4 cards are better than two? Detroit - Day One

Coming to Detroit made us want to try something new. Sure we could sit there and grind the 2/5, but that would be boring! I needed a day of change and played 2/5 half PLO and half NLH. Also casino hopped and played some 1/3/5 sometimes 10 PLO over at MGM next door. Here are some hands.

In one of the most loose passive games I’ve ever played (are all PLO games like this?) we see a limp, a raise from a whale to 25, and two calls in the field. We look down at KK97 in the BB and pot it to 135. We get one call and the flop comes J86. We check, and whale checks back. The turn is the gin card, the 5. We wager 275, and he jams for 865 total. We snap it off and are good.

This was the only interesting hand we played at our first venue. Dwindled down just losing call lots that never got to the river in both PLO and NLH and left with a small profit.

After that, we switched and looked next door to MGM. MGM is literally 100000 times nicer than Motor City. If the bad beat jackpot wasn’t over 1 million I don’t understand why anyone would be playing there.

In our first interesting hand at MGM, there’s a button straddle to 10, SB limps, BB makes it 45. We pop it to 160 (1500)in MP with KKQ4. The BTN cold calls(1000), and the SB calls as well with 90 behind.

The flop comes T76. The SB jams his final 90, we call, and the BTN jams. Is this played fine? BTN ended up having a set obv (lol at cold calling with 7744. Idk seems bad? Still trying to learn this game!)

Next up, we see a limp, and we raise AA78 to 25. It ends up going 3 way. We see a check, and we wager 60. The player behind fold, and the checker calls. The turn is the 3 and he leads 200 with 1k behind. We make the fold.

Next up, we see an open to 15 from a nit, and decide to just flat AA23. It folds to the SB who 3bets to 75. The original raiser just calls and we go 300. The SB and original raiser both call.

We go to a flop of K68 and the SB just jams for 600. The original raiser folds, and we end up just folding. I feel like this is a mistake, but it just felt so much like KK?

In our final hand we BTN straddle, and see three limps to us. We make it 55 to go with AAK2 and everyone calls.

The flop comes T36. Two short stacks check to a young reg in MP who wagers 140, with 355 behind. We jam, the checked fold ad he tank calls with T3xx, and holds.

Would appreciate any and all PLO feedback. I’m sure some of these are misplayed, as we are learning!

glgl all!





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Whoops,

The flop on the AA78 hand was

62:diamond5


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Two Card Omaha

If you’ve ever listened to Joey Ingram’s podcast you may have heard to him refer to NHL as two card Omaha. I’m not sure why but I always find little things/sayings like that hilarious. Anyway, it seems like a fitting title as for the past few days in Detroit we’ve played a bit of both games. Went on a bit of a heater to start the trip but have come back down to life a bit. Overall, been a super fun trip and we were able to make some $$.

In our first interesting hand we have a BTN straddle, and the BB makes it 35 to go in PLO. There’s a call, and we decide to make the call with KQ99 in MP. The CO and BTN call and we go to a 5 way flop of KK7. It checks to us and we decide to check. In such a bloated pot and most stacks being between 100-150bb this seems like a fine spot to check. It ends up checking through and we see the T on the turn. It checks to us again and this time we fire 125. We see one call from a player with 75 behind, and everyone else folds. The river is the 4 and we jam the last 75. He tank/calls and says ‘K is good’ we are good.

Later on, we’re not playing 2 card omaha when our table is called for the splash pot. Alright sick, there’s 50 in the middle, and we look down at KK. We’re UTG 5 handed and we open to 55. The CO calls, and the BTN jams for 292. We rejam, and the CO calls as well and were AIPF for a $950 pot against A9o and T8o.

The board runs out QT387 and we lose.

In our next interesting hand we’re first to act in the SB because of the BTN straddle, and we open KJ to 35. We go 4 way to a flop of AJ8. The flop checks through and the turn is the T. We check, the player who won the last hand with T8o wagers 80, and the other two fold to us. We make the call and see the lovely 4 on the river. We lead for 160 and he tank calls with KK.

Next up we overlimp 22 in the HJ, and go 6 way to a flop of K2J. It checks to us and we fire 25. The CO and a limper from MP call. The turn is the J, and when MP checks to us we fire 80 this time. The CO jams for 275, MP folds, and we make the call. The river is the K and we lose to AJo

After getting our asses handed to us in that game, the PLO game looked awesome so we get into it. In hand that is straddles and has 4 limps we pot it pre to 65 with AA26. We go heads up to a flop of A23. A losing rec pots, and we jam for 450 total. He snaps it off with naked hearts, KT85 and gets there when the board runs out T4.

