Hey guys, as the title says iv'e got two questions. First, this is a common situation I run in to with aces and i'm not sure if I am approaching it correctly. SPECIFICALLY on these flop textures, I am not sure if I should pot or check. Also, I often feel lost when trying to use equilab so if I am using it wrongly or my logic is not sound, please let me know!

On to the Hand, Ill post the hand history first and then give my thoughts. I would really appreciate any feedback on my thought process/play.

Hand history:


So villain 1 in MP opens the pot. He has been really loose the hands we have played and iv'e assigned him a range of about 30% in equilab.
Villain 2 in the CO comes over the top with a 3bet. His three bet stats were pretty high, 22.2 on HM2. I have assigned him a range of 20% in equilab.

With Aces in the BB I guess my two options are to cold call or pot it with a 4bet. I don't think calling is the right play. Running my hand vs the range I have assigned them leaves me at around 40% equity three way. I think it will be tough for me to realize my equity on a lot of boards therefor id rather just 4bet pot now, get the SPR high, and maybe even get a player to fold so this hand can be played heads up.

This is a flop situation I encounter often with Aces and I am never exactly sure on how to proceed. On the flop my SPR is 1.33, and at the time I thought the 4TK was a pretty good flop for me. After running their perceived ranges vs my hand in equilab I came to 33% equity three way. So basically in this flop spot I am never sure if I should check or pot it.

Check: If I check, it gives drawing hands a chance to semi bluff. However since I do have AAQ (blockers for straight draws), their betting range is probably more weighted towards two pairs and sets.
Pot: If I pot it, I can maximize my fold equity as well as realize my equity more often (Not sure how much fold equity I have at these stakes vs pretty loose players). However often times I will get called by hands that crush me, and hands I crush will fold.
Half-Pot bet: Not really a play I considered. I just thought that with a smaller bet sizing, I will get reraised by hands that dominated me, but have to call due to very small SPR.

I decided to pot it. Basically I am not interested in the end result of the hand (running in to a set) but more so if my logic of analyzing the hand afterwards is correct.

Is there anything I have missed? When I analyze spots in equilab, is my process missing something? Are there some simulations that I should be playing around with?

Thanks a bunch.

4betting pre is standard here, you have reasonable side cards and its hard to overlook your equity advantage in this spot.

OTF I think its pretty inexploitable to shove. Against a range of KK,TT,44, QJ9, KT, K4 you have a pretty decent 33% equity. So even if they have a hand that is excited to get it in you are only getting slightly the wrong price.

The great thing about potting here is forcing people to lay down equity. Lets say that you are up against 4567 and J899. You have the best hand here. You might think you want to keep them in but you actually have only 45% to win. So imagine you end up getting it in 3 ways with these hands vs what happens if they fold:

2 folds = 10.42 remaining in stack + 7.55 = 17.92

2 all ins = 45% of 38.76 = 17.42

So you'd be marginally better off having them both fold if rake weren't involved. Rake is involved though so lets factor that in:

17.92 - 0.34 = 17.58
17.42 - 1.50 = 15.92

So getting two folds is actually better even when they would be getting it in bad a lot of the time. Your hand isn't strong enough to want to induce even against trash and its a nightmare when they check back. Just pot it and hope you're good

AA blocks many AQJ combos but that is accounted for by the equity calculator itself. No need to remove it manually.

OOP with AA to 2 deep stacked players in a cold 4bet pot with this SPR on a KTx rainbow. I'm not that excited about my holdings.

cbet 1/3 to 1/2 and fold shoves without a solid read.

I also pot the flop... i think you get called by pair plus draws and naked draws too sometimes at these stakes in my experience ... players will sometime stack with weird stuff that you have huge equities vs... I think bet folding this flop is not optimal cause we get blown off our equity so often by hands we beat... I'd rather check give up than bet folding but personally I pot


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Thanks. I was just sampling the top of his range. AQJ should be in there and improves our situation a bit but not a ton. The point was really that we are doing well enough against hands that are guaranteed to call that no matter how they play the rest of their range this is an inexploitable shove. Either they'll fold a ton or they'll stack off with a bunch of hands we beat.

1/3 pot prices you in against a range of 2pair+ and wraps 1/2 pot fold is lighting money on fire.

If we bet 2.50 we will have 7.92 behind and will need 28% equity heads up to call it off ($7.92/$28.39).100

Bet folding is just wrong mathematically even if our opponent never gets it in light.

ProPokerTools Omaha Hi Simulation

600,000 trials (Randomized)

board: 4 T K

Hand	Pot equity	Wins	Ties
AsAcQc6c	34.12%	201,923	5,601
k4, kt, 44, tt, kk, AQJ, QJ9	65.88%	392,476	5,601

Thanks for the response guys I appreciate it.

By the way, does anyone have any exercises they recommend doing in equilab? (or other similar products.)
I just kind of pick a hand or hand types and play around with a bunch of flops and see how they hit it. But it seems like an inefficient way of learning.
Any tips would be appreciated!

Don't forget to add 2 trials since you're OOP to 2 players

ProPokerTools Omaha Hi Simulation

600,000 trials (Randomized)

board: KT4

Hand	Pot equity	Wins	Ties
AsAcQc6c	22.67%	130,200	11,713
k4, kt, 44, tt, kk, AQJ, QJ9	38.72%	214,221	36,267
k4, kt, 44, tt, kk, AQJ, QJ9	38.61%	213,691	36,091

You're going to have to learn from experience and analyzing situations you keep losing.

This OOP to 2 players in a cold 4 bet pot is almost never good to stack off. Your range is polarized and they can make perfect decisions

I actually reran the numbers on this because I dont feel AQJ would shove unless it was AKQJ or AQJT. QJ would just call since AA has blockers.

With the updated range it's now a break even call with a 2.50 cbet.

ProPokerTools Omaha Hi Simulation

600,000 trials (Randomized)

board: KT4

Hand	Pot equity	Wins	Ties
AsAcQc6c	27.99%	166,598	2,628
KK,TT,44,KT, AQJT, AKQJ	72.01%	430,774	2,628

We need about 20% 3-way after betting 1/3rd pot, so still can't b/f there.

That leaves out K4, and also keep in mind that PLOoper intends those to be understood as nitty ranges. Realistically, so many other hands are fistpump-jamming against a third-pot bet.

Yes, you very very often have AA when you cold 4bet BUT:

1. They don't know what your side cards are, esp. at PLO10 you should probably just shrug 4bet any AA or esp. AAA.
2. There's only 1.3ish SPR on the flop, so you play perfectly by clicking pot until money goes in. This is a much better flop than some for you.
3. You are probably confused because when you get calls you are often slightly behind or worse ... but that doesn't count the times everyone folds and you instantly win ~75bb. You seem to think everyone has KQJT type hands, but they'll also have T987 or 7654 and see #2.
4. This is PLO, no matter how good you play you'll lose a lot of hands.

...if we just 3 bet I might bet smaller on this flop into two and see what happened, and what I thought of the other players (but then my range would be wider too).

1/3 + call = .02 BB
pot + call = 19 BB

heads up the choice is obvious but the more players you pot this into, the less likely you'll be winning and suffering from much higher variance. if i know you will stack off everytime OOP in multiway pots with AA i'll be sitting your table nonstop.

1. AAQ isn't an "everytime" AA on KT4r.
2. If you'll call my cold 4bet 120bb deep, I'll be happy when you sit.