Chris Bowling

$10 PLO Double Board Bomb Pot

$1500 effective

BB - $1500 - Thinking Regular
UTG+2 - $1500 - Loose Passive Fish
HJ - $1500 - Hero - AsThJs4c

Flop ($80) Ac Td 3c | Ks 8d 2s
Checks to Hero, Hero bets $80, BB calls $80, Fish c/r to $400, Hero???

I don't think the fish is the kind of player to c/r really wide. I definitely think he has a strong hand. We block AA/TT and don't think he is prob c/r'ing bottom set like that. I kind of think he might have either AA or KK. I would think there is 3x as many combos as KK than AA since we block AA. I think the regular is pretty strong, but not willing to stack off after calling my flop cbet. The benefits of jamming is if he just has KK, we can be free rolling with our flush draw. If he has AA or TT, then he is free rolling us. I don't like calling because I think the regular has a lot of equity and my AT is worse 3way. If the fish has a set on both boards, then he is also free rolling us. AKT:cc is also free rolling us. A hand like 88:cc we are kind of evenly matched. What do you guys think?

Btn - $7000 - Somewhat thinking 42 year old player that plays something like 40/15. He is more on the good aggressive side, but still has a lot of leaks like most Live players (like limping in too much).
BB - $2500 - AsQhThTd

2/5/10 with mandatory button straddle

Preflop:
Sb folds, Hero raises to $20, 2 callers, Btn calls.

Flop: KcQdQs ($80)
Hero checks, 2 checks, Btn bets $40, Hero calls $40

Turn: 7d ($160)
Hero checks, Btn bets $125, Hero calls $125

River: Ac ($410)
Hero checks, Btn bets $300, Hero???

As played, villain can definitely have weak KK here and some AQ as well. Its hard for me to find a bluff though. It would have to prob be some random weak Kx hand. After we c/c twice, I think our range looks pretty strong. LIke Qx+, AA:dd. So I'm not sure how often villain will actually follow through with a bluff. Would you guys call or fold here?

Ignition - $200 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players

CO: 197 BB
BTN: 140.53 BB
SB: 302.46 BB
BB: 31.18 BB
Hero (UTG): 116.3 BB Hero has 6s Ah 7s As
MP: 111.11 BB 41/30 over 27 hands

Preflop:
Hero raises to 3.5 BB, MP calls 3.5 BB, CO raises to 10 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 9 BB, Hero raises to 44 BB, MP calls 40.5 BB, fold, BB calls 21.18 BB and is all-in

Flop : (129.68 BB, 3 players) Th 6h Tc
Hero???

What do you guys think should be our flop strategy? Do you think it is better to check and plan on value betting turn, or betting something really small on the flop? If we bet really small and get raised, do we just fold with A of hearts blocker and the short stack all-in?

Hey guys. I have a theory question for you. First though, how much is the cap for you in rake? When I play 100/200 PLO, it is $4.00 USD max on Ignition Poker. Second, playing short stack, when I 3bet SB vs CO, AJ98:ss is towards the bottom of my 3-bet range. Monker shows it wins .05bb. I believe players overcall vs a 3bet at small stakes. Theoretically, if players are overcalling vs 3bets and you don't have FE, do you think it is a good idea to fold the bottom .1bb 3bets and lower (applies to 100bb play as well)? It seems to me in theory this would be the case. I feel like $4 is even higher than other sites, so that may be even more reason. In pro poker tools, vs a 30% range from the CO, AJ98:ss has about 48% equity. Seems like the key to 3betting in small stakes, is playing tight OOP unless we are pushing a good equity advantage preflop. Maybe like 52-53%+ and have good playability (Like maybe JT98s has 47%, but maybe more playability when we flop strong and check and show up with strong hand in unexpected spot). Maybe reasons for the opposite case, is if our opponents are overfolding after the flop and we can over-realize our equity. I am not sure this is the case though. Also, players definitely under 4bet which helps us realize a bit more equity. What are you guys thoughts? Should I be folding vs 3betting with the bottom hands of the monkersolver range that are around break even?

Hi guys,

In my Live $2/$5 nlh game, there is a $20 bomb pot when the dealer changes. You can put out $20 if you want. Then, the pot usually is 7-8 way and a hand of PLO is dealt. You go straight to the flop. Sometimes, it plays normally starting at post flop. Sometimes, the dealer deals 2 boards, then the hand is played through with 2 turns, and 2 rivers. Do you think playing in this setup is +EV in the long run? You can sit out if you are in a bad position as well, and play when IP. Do you think it is profitable IP? Usually there is 2-3 fish at the table with $1k stacks and several fish with $400-700 stacks. I always have at least $1k in front of me.

