Yesterday's PLO

So as promised here is a summary of yesterday's PLO tournament.

For those of you that don't play alot of poker PLO is an action game where each player is dealt 4 cards and is played exactly like Texas Holdem. The one big difference is that you must use exactly 2 of the 4 cards in your hand and exactly 3 on the board to make your best 5 card hand. Because of all of the combinations of hands Omaha can create it is very much an action game.

So I was very much looking forward to this specific tournament as PLO is probably my best game. This tournament attracted 750ish players and had a first prize of 225k. In fact everyone at the final table would earn over 20k.

My strategy early in PLO tournaments is to see a lot of flops cheaply and try to flop big hands and get paid off. Unfortunately that is not what happened. I gradually lost chips as I was hitting no hands. Unlike Holdem bluffing in PLO is much less prevelant especially early in a tournament. So by the 4th level I was all the way down to 1500 chips from the original 3k. I basically needed to find a hand I liked and ship my chips in.

Well I was completely card dead and my table was VERY VERY aggressive. That meant stealing pots just wasn't happening. Finally I was down to 900 chips or so when this hand came up. I was dealt A spades-2 spades-4 clubs and 5 clubs. (Great Hi-Lo hand but we aren't playing Hi-Lo). Folds around to me and I make it 600 to go. BB puts me all in and I call. He flips 2345 so i have him crushed. Flop comes A79 with 2 spades which is beatiful for me and turn and river brick off so I double up to ~2k. Couple hands later I get AATJ (pretty big PLO hand) and it is raised in front of me and I repop all in. He calls with KKxx and my hand holds up and now I have ~4.5k. I slowly chip up and get to around 8k in chips then go card dead again until this beauty comes up.

Blinds are 200-400. i am in late position with 89TJ single suited (another big PLO hand) and I bet the pot (1400). The button is a VERY VERY aggressive asian dude (AAD for later) and he repots (meaning he bets the maximum which is a full pot sized bet) to 4800. Even if he has AAxx i am willing to gamble here and as he is not that far ahead of me. Unlike Holdem hands are much closer in value to each other in PLO preflop. There is no situation like in Hold Em where a player can get it in with AA and be 80% to win over an opponents KK. So anyway I am going down with this hand and I repot all in. He calls with AAxx (as he obv should) and board comes 29J and now I am WAY, WAY ahead. He basically needs to hit one of the 2 remaining A to win at this point and hope I don't hit a 7,8,T or Q to make a str8. The turn and river brick and I have like 16k. I lose a few hands with not much invested and slowly drift down to abt 12k. Then this happens the last hands before dinner break.

I start with ~11k in chips and am in the cuttoff seat (the seat in front of the button). Blinds are 200-400 and 3 players limp in front of me so I call with 5567 with the 56 of hearts. Button and SB call and BB checks and there are 7 to the flop. Flop comes AJ3 with 2 hearts. It checks around. Turn is a 9 of hearts giving me a flush (albeit a very weak 6 high flush). In PLO this is not a very strong hand particularly with 7 players in the pot. But it checks around to me so the other players prob do not have a flush either or a bet would have popped up at this point. So I bet 2k into the 2.8k pot. AAD instantly repots to 8.8k. This makes no sense to me. If he had a big flush draw or better on the flop and it gets checked to him on the button he is betting that flop without question. I am 99% sure he is making a play at me and is trying to bully. It folds back to me and I have already decided that I am shipping it in. So I repot all in. When he doesn't instantly call me I know I am good and now am hoping he will call me with 2 pair or trips. So he only has to call another 2k into a pot of nearly 23k and he folds. Good read for Bri-Bri and nice pot.

We are off to dinner break. At this point there are only about 120 players left which is incredible considering we started with over 750. Top 72 cash so the cash bubble will be reached in the next 2 or 3 levels (each level lasts 1 hour).

I kind of hang around after the break and don't really do a lot. I lose to a short stack when he repots my pot bet and my AAxx gets cracked. That pushes me down to about 18k in chips. then I have to fold after I raise with KKxx and get reraised essentially all in by a very tight player. His hand screams AA so I fold. Then the most important hand for me comes up.

