The
SB in this hand is a 20/10 reg but other than that we don’t have any
reads. I’m OK with limping behind on the button with a hand like this.
It’s easy to get away from if we don’t flop top set and we can also get
value when we make straights or cooler people with overboats. From early
position and in the blinds this is basically always a fold.Post-flop is where things get interesting. What range can we assign him after he leads pot into three other players? The number of opponents in the hand affects our ability to hand read accurately. To refresh your memory, people generally play very straightforward in multi-way pots. They don’t lead into three other players with air or any wide ranges whatsoever on wet board textures. In other words, his range is narrowed down to a big draw and a set. It’s hard for him to have a set because we have a blocker to the bottom one and since the board is 2♠8♦J♠, there are more combinations of strong draws than made hands. It’s possible that he has top two with redraws but for the sake of this example let’s assume he has a big draw.
A common mistake that NLHE players make when transitioning to PLO is that they overvalue two pairs and sets. A set in Hold’em is a monster but since PLO is a drawing game, sets are commonly just another “draw” to a full house. It’s important to avoid getting caught up in the moment and shovel money into the pot whenever you flop a set. You must consider what he’s representing and what your equity is against his range. Against a draw that’s big enough to lead into three other players, we’re probably flipping or could even be an underdog. If the turn is a brick, or if we fill up, we can confidently value-bet, allow him to continue to bluff us since it looks like we’re drawing, or pot-raise and get our money in with a bigger edge than we could have on the flop. We need more than 47 percent equity to break even when the SPR is above 10. In this case, the SPR is well above 10, so re-raising pot on the flop is sub-optimal, plus it diminishes the advantages of being in position.
Anyhow, we raise pot on the flop and get called. Our opponent then pots the turn when the straight fills to protect against a set which is what my student was representing and is the correct play. In this spot, I would normally just fold because we only have 25 percent against a straight and are only getting 2:1 on our money when we need 3:1. Instead, my student calls and the river only gets uglier. The opponent tries to squeeze a little more value for his presumed flush, and my student finally folds.
This hand was a complete disaster, and I went over it primarily to show you what not to do. It also serves as a reminder that PLO can be broken down into a game of board textures and opponent tendencies. If there’s one thing to take away from this hand it’s that having position greatly increases your options. It’s important to know how to use it to your advantage to be successful over the long run.
SOURCE : BLUFF
