Hello, I'm from Finland, and I'm trying to go up in stakes playing PLO. I used to play NLHE, but after I tried PLO, I enjoyed it a lot more. I'm playing on iPoker right now. Here are my results so far:



So never really beat PLO10, but I took shots at PLO20 with a very loose BRM and managed to stay there. Never really beat that limit either, but with chasing bonuses got a decent overall rakeback and was able to take a shot at PLO50. And the start has been a really good one. Waiting for the downswing now .

Here's some calculations. I raked 1195.55 @ PLO10 in 49542 hands. That's 11956 BB's, so the rake was 11956/49542=0.2413 BB's per hand. So for 100 hands it was 24,13. I lost (in EV) 2078.4 BB's, so my winrate for 100 hands pre-rake was (11956-2078.4)/49542*100 = 19.94

For PLO20 I raked 3325.77, which is 16629 BB's. So my rake for 100 hands was 100(16629/99007)=16.80. I won (in EV) 67 BB's, so my winrate pre-rake was 100((67+16629))/99007) = 16.86

Counting winrates is pretty useless with 10k hands, but for PLO50 my rake has so far been 15.61. However, I started with shortstacking (40 BB's), which should increase the rake since shortstakers don't benefit that much of the rake cap. I still buy in for 40 BB's, but now I play with a fullstack if the table conditions are good - which usually means having a recreational player on my right who's fullstacked.

----------

So that's the first post, for next posts I'm gonna post some hands and some thoughts on frequently occurring PLO situations. Good night.

First GLGL just started playing the great game of PLO myself will be following.

Thanks doose .

-------

Played 3.5k hands today, tilted a bit at the end. I'm a big tilter, although I've learned to manage to avoid the most ridicilous spews - a year ago I always lost at least 3-4 extra bins just throwing my money away, now I can keep it together although I'm raging inside. I've broken a few mouses though this year. That's sad and pathetic .

-------

A hand.

IPoker, $0.25/$0.50 Pot Limit Omaha Cash, 5 Players

SB: $175.67 (351.3 bb)
Hero (BB): $20 (40 bb)
MP: $131.93 (263.9 bb)
CO: $89.77 (179.5 bb)
BTN: $55.19 (110.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with T A 7 8
MP folds, CO raises to $1.50, BTN folds, SB calls $1.25, Hero calls $1

Flop: ($4.50) 8 2 6 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, CO bets $4.50, SB calls $4.50, Hero does what?

Folding is out of the question here, too much equity and too much money in the pot. Calling gets me in trouble because I will make a lot of incorrect folds/calls on the turn. If I call, I should be donking some spades (maybe all spades). However, I think raising is by far the best play with 40 BB's here: First, the CO might (and probably should) fold naked overpairs (that have 50 percentish equity vs. me). Second, the SB is probably committed vs. me if the CO folds, and I might actually be a slight favourite vs. his range. If I had a PLO program I'd calculate the equities.

Anyway, this hand illustrates pretty well why shortstacking is so effective when you're up against 2 or more deeper stacks: they will put dead money in the pot and then have to fold even though they have the needed equity vs. the shortstacker. I think I will buy in for the minimum from now on in any stakes, and then add chips only if the table is good for that.

------

Good night.

Won the biggest PLO pot of my lifetime. I think I made a mistake though: I 3bet the crazy fun player to get to play heads up with him, however, I don't need to make it pot, I should make it like 4.5€. I just instinctly don't like to vary my 3bet sizings since it reveals so much about my hand (to the regs at least). I need to remember that it's harder to exploit sizing tells by regs in Hold Em than in PLO, because it's so much easier to call in PLO.

Anyway, I have to call the cold 4bet, and I do, and hit the nuts. Turn got me scared for a while

IPoker, $0.25/$0.50 Pot Limit Omaha Cash, 5 Players

SB: $40.75 (81.5 bb)
BB: $126.20 (252.4 bb)
MP: $52.13 (104.3 bb)
CO: $42.84 (85.7 bb)
Hero (BTN): $71.08 (142.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with Q 3 5 K
MP raises to $1.75, CO folds, Hero raises to $6, SB folds, BB raises to $20, MP folds, Hero calls $14

Flop: ($42) 6 4 2 (2 players)
BB bets $42, Hero raises to $51.08 and is all-in, BB calls $9.08

Turn: ($144.16) 2 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($144.16) K (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $144.16 pot ($3.00 rake)
Final Board: 6 4 2 2 K
BB showed Q K A A and lost (-$71.08 net)
Hero mucked Q 3 5 K and won $141.16 ($70.08 net)

----------

Here is another shortstacking situation. It's basically the same situation as in the previous post: I have decent equity (maybe 40-45%, I really need some program) vs. their stack off (or stackoff, maybe stack-off?) ranges, there is a lot of money in the pot (dead money if either of them folds), and maybe they both fold once in a blue moon. Calling is possible, but playing turns is pretty hard.

Anyway, I think the regs Cbet is questionable. I would have checked back to realize my equity. If I'd bet, I would have bet small and probably fold to a potsized raise. It's really unlikely to get 2 folds, and getting raised is really bad with that hand because you might have to fold up to 50% equity (vs. a naked set), or call and then have to fold turn unimproved (or call it off with bad equity).