Big stack to my right pots at the 400-800 level. We are down to 77 or so players and people are really tightening up their play since we are so close to cashing. But I am playing to go deep in the tournament so I will play the hands that I would always play. I look down at AKQQ with the AQ of clubs. I elect to call in case he has AA already. Flop comes AJ2 all hearts. At this point he still could have AA and I would be in trouble. He bets out for 4k and I choose to call. I don't really know if I am ahead at this point but there is a good chance I am. I am planning to try to steal the pot on the turn if the proper opportunity comes up. The turn is another A. So now I know he doesn't have AA but he could have AJ for a full house, some sort of hand like 89TJ with 2 hearts, or I guess JJ (though that is the least likely since he raised preflop and JJ isn't a raising hand in PLO from early position). he checks which surprised me. i think for a minute and the check doesn't make sense. So I ship it all in. I am still not positive that I am ahead but I'm not folding here so lets get it all in. I might get him to fold AKxx (which ties me) or get him to fold a weak flush (like a 9 or T high flush). He tanks for a good 10 mins and asks if I want a call. At this point I think I am ahead and he has like AQxx so i do want a call. Finally he calls and shows AQxx and the river bricks so I win a monster and am up to about 35k in chips (finally more than the average chip stack).

The cash bubble bursts and I get moved to a new table with a total aggressive maniac two to my left (not a good table draw). In general you would prefer to have the aggressive players on your right so you can see what they do before you act. Well b4 I realized how agressive he is I raise to 3500 in late position with 679T all unsuited. He reraise me the pot to to 11k and I have to fold. Too ealy to stack off there and calling to see a flop is out of the question. I am not putting in 1/3 of my stack then folding after the flop ever. So it is either repot by me to gamble or fold and find a better spot...I elect to fold. I then lose to the short stack at the table for a 6k loss. He raises in late position to 3500 (he only has 5.8k or so total). I reraise to 8k to discourage either of the blinds from calling and they both fold. Short stack calls and shows A55T. I have KKJ9 with one of the K suited. Flop comes with a 5 then I pick up a flush draw on the turn but miss on the river. That puts me back down to around 22k. I lose a few other smallish pots and start getting blinded down. Finally I am down to around 14.5k and this beauty comes up.

This is the LAST hand of the night and I would love to double up and get some ammunition before day 2. Blinds are 800-1600. First to act pots to 5600. Next player repots to like 18k or whatever it works out to (second player is a total aggessive maniac and I know he doesn't have a big hand but is gambling b4 the end of the day here). I look down at KKQ9 with K9 spades KQ hearts. I am never folding this hand in this spot. Short stacked, chance to triple up, knowing I am ahead of the 2nd guy in the pot. So I ship it all in right there. The original raiser then thinks for a few mins and says out loud "I just can't fold". Now I know he probably has a "weak" AA. This means that he has AA but his cards probably aren't suited and probably aren't together. In other words a hand like AAJT is WAY WAY better than a hand like AA94 because the TJ can help make str8s or whatever. So finally he calls and shows AA82 and we are off. As I suspected 2nd guy has garbage like 3679 or something. Now it gets wild. This is the last hand of the night so everyone left in the tournament has already finished their last hands and all of the people watching the tournament are milling around when the dealer yells "3 people all in". A mass of people now come over to the table and are looking when the deal flops QJ5. ALL SPADES!!! I am now way out in front with the K high flush. The table goes crazy and it is insane. Turn is a J giving the AA additional outs. Now he can win with one of the 2 remaing J to make Jacks full of Aces (to beat my Jacks full of Kings)or the 2 remaing A to make a full house (Aces full of Jacks) but I am still 92% to win this hand. River is a J and the table erupts again. What a kick in the balls. His JJJAA beats my JJJKK. So phucking sick I could puke. Only saving grace is that he did get it in ahead of me but nevertheless still painful to get busted out like that. If I win that hand I have ~45k in chips and can make a real run at getting to the final table where the real cash is.

As it was I am out with $3,500+ and a crazy crazy story to tell. Oh well. I was exhausted and crashed last night (well maybe I tossed and turned a little :)

Today i am just chilling out and may play in a tournamnet tonight or try and satellite into tomorrows 2k no-Limit Hold Em event. Will let you know how that goes later.