A fish's life

In the sea of pot limit Omaha, I'm a small confused guppy aimlessly trying to take down a pot.

I don't know when to check or bet, I can't read how big my wrap draw is and I can't count outs over 20 because that's just too high of a number.

I'm a PLO fish, and I kind of like it.

I get to discover a new game and play against unique opponents from across the world. I don't have many notes taken, and reading hands is a guessing game.

PLO is an adventure in learning that hold'em can no longer offer.

I've played too many hold'em hands, read too many books and watched too many videos for the two-card variety to hold the same mystique it once did. Playing PLO is still a puzzle to be put together, piece by piece.

I relish this time spent as a rookie, but I don't want it to last long. This fish needs to grow into a shark.

PLO HOTD: Top set sucks

This may be one of those times I've heard about when folding top set could be correct.

That's going to get some getting used to compared to hold'em.

Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 5 players - View hand 13671
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $189.10
Hero (BTN): $402.30
SB: $164.50
BB: $108.90
UTG: $505.30

Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is BTN with 3 T 3 T

UTG calls $4, CO calls $4, Hero calls $4, SB calls $2, BB checks

Flop: ($20.00) 4 3 T (5 players)

SB bets $20, BB raises to $80, UTG folds, CO folds, Hero raises to $280, SB calls $140.50 all in, BB calls $24.90 all in

Turn: ($445.90) 2 (3 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($445.90) A (3 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $445.90

Hero shows 3 T 3 T (three of a kind, Tens)

SB shows 7 Q 5 6 (a flush, Ace high)

BB shows J 4 4 9 (three of a kind, Fours)

SB wins $111.20
SB wins $331.70
(Rake: $3.00)

My equity was pretty awful, even for a three-way pot:

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=5841953
pokenum  -o 3h tc 3d td  - qh 6h 5c 7c  - jc 4s 4h 9d  -- 4c 3c th
Omaha Hi: 666 enumerated boards containing 4c 3c Th
cards          win   %win  lose  %lose  tie  %tie     EV
Tc Td  3d  3h  184  27.63   482  72.37    0  0.00  0.276
7c 5c  Qh  6h  425  63.81   241  36.19    0  0.00  0.638
4s Jc  9d  4h   57   8.56   609  91.44    0  0.00  0.086

PLO Begins

As I start playing PLO, I find that I have the same difficulties I had when learning other forms of poker: valuing hands correctly, reading hands and worrying too much about table image.

Despite these flaws, I'm optimistic about my potential to get good at this game.

It plays more literally than hold'em. The hands players represent are closer to what they actually hold, which makes decisions easier. It also means playing my own hand correctly is more important.

There are also many loose-passive players. These are the donors. Some might argue that you can play looser in Omaha than in hold'em, but not this loose. I know I'm a PLO noob, but I can't see how 50 and 60 percent VP$IPs in 6-max games can be profitable.

Losing at Omaha yesterday reminded me of a poker truism I hadn't thought of in a while: sometimes you will be dealt crappy cards and setup hands, so maximizing value means losing the least amount possible.

I love the action though when I'm dealt winning hands instead of coolers.

My continuing education: Ms. PLO and "Pot-limit Omaha Poker" by Jeff Hwang.

Year Ender

I'll remember 2008 as the year in which I decided to tackle heads-up no limit, achieving OK results.

I dropped some money as I tried to learn the game, but I learned a lot about poker in general. Most importantly, the challenge of taking on a new form of the game forced me to study my game, delve into watching more poker videos and hire a poker coach. I'll always be able to play HUNL now when the other games look dead. I'm probably still a small lifetime loser in heads-up play, but I believe I'm getting close to even.

The rest of the year was pretty damn standard: I took a couple of unsuccessful shots at 10/20 NL while still grinding out solid profits at 5/10. My profits for 2008 are closely in line with what I achieved in both 2006 and 2007, which is acceptable.

Let's look back at my goals for last year:

1) Improve my bluffing frequency. I would call this a small success. I found a few more opportunities to bluff by hand reading better and trusting my reads. On the other hand, one of my weaknesses is that I still feel like my style is too conservative.

2) Blog regularly. There were spurts of frequent activity, and on the whole I'd say I kept the blog up to date. It was never my intent to post every day; instead, I wanted to publish at least a couple of times a week without taking too much time off.