Feeling a bit demoralized and. It being able to win in any of our big spots today we call it an night.

glglgl all!



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Gross spots man. My buddy Lotgrinder has been telling the PLO action is amazing in Detroit. Keep your head up, seems like the money is up for grabs if you can stomach the insane variance!

It was awesome. In my limited PLO experience, this was by far the best games I've played in. Every hand was straddled + 6 to the flop no matter the raise size

2017 Review:

2017 was a year to remember for me. It was not only my best year yet $ wise, but I was pleased with myself for not getting complacent, and continuing to study & improve during the upswings. It's really easy to say **** it, I'm having a good year, let's relax and just play. Without a doubt I ran above expectation. With recreational hours, it's tough to get a real sample, especially in one year. But I hope it's the start of good things to come.

I had set out to complete two goals this year (July-Dec):

• Play in 10 New Rooms

• Be in the green

I am happy to say I accomplished both. I was able to visit & play in 11 new rooms, I hadn't yet played in.

I put in an admirable 739 hours for a recreational player, 630 of which came at the 2/5 level.

2018 Plans:

• Increase Social Media Presense

• Launch My New Website

• Play in 10 New Rooms

• Stay in the GREEN!

739 hrs is solid, gl in 2018!

• More 5/10 :P
• Solidify yourself as best chipporn poster in PGC

GG on a sick year man, has been cool following your journey so far! All the best.

Thanks PA!

Bro you know me better than myself.... well said. Both of those have been added to goals

Not going to do a $ amount. I have graphs, but I do not want to post them. It feels weird to me.

Anyways,

2017 Stats:
739 hours played
8390 BB’s won

For 11.3 bb/hr.

gl on the felt this year all

Very sick hourly for someone who calls themselves a recreational! Good stuff M8!

in for live plo hands <3 The game is so much more fun than nlhe, in Europe where I play many poker rooms run more plo than nlhe tables. It is also still incredibly soft, since there arent many good live plo regs (yet).

As for the hands you posted, I feel like you could benefit from depositing to play some small stakes online, your instincts seem to be good, but getting in some volume will make you more confident about your decisions. Still, as long as you keep building big pots pre with big pairs and high cards, you are going to do just fine.

Here’s to running over EV again in 2018! Seriously, thanks for being here. It’s great to have a player as talented and disciplined as you in the PGC streets.

Continue to crush what you can control (mental game, hours, study, etc) and you will succeed.

Welcome to the thread! By your username I have to guess you are also Polish. If so, Siema . If not, please ignore that part

People have begun to spill the beans about live PLO. It’s the place to be. I can’t even be mad because I wouldn’t have known if people didn’t have big mouths. The place I’m planning to move to later in the year spreads more PLO than my current location, but my plan is to add way more hours of 4 card Holdem.

While 5/T NL is all but drying up across the US, PLO games are infinitely better, I just have to improve my game. Not only that, they play way bigger than advertised. For example the “1/3” PLO in Detroit is a 1/3 with a $5 bring in so it’s 1/3/5 basically with the open being to $20. Couple this with the fact that ALL hands are straddled so it’s a 1/3 disguised as a 1/3/5/T. Regs and recs don’t realize how big they are playing (losing) to the good players. Most if not all my study will revolve around pot limit 4 card holdem this year. Great to have you along, I will appreciate all future advice

Some spots I’ve been getting into frequently are as follows:

3-4 limps, hero raises AAxx to 35 OTB. Flop comes 4 way and now we have an SPR of 3.5 on Q92ss (say we have no spades or draws)

It checks to us. It seems close between all options? B/f, b/c and checking. If they raise they are certainly always ahead besides the odd times they have a wrap.

How about same scenario, but we also have spades w/ As? This seems like a b/c.

Lastly, same hand but a more dry board, like J62r

Also I agree with you wholeheartedly about getting some online volume in. I’ve already begun to dump buyins at 50PLO hoping to improve and just play a ton of hands.

I am indeed Polish, siema Wondered if "pl" in your sn refers to Poland. Unfortunately, poker cash is illegal here, so I play most of my live volume in undergound clubs, occasionally taking trips to Czech Republic for some legal games. Last time I was there, on the saturday evening there were 4 tables of plo, 2-3 of dealers choice plo/holdem and mb like 3 tables of just nlhe, so the game seems to be doing great here.

