Thinking like a NL player in PLO

This table is a bit nuts. Whole stacks are flying, sometimes preflop. I ask myself: How in God’s name can people put their whole stack in prefop in this crazy game? I ask myself this question because I am often amazed at what hands people are willing to call with. Of course, then luck plays into it and makes me want to join in the fun. Preflop? Hell no, even though if I had on a couple occasions, my stack would have greatly benefited.

PokerStars Game #22199286803: Omaha Pot Limit ($0.01/$0.02) - 2008/11/20 4:23:02 ET
Table 'Patientia' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: TianChai ($13.19 in chips)
Seat 2: turtlestar ($14.52 in chips)
Seat 3: confid ($5.81 in chips)
Seat 4: zojl ($5 in chips)
Seat 6: bastinptc ($4.68 in chips)
confid: posts small blind $0.01
zojl: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bastinptc [7s 2s As 4c]
bastinptc: calls $0.02
TianChai: folds
turtlestar: raises $0.07 to $0.09
confid: calls $0.08
zojl: folds
bastinptc: calls $0.07
*** FLOP *** [6c 3s 5s]
confid: checks
bastinptc: checks
turtlestar: bets $0.22
confid: calls $0.22
bastinptc: raises $0.95 to $1.17
turtlestar: raises $2.85 to $4.02
confid: folds
bastinptc: raises $0.57 to $4.59 and is all-in
turtlestar: calls $0.57
dina81 is disconnected
*** TURN *** [6c 3s 5s] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [6c 3s 5s 9d] [Jc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bastinptc: shows [7s 2s As 4c] (a straight, Three to Seven)
turtlestar: shows [7h 4s 8c 9h] (a straight, Five to Nine)
turtlestar collected $9.24 from pot

As one can see, Turtle will raise preflop with anything. I knew that already, as he raised preflop quite often. I am sure there is some rationale for it, either narrowing the field, building a manageable preflop pot only to see how hard the flop hits one’s hand and then go from there, or because one has a very good hand (whatever that is). His loose raises merited the occasional loose call, or so I thought.

I was happy with the flop, and while the 7-high straight on the turn was nice, I had that very lovely flush draw. There were a couple hands in this session where I was freerolling to the river that had ended up splits. I wonder if I could have put this guy on the nut straight had I thought about the hand a bit longer. Probably not, for I have yet to adjust to the fact that there are twice as many hole cards to work with, or if I had, was my straight and FD enough to merit my call? Would they even be enough to make the call in NL?

I bought back in:

PokerStars Game #22199412472: Omaha Pot Limit ($0.01/$0.02) - 2008/11/20 4:35:40 ET
Table 'Patientia' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: TianChai ($12.64 in chips)
Seat 2: turtlestar ($18.52 in chips)
Seat 3: confid ($6 in chips)
Seat 6: bastinptc ($5.35 in chips)
TianChai: posts small blind $0.01
turtlestar: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bastinptc [Ac 4s 3s Ah]
confid: calls $0.02
bastinptc: raises $0.04 to $0.06
TianChai: calls $0.05
turtlestar: folds
confid: calls $0.04
*** FLOP *** [5d 2d 6s]
TianChai: bets $0.20
confid: calls $0.20
bastinptc: raises $0.80 to $1
TianChai: raises $2.40 to $3.40
benny1617 joins the table at seat #5
confid: raises $2.54 to $5.94 and is all-in

bastinptc said, "watch her catch"

I was referring to TianChai’s tendency to get it all in the middle early with a variety of big pocket pairs, big suited, etc. I was preparing myself for the worse case scenario (and tilting a bit). Before I called, I had determined that she might also have the same straight that I held.

bastinptc: calls $4.29 and is all-in
TianChai: calls $2.54
*** TURN *** [5d 2d 6s] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [5d 2d 6s Qc] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TianChai: shows [6d 4d Kd 3c] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
confid: mucks hand
TianChai collected $1.25 from side pot
bastinptc: shows [Ac 4s 3s Ah] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
TianChai collected $7.64 from main pot
bastinptc collected $7.63 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $17.37 Main pot $15.27. Side pot $1.25. | Rake $0.85
Board [5d 2d 6s Qc 8s]
Seat 1: TianChai (small blind) showed [6d 4d Kd 3c] and won ($8.89) with a straight,
Deuce to Six
Seat 2: turtlestar (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: confid mucked [8h Jh 7h Tc]
Seat 6: bastinptc (button) showed [Ac 4s 3s Ah] and won ($7.63) with a straight, Deuce
to Six

First, she called my preflop raise with crap and now she was freerolling. Yet, what I find even more disturbing about this hand was confid’s raise all-in. While it made my call an absolute must, the willingness to pt it all in on merely a draw, even if it is to nut straight, makes my call in the previous hand look like a pro move.

I find PLO very compelling. However, I don’t know that my paltry roll can handle the swings that will occur during the learning process. I have software with the game on it and I think a few thousand hands there, plus doing some reading that I never seem to get around to, might be in the cards.