Tricky PLO Spot

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $676.15
UTG+1: $598.20
Hero: $658.70
Button: $535.30
SB: $110.95
BB: $251.10

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with :td :as :qs :qd
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $21, Hero calls, Button folds, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: :ts :4d :3d ($69, 3 players)
SB checks, UTG+1 bets $34.5, Hero calls, SB raises all-in $89.95, UTG+1 raises to $407.85, Hero raises all-in $637.7, UTG+1 calls all-in $203.85.
Uncalled bets: $26 returned to Hero.

Turn: :ah ($860.6, 0 player + 3 all-in – Main pot: $338.85, Sidepot 1: $1043.5)

River: :qh ($860.6, 0 player + 3 all-in – Main pot: $338.85, Sidepot 1: $1043.5)

Results:
Final pot: $860.6
UTG+1 showed Kc Jh 4s Ks
Hero showed Td As Qs Qd
SB showed Th 5s Jd Ad

I think everyone’s play here was reasonable. UTG+1’s move is thin, but I am very often on a weaker draw than this, and I can see why he wants to isolate the short stack. A fold is also very defensible in his shoes, but I think repotting to chase me out is alright.

I actually thought for a while before getting it in with an overpair, top pair (yes, having both matters in PLO), and the non-nut flush draw. There are so many different hands I could be up against. A worst case scenario of AAxx with the nut flush draw really has me crushed. Sets are pretty bad for me also, but with UTG+1 raising pre-flop, those are a bit less likely, since the average player in these games is pretty passive pre-flop and more likely to limp with 3345 or something.

This is an interesting spot to employ a very valuable free tool called the ProPokerTools Simulator. It is similar to Poker Stove, in that allows you to calculate equity versus a range of hands, but can be used for Omaha and Razz in addition to Hold ‘Em. There’s really no better way to learn a new game than to play for a while, come upon some tough spots, and then calculate your equity.

For instance, I was initially concerned about my opponent having some combination of an overpair, the nut flush draw, or a set. I excluded middle set from the range I entered to reflect the fact that I didn’t think he would have a set as often based on his pre-flop raise. The results suggests that, with the dead money in the pot, this is a very close decision:

Hand	Pot equity	Wins	Ties
TdAsQsQd	45.58%	271,727	3,525
AA**,Ad*d**,TT**,33**	54.42%	324,748	3,525

I was kind of surprised to see my opponent show up with bare KK, but mixing that into his range turns it into a pretty clear call for me:

Hand	Pot equity	Wins	Ties
TdAsQsQd	47.88%	286,005	2,578
AA**,KK**,Ad*d**,TT**,33**	52.12%	311,417	2,578

I’m a 60/40 favorite against my opponent’s actual KKJ4 with no redraw (except that @#$#@%#% back door straight requiring the case Q!). I excluded the third player from the simulation since he was short and would greatly complicate matters, but it seems like given how close I was to my UTG+1’s range, it might be worth considering the main pot with shorty.

In retrospect, I often wonder if maybe I should have raised flop. For range-balancing purposes, I do like to flat call flops with hands that aren’t automatically folding unimproved on the turn, and something like this where there are few cards I don’t want to see make good candidates for that. But I guess folding out a dry KK or AA with a raise is pretty valuable for me. PLO really requires getting out of the NLHE mentality where you can often be way ahead of an opponent’s range. There are so many more drawing opportunities in PLO that I probably need to place more value on folding out the weaker end of opponents’ ranges.