As for those spots with aces, people seem to play very faceup, so Im all about vbetting super light. That being said, naked aces on Q92ss are just a bit too thin, even assuming villians will lead all their 2pairs+, we are still pretty far behind when we get any kind of action, which is likely in a 4 way pot. Mb look for some live tells, if you find 1-2 people looking very disinterested it might be worth it to bet. With spades we are obviously bet/calling.

On J62r I tend to bet/fold naked aces, we will often either take down the pot or get action with 60%+ equity, which are both desirable results. Most people will call at least one bet with naked top pair on such a dry board.

I appreciate the post!

That's crazy the fact that there are more PLO tables. That's amazing for PLO players! How is the rake there? I've heard absurd numbers like 10% up to 15 euro? The games must be super soft to be beatable at that rate. You must be playing some on stars/party as well?

Agree 100% with people playing faceup. It's pretty funny actually. But also that's the only way for us to play as well, especially when bluffing is suicide in 4-5 way pots every hand.

I appreciate the feedback on those spots. That's where the transition from NL has hurt me a bit. Betting for value into multiple players with an overpair is much different with 2 cards than 4. Look forward to discussing more spots with you int he future

^_^

Don't tell me we're going to lose you to the Great Game of PLO in 2018? :P

Might just have to follow the $$ even if it is to the great game of 4 card Texas Pot Limit Hold Them

At the very least it’s good for game selection

Confirmed ye. Cool to be able to switch between PLO and nlh on any given night based on which looks juiciest.

Dropped 6 buyins at 50 PLO over the last two days.

Confirmed PLO fish. Luckily these are peanut stakes, and the lessons I'm learning are invaluable. Certainly doing some things definitely wrong, and some things right. I know what I need to work on and will continue doing so.

Also doesn't help I went 0/3 in flips, and 0/3 GII ahead on the flop. Definitely playing too loose (need to be more disciplined at these stakes.

Only one real interesting hand that I didn't love:

4 handed: BTN limps, SB completes, we check BB with T8J7

flop: ($1.50) Q95
SB lead 1.5
we call
BTN call

Turn: ($6) 3
SB lead $5
we call
BTN fold

river: T
SB check
we $10
SB jam $40
we call

My initial instinct was b/f. But Idk my NLH instincts kicked in and I felt like it was unfoldable. Is this a standard river b/f to a c/r?

PLO wizards help!

one of the flips I lost felt like was ok to GII?

limp
CO 1.5
we $6 BB KK97
CO call

flop (12.5) T72
we check
CO bets $10 with $15 behind
we jam $25
call

lose to T984

Two (less) Cards - New Years Weekend

On our way back from Michigan we decided to stop at Sands, which was only slightly out of the way on the way home. Played in an amazing game, literally once in a year type game, and ended up losing 23 dollars in 4 hours.

In our first interesting hand we Raise AA UTG to 20 and see a flop 6 way of 653. The blinds check, we out out a small cbet of 55, get raised to 240 and fold.

Next up, we see 3 limps to the BTN who makes it 50 to go. We call in the BB with A Q We are 1.5k deep. Everyone else folds and we go heads up to a flop of A96. The flop goes check check and we get the lovely A on the turn. We wager 75 and v quickly calls. The river is the 9 and this time we lead 205. V quickly raises us to 600. It was weird in the moment, I didn’t even consider raising, just called and we beat JJ (lol). Think I missed a jam for sure though, although he wouldn’t have called with that exact hand (I think).

After spewing off 600-700 in this game on standard things (and playing too wide) as every pot was 100+bb, we have a 1000 stack, and there’s two limps, and a raise to 25 from the CO. We call OTB with KQ and so does one of the limpers.

The flop comes K2Q it checks to the raider who wagers 40. He has us covered, and we make it 110. The limper folds, and raiser makes it 500. We jam for 1k and when he sees our hand he says ‘I need a T’ what in the world, so either he has AJ high or TT. Either way, the T doesn’t come and we scoop. We were able to build this, until we gave a few hundred back and ended up just ended even. Interesting end to 2017, but ready for 2018!

Somewhat ashamed I wasn’t able to book a winning session even with those hands. No excuses, I played too many hands hoping to win the big one. Also ran into top set and a full house in two big pots to a player w/ 100 vpip (whoops!)







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Downswing: Continues

Downswings are a natural part of the Poker lifecycle. Sometimes they are caused by things out of your control not going your way. Most of the time, they are. The real issue comes when you let these unfortunate circumstances affect your game plan. That’s called tilt, and that’s where things can go gravely wrong. Tilt can take your 1000bb downswing to 2000bb, and beyond.

