1-2 PLO

Hero has been active and aggressive.

EP folds
MP [Hero] calls 5 with Qh Jd Js 8d (2k stack)
HJ [Villain] nit-fish calls 5 (1k stack)
CO big fish calls 5 (2k stack)
BTN folds
SB folds
BB fish completes 5 (500 stack)

Pot 21

Flop Jc 9s 5c

BB checks
Hero bets 15
Villain raises to 65
CO folds
BB folds
Hero calls 65

Pot 151

Turn 3h

Hero checks
Villain bets 125
Hero raises to 525
Villain quickly folds

I think he had a smaller set. Is there anything else I could've done to get more money from him?

If you are 100% sure he has a smaller set, call the turn, but if he does have a draw, you have to be a little cautious on the river.

I'm fine with how you played it. No reason to get "tricky."

I would 3-bet the flop. I would also not bet the flop, but check range, and this hand is a c/r. Turn seems obvious.

Only question would be on the $525 turn sizing. I guess that’s a full pot bet. Maybe not necessary to go that large.

Plus it’s hard to stack a nit 500 bb deep.

200bb deep (1-2 w/ 5 bring-in)

I thought he would snap-fold if I pot 3-bet the flop.

I thought that if I waited until the turn to raise him, he would think it less likely I had top set. But he still folded the turn pretty quickly.

Well... maybe you are doing something wrong with draws then. It's pretty easy to have nfd+wrap on this board which should be looking to put a lot of money in on the flop. Especially if people like raise-snapfolding middle sets.

Some nits always flat with draws on the flop, even combo draws. If it's that kind of nit, then you can flat again and hope he bets again. Otherwise I'm always going to raise turn

Oftentimes you must won't stack the nit no matter what you do though, especially that deep in a limped pot

How do we know villain doesn't perceive Hero as a nit? What hands is Hero raising the turn with?

Raise pre

XR flop

Jam turn

Yeah I like this. I've been playing with a 25-30% VPIP in 1-2 with a 5 bring in. Because the blinds are only 1 and 2, I've been open-limping (bringing it in for 5) with the bottom half of my range and open-raising with the top half.

This seems to be fundamentally correct. But if there aren't any good aggressive players at the table, I should probably just open-raise all of my hands for 10 or 15.

There is nothing fundamentally correct in raising bigger with top of the range and raising smaller with bottom of the opening range... Unless villains are so bad they don't understand what is going on.

Villains are so bad at 1-2 PLO.

Two things:

1) Consider fold preflop (depends on the game, rake etc. if rake high, fold for sure)

2) Well played, 3betting flop without a club on this super drawy board without any club is not necessary as the SPR will be high OTT. If your raise on flop makes SPR 1 on the turn, just raise. You need to be ready with some rly strong hands on the turn when spr is still big to XR. Would mostly jam turn, there are many hands to get value from, although I see some merit in calling without a fd. Although, not a bad idea to call turn with this kinds of topset, river you will likely have not so hard decision, club you fold, paired you XR, straight, well, you have some blockers

Yes. They do stuff that is telegraphing hand strength!

It just takes one opponent to ruin your range split. I think it’s fine to split limps (which is a 2.5x raise but not viewed as such) and raises but you should have strong hands in both ranges.

Totally agree on the 2.5x raise on limps. If I'm super raising (7.5x), it's with the top half of my range. If I'm open-limping / bringing it in (2.5x), it still includes hands as strong as KKQ7ss/t, AKQ2ss/t, and T987ss from EP.

This way I can play 30% VPIP in a good game instead of:

1. Opening all hands for 10 like weirdo.
2. Playing under 20% VPIP which is too tight for most 1-2 games.

Also totally agree that it just takes one opponent to ruin this. They're not common, but then I just tighten up and open all hands for 15.