a gentleman who mentioned he was a local. The first night, I have KdQx10d9x. I raise from late position. BB (local businessman) calls. A limper in UTG+1 also comes along. Flop is K105. It checks to me, and I lead for $30 into $46. The local businessman makes it $120. UTG+1 folds, and we call. Turn is a 10. He checks, and I bet $140 into $286. He calls. River is a 6. I've got about $500 behind, and I think his range is a lot of weak top pairs or K5, so I decide to target this range and lead for $200. He says, "Might as well play for it all," and shoves (he covers me). I snap call, and he snap responds, "I probably overplayed my aces again." We stack our chips as he gets up to take a break. Not 15 minutes later, he calls down three streets with AAxx again, only for the other guy in the hand to turn over QQxx for quads.

The next night, I decide to play $5/$5. There he is again! We exchange friendly banter and he mentions how he "was calling everything yesterday." I end up heads up in a double-board bomb pot with him. I have 4c5s6s7c. The boards are:

Js5d2s
3h4d7s

There is $200 in the middle, as there are 8 players and this is $25 bomb pot. Shay, a lovely older woman who claims to live in Hawaii but has been at Wynn nearly every time I've been to Vegas, leads for $200. She has been pretty active. The same guy from last night just calls. It folds to me, and I've got $1015 behind. I decide to pot it with the nuts on bottom and a weak fd on top, leaving $15. Shay folds, and the local puts two yellow Wynn $1K chips in the middle after thinking for a minute. We stick our last $15 in and see the following runouts:

Js5d2s7h10x
3h4d7s8с9с

So. I have 57 for two pair on top, and a 7-high straight on the bottom. We're golden on both boards!



Went to check out downtown during St. Patrick's Day. The people watching did not disappoint! Fun story:

Two guys a little younger than myself - maybe 23-25 - were at a Roulette wheel at The Golden Nugget. The employee operating the wheel was called Beaver according to his nametag. I am a mere fly on the wall smoking my vape pen and watching these two dudes interact with the highly eccentric Beaver. One of them says to the other, "Bro, I just realized... We need to hit the zeroes, bro. The green!" The other dude's face lights up as if all of life's mysteries just revealed themselves to him. Beaver mentions that he thinks the plan is brilliant. 4 rolls later, sure enough, these guys spike a green 0 with $20 on the number, and $20 on the (0-00) space, which is a $1050 win if I'm not mistaken. The dude that hatched the plan looks at the other one, both sloshed as all hell, and exclaims, "SAINT - PATTY'S - DAY - BAY - BEE!" and they're jumping around getting their mixed drinks everywhere. Good for them. Maybe I should switch to Roulette. Let me know if that has worked out for any of you.

I normally don't make it to downtown since nearly all of the poker action is elsewhere (aside from the uncapped $1/$2 at Golden Nugget). When I go, I usually just walk up and down the strip until I feel like eating or playing, then do that, and smoke the occasional joint. It's how I operate in Vegas and I really don't deviate. I think I will have to go less often, though, as the food prices on the strip are certainly not catered to people with my salary. Perhaps I just need to learn how to do Vegas cheap? In any case, $21 for a mid-tier sandwich and coke is complete ****.

I am so grateful for the three positive sessions while in Sin City. I hate that I needed them as a confidence booster, but I did. Back in Texas now, maintaining our studying goal, plank goal, and walking goal for March.

I indulged a bit in Vegas, however. Before you go, here's a mountain of pancakes and waffles of all kinds, as well as french toast, courtesy of Caesars Palace Breakfast Buffet. Hope everyone is having a nice week!

Nice thread!

few questions:

How do you compare plo games between Houston and Vegas?
Is there action on 1-2 or 2-5plo in Houston every day?
How deep the games are usually?
How often are those double boards?

Sorry i am from Europe and considering visiting both Vegas and Texas, so i know very little about the games there.

Thank you!

FWIW I have not been to Vegas since 2009, and I wasn't even playing PLO then. But everything I generally hear is that Vegas is terrible for poker when compared to places like Florida or Texas, except when a big series is happening like the WSOP.

One month since my last update. A family member of mine has had some health issues and I hate seeing them suffer and thinking about their mortality. Selfishly, it has greatly affected me. I have definitely played less within the past month because of this, both to spend time with them and not play so many hours when I may be off my game.





A few sporadic updates from the past 32 days:

- Was in a $7K pot earlier this month, my biggest spot in a good while (if not ever on my PLO journey). We were 73% on the turn when the money got in.



Villain took it down with 10x7x6d4d. It's just one pot, but worth mentioning, I thought.

