I usually play strictly hold em, but have been teaching myself PLO8 for the last couple of weeks. I'll usually have two HE tables going and one PLO8 table. I play low stakes, either $25 or $50, just trying to get a feel for the game.

Well yesterday I was playing and the player to my left min raised every pot, and when he was reraised, would usually re-reraise, and was up quite a bit after getting in with some inferior hands. My understanding of the game is that you should be sure you have the nuts before raising or calling any bets.

I picked up A A 2 4 and limped in, and as predicted the guy on my left min raised, which was called in a few spots before it got back to me. I raised the pot, and he reraised and had two callers before me. At this point, I reraised for all of my chips. The lunatic called as did two others.

My question is, was this a bad play, or is this hand not strong enough to push this hard with pre-flop?

I won't get into the bad beat story, the only other decent hand that i was against was KK single suited, and one of the others made a flush and there was no low, so it cost me all my chips.

Will you be happy to put all you money in preflop with AA at NLH each time?

I will be very happy to put all my money in preflop with AA26 ss each time against any other random hands. Result is secondary.

I was sure that I had the best hand going in. But I guess I'm also wondering if it would be smarter to just call the 2nd raise, and play post flop accordingly, since it seems to me that PLO8 is more of a post flop game.

you should check out a blog by some guy named ribbo, who plays high stakes (at least I consider them to be high) Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. He has some great insight as to how being agressive is (sometimes) better than the hand you have. I think this is the link:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ribmeister/?skip=40

Take a look athte hands that he has posted and how he played them, to get a feel about what raising/re-raising, limping etc. do. 8)

Ribbo only plays up to $3/$6, after reading Smash's advice in that HU thread and I rethink it and rethink about some of the ribbo's plays, now I understand that some of his ideas are not the best that everyone should adapt. But given that he is a very aggressive player, he stands for a bigger swing.

But any way, why do you want to raise with AA preflop in NLH? Because you want fewer opponents to see the flop with you and you want only those with AK, AQ, KK, QQ to call you then you are a big favorite. But if you go all-in with AA then 4/5 unthinking buffalos still call you down, your chance of winning decreases. However, I absolutely don't mind that every time I have AA to go all in then 4/5 buffalos call me.

Now I play at at least $100 PLO8 tables, the idea of raising preflop with AA26/AA2X suited was for isolation so that only those players with A2xx, A3XX or 4 high cards call you, then you stand a better chance to win. But then postflop plays are important too, AA23 doesn't guatantee an auto win. But if you