3) Work on my heads-up game. Done.

4) Stop bloody spewing so much. I'm always improving at this. Discipline is an upward climb, and I steadily try to tilt less, make better decisions, make fewer curiosity calls and quit when I'm no longer at my best.

5) Find ways to play my best game. See above. Often, it's simply impossible to play my best game because I'm tired or not thinking as quickly as I'd like. In those cases, it's better not to play at all.

Now let's look ahead to 2009.

I only have one goal for the coming year: Learn pot limit Omaha.

I strongly believe the investment in diversifying my game is more valuable than the profits lost by sticking to my regular full ring or 6-max 5/10 NL games. Some pros say PLO already has surpassed NLHE in terms of game selection and quality. I feel like I'm already late to the PLO bandwagon, but that's alright.

I'll start by reading "Pot-limit Omaha Poker," by Jeff Hwang and watching plenty of PLO videos on DeucesCracked. I plan to start at 2/4 and see how I progress from there.

Good luck to you all in 2009, and Happy New Year!

AA no good

Pot-limit Omaha remains fun on Full Tilt, where I've been playing PLO and limit hold em as I rebuild my bankroll there. 5/10 no limit hold em is still my main game on other sites, but it's educational to diversify.

One thing I know: all of these games are very profitable right now. I haven't seen the tables so loose in at least a year. I think it must be because of football season and WSOP Europe.

In PLO, it's taking me time to understand when wrap-around straight draws are valuable, and how shitty AAxx hands are.

Here's one AAxx hand that went right, followed by another than went wrong:

1) Limp-folding Aces is the only way to go. I'm starting to get used to it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1465461

2) I flopped top set of Aces against a short stack who also flopped a straight with a redraw to a higher straight. I guess I misplayed this hand by raising the flop, but I wanted to get it all in against the short stack. I would have folded against a deeper stack, and I also would have likely folded after that 7 on the turn.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1466613

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=3049698
pokenum  -o 8h 6c 4c 2d  - ad ac 6s 3s  -- as 5d 3d
Omaha Hi: 820 enumerated boards containing As 5d 3d
cards          win   %win  lose  %lose  tie  %tie     EV
6c 4c  2d  8h  505  61.59   307  37.44    8  0.98  0.621
6s 3s  Ac  Ad  307  37.44   505  61.59    8  0.98  0.379

This hand isn't a good example, but it got me thinking about big wrap straight draws. I think it will take some time before I can instinctively count all those potential outs. Lyle Berman wrote in his "Super System 2" chapter that "in order to be 50-50 against a set, you really need seventeen outs twice. This is significant for Omaha, because most people think it’s thirteen or fourteen, as it is in hold’em."

Even if my opponent had held the five-way wrap straight draw 2467 on a board like K35, he would have still been a slight dog against my AA63 hand with 14 outs (Two Aces and three each of 2467) twice.

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=3054149
pokenum  -o 2d 4c 6c 7h  - ad ac 6s 3s  -- 5d 3d ks
Omaha Hi: 820 enumerated boards containing Ks 5d 3d
cards          win   %win  lose  %lose  tie  %tie     EV
6c 4c  2d  7h  398  48.54   414  50.49    8  0.98  0.490
6s 3s  Ac  Ad  414  50.49   398  48.54    8  0.98  0.510

Would you like interest with that bonus and rakeback?

I haven't played at Absolute Poker in nearly three years, when I was trying to bonus whore and move up to 3/6 limit games. I lost money, I hated the software and I haven't played there since.

That said, I'm thinking about going back to Absolute because of this cool-sounding new promo that gives 9 percent interest on poker accounts, which I first read about through Kick Ass Poker Blog. It appears that you must be an "Elite" level player and keep $1,000 in your account, but other than that I don't see many restrictions.

It sounds like a fantastic deal. Combined with constant bonus offers and rakeback, Absolute seems to be giving away a ton of money -- perhaps enough to even make me play there again. All I need to do now is grow my bankroll to $500,000 and live off the $45,000 a year in interest while continuing to beat the games.

Check out this 2+2 thread for more info.

---

I was saddened to hear that Kuro, the original poker cat, died last week from liver complications from lymphoma and chemotherapy. He was a fantastic kitty, and I'll think of him any time I play the Kuro (6-3).