- I'm playing a good amount in this pot-limit omaha club on PPPoker ran by the two YouTube guys I've mentioned ITT. Great freaking action. It's full ring, but not really boring. I like chatting with the guys in there while we fold and get called "The nit of the club."

- After a a little less than a year of not wanting to go due to safety concerns, I've decided to make grinding at Legends in Houston a part of my grind schedule. I head there every Sunday morning these days, and the action has always been spectacular. It's a nice treat to drive through downtown on an early morning. Rare are times where you'll find a drive in Houston so enjoyable.

- I have two booked trips to WSOP - June 7-11 to play in the $1K PLO event that weekend, and then back in July with plans to grind cash. The end of the July trip will mark one year that I've been grinding PLO cash. I've been feeling somewhat disappointed by my mixed results lately, but looking at the earlier posts in my blog has made me feel better. I still have a long way to go, but my bankroll and my understanding of the game have come a long way.

- I have been watching the hell out of two amazing PLO HU battles going on right now: Galfond vs. Jungle, and BERRI SWEET vs. AmSoGood. The thread for the latter and the HHs have been awesome. As for the former, of course it's so awesome seeing Phil battle Jungleman. Wish it took precedent over the Berkey and Airball crap, personally.

Non-poker updates: I got a raise at my job. Love being remote. Love working for a company who I feel respects and appreciates me. Went to NOLA with my gf and played at Harrah's one evening while she got ready (whoops, it's a poker update again).

Grateful for you checking out the thread, brother. I agree with Knish in that the games in Houston (and let's say Texas in general) are better than Vegas games. He mentions the cash grind is rough during tournament series, though, and I haven't found that to be the case. For example, when I was there in March, the Wynn had a tournament series, but I'm thinking it didn't effect the $5/$5 PLO game too much. Full of action. I can't really speak to how to PLO action is at WSOP since I've only played at one PLO cash table during my few years there, so anything I'd have to offer in that regard would just be anecdotal.

To answer your questions:

-Yup, games run every day. It's 9 AM and there are 3 $1/$3 PLO tables running at Legends here in Houston.

-Double board bomb pots occur every dealer change, so every 40 mins at most clubs.

-People have anywhere from $500-$3K on the table. I'd say these stack sizes are what is typical.

I'll be in Vegas June 6th-14th planning to play the Badugi, 8-max PLO and $3 Million Gtd Legends of Poker (subject to my not being in a Day 2 or 3 of a previous event of course) So looks like we'll both be in town around the same time

we might know each other

Who goes there? Love saying 'Hello' to folks I've played with before.

thanks a lot for the answer!! really appreciate it
owe you some beers if i come to houston

i read in few other threads that florida/texas are better then Vegas for PLO, i was a bit concerned about how many hours per day the games run there, but seems like its more then enough. Seems like accomodation is much cheaper too so it will be Texas or Florida in few months.


I ll keep following the thread, might post some more questions

thank you!

Have had multiple swings since my New Orleans update playing at TCH Spring, Legends, and in the YouTuber PPPoker club. My graph illustrates it perfectly:



My family member's health continues to show signs of deterioration and I am devastated. I would say it has affected the amount of hours I have played rather than put me off my mental game. I've been choosing nights of gaming, chilling, and socializing over poker over the past month or so. I feel fine when I'm at the table. I think I'm just a bit sad and less motivated to put in the hours. That said, my upcoming poker schedule is not light; along with WSOP 6/7, I'm planning to fire in multiple flights in the $400 PLO $100K GTD tournament next week at TCH Houston at their newest location downtown.

The current saturation of Houston poker clubs absolutely fascinates me. If you are standing in a given spot on Westheimer in downtown, you are a three minute drive from 5 clubs, and a seven minute drive from 7. River Room opened up earlier this year and has a beautiful interior; I heard a rumor that the owners invested $4.3M. They have a very large room in a nice area in downtown. Since they've opened, they've struggled to keep even a single $1/$3 table running. Champions Social, Houston's first hotel/poker room, has opened last week; you may have seen Hellmuth, Jungleman, and others on their first several livestreams. I am curious how they will fare down the road. Personally, I think the current established spots will prevail.

My two most memorable hands from early to mid May are one where I got owned, and one hand I thought was kinda silly:

A7A4ddhh in MP. UTG, a solid player, raises to $30 (BU straddle $6). I make it $110. 4 callers. Flop AQ10r, one heart. UTG checks to me. I decide to check here with three people behind. It checks around. Turn 9 completing rainbow. UTG bets $400. I think I have the best hand at the moment as he leads flop with KJxx. I call. Folds around. River K. UTG bets $1000 and I muck. He shows KKxx. "No jack, right?" I ask a few hands later. He nods and says he was going to bet any river except for a paired board. People don't really have the nuts in their checking range in that spot UTG on the flop with 4 people behind I don't think.

