PLO8 Hand 3

PLO8 Hand 3: Freerolling

$200 PL Omaha Hi/Lo - Thursday, June 23
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 4: Villain ( $560.8 )
Seat 9: ABCD2005 ( $281.61 )
Seat 10: Hero ( $255.27 )
Seat 8: Lady_Velvet ( $237.11 )
Seat 5: laupnevarc ( $224 )
Seat 6: thee_giver ( $197.65 )
Seat 7: GET_EM_JACKO ( $198 )
Seat 3: BASSAMT ( $200 )
GET_EM_JACKO posts small blind [$1].
Lady_Velvet posts big blind [$2].
BASSAMT posts big blind [$2].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ 5h As 4s Kc ]
ABCD2005 calls [$2].
Hero calls [$2].
BASSAMT checks.
Villain raises [$4].
thee_giver folds.
GET_EM_JACKO folds.
Lady_Velvet folds.
ABCD2005 calls [$2].
Hero calls [$2].
BASSAMT calls [$2].

I just call here with speculative hand. I had been on tilt a little recently, so figured if I did hit my hand I was likely to get paid, and with A45s I can try and hit big. Villain's minraise here is not a great idea. It can be useful at times if you want to build a pot with a drawing hand, but his A2K plays as well or better shorthanded. Here, it doesn't get anyone to fold, and just alerts the rest of us that he likes his hand.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 5d, Ks, 3s ] Pot is $19
ABCD2005 checks.
Hero bets [$15].
BASSAMT folds.
Villain calls [$15].
ABCD2005 calls [$15].

So I hit my hand pretty well here: Top Two pair with nutflush redraw, and draw to 2nd nut low. I have two choices: Bet out or wait to checkraise. Either works, but I chose betting out for a few reasons

1) I am fairly likely to have the best hand right now, but my hand is very vulnerable as any card coming out either gives a straight or can make a better two pair (unless its a spade). So I don't want this checked-around

2) By betting out, I will have greater deceptive value if I do hit my spade

3) An A2 holding is fairly likely, and I want to charge him to draw. I am concerned that if I check-raise and build a monster pot and a low comes that I'll be faced with a big bet.

4) My opponent is loose and bad, and a caller, so if I do hit, I am reasonably confident in getting paid off.

** Dealing Turn ** [ 7s ] Pot is $64
ABCD2005 checks.
Hero checks.
Villain bets [$35].
ABCD2005 calls [$35].
Hero raises [$85].
Villain calls [$50].
ABCD2005 folds.

So I hit a beautiful spade to make my nut flush. But there is a low, and I am reasonably sure one of my opponents has A2. I decide to check, knowing that my bad opponent will bet, and then can decide how much to checkraise. Since the 3rd player is in, I decide to bet a smaller amount, but I'd have bet more if it was just heads up. Unfortunately, the 3rd player folds, but Villain decides to call with just his low here.

I don't really like his call, since any flush has him drawing dead for high, and I could have A2 or low to quarter him, and he could get counterfeited. The pot is $219 when he must call, so he's actually getting 1.7 to 1 on his money for low. Of course, against my actual hand he's getting odds, but then against my actual hand he's also going to be put all in on almost all rivers to will need to risk both his $50 now and his $150 on the river. So that's really $200 to win $50 -- and he must avoid getting counterfeited or have me turn over A2.

So here is the crux of the hand: he cannot win high, so I am on a pure freeroll here. If I hit my lucky 2 I will scoop, otherwise we split. This situation is what you hope for in PLO8.

** Dealing River ** [ 2h ]
Hero is all-In.
Villain calls [$151.27].
Hero shows [ 5h, As, 4s, Kc ] a flush, ace high.
Hero shows 5,4,3,2,A for low.
Villain shows [ 6s, Kd, Ad, 2c ] two pairs, kings and twos.
Villain shows 6,5,3,2,A for low.
Hero wins $284.27 from the main pot with a flush, ace high.
Hero wins Lo ($284.27) from the main pot with 5,4,3,2,A.

Perfect river card to give me nut-nut. I had been caught bluffing with big bets with lock-one way hands and weak other way in an attempt to drive out opponents. So my overbet was not so unusual, and I figured he would expect a smaller bet with the nuts.