IPoker, $0.25/$0.50 Pot Limit Omaha Cash, 6 Players

SB: $61.80 (123.6 bb)
Hero (BB): $32.20 (64.4 bb)
UTG: $55.17 (110.3 bb)
MP: $15.64 (31.3 bb)
CO: $52.27 (104.5 bb)
BTN: $50 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5 6 8 A
3 folds, BTN raises to $1.75, SB calls $1.50, Hero calls $1.25

Flop: ($5.25) 6 7 A (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets $5.25, SB calls $5.25, Hero raises to $26.25, BTN raises to $48.25 and is all-in, SB folds, Hero calls $4.20 and is all-in

Turn: ($71.40) 3 (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: ($71.40) A (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results: $71.40 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: 6 7 A 3 A
SB mucked and lost (-$7 net)
Hero mucked 5 6 8 A and won $68.40 ($36.20 net)
BTN showed 8 9 5 7 and lost (-$32.20 net)

---------

Ok.

Haven't played a lot lately since first I was hung over for 3 days and then got sick and I'm still getting better. Tomorrow i'll try to get back to grinding, but maybe today I'll write some thoughts about C-betting with different postflop situations and think about whether to C-Bet or not. I'll include some hand examples. I'm mostly talking about heads up situations after the flop with 100bb's.

1) You have a valuehand that has an equity edge over your opponents calling range and can stack off vs. his raising range or call his raise. This is an obvious C-Bet. Example. (If you have an almost invulnerable hand and block your opponents continuing hands, you should check back, but this doesn't happen very often.)

SB: $24.49 (49 bb)
BB: $17.37 (34.7 bb)
Hero (CO): $43 (86 bb)
BTN: $66.65 (133.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with J 2 A Q
Hero raises to $1.75, BTN folds, SB calls $1.50, BB folds

Flop: ($4) Q A 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero C-Bets

--------

2) You have reasonable equity (maybe 40-60%) over your opponents calling range but do poorly vs. his raising range, and you have very little improvement potential. This situation is a Cbet (because denying your opponent equity is such a big factor in PLO) but an obvious bet-fold. Check-calling is not an option, since you have to fold almost all turns. Only if you have very good backdoors it's OK to consider checking back or check-calling OOP. Example.

SB: $47.78 (95.6 bb)
BB: $142.09 (284.2 bb)
Hero (CO): $117.05 (234.1 bb)
BTN: $50.76 (101.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K K 3 2
Hero raises to $1.50, BTN calls $1.50, 2 folds

Flop: ($3.75) T 3 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $3, BTN raises to $8.92, Hero probably folds

--------

3) You have good equity (40-60%) vs. your opponents calling range and decent equity vs. his raising range, but not enough to stack off or call. You also improve on a lot of turns. Usually this means like a pair + open ender on a FD board, or for example second pair with a (non-nut) FD. This is a situation where stats are very useful: you should have both opponents fold to C-Bet and raise C-Bet available. Turn stab is useful too. If your opponent calls a lot but doesn't raise, then this comes a C-Bet (especially in position), however if your opponent raises a lot, then checking back or check-calling becomes attractive. If your opponent stabs the flop or turn OOP a lot, you should C-Bet more often with hands that can't call some turns, and check back or check-call more often with hands that can continue on most turns. Example.

SB: $53.43 (106.9 bb)
BB: $51.32 (102.6 bb)
Hero (CO): $50 (100 bb)
BTN: $59.08 (118.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q 9 K 7
Hero raises to $1.75, BTN calls $1.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($4.25) 7 5 J (2 players)
Hero checks stats and checks pretty often

-------

4) You have a hand that has some equity (20-40%) over your opponents calling range but very little vs. his raising range, with some improvement potential. This is situation where betting has two merits: first, he usually has a lot of equity with his folding range and you deny that; and second, if you are in position, you get a free river and get to realize all of your equity. In situations like this the best play in position is usually to bet small (assuming your opponent doesn't raise you based on betsizing), but OOP these might be check-folds vs. sticky opponents and bet-folds vs. players who stab the flop a lot. Example.

SB: $29 (58 bb)
BB: $68.60 (137.2 bb)
MP: $75.25 (150.5 bb)
Hero (CO): $42.96 (85.9 bb)
BTN: $53.20 (106.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q A 7 3
MP folds, Hero raises to $1.75, 2 folds, BB calls $1.25

Flop: ($3.75) J 3 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets small

-------

Then there are some spesific situations:

A) You don't have a hand but have a lot of fold equity. For example when you have 89TJ on 224r board you should C-Bet (unless your opponent has a very high pair heavy range).

B) Monotone boards: I've been C-Betting a lot (including no equity hands) or little depending mostly on my opponents fold to Cbet stat.

C) Way ahead, way behind situations. Fox example AA on 228r. I have an equity edge over opponent's calling range, but I need little protection, and I might get bluffed. Checking AA is fine, JJ-KK are usually bets. Opponents turn stab is useful here, as you might get a turn stab out of him with very low equity vs. your AA.

Ok.