I have J1087r in late position. There's an early position raise to $30 and I'm one of the 3 callers. Flop comes JJ3hh and when checked to, I lead for $75. I only get one caller, an unknown older guy, from early position. Turn 9h. EP checks and I check behind. River is a beautiful 10x (have I been watching too many YouTube poker shorts with that kind of verbage? Probably). He checks, and I bet $125. He min raises to $250. I pot for about $500 more (I cover him). He tanks for a minute, then shows a 7 hi flush and mucks. Is this as simple as he thinks I am doing this with just a jack and he has underrepped his hand? I dunno if I should be giving him so much credit.

Last night I got asked by the richest $1/$3 PLO player at TCH Spring to play in his $5/$10/$25 game and stake me 55/45. He mentioned I didn't need to give action and I could be "my regular tight self." The stakes would of course be shot taking for me. Assuming I use two $5K buy-ins, do I reeeeeeally want to put about 1/5th of my roll on the line by playing in a game I may very well be outclassed in? It would also be the biggest stakes I've ever played. We'll see.

I'm trying things like daily cold showers and morning walks to stay alert during the day. With full admission it could be a placebo, I feel great and focused during the day. Hoping for a continued upswing as I head to Vegas. I'm definitely going to continue reviewing PLO MTTs before these few tournaments coming up.

Capping off a +$3500 week by celebrating a family member's graduation and going to a family brisket cookout. I think part of my mind has shifted gears in some ways and the other part of my mind doesn't know how to respond. That explains the more relaxing, lazy nights fully, I think. Not sure what to do. Just having a difficult time dealing with seeing someone deteriorate who for a long time I've naively thought of as invincible.

Wait, is he staking you 100% with a split of 55/45 or is he asking you to cover 55 or 45% of the buyin?

He's worried about putting 1/5th of his roll on the line, so clearly it's a buyin split.

Correct. I could have done better describing it. I was thinking at most I'd buy in for $5K twice, which would be $2500 of my own cash per each buy-in, so $5K, or 1/5th of the roll.

The 5/10/25 game didn't end up even running yesterday (not that I was planning to play). I doub't I'll ever follow through with this.

--

Wild hand last night. I have AA74ds, clubs and spades. $1525; I am the effective stack.

$6 BU straddle. This guy who had been raising 60% of hands makes it $30. Levi, a very strong player, makes it $100. I make it $340. call call

Flop 3d6c8c

Crazy guy checks. Levi leads for $500. I'm all in. crazy guy goes "bad call" and sticks his money in. Levi goes in the tank and eventually calls.

Levi has a K hi club draw with a pair of threes. Other guy doesnt reveal his hand. Turn 3h, crazy guy goes "Boat, ship it" turns over 8322. Don't remember the river. $4600 pot for him. He immediately clocks out and cashes out. -$800 last night.

This week, there will be SEVEN Day 1 flights for the PLO $100K Payday at TCH Houston. Flights are at 11 AM and 5 PM. My goal is to grind at least two of the 5 PM starts and hopefully make Day 2 this coming Thursday.

Oh that's gross that he immediately cashed out. I thought the nitwit calling $280 preflop with 3445 and then flopping a 5-high flush draw and chasing it only to go runner-runner steel wheel against me when I flop top two and turn the nut flush was gross, but 8322 I think is going to take the cake.

Hard to beat dumb luck and deep pockets

Played Day 1 C of the PokerAtlas PLO Payday and qualified for Day 2 on my first bullet. We have 171,500 chips (30k starting). Those who make Day 2 all receive $600, so technically we've cashed, but this is really just a bonus for making Day 2. There were 59 entries for 1 C and I was among the final 9. Heading back Thursday to fight for a nice share of $100K.

PLO Payday Day 2 went about as well as I could have hoped! Finished 15th of 439 entries this evening. In for four hundo, out for $2080. 15th was good for $1480 + the $600 bonus from the prize pool that everyone received that made the final day.

The one thing I feel I did well was extract value with weaker holdings on the river. I made two ok bluffs with nut blockers, but they felt mandatory. Nothing crazy or to be proud of. Other than that, while I'm of course happy with the result, my PLO tournament game needs work. I felt clueless with 20 bbs or less.



The win brings me to +$1100 so far this month. I'm really excited about wrapping up the WSOP in July as that will mark one year of grinding PLO, and I'll have a year full of interesting stats to review. Speaking of WSOP, I'll be there in two weeks. 6/8 is the $1K PLO 8 max. I'll be firing that and playing cash through that weekend.



Super grateful for the lucky result. Love to book another tournament win as it makes my stats look more green. The journey continues!