OP: Make Penneywize Not Suck At Omaha

Bump, just realized it's Ultra Mega VIP month or whatever at Stars so I should be able to bank platinum star. Another reason to put in more volume!

I've been reviewing some of the material I covered in the "PLO from Scratch" article series and have, astoundingly, seem to have not properly internalized a lot of the concepts I took for granted when I first began my study in May. I think a great deal of the issues with my play stems from preflop situations where I take suboptimal actions, such as overlimping in spots where I could iso-raise and thin the field / increase my postflop fold equity; forgoing value 3-bets (I am doing this a shit ton, apparently) and ignoring speculative 3-betting entirely. I can't even remember a single situation where I pulled off a speculative 3-bet.

With this in mind, I figure I will post several hands from upcoming sessions where I iso-raise or 3-bet and provide justification for each of these. If nothing else, this should serve to reinforce these important basic concepts and get me thinking correctly.

After reviewing the 'preflop concepts' portion of PLO From Scratch, I put in a session with everything clear in mind and had some rather positive results. Over 1k hands I 3bet 4%, iso'd a ton, and my redline evened out considerably (yes, I'm aware that this is at most dubiously indicative of any improvement, but it still felt great nonetheless).

As promised here are a few hands where I elected to 3-bet and iso. I'll try to leave out obvious spots like 3-betting premium AAxx or isoing KQJT against a single limper etc.


Iso spots

Iso Hand 1: UTG is 52/22

$0.02/$0.05 Pot Limit Omaha Hi
PokerStars
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($6.95)
Hero (CO) ($13.81)
BTN ($2.65)
SB ($13.81)
BB ($11.60)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 5 players) Hero is CO
UTG calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.20 ...


Seems fairly good, UTG is limping a wide and weak range here and I want to maximize the probability of playing heads up and in position; further, isoing this wide gives me increased fold equity postflop, if he does elect to call here. The blinds aren't particularly tight, but if one or both come along I do have suitedness / connectedness hand strength going for me, even if my hand isn't particularly nutty.

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Iso Hand 2: UTG is 31/1

$0.02/$0.05 Pot Limit Omaha Hi
PokerStars
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($12.96)
Hero (CO) ($12.60)
BTN ($10.63)
SB ($8.10)
BB ($6.63)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 5 players) Hero is CO
UTG calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.22 ...


A very similar spot; I have somewhat weak holdings and want to get HU. I should nevertheless have an equity edge against UTG's limping range here, and increased fold equity works in my favour as well.

The BTN and blinds are sufficiently tight (less than ~30% VPIP each) for this move to make sense.

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Iso Hand 3: UTG is 33/9

$0.02/$0.05 Pot Limit Omaha Hi
PokerStars
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($9.58)
UTG+1 ($14.41)
CO ($10.69)
Hero (BTN) ($13.43)
SB ($8.52)
BB ($21.36)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is BTN
UTG calls $0.05, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.15 ...


This hand structure is similar to hand #2, and the villain is just as passive. The blinds however are 67/22 and 44/21 respectively, so I really question whether this is a profitable spot to go multi-way in a raised pot. I think given the looseness of the blinds I should be deciding between folding and limping.

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3-bet spots

3-bet Hand 1: UTG is 47/24, blinds are tight (<20 VPIP each)

$0.02/$0.05 Pot Limit Omaha Hi
PokerStars
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($10.06)
UTG+1 ($17.21)
CO ($11.86)
Hero (BTN) ($13.05)
SB ($5.09)
BB ($6.34)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is BTN
UTG raises to $0.15, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.52 ...

I think this is a prime example of the type of light 3-betting I should have been doing all along. UTG's got a very wide range, even from that position, and while I'm not certain to have an equity edge (not likely, to be honest) I have created a great deal of fold equity with my 3-bet - and I'm in position, obv.

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3-bet Hand 2: CO is 32/21, blinds are fairly loose over a small sample

$0.02/$0.05 Pot Limit Omaha Hi
PokerStars
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($11.85)
CO ($23.84)
Hero (BTN) ($12.50)
SB ($10.97)
BB ($13.28)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 5 players) Hero is BTN
1 fold, CO raises to $0.17, Hero raises to $0.58 ...