I have played several hundred thousand hands of online PLO and beat $0.25/$0.50 at 8bb/100 and have a 50k hand sample at 100 PLO where I have beaten the game for 6bb/100. This is on ignition poker. I am also a profitable PLO live player. I understand how to play postflop, and how not to overvalue hands like bottom set and medium flush draws multi-way. I'm not an oustanding PLO player and mainly focus on NLH, but I know enough to have a skill edge in PLO Live line ups. My concern with this setup is that you get dealt a lot of trashy hands that play bad multi-way where you are often just folding post flop. We are put in a lot of high variance/marginal spots post flop. Even though these players have little PLO experience, since its heavily multi-way, we will often have to play pretty straight forward with the 7-8 way pots. On the other hand, can we overcome rake in the long run just nut pettling, making a hand, and value betting vs nlh fish that overvalue their PLO hands?

What do you guys think? What about 1 board vs 2 boards?

9-handed:
BB - $750
UTG+1 - $2000 - 25% opening range ish in hand I believe. New to PLO. Regular in NLH games
UTG+2 - $600 - Splashy fish, very station'y, bets too wide multi-way with non nut draws
UTG+3 - $350 - Loose passive fish
LJ - Hero - $1000 - As Qd 8s 4c
CO - $700 - Passive Fish
BTN - $1000 - Aggressive Fish
SB - $320 - Splashy Fish - Probably about a 60% VPIP range

Preflop:
BB limps, UTG+1 raises to $20, UTG+2 calls, UTG+3 calls, Hero calls, Btn calls, SB calls, BB calls

Flop: (~$140): Qc 8h 6c
UTG+2 bets $75, UTG+3 calls, Hero calls, SB goes all-in for $245, UTG+2 calls $170, UTG+3 calls $170, Hero???

Preflop:
First off, because of this situation, it makes me question whether I should be calling this hand preflop or folding. I am deep with some pretty big fish that certainly stack off light with non-nut combo flush draws on the flop, so in hand, I am calling to basically try and get that situation multi-way, but I'm not sure if that will happen often enough it is worth calling. Reason being is because the other times, with more people in the pot, it seems like my hand becomes worse and worse for its other components because if I stack off on the flop like this one with top two pair, I can easily run into a set or the same hand, but a redraw. But it is possible to especially stack some of the shorter players when they have a hand like Q5xxx on Q85 and I have the AQ84:Ass. Seems close. What are you guy's thoughts?

Flop:
After a bet and a call 7-way, I'm very hesitant to pot/stack off multi-way with no re-draw. I know my all-in equity multi-way here won't be too great. My idea here is to call with pot odds and look for a safe turn, then go all-in. So I call and the SB shoves, and gets two calls. I know my equity here is already not that great, but with the shove, I feel a bit concerned now I could be potentially drawing dead or facing the same hand with a redraw. Or maybe he has a hand like Q6:cc/T97:cc/Acc ect...So very unsure weather I should be committing another $245 here, just folding, or pot shoving guessing that the other two guys that just called probably don't have a better made hand than Q8, but with a 3-way all-in, my equity can probably still not be too great here I'm guessing.

Idk guys. What do you think?

Btn - Hero - $71.74 - Ad Jd Js 7h
MP - $648.11 -86/49 over 37 hands *Villain has shown 3betting me with AJ95ds BB vs Btn and giving up on a low board 3 streets with a pair of 5's. Seems to be a little more thoughtful maybe and not a complete bad aggro maniac like you might expect of a rec playing that loose.
BB - $12.48

Preflop:
MP raises $1.75, Hero calls Btn, BB calls.

Flop (~$5.25): Qd Jh 7c
BB checks. MP bets $2.62, Btn raises to $9.00, MP raises to $32.23, Btn (hero)?

Flop:
So on the flop, villain is opening pretty wide and there is quite a few bad turns, so I go with a flop raise IP. Was thinking with the small half pot bet and a lot of bad turns, I don't mind just winning the pot now, and if he calls, I think sometimes players don't have a leading range as often as they should and I can always check back on a bad turn. Also, think villain could perceive my smaller than pot raise as attacking his flop c-betting range since he is super wide preflop, but maybe he's not thinking that in depth. Once I face the flop 3bet though, puke. It seems like we are crushed by QQ or flipping vs a wrap, especially since we block a 7. I'm guessing I should just call/call here on blank turns. Maybe fold on a wrap completing turn? Wondering if I should have been just flatting flop? If I did flat flop, I guess on bad turns, I would mostly be going call/call flop/turn and evaluating river? What do you guys think about this spot?

