.5/1 Short-handed PLO (1 Viewer)

[trever]

Playing PLO four handed online.

I have limited experience with villain, but he's definitely made an impression. Villain tripled up a while back when he cold-called a re-re-pot preflop bet with a double-suited, double-gapped hand (7,8,10,J - or very similar). So he's certainly not afraid to gamble and values his drawing hands highly.

I'm playing quite aggressively and losing overall. Don't know what villain thinks of me.

Stacks are ~150BB

Folded to villain on the Button who pots it to 3.5
SB folds
I'm holding in the big blind

I'll assume that nobody's raising here, and this will be a really short thread if I fold.
I call.

Pot is 7.50
Flop comes
My action...

 

[DrStrange]

I am folding preflop.

Top two pair with minimal runner-runner draws is not as strong as it feels. There aren't many good turn / river cards. I don't want to stack off unimproved without reason.

Hero's read says villain is sticky. It says nothing about aggression. It also says little about his preflop raise tendencies. Sure would be good to have an idea if this is a LAGtard villain or a super sticky calling station.

I am inclined to go for a passive line, check/calling. The worst cards in the deck are twos. That counterfeits Hero's two pair and is a show stopper.

I want to get a cheap showdown -=- DrStrange

 

[Moxie Mike]

I am folding preflop.

It's hard to fold from the BB in a short handed game. HERO does not have a very strong hand, but there is merit to taking a flop getting 2:1 immediate odds closing the action. HERO is almost never a 2-1 dog here - although realizing that equity is a different discussion altogether.

Pot is 7.50
Flop comes
My action...

I like a lead out for full pot on this flop. HERE is likely ahead and it is very unlikely HERO will get raised by anything other than sets and the wrap SD. If raised, HERO may have to release but at least he can do so more confidently.

If called, I am probably potting again on the turn as long as the turn isn't a deuce or something that completes the obvious SD.

Sometimes in PLO you have to bet to find out where you stand - this seems like one of those spots.

 

[surfik]

pot

 

[mipevi]

Hero’s hand is tough to play OOP and we are somewhat deep. Button opened for full pot, I would just let this one go without really good postflop reads on the villain.

As played I’d check/call flop, most turn cards will either complete a straight or make a better two pair possible. Pot control with a bit of deception. Sucks to let villain realize his equity, but this is not a great spot for us.

 

[trever]

Normally I'd bet this spot (3/4 pot button), but decide to get fancy and check.
Villain checks behind.

I'm holding in the big blind
Flop was
Turn brings the very interesting

Action's on me

 

[mipevi]

Very likely we have the best hand, but there are a lot of straight draws. We have some protection vs. rivered straights with our small flush draw, but that draw could of course be dominated. I like a large bet, but one that you'd also make here with a good draw.

 

[DrStrange]

Feeling better about the situation, I think Hero can afford to bet. Let's pot and see how sticky villain will be.

The turn started to complete some runner-runner hands. As important, the turn was a brick for any existing flop draws. Though I would have expected a flop bet from villain if he had such draws.

 

[surfik]

Lot of possibilities. Your diamonds are blocking flush draw. Pot

 

[Anthony Martino]

Preflop I prefer a fold. We're OOP and we have one suit that is 8-high against an aggressive villain. There's not a lot of flops we're going to love with this hand, and our positional disadvantage against an aggressive opponent only worsens things. Yes, at least our cards all coordinate together somewhat, there's no true dangler like a hand such as KQJ3.

On the flop, as stated we are very deep. There are a number of turn cards we'll hate. I'd likely go for a check-call here and wait for a safe turn before we bomb it.

On the turn we're in a much better spot as we have top three pair and a flush draw (or blockers). Barring our opponent holding a straight and flush combo draw I'm absolutely loving our spot here.

If you expect villain to pot the turn then I'd go for a check-raise in this spot. If you don't expect that, then I'd lead right out with a pot-sized bet.

 

[Frogzilla]

I disclaim my post that I suck at PLO

This hand is way too weak and really annoying to play OOP. Even IP it’s not that fun of a hand. You have the A blocker so if you insist on putting chips in the pot it should be a re-pot raise, as a bluff

Flop and turn I dunno, we’ve smashed board but still feel vulnerable. Check-call both is my instinct

 

[trever]

Pot is $7.50.
I bet $5
Villain raises to $22.50
Hero...

