blonde poker forum

Hi guys,

Been playing poker for around 4 years and did around a year as a small time proffessional playing low stakes tourneys. After about a year of playing and 100 tilty sessions I realised I might not be capable of maintaining my emotions at the table so gave up despite having an alright year and joined the finance grind. Not quite as fun though. I always loved HU PLO and made like 2.2k last year over about 2500 hands at 50nl. I have started playing this again as I have no real time for the tourney grind. The problem with playing is that although I have done quite well I have never really watched any HU PLO or discussed any strategy or hand histories with anyone. Cambridge Alex recommended that I post some stuff on here to improve my game. I have a bankroll of just over $3k and am playing 50nl. Can anyone provide any general br management info or any general tips for HU PLO at any stakes (but preferable 50 nl!)?

Will post Hand histories and general questions after my next session.

Hi, welcome to blonde.

Rasbomba is a massive hero!

If his crack on here is anywhere near as good as his crack in person, then this thread could be incredible. But if he's just trying to get better as poker (zzzz) it may not live up to its potential.

Seriously though, he's a legend, we started doing the "pro" thing together and went our separate ways when he realised he was a total pyscho and mentalist bombaclut and wanted to grind it out in the city. 

Not that many on here play hu PLO do they? Lildave maybe a while back, can't think of many others.

Oh hai derrr.

YES RASBOMBA!

Thought u worked in Iceland?

Costa mate. Please, Iceland? Would probably prefer to pull the plug.

This is going to be a sick thread through. Finally, someone who will make my emotional swings bellum sacrum look like a walk in the park.

Hello!

you're under a lot of pressure to deliver here after the build up, of you tilt hard then HU is going to be one tricky market, PLO tilt is just so pure and tilting HU is usually bad expensive!!

R.E videos the galffond ones are far an away the best I've never even enjoyed any others, the only plo book i've liked is Slowhabbit's "transitioning to plo from nlhe" book nott specifc to 6max but a v good book all the same.

My advice would be to play loads and post on PHA whenever you get stuck, there are some pretty good PLO guys around, welcome to add me on skype and send me any particulally interesting HH's (same name as on here <<< ) I'm a little rusty on my HU PLO, its so hard to get action these days but i used to play a ton till i became a withered live pro like Alex :D

I'd actually be happy to do a sweat session or two when im back in the UK as well (not sure when that will be tho)

gl with it!
Dave

Hi Guys,

Sorry about the lack of updates bit of a pointless blog so far! Not been playing too much PLO as have been occupied by the Genting poker series where I came 6th and was conclusively beaten by Albert Sapiano. But to be fair he did say all poker players are even and its just about luck so I feel I did nothing wrong as I had no control over the situation! Got in around 1000 hands yesterday after mini binking a 22 rebuy on stars and had a couple of spots that I was intrigued about.

Firstly is it spewy/am I losing value against aaxx and kkxx if I peel 4bets oop with rundown hands or strongish double suited hands that I'm likely to 3bet with. Is there a better way to play these hands? A lot of the time I end up jst pot leading into them with 1 pair hands knowing they will get it in and when I flop a monster they will check back if i check or just fold if I lead.

Secondly is it +EV to check jam 1 pair hands into what is more than likely an overpair hand? I feel in 4bet/3bet pots with a backdoor draws and a pair I should be getting it in. But was intrigued to what others thought of this spot.

Might as well chuck in a random hold em question to. With hands like  44 55 66 77 in either the bb or sb facing a late position open from a loose opener when your playing jst over a reshove stack like 30-40 bigs. I think peeling oop makes the hand very difficult to play and recently I've just been 3betting small to induce a shove and get it in/take it down. But loose button openers tend to reship very wide so is this an optimal way of playing the hand or am I just getting in a lot of flips for no reason!

Intrigued to see what you think?

Hai there RASBOMBA ... Fishhhhhhh

Haha Chippyman! How you been man?