Thanks for this pot, Kuro:

FullTiltPoker (6 max) - $2/$4 - $160 Cap Pot Limit Omaha Hi
smizmiatch posts the small blind of $2
benba posts the big blind of $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to smizmiatch [6h 3d As Ah]
BotOFallBOTS calls $4
Ronasty calls $4
smizmiatch calls $2
benba raises to $20
BotOFallBOTS calls $16
Ronasty calls $16
smizmiatch raises to $100
benba raises to $160, and is capped
BotOFallBOTS folds
Ronasty folds
smizmiatch calls $60, and is capped
benba shows [Jd Ad Ac Js]
smizmiatch shows [6h 3d As Ah]
*** FLOP *** [8h 4h 6c]
*** TURN *** [8h 4h 6c] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [8h 4h 6c 8c] [9h]
benba shows two pair, Aces and Eights
smizmiatch wins the pot ($357) with a flush, Ace high

HUC5, PLO and Hand Combos

I lost in two straight games to lifesagrind in the Heads-Up Challenge on Full Tilt. Lifesagrind is one of the more aggressive heads-up players I've faced, and he kept me at a disadvantage most of the time. Then he finished me off when I held QQ and KK, so what can you do.

I really prefer PokerStars's heads-up games that have no blind increases. The rising blinds really alter the feel and style of heads-up play, and they make for shorter matches.

---

I've still been playing some Omaha, and it's a really fun game when I win. When I lose, I feel like a lost idiot. One cool part of it is that you can get people's money when they have the worst of it by far, something that seems harder to accomplish in hold 'em:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1422198

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=3013578
pokenum  -o 7d 6s 4d 6c  - ad qc qd js  -- tc 5d 8d 9c
Omaha Hi: 40 enumerated boards containing Tc 9c 8d 5d
cards          win   %win  lose  %lose  tie  %tie     EV
6s 6c  7d  4d    1   2.50    39  97.50    0  0.00  0.025
Js Qc  Ad  Qd   39  97.50     1   2.50    0  0.00  0.975

That was my biggest PLO hand so far, an $800 pot in my first time playing 2/4. And no, my opponent didn't suck out the straight flush.

I'm still pretty bad at this game, but I just need practice. I think it'll help develop postflop skills in general.

---

Roy Cooke wrote an article in this month's CardPlayer that discussed a topic I have wondered about in the past. He discusses considering the odds that your opponent holds one of a limited number of hands that your opponent may have based on a narrow read. It should be easy enough to memorize and apply:

Keep these numbers in mind for hand-reading, and use them when defining your opponents' hands and reckoning your price. There are six possible combinations of any pair; for example: J J, J J, J J, J J, J J, J J♣. If any one of them is accounted for in your hand or on the board, the number of possible combinations drops to three; for example, if you hold the J: J J, J J, J J. If two are accounted for, there is one possible combination. There are 16 possible combinations of two unpaired cards, including the suited ones; for example, A-K or J-10. If one is accounted for - for example, you hold a king and are analyzing the possibility of your opponent holding A-K - the number of possible combinations drops to 12.

So, the odds that your opponent has:

Any pair: 6 possible combinations
Any pair with one card accounted for: 3 remaining combinations
Any pair with two cards accounted for: 1 possible combination

Two unpaired cards (like AK): 16
Two unpaired cards with one accounted for (like AK with one King out): 12
Two unpaired cards with two accounted for (like AK with one King and one Ace out): 9
Two unpaired cards with two accounted for (like AK with two Kings out): 8
Two unpaired cards with three accounted for (like AK with three Kings out): 4
Two unpaired cards with four accounted for (like AK with three Kings and one Ace out): 3

Link Monday

Q&A #83: Adjusting to a Deeper Stack AKA What's Wrong With Playing for the Big Score: I like Ed Miller's thoughts on the need to bluff with connectors.

Folding the Nuts: PLO fun here with Todd Brunson.

Sometimes juicy-looking drawing hands have horrible equity on high card boards. I found it interesting how low the odds for my top pair Kings with an open-ended straight draw fell when my opponent held the AA overpair, which naturally robbed me of some outs.