I suppose my thinking on this 3-bet begins with the fact the CO's raise is potentially a bit wider than usual given his position. If he doesn't use a HUD, it's quite possible he overlooked the looseness of the blinds and was merely trying to pull off a steal.

Even given this however I have trouble thinking this was a good spot for a 3-bet. While my assumptions about the wideness of CO's range may be correct, the blinds' propensity to call in situations like these (while probably reduced by the size of the bets they would potentially be facing) in all likelihood reduces the profitability of a speculative 3-bet. Thoughts..?

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3-bet Hand 3: UTG is 38/26, SB is very tight (9/0 over a small sample) and BB is rather loose (39/17)

$0.02/$0.05 Pot Limit Omaha Hi
PokerStars
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($9.88)
Hero (UTG+1) ($12.68)
CO ($2.19)
BTN ($25.18)
SB ($10.01)
BB ($9.02)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1
UTG raises to $0.17, Hero raises to $0.55 ...

This is probably more of a standard 3-bet spot than those above given my hand strength. Anyhow, UTG has been raising quite a bit pre and I probably have a significant equity edge against his range at this point, and the blinds aren't much of a concern (if BB comes along, I'll have position, FE and likely equity working in my favour).

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That's all for now. I'd appreciate comments on any of the above if possible, but I think doing this exercise has helped me reinforce everything I've covered lately.

Very recently M2M posted (in his 'ask me anything about...' thread in the BC) about how so many players are stuck doing things because they are 'standard' and don't really "get it" at the end of the day. So I consider this exercise as part of an effort to understand the why behind every action I choose... and not just an attempt to train myself to simply choose the correct action in a given situation.

Quick update, a few sessions later and things are moving along quite nicely. The changes to my game over the past week have, thus far, led to rather impressive results.

While my BR stands at over $360, and thus already adequately rolled for 10 PLO, this includes a few bonuses I've collected during the past few months and I believe I'll stick the plan and just grind out the remaining BIs needed to advance.

Originally Posted by Penneywize

Quick update, a few sessions later and things are moving along quite nicely. The changes to my game over the past week have, thus far, led to rather impressive results.

While my BR stands at over $360, and thus already adequately rolled for 10 PLO, this includes a few bonuses I've collected during the past few months and I believe I'll stick the plan and just grind out the remaining BIs needed to advance.

Well that didn't take long. A <200 hand session was all it took for me to play my way (read: cold deck my way) into another 5 BIs.

I've updated the OP to indicate I've completed 5 PLO. I now have a 10 BI shot at 10 PLO, and will move down to 5 PLO to regrind if I fail to catch on on my first attempt.

Here's to hoping for some move-up rungood!

I'll be starting with 4 tables and adding two every few thousand hands until I reach 8, where I suspect I'll stop adding until I get the 40 BIs I need to advance to 25 PLO.

Seems like 10 PLO will be my home for the foreseeable future. I'm strangely excited about this, let's hope things pan out.

Here's my cumulative 5 PLO graph, for the sake of posterity:



Interestingly, around the 10.9k hand mark it is clear to see the effects of the changes I've made to my game recently.


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Here's a fun hand, pretty much the one responsible for putting my BI goal for 5 PLO over the top. Any questions / comments are welcome, as usual. I let the results show here as it's pretty obvious I won the hand given the context I provided.


Reads (important in this hand): UTG is 85/50, BB is 33/27 with an aggression factor of 4.0 and I have not seen him show down a very strong hand following multiple streets of bets yet.


$0.02/$0.05 Pot Limit Omaha Hi
PokerStars
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($6.14)
UTG+1 ($8.96)
CO ($14.92)
Hero (BTN) ($12.90)
SB ($8.74)
BB ($25.97)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is BTN
UTG raises to $0.17, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.55, 1 fold, BB calls $0.50, UTG calls $0.38

Flop: ($1.67, 3 players)
BB bets $1.19, UTG calls $1.19, Hero calls $1.19

Turn: ($5.24, 3 players)
BB bets $4.99, UTG folds, Hero goes all-in $11.16, BB calls $6.17

River: ($27.56, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $27.56
Hero shows three of a kind, Jacks

BB shows two pair, Aces and Threes


Hero wins $26.20 (net +$13.30)

BB lost $12.90
UTG lost $1.74

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does the flop play, in particular, seem ok to everyone?