Hi guys. I was working through a board texture this morning in Pio, and was wondering from any of you guys that study in Pio a lot, whether on KQ4tt if you would have only a 1/3rd sizing or 2 sizings, 1/3rd and 2/3rds pot? It makes sense to me to simplify the strategy here and only have the one sizing. I ran both in Pio and got (EV OOP: 3.155, EV IP: 5.845) for both runs. Since the EV's are the same (or very close if I ran the sims further), it doesn't seem like I'm losing out on much, but gain the ability to more easily employ the strategy in game. With two sizings (below), it prefers the 33% sizing most, and when it uses the 66% sizing, its usually always mixing in a substantial freq of 1/3rd sizing as well.

Just wanting to make sure of my thinking and confirm it with some of yal before I start simplifying a lot more strategies in the future, but potentially be overlooking something. Heard from a video I believe that as long as you don't incur more than a (I believe 3%) EV loss, simplifying a strategy to make it easier to execute in game is a good idea.

P.S. Also, wondering if someone can explain the difference between EV and MES to me? Been wondering that for a while. This is what I get on this sim:

EV OOP: 3.155
EV IP: 5.845
OOP's MES: 3.291
IP's MES: 5.975
Exploitable for: 0.133

Hi guys,

I was studying preflop ranges in monker solver, UTG vs Btn and taking a look at which hands want to 3bet/flat. While I was studying I came across something rather interesting I don't understand and would like you guys' input. After facing a UTG pot raise, with "Connected A-high non-broadway, suited ace" hands, Hero is flating 19.2% and 3betting 1.3%. Hero is flatting/3betting hands like AJ97ss, AT97ss, AT98ss, A976ss, ect… on the btn. Okay, makes sense. Hero has 45% equity with a hand like AT98ss vs UTG range and has position and will be able to realize most equity, or over realize equity here.

After, MP+CO cold calls, Hero is mostly folding all of those hands as stated above! It took me by surprise at first, especially since the Solver is not squeezing much from the blinds after 4 players are in the pot, but again it now makes sense. MP is cold calling the 6-10 percentile of hands optimally, and CO is calling the 5-8 percentile of hands optimally, so now Hero only has 22.63% equity 4-way with AT98ss, and can easily be dominated playing against such strong of ranges.

But, fish don't play optimally, so I tweaked the ranges to 1%-19% utg, 6%-40% MP, 5%-50% to illustrate more how a fish soft game might play, and too my surprise 4-way so far, we only have 23.88% equity while MP has 24.02%, and CO has 23.63%! I would have thought with a dominating suit and connectedness that we would be pushing more equity than that. Without UTG, we still only have 34% vs the 2 fishes' ranges. In game, I am always calling in these spots (with the hands above) because I feel like we have higher implied odds than an optimal strategy vs the 2 fish players. I would be probably be calling hands like A765ss and playing cautiously IP. With 2 fish callers, is my assumptions that this is a profitable call because I'm netting more EV when I hit my hand probably, or is my thinking too ambitious and I should be folding and only expanding my calling range from optimal only a little bit. An optimal strategy with this hand category is folding 96.9%% on the btn in the multi-way scenario where vs just the utg, its only folding 79.5%. Pretty big difference I would think. What do you think about these spots? From a theory perspective with the loose fish callers in between, should we be flatting the hands above, or is it too ambitious and we will have to play too straight forward and we should be folding?

Global Poker:
BB - $39 - Random recreational
CO - $24 - Seems to have a high VPIP
HJ - Hero - $50 - Qs Qd Jd 6s

Preflop:
Hero raises to $1.75, CO calls, BB calls, 3-way to the flop

Flop ($5.75): Ah Ts 2s
BB checks, Hero checks, Btn bets pot for $5.75, BB folds, Hero???

First of all, I am in my first orbit playing on Global Poker and I don't have either the BB or CO tagged. Have seen the BB limp once so far in the two hands I have played before. I would assume more often than not that CO is a recreational vs pro short stacker based on the fact it is very rare for me to see a pro short stacker at 50 PLO on Global.

Post flop, AT2tt does seem like a good board for me, but checking and keeping the pot smaller with a non-nutted hand seems best to me because if we get flop raised by either player (which seems will happen more freq, them both being shorter stacked than 100 bb's+), than we will be folding quite a bit of equity, where we could comfortably c/c a bet of around $3. I guess the advantage of betting is we do get some added FE vs shitty Ax hands. What do yal think about flop?