Calling 4bets is usually fine with non Axxx hands that you decided to 3b with. It depends on your opponents 4b frequencies and stack sizes as there will be a cut off when SPR is too small to justify the implied odds of the times you will flop big. What you said about how to play them postflop is correct, donking out is best usually and in particular when you know you opponents range is quite small (i.e. they ARN'T also 4-betting AJQ10/rundowns and jamming flops that miss them when checked to).
Taking the initiative post-flop in these pots is most important in allowing you to protect your equity, e.g. when you flop bottom pair + FD - having the flop checked and the turn pairing the board means you go from flipping vs. Aces on the flop, to being a big underdog and probably priced out on the turn.

Yer. check jamming 1 pair with some sort of gutshot or a couple of backdoors can be fine in 3bet pots if you think there is fold equity but your not doin well against their range if they are calling 100% (altho this situation can't happen hu). Again depends on the opponents frequencies though so it's hard to say its fine or not in any circumstances. Its not fine if your opponents hand is likely to contain a lot of blockers or redraws though.... (c/jamming 5689dd on 5JQd is obv a disaster as your draw can be dead and also some of your 2pair draws can be dead; c/jamming on flush drawing boards would also be bad as if they have that FD then your buggered-> 5689dd on 25Khhd)

Unless stacks are ridiculously deep then you're usually priced in post flop with 1 pair and no draws in 4bet pots. Backdoors would just be a bonus. Axx flops are the exception, also when holding pairs in your own hand it will hurt equity. Going through loads of HH's and check out the odds with different board textures is the only way to master this stuff.

Playing 50plo hu i would recommend min opening 95% hands to start a match. Most people fold way too much and you can just win a lot of BB's without showdown. It also mean you are priced into loads of 3b pots which is good as people will play postflop oop v bad.
Being able to execute a stratergy of stealing loads pre flop is pretty sweet as 50plo the rake is huge (only rake pots with flops on most sites).  Obv if someone is a huge station and never 3bets then adjust etc.


IDK much about holdem stuff but inducing someone to flip with you seems bad (maybe sometimes they ship A2 or 33 but also sometimes they have 88-AA). I think i would rather just ship than do this. Having said that calling and folding vs different loose player types (aggro + not) also seems like not too big of a mistake.

Okies. Gl posting here. Some of them give u shitty tips
but some r very good. I.e hmmmmmmm

Ged's post was ofc completely perfect, the only point I would make is I think 3x'ing is a better strategy than min'ing in HU PLO as most weaker players will make the mistake of 3betting incorrectly and calling too much so with 100bb stacks I think playing bigger pots when you IP is defo for the win :)

I usually drop to min opening when the stackes get below 70~big blinds.

Sick sick post tho Ged. Where have you been?

on sabbatical from ipoker mate lol. will prob fire up again soon but i'm in love with the deep games on stars atm .... was waiting for you and cos to move up and give some liquidity back to the games anyway!! :-P

lol i've been doing nothing but giving liquidity to the ipoker games this year. scary how much im losing on there :D

My opinion on this is based on 100 bb internet cash games, but IMO the 30-40 bigs tournament situation only amplifies what would be my view on a cash game due to the need to play tighter with shallow to mid stacks (as a cash game player i'm counting 81+ bb as deep, 41-80 as a mid stack, 21-40 as shallow and 0.x to 20 as critical/see you in the ICU).

If you are facing a loose opener, IMO it is questionable whether to play small pairs at all in the given situation. That might seem tight, especially because you have a hand, and he probably doesn't have one, and there's even some chance you are against a hand you are 70/30 or better against.

Here's my reasoning however. Firstly you are OOP, and secondly the value of these hands comes from making a set as they are notoriously difficult to play when you do not make one as oftentimes 968 million overcards come on the flop, thirdly it is hard to make a pair on Hold'em, never mind a set (AFAIK it's about 8 to 1 against, roughly) and the consequences of this are that you check/fold flops, have to call down in guessing hero call situations, or checkraise bluff without any idea what he has or what to do if he calls (again, due to being OOP), and fourthly and finally, even those times you make a set, most times you will not get paid off beyond a c-bet if you are playing a typical guy who is not emptying the clip all 3 streets with air. By paid off, I mean you get his stack or decent chunk of it, or rather in these cases, you don't get paid off.

