I'm not sure that there is any shortcut to winning poker. I've often read that it is an iterative process requiring a lot of table time. My PLO8 journey started well and then a little bit of variance and a big bit of bad play has jolted me back to the study. Well, given that I jumped straight in at $100 buy-ins and no study, more accurate to say start my study.
In my library, I came across a Split Poker book by Ray Zee. He starts by saying that poor PLO8 players can go a long time before realising that they are losing players. Given that when the book was written 30 hands per hour of live poker was the norm, at its most generous, I've certainly survived a month or so of casual play. Still not very long, sigh!
This was the wake up hand ...
... it isn't the $100 that was the jolt, just my bad play on the low side that left me so exposed. I should have known when my steal was met with a min re-raise. Position, position, position.
I never regret being outplayed, just look to learn from it. When I read Ray's book further, the chapter focuses on playing tighter and tighter. It turns out that Edward Hutchison was right and I was wrong after all - surprise, surprise.
So here I am back to the drawing board. Without the 500 hands I played, the chapters would be boring and I wouldn't have picked much up. I'm already finding that I had intuitively discovered a lot more than I gave myself credit for. Looking forward to further study and hopefully not being the fish for too much longer.
PS I actually nipped into becoming a very small winning player up $5 immediately prior to the hand above. PokerEV tells me that I was running very hot though. In Sklansky Bucks, I should be down $200.
1 year ago
6 comments:
Hands like this are a wakeup call and probably vital to simulate us to keep trying to improve.
It's a nasty hand. Unless BB is tight, I'd probably be inclined to dump it preflop. Once you see the flop though, it is quite hard to get away from your hand.
Your two pair on the flop is almost guaranteed to be the best high, and it is hard to just give up here blind vs blind (extra reason to dump it pre). TBH I could understand if you just check and call all three streets, because you have showdown value and it is blind vs blind. The river bet was suicidal though, as you are only playing for half a pot at best.
That said, it is really super unlucky to hold 2nd nut vs nut flush in a blind vs blind.
[disclaimer - I know nothing about O8 :)]
hey
i like your blog, nice and honest. unlike many i started playing plo horse and om8 and have now moved to nlhe.the opposite to you
i am dumping the hand pre. its just trash, bb almost always is calling here. nothing in your hand has much potential to reach nut status, and kxsuited in omaha is death. you just give yourself difficult decisions on river. the call is pretty marginal, but its the fact you got there in the first place.
i think if you are a beginning om8 player, full ring is better place to experiment/learn, as its easier to play tighter and stay disciplined. also more profitable to speculate with wheel and connector hands multiway where you can scoop and win huge pots.
According to Hutch, it scores 20 and warrants a Limp. But I agree, with my limited 6-max experience etc, folding pre is a much better option. One day I'll have improved enough to warrant following the Hutch recommendation of Linping as the hand actually scores a 20. I hadn't realised that it is actually well above average strength. To pick up on MBBs comments though - at my level I'd be better playing FR and avoiding situations where I'm making marginal decisions. Thanks all for the comments.
This is not NLH...PLO8 does not involve any deep metagame psychology or blind-v-blind leveling wars. Play hands that draw to the nuts. Put money in when you have the nuts on one side and a chance to pick up the other as well. So what if he bluffs you...let him have the six dollar pot.
That hand should be a wake up call, because in that example, you're not thinking about the game correctly. Only draw to the nuts, make sure you're not putting it all in to get quartered. Don't over think it, it's an "easy" game.
A couple of months later and after a stint at 1c/2c and thinking about the game, I've rebuilt my bankroll sufficient to be 4-tabling PLO8 ($50) for a modest profit.
I'm feeling a lot more confident and thought that I'd revisit this hand.
Undoubtedly, I should have dumped pre but TBH I am still raising in this spot and most people are folding.
I'm much better at getting away on the flop these days and will fold that flop about 70% of the time. The other 30%, I will definitiely be sucked in on the Turn.
Donking out on the River with this hand I will now do 100% of the time. I'll also call the river bet expecting to be up against the nut low and split the pot. Folding to the AI shove is too weak IMO.
In retrospect, it is an unfortunate hand that just got worse street by street caused by the fundamental problem of trying to pick up a measly $1 blind.
Interestingly, the winners at PLO8 all exhibit Passivity in their PokerTracker profiles. It really is a Wait, Watch and Win game.
RubberTow put it very succinctly ... it really is an easy game that I am enjoying playing exclusively now.
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