Live small stakes opponents often see PLO (or NHLE for that matter) as a lottery: Get in as cheap as possible, flop something great, play for stacks against someone with something slightly less great, profit. It's a good exercise to think about why this won't beat the game (hint: think zero-sum minus rake).
The following is one of my favorite ways to exploit this tendency. I'm adding it to my arsenal, but I probably overuse it.
PLAYER READS AND STACKS
"
Techie" (UTG, $275): Young to middle aged male, appears South Asian, wearing gear suggesting he might work for Microsoft.* Has been playing about an hour, and I've seen him before. My impression is that he doesn't get out of line much.
UTG+1 ($200): Straightforward
UTG+2 ($2500): Moved from the other game with a monster stack and has added to it. Appears straightforward.
CO ($250): Loose-passive
HJ ($200): Loose-passive
Population reads: This game has been running all afternoon and it's now early evening. It has gotten much looser in the past hour and many new players have joined. More passive than usual. Most players have the "lottery mentality" discussed above and will call up to about $40 preflop---they think in absolute dollar amounts---with a wide range of speculative hands. Virtually no one ever 3-bets (not counting raising a straddle as a 3-bet) without AA, and it's not really even that common to see an open that's not AA or good KK.
THE HAND
Live $1-3 PLO, max buyin $300
Technically $300 max spread limit
9 dealt in
I button straddle to $6
SB F
BB C
Techie R to $25
UTG+1, +2, CO, and HJ all C $25
Hero ????
I can pot to $182. I expect that at least 75% of the time Techie has AAxx and shoves; 75% of that 75% all four cold-callers fold. How would you play these hands?
- Q Q J T
- Q J T 7
- 9 8 7 6
- Q J 9 2
- T 9 7 2
*In Seattle this is a read unto itself. Note that virtually no one wears gear from Microsoft except people who work for Microsoft.