^Above reasoning applies to if you call the raise.

For a tournament situation, it's not good poker to be speculating as a caller OOP, especially in this situation as you need to be getting paid off 10x the raise size for it to be a +ev call (idk if you heard of that rule before but its 10x for small pairs, 20x for suited connectors) and with these effective stacks you probably won't be getting the implied odds on the call that you need. That rule thing applies more to cash games, but again it's probably even stricter for a tournament because of having to preserve your tournament life.

The other option as you mentioned is to reraise. In cash games this is generally a poor play vs a loose player because you will be deep and OOP and barrelling postflop (assuming he calls the reraise) when you have 0 clue what he has (very exploitable by him calling with value hands postflop, the one move he loves to do most). I don't see how it is much different with 30-40 bigs, you're still in the same situation postflop. It's super awkward OOP. Obv there is value in taking it down pre with the 3 bet but you are possibly laying him your stack vs winning his relatively small raise (relative to your stack).

Sooo IMO it is better to just lose your blind and wait for position.

Why am I only dealing this game? I need the best way to kill a vampire, big time lol

BOMBACLAAAAAAT

Excellent post Adam.

You could've just said that by calling oop with small pairs you'd be in a permanent quandry unless you flop a set!?

But seriously, it's spot on more on less, fold pre!

Just to add one thing to why 3betting them isn't a good idea, lack of 'visibility' post flop (I think you touched on this) and also they have no blockers so makes them less good hands to bluff with.

Vs ppl that 4b bluff too much it's profitable to 3b small pairs to 5b jam, but I think you already know this.

Yeah one is very much in a PQ postflop without a set holding a small PP.

Also I want to add, coz I failed to even though I intended explicitly to in my OP, that because villain is a loose player he is unlikely to have a hand to call with if you make your set, so attempting to do so will seldom have enough value to justify the attempt. So I would say that this type of speculative call has a lot more value vs a tight player, or a player who has raised in early position, or either or both of these when you are in position. Vs a tight player he's going to have an overpair a lot and obviously these hands don't get folded a lot with these stack sizes, so you will get their stack a lot.

One more thing to balance my argument a little, I think that when deciding whether to call in a tournament, whether it is a +EV money play should not necessarily dominate your decision making if the decision is close or would/could only be very slightly -EV money play in cash game (which applies to this situation). Until you are in the money, you are always risking only your buyin, but your goal is always to come 1st and get the most money, so you need to put yourself in situations to do that, which is done by accumulating chips/stacking people and not being all in outside the money unless necessary to your survival or you have nuts/close to it. Let's say you and villain both have 40 big blinds, you make the call preflop and he does wake up with enough hand to give you his stack. You now have 80 big blinds. So now, it's most likely that you will be cruising for the next few levels of play and during that time you will also get additional chips and nobody can bust you, and you have a much larger shot at coming 1st. In other words, a -EV money play could be +EV for a tournament.

And finally whether you are getting paid off on your set depends a lot on your own image as much as that of villain's. If you are playing wildly and have shown a lot of bluffs, or if you have a losing image, you are going to get paid off more and with weaker hands, even as little as ace high, or villain may even try to bluff raise you if he misses a draw or maybe the board gets scary or maybe it's a bone dry board like TT2 or K27. But he also has to be paying attention and you have to know he is paying attention for this to be a consideration.

I like the post Adam. I totally agree that peeling pre flop is awful. I didn't consider that an option as it obviously is just a complete guessing game. I do think 3betting is the best option. Both you and goulderfish are treating your hand as a bluff. A 3bet pre flop is will get through more often than not and if you do get reshipped your not doing terrible against his range (assuming he's loose). With a 30-40bb stack late in a tournament with the antes and blinds along with the raise ur picking up close to 5bb which is big for your stack. It will also get a fold from a lot of bad suited hands and unsuited connected hands like  Qd Ths and  Jd Qhs that he will muck more often that not.

Folding is just so nitty against an agro opponent. But I do love to flip!! Preflop you'll get a lot of folds, he will never peel you and if you get reshipped against an aggressive opponent then you've still got a pair! Plus 66 always hits a set!