Hi,

Long time hold'em player. I started playing PLO 1c2c 6max Zoom on Pokerstars a few days ago. I quickly lost 7 buy-ins by over-valuing all of my hands, drawing to none-nut hands....standard beginner stuff I'd imagine. I've managed to claw that back by being far more selective about my starting hands and nut peddling post-flop. Now that I have a few thousand hands under my belt I have some questions:

1. In hold'em it is standard now to open smaller in early position and bigger in later postion. Does the same apply to PLO? I have been opening for 2bb in UTG, 2.5bb in HJ, 3bb in CO and 3.5 in BTN
2. Should I be flatting a lot in the blinds or 3betting a lot. Bear in mind that nobody seems to fold to 3bets in PLO2. Previously I was 3betting a bit but now I mostly just flat to see how much equity I flop before deciding whether to invest more money or not.
3. I have noticed that for a lot of my opponents their 4bet ranges is exclusively AAxx. With that in mind, if I 3bet a hand like QJT9 double suited and get 4-bet should I flat (with the intention of folding if I completely whiff) or shove?
4. Is a monotone hand ever playable or should I be folding them without a second thought?

1. In general thats not a thing, always pot is standard.
There might be some rare exceptions, like when in HU and someone 3bets a lot, i might MR the hands that i dont like to fold or limp . Or when someone is super nitty from BB in 6max, might MR light from SB.
But you need samples for that, its not a normal thing.
2. SB vs BTN is pretty much 3bet or fold potition. Different sources claim slightly different frequencies, but its about 2.5% flat and 10% 3bet.
BB you are obv IP and very comfortable, standard is about 50% flat and somewhere between 10-15% 3bet. In real life might be tighter since many villains are quite tight from SB.
3. Its true that in most games 4bet is super AAxx heavy. When no other info i just call hands that play great against that range. You can play around in Equilab to check which type of hands do best.
4. By default not really playable, some hands fine in HUSB against weak opponents.

4. Monotones are playable but you need a very strong hand. Basically high runout or Broadway from early position. From the Button you can open AJ54, A754, KTJx type of hands already. Monotones are like 1 % of the total hands so don't spend too much time thinking about them.

Thanks for the replies. I have a follow up question.

The reason I'm trying to learn PLO is because the hold'em cash game in my local casino hasn't been running recently because the regulars are playing PLO instead. If they play PLO like they play hold'em then that's likely to be a very profitable game for anyone who can beat even the lowest limits online.

My main concern is variance. I played 1.1k hands online today and ran 5.5 buy-ins under expectation in all-in EV - which I assume is super standard in PLO.

I have a 5k bankroll for live games. I'm guessing that that's not going to be enough to play a 1/2 live game?

There is a strong possibility you go broke in that game even if you are a "winning" player. How high is the rake? If it's capped at $15 or something I'd just forget that game for now. If you really really have to play in that game just be a huge nit pre.

agree with the answers provided from the others. What i can add is that you need a bit of an intro to PLO, I think you figured out a few things by yourself, like rundowns, AA, suitedness, nuttiness, but you need some basic concepts, like:
Domination, gaps in rundowns, MW vs HU, equity realisation, position, blockers, reverse blockers, leading OOP, playing pairs, playing short, playing deep.

If I can give you some advice, PLO is very swingy, and even if you are better in theory than most players, the fact that equities run close and variance can always hit you the wrong way, it is very easy to lose a lot. And then losing a lot might make you tilt and lose even more. I feel in PLO i can win a lot on my A-game, but when I slide into my C and D game, it is a disaster.

P.S. do you play in Brussels live or is the name a coincidence?

Thanks for the advice (no I don't play in Brussels. Just a random name I came up with all those years ago for a reason that I have long forgotten. I don't even like the vegetable)