 

[upNdown]

I would have folded pre as well, but it’s close. Position notwithstanding, if I could close the action and there was even one more person in the pot, I think it’s a no brained call
Preflop hand equities run close on PLO, so although I try to play with better cards in position, I won’t argue with the call.
On the flop, I’m good with a raise or a call.
As played, on this turn, I’m potting.

 

[mipevi]

I'm folding to villain's raise. His line seems strong even though we block some sets. And if he is aggro and raised pot on just a draw, I expect him to barrel a lot of his missed rivers, making it very hard for Hero to play profitably.

 

[Moxie Mike]

Pot is $7.50.
I bet $5
Villain raises to $22.50
Hero...

This is difficult to comment on since we have no real villain reads. It's difficult to imagine villain has improved on this turn - aside from picking up what is likely to be the NFD. He could also have a hand like A-9-10-x with ace high diamonds. It's also possible he binked a set on the turn - but obviously that's blocked.

So your options are to fold, call, or repop it. Folding has merit because your strong yet vulnerable hand will certainly be facing a bet of up to $90 on the river. I don't know if you can find a call there, even if the river blanks. Calling essentially turns your hand into a bluff-catcher... there's merit to that line as well but you might end up folding anyway if the river is a deuce or a diamond or an obvious straight card.

The third option is to reraise to $90 (anything less than full pot here is useless) and expect to play for stacks. You've probably got a decent amount of equity with your flush and FH draws - and it's reasonably likely you have the best hand. If you're ahead, your opponent has somewhere between 9 and ~18 outs... making you about a ~66% favorite. You're only drawing dead to top set/NFD - a combo that seems very unlikely. So in this spot, I'm jamming in a full pot-sized reraise hoping for a fold but not really minding a call.

After that, the rest is going in on the river. I'd bet it since you're calling it off anyway... giving him a chance to fold if none of his draws get there, and maybe even inducing a fold is he holds the same hand as you.

So what did you do?

 

[Rhodeman77]

I’m calling here. If we pot it back and get jammed on we have to fold. If we pot and get called we won’t like any card that isn’t a J 8 or possibly the 6. Hero has to act first on the river in a bloated pot with no idea if Villain turned a huge draw, or was/is ahead with one of the sets.

Most likely Hero is ahead right now but there are a lot of hand combos that can have Hero in a coin flip potentially.

 

[Moxie Mike]

I’m calling here. If we pot it back and get jammed on we have to fold. If we pot and get called we won’t like any card that isn’t a J 8 or possibly the 6. Hero has to act first on the river in a bloated pot with no idea if Villain turned a huge draw, or was/is ahead with one of the sets.

Most likely Hero is ahead right now but there are a lot of hand combos that can have Hero in a coin flip potentially.

But at this point, doesn't it seem like an inevitability that HERO will be facing a large bet on just about any river? If he thinks he's ahead now isn't there merit in applying max pressure? So even if Villain holds some odd combo like for the full super-monster-wrap-straight draw with a higher flush draw, it's still exactly a coin flip. Against any other holding other than a set, HERO is ahead and his flush outs might give him as many as 15 outs.

 

[Rhodeman77]

But at this point, doesn't it seem like an inevitability that HERO will be facing a large bet on just about any river? If he thinks he's ahead now isn't there merit in applying max pressure? So even if Villain holds some odd combo like for the full super-monster-wrap-straight draw with a higher flush draw, it's still exactly a coin flip. Against any other holding other than a set, HERO is ahead and his flush outs might give him as many as 15 outs.

View attachment 497831

All of the wrap plus flush draws are getting the right price to call a raise. The only hands are pushing out are hands like AAxxdd, KKxxdd, QQxxdd. Anything that will call (or shove) has very good equity or is beating Hero. I’d rather keep his weaker hands in especially since I think they will make a small portion of his range than wraps. Especially considering how much was willing to put in in the hand talked about from the OP.

 

[trever]

Hero re-pots
Villain shoves (oops)
Hero calls

Villain had pocket sixes for the flopped set. Happily, he had no diamonds, so I win the pot when a diamond hits on the river.

I was totally suckered by the slowplay and wanted to see what everyone else put him on.

 

[Moxie Mike]

Hero re-pots
Villain shoves (oops)
Hero calls

Villain had pocket sixes for the flopped set. Happily, he had no diamonds, so I win the pot when a diamond hits on the river.

I was totally suckered by the slowplay and wanted to see what everyone else put him on.

You got it in with 13 clean outs - not the greatest situation to be in but glad it worked out for you.

I think villain played this hand pretty badly too... he's lucky he didn't run into a bigger set there. He could easily have gotten it in drawing to 1 out.