We check though and CO bets Pot. Maybe villain does this with AT, TT, 22, A2, maybe Kss with bad showdown value, some Axss with weak SD value, ect…This spot seems close to me because we are drawing to the non nuts, but still have around 50% equity vs parts of his range like bare AT/A2 or 58% vs bare TT, but we do have low visibility on spade runouts, Q is prob a pretty good one but maybe some reverse implied odds on. Sometimes if we hit and CO checks back, we can value bet, so that helps out the profitability of calling, but if we hit the turn and CO keeps betting, that also gives us some reverse implied odds unless we are always folding on a s turn. What do you guys think?

Hi guys. I was looking through some preflop spots in Monker Solver and came across something I wanted to understand a little more and maybe there is a leak in my thought process. Here is Monker Solver's fold KK % in BB vs (excluding KKK and KKKK)

CO raise, btn folds, SB folds, BB folds KK 0%
CO raise, btn calls, SB folds, BB folds KK 0%
CO raise, btn calls, SB calls, BB folds KK 12.9%

My guess seeing this is that still 3-way when you have a K flush blocker on a 3 flush card flop/turn, you win more EV 3-way in those spots being able to get folds, but 4-way, your forced to play a little more straight forward. Maybe same goes for boards like QJT or QJ9, maybe your able to capitalize some more EV bluffing 3-way or HU, but you have to play straight forward 4-way or more. Also, I'm guessing that when the money goes in 4-way, your less likely to be in good shape? This is assuming optimal players I'm guessing from monker, but I'm guessing you can defend any KK multi-way in the BB with fish involved. But what is interesting is that Monker is still folding hands like KK92, Kss at a 52% frequency even though you have a K high suit.

What do you guys think about this? Can any of yal elaborate on more reasons for this? I want to understand the profitability of pairs the most in situations like this because I feel like that is a big part of Live PLO and even if it is a limped pot in PLO and not much raising, I want to better understand if I should be folding hands like KK92:Kss preflop from MP or EP depending on the tables.

Players:
BB - Hero - $1100 - Ad 6d 3s 4c
UTG - Tight passive fish - $1600
UTG+1 - Good Regular - $1000
UTG+2 - Whale - $1500
UTG+3 - Random recreational - $1000 - (new to table, no reads, never played with him)
HJ - Whale - $1500
CO - Loose aggressive regular - $2200
Btn - Passive fish - $650
SB - Fishy tag player - $1000 - loose from blinds, but playing tighter than other players

Preflop:
SB calls, Hero calls $3, UTG+1 calls $5, UTG+2 calls $5, UTG+3 raises to $15, HJ calls $15, CO calls $15, Btn folds, SB calls $10, Hero calls $10, UTG+1 calls $5, UTG+2 calls $5.

Flop($110): 9d 5s 2d (7 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, UTG+2 checks, UTG+3 bets $50, HJ calls $50, CO calls $50, SB calls $50, Hero?

In this spot, my first inclination is to call since I have good odds + can overflush someone on the turn. But if I do hit a flush, I'm not sure how likely I am to get paid off since this is a 7-way pot on the flop. I think players are capable of laying down bare 95 on the flop, bare wraps, and probably sometimes even 22. Whenever players have the nuts, I have often seen them just pot it on the flop. Kind of leads me to believe UTG+3 probably doesn't have a set or at most bottom set and I think 99/55 would flop raise from any of the remaining players as well. I'm wondering if its better to just pot now for $410, or if you think its more +EV to call. I think another benefit of raising is that bare wraps without a FD will probably just fold the flop right now. But like I said, benefits of calling or cheap price and keeping in worse flush draws in the hand as well. What do you think is better here?

Players and Reads:
SB - HERO - $500 - Qc Qs 6c 2h
CO - Wide aggro fish - $3000
*Seen open raise J874ts (triple suited) LJ preflop
*Overall, very splashy and aggressive in a lot of spots that are a bit spewy
UTG limping fish - $90
UTG+2 fish: $600

Preflop:
UTG limps, UTG+2 limps, CO raises to $30, Hero calls $25, UTG shoves, UTG+2 folds, CO raises pot (shove), Hero???

Preflop:
First off, UTG lost a pot the hand or 2 before, and I missed that he was that short. Thought he still had a normal stack and I wanted to pill from the BB in a 4-way pot, maybe 5-way pot. With his short stack, I would have folded preflop. That being said, as played I kind of feel like this guy is really just shoving everything over the fishes small shove preflop. I haven't played a ton in these Live PLO cash games, so I know that is an assumption I am making, but what do you guys think?