My thoughts are it was OK, maybe a little passive, but please give your thoughts.

Live 1/2 PLO8. Very soft game. Typically see 6 to flop, if not all 9 or 10 limping.

I straddle to $5. Get a few calls. Super-short stack is all-in for $20ish. Another short pushes for $63. I have Ak34 and about $800. I didn't expect anyone else to continue, so I call instead of raise. To my surprise an EP limper pots for roughly $250 more and has $150 behind.

I'm fairly sure he has AAxx. My monkey-math tells me I'm getting 2 to 1, and really a little better than that, as there is no way he is folding his last $150. Anyway, I call.

Should I have folded? Reraised the 1st 2 raises myself?

yeah its not worth calling because most of the money is in a dry side pot so you only get 1:1 on the call for most of it.

i'm not crazy about calling the $63 cold without the suited ace.

I was thinking the same thing, why call $60 without a suited ace or ace 2 etc. Plus with live players behind you. Should have just folded lost $5 and called it a day.

the ranks are strong but suits are much more important than in holdem. playing omaha has made me fold a lot more unsuited hands in holdem.

there was once a time when a little holdem wisdom said "it doesn't matter if it's suited or unsuited, being suited only adds a 5% chance to winning the hand". that played into my game when i started with omaha. but what that doesn't take into account is the bettability of the hand. you can flop or turn flush draws which allow you to semibluff but you won't necessarily hit the flush, but they nevertheless give you a shot at winning the pot, whether by directly betting, raising or checkraising, when you might have just given up otherwise.

to me having a suited 34 is basically nothing. i would rather have four the same suit with the ace suited. roughly i think you only hit a flush 10% less with four the same suit than when you have 9 outs. that being said, vs 1 player any flush will often win and often you can have confidence to value bet any flush when you also make a low.

This is one of the strongest non-AA hands in preflop confrontations, because of the AK, and the backup for low. The non-nutness of the flush draw is less of a factor here (the reason we like suited aces in general is because when we see a flop with lots of money behind, the nut flush draw lets us drive the betting).

I would play it the same as you did, especially in the game you describe people are just going to be in there with worse hands. I assume that you aren't underrolled or afraid of action since you opted to post a straddle. Jam any flop too (just in case the raiser is stupid enough to fold his last 150) (unless the flop is so good you can slowplay it)

I felt more than a little "loose-ish" making the call. I'll give my reason(s) why and I'd like to know if my reasoning is good.

One, I felt like I was calling $250 to play along in a $650 pot. I certainly agree that my hand would have been much stronger with a suited ace, and the fact that the 4 was suited wasn't some huge consideration. However, at least in my mind, I had a hard time imagining what this player held that had me as a nearly 3-to-1 dog.

Two, of the guys who play (regular weekly game, rotating cast of 13-15 players) I'm more selective about my hands than all but 1 super-nit. So, I thought I may be getting raised by a high-only hand looking to minimize his risk (as the only other two people in the hand were all-in).

Three, I thought this might be a good spot to advertise a willingness to play a 200bb pot preflop with something other than AA2x.

Again, thanks for the replies and insights.

you have twice indicated that you believed you were getting good odds on calling

and what you need to see is this isn't true.

the $ that you contribute to the pot in excess of the $63 is being contested HU with the EP limp/raiser. So the additional $187($250-$63) that u are calling and the $150 behind is 1:1 with the EP limp/raiser.

your 1st $20ish is being contest 4way(where you are getting 3:1+ on your $20ish) and your next $43ish is being contest 3way (where you are getting 2:1 on your $43ish).

i dunno the best way to play the hand, but its important for u to see the pot wasn't laying you odds on 3/4's of the $ you contribute to the pot when you call the $250 nor on the $150 behind.

BTW...flop is 956. I bet $153, other player calls with A:aj9. Running low diamonds. I take low on main pot(s) and scoop the $800 side.

Nice hand

without reads on villains i fold to the raises pre