So I've been getting back into playing online recently and my PLO game is admittedly rusty. Villain in this hand is an elite-level online mixed player; PLO isn't his best game but he's definitely competent and very capable of non-standard lines. He views me as probably a bit timid at this particular limit, and in general, tries to run me over in all game formats. No relevant specific session history to this point; I'm 3betting a very narrow range OOP with relatively deep stacks for a mixed game.

Hand #148911656358 - delivered by Pokeit

BTN: $52,676.86 (263.4 bb)
BB: $7,900.00 (39.5 bb)
Hero: $30,800.46 (154 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($300.00) Hero is SB with Q♠ Q♣ J♥ J♣
BTN raises $400.00 to $600.00, Hero raises $1,400.00 to $2,000.00, BB folds, BTN raises $4,200.00 to $6,200.00, Hero calls $4,200.00

Flop: 8♠ 9♦ 5♠ ($12,600.00) (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: 6♣ ($12,600.00) (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $6,297.50, Hero calls $6,297.50

River: 4♠ ($25,195.00) (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $25,190.00, Hero folds

His line is pretty bizarre, yes? My instinct was to call river but realized I'm losing to quite a few of his random bluffs. All critiques and comments of my play street by street all welcome!

Hm. In general it just seems like a poor river combo to call with when you block all of the QJT9/rundown portions of his range + some bluffs actually beat you. Qs blocker is OK, but not great. I'd almost feel more tempted to open shove river before x/cing. I would imagine at SPR <1 you can open jam quite a few flushes after taking that turn line. It seems like a decent bluff combo actually given it blocks villain's rundown turn bluffs but has some positive removal effects on his flush region. I would guess the play is probably to open shove sometimes, x/f sometimes, call probably very rarely.

I like folding turn, definitely do not want to bluffcatch with your hand, no blockers and no good cards on the river either.
Just fold and dont try to be a hero. Obviously i have no clue, how capable people are in those games to make a huge bluff, but even when he is bluffing As, he might have you beat with AsAxXX or whatever.
Just my 2 cents. Im a micro donk, but wanted to contribute

Im infinitely unqualified to reply to this thread/hh, but here goes....
what bluffs could he have that take this line and you beat?
doesnt he sometimes bluff w AA7x here?
And some likely bluffs you beat are like AKJT, AKQT but you block alot of those w ur exact hand. Thoughts?

Yeah wierd overall imo. He is reppin pretty thin w his turn/river play AA7x w a str8 almoast exclusively.
Anyway i think he either has it or bluffed turn as well which is rare because if he had str8 on the turn he would xback river obviously. So his bluff range should be way thinner. (Like AA7 w/o str8 w the As blocker)Maybe iam wrong but i think you played it well.

feel like you're supposed to bet turn as a weird bluff thing just in terms of range vs range strength... i don't think c/c turn is profitable

man gordo remember back in day me you and joiso [then august35] would have never ending hu plo wars.

ahh the glory days

good advice so far

I don't think blocking his QJT9 rundowns is particularly relevant since that's a hand he is almost certainly jamming flop with the SPR being what it was. I think it's more relevant that my hand blocks his high AKxx rundowns which is going to be the majority of what my hand can actually beat on the end. I do agree that me jamming river is definitely more profitable than thinking about c/calling, however. Not sure how believable it is though since the majority of my hands that have spades in them I would have led turn with.

Turn is definitely the most interesting part of the hand, IMO. Once I opt to not bet turn, what do we make of his sizing and range therein?

I actually do vaguely remember playing quite a bit of 3-handed games with that SN and another one, but can't remember what your SN is?

N/m

hey mr. gordo.

we used to talk hands a long time ago. glad you've gotten so successful.

i think the turn indeed is the most interesting part of this hand. I guess I would say I understand check/calling here a small percentage of the time as part of a well balanced strategy, but if we're thinking exploitatively I would rather just bet here because of your range advantage and the other advantage of having initiative. There's a high percentage chance that if villain did flop a fd he will be checking back a ton but you can still fold out a lot of those hands on this turn if he has no additional equity.

edit: the more i think about this hand the more of a mistake it is to not bet the turn. you have a self described tight 3b range, so your aaxx hands are just getting it in pre vs the 4bet. so your range in villain's eyes is probably rundown heavy and connects well with this board. you have basically the absolute bottom of your range here so not betting is bad.

c/f turn...
as played shove river...
tho...his riverbet is uber weird...i put him on a monster like AAJTss

Jeah i would take a shot on the turn myself, like 9k? If he shoves you puke, smash your mouse and hit fold;P

Ones you check and he bets half pot... That's a really close spot. I probably end up folding if you are a really tight 3better.

hi gordo

this was not the response I was hoping for when I saw you posted in the thread!

hello. halp me play better pls.

X/c turn seems awful at least

bet turn yourself if you check you should c/f. c/c turn makes no scense at all

I mean, i'm not a great player, but c/calling turn is so bad, especially when you are c/folding river spades

there's no point in bluffing the turn, the whole reason why he checked back the flop with his aces was to start snapping off your bluffs

Good troll

It seems like you didn't do this (maybe I am wrong?). I just think you have to have a plan if you are going to float that turn OOP.

I understand your turn float and your style (or at least used to). A turn float isn't that bad if you plan to bluff spades should they hit the river. Maybe there is some meta here. But you have to think he puts a bet in on the flop with the NFD after having 4bet pre.

If you call I think I'd pot spades, a T, and I guess my sets. Personally, I like a turn lead much more than C / C. You really can't do anything to win the hand OOP on a blank river.

Unless, I suppose he's just like WTF and gives up. But can you really have anything if you play a 4bet hand OOP and flop goes C, C; turn goes C/C, B, and then you just dump it in there on a blank river?

And BTW, I don't really like potting my sets but feel like they have to be in your value range should you get there. Which is another reason why turn lead > CC for me.

I don't think you can read into his sizing that much. And I think his range is probably pretty wide.

We could 5b if he's trying to run us over.

I think a crai on turn has a lot of fold equity.

Thought about this some more. I think given our tight 3b range he is highly incentivized to not 4b rundowns. Given he has AA often and would pot/gii on flop, he probably has AAss frequently.

So we should pot/gii (Qs relevant blocker), or check fold all streets.

C/R turn sounds good.