I wouldn’t be being honest if I didn’t admit that this latest run of cards has been affecting my play negatively. Playing speculative hands when I shouldn’t be is just adding to the mess, calling when it’s a clear fold, bluffing stations who I know deep down won’t fold, and playing hands less than optimally in general. This post is culminated by the biggest loss in terms of BB I’ve had thus far in my Poker ‘career’.

It’s inevitable that it will happen. But I’ll have to respond better to adversity in order to get out of the downswing.

In our first interesting hand we see an open from MP from a clear recreational to 20. Only we call in the BB with 99. The flop comes 874. We check, he wagers 30 and we call. The turn is the K and we check again. This time he checks back and we see the J on the river. We check, and he wagers 70. This is a spot that I feel like he never has a K, and he wouldn’t bet a J here since it seems like an easy check back for a rec. so he’s obviously polarized, and I decide to make the call. The issue I’ve seen over and over with the b/check/bet line is that it’s rarely a bluff. He shows 77 and is good.

Next, we open 99 to 20 from EP, and get 3 callers behind us. The four of us go to a flop of 746. We wager 50. The player in MP calls and the two others fold. We turn gin, the 9. This time, we wager 125 with 300 behind. He quickly makes the call again, and our lovely hand quickly turns to garbage when the worst card in the deck, the 3 hits the river. We decide to check, and fold faceup when he wagers 200. He shows 54 for the straight.

In between every hand history, we raise 4 or 5 times with hands such as KQ AJ etc, you get the pint and hit 0 pairs. (Bleeding $$)

Next up, there are 2 limps to the CO who makes it 25 to go. We decide to flat the BTN with AK. One limper comes along. The flop comes T86 and they both check to us. We decide to stab 35, and they both call. The turn is the 5 and they check to us again. At this post I feel like they’re both called at 1 pair max. This time we fire 105, and the worse player of the two calls in the middle and the original raiser folds. The river is the Q which seems like a decent card to bluff, and we do so when he checks to us a 3rd time. We fire 205, and he tanks for about 90 seconds. He picks up his cards, then his chips. Then triple checks his cards, and his chips, before calling with JTo. Yup, you’re good.

The real dagger of the night (after bleeding another 300 in an amazing game by just not making any pairs)

We look down at K8 in the BB after 4 limps and check. The flop comes K48 and we wager 20. 3 players make the call and we see the 5 on the turn. This time, we wager 100. A whale makes it 225, and the other two fold. We jam for 450 eff and he snaps. Yep, 76o is good on the brick river.

Stuck a cool 400bbs, we decide to make a comeback when we pick up AA YTG and open to 20. We see a flop 5 way of K2Q. What could possible go wrong? It checks to us and we wager 65. One fold, a badreg OTB calls and the others fold. He has 180 behind and the turn is the J. I don’t love this card but we also now have 100 more outs to the nuts. We stick in the final 180, and he calls with KQ. We’re somehow (almost) flipping against top 2, but lose with the river 5.

Proceed to bluffcatch recs for a few more hundred because we finally make pairs, and lose some more.

/rant. This game is tough!

Pic sums up the day imo




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Really bad patches/downswings are of course going to happen, even to the winningest of players. I'm a pretty firm believer that the real money in poker is won during these periods. During the downswings is where you are given the most opportunities to make profitable plays. Or better put, less unprofitable plays. These are the money spots.

Someone once said on here that live poker is about weathering the storm that is the periods between heaters. Everyone is going to print money at some stage, but how you handle yourself when losing is absolutely key. As you said, a 1k bb downswing can easily become a 2k bb downswing if you do a poor job here. The best players will ensure a downswing never becomes bigger than it needs to be (i.e. what is dictated by distribution).

I have a weird masochistic affinity for downswings. I find it extremely satisfying to make reaaally good folds when losing. When you're getting absolutely destroyed all session long after a big losing week, being able to fold that top set or that straight I think can be a delightful experience in a way. Because you know that printing money is easy when you're given the right cards/spots/distro but understanding that the foundation of a solid WR comes down to making really disciplined folds even when you don't want to.

GL telly.

1000000%. Super post as usual. I definitely lost myself more $$ than I should have. That said, this is the first real terrible session during this downswing that I can say that, which is a positive.

Just gotta keep cracking at each session attempting to win the max, and lose the minimum, as usual.

Thanks for taking us along for your ride thus far! I had been reading for the last few days trying to catch up and even created my own goals for 2018 based on reading your PGC.

Did you stop playing DFS? I saw you had posted earlier that you were learning and trying to do something with it. I play almost daily especially from around Sept - April (NFL and NBA season) and have done well.

I wish you luck on your continued PLO play!