Calling Reraises with Suited Connectors: This post by Fuel stuck with me. I much prefer to play suited connectors in position, but regardless of position they can pay off when they flop big.

Learning Pot Limit Omaha

I've been getting into Pot Limit Omaha the last few days, and it's been a lot of fun (when I've been winning). I didn't know what I was doing yesterday, but today a few tips from Lyle Berman's section of "Super System 2" make me feel much more confident.

Admittedly, I don't have much experience in PLO, but all of Berman's advice seems great for helping me learn the game. I lost a tiny bit playing 1/2, .5/1 and .25/50 the last few days, but I more than made up for those after reading a bit of his chapter.

My first impression is that these games are filled with dead money. They're extremely loose -- far looser than you can find in any hold 'em game anywhere outside of play money. A big reason for that is that you can open up a bit in PLO, but seeing between 80 percent to 100 percent of flops probably isn't a good idea! Don't tell the fish.

Here are a few of Berman's early recommendations that struck me as reading his chapter. The whole book is online for free on the Doyle's Room Web site, which is a tremendous resource. Thanks to Kuro, who originally posted the link some time ago.

_ Berman points out that implied odds are much smaller in Omaha because, "For example, if you're drawing to the nut flush and you hit it on the river, there is a strong chance that nobody is going to call you. Therefore, although you must be aware of your implied odds in Omaha, you must also realize that there's a good chance that you may not get called on the river if you make the nuts."

_ On bet sizing, he suggests typically betting the size of the pot preflop and on the flop, while betting closer to half-pot on the turn and river.

_ He mentions that there's less bluffing: "Most of the bluffing in Omaha happens on uncoordinated flops, and they usually are made by a player sitting in late position."

_ On raising preflop, the book suggests never raising from early position or the blinds. "Here is the general rule: do not raise before the flop from under the gun or from the two blind positions, because you'll be over-committing yourself to your hand." There's also a great section about how to play Aces in Omaha.

_ Any starting hand with two pocket pair has about a 25 percent chance of flopping a set.

The chapter also discusses interesting ideas about playing drawing hands and recognizing the relative strength of wrap draws, backup draws and defensive flush cards. There are also a few great stories about classic hands he remembers playing with guys like David "Devilfish" Ulliot and Bobby Baldwin.

Omaha is an action game, and I can only see it increasing in popularity.

PLO

After feeling a little off my hold 'em game the last couple of days, I've decided to take up pot limit Omaha Hi. So far, over a small sample size, my BB/100 hands is in the dozens!

I don't know much about PLO, but I'm operating under a few assumptions to guide me through the learning curve. So far, they've served me pretty well.

1) Play tight preflop. I think this may be the No. 1 rule for most forms of poker.

2) PLO is a game of the nut, so don't go to war without the nuts or a draw to them. I played a heads-up PLO game with a friend over Christmas break in which he flopped top set against my flush and wrap-around straight draw (I think that's what it's called). I can't remember the exact hand anymore, but I ran it through twodimes just to be sure. It confirmed what I thought -- I was a favorite on the flop when the money went in. So I try to remember to get some money in on the flop with the nuts at the time, but I'll hesitate to commit all my money unless I still hold the nuts on the turn.

3) Obey the fundamental principles found in most forms of poker -- vary your starting hand selection based on position, try to reason through hands, smell out bluffs, bet and raise more in position, and fold when you think you're beaten.

4) With a hand like AAxx, if I can get more than half of my stack in preflop, I'm going to go ahead and push all in on the flop in most situations. Otherwise, slow down with AAxx.

I know this is very basic information, but that's about all I've got so far.

This game really rules. Most tables seem playable, filled with people who know even less about PLO than I do. A strategy of playing tight and waiting for the nuts seems to work pretty damn well, especially when you run into opponents who are only too happy to bluff off all their money on the river.

I've always said that I wanted to branch out into new games, but change is hard. Finally, with efforts to learn triple draw and PLO, I feel like I've taken the first steps. My fear was that I wouldn't be as profitable in these other games as I was in hold em, but I think I should be able to beat them for the same winrate within a short amount of time. It's worth it so far.

Many of the players in these games are just giving money away, and now is the time to branch out into other forms of poker. You'll need all the skills you can muster if you want your bankroll to get through the coming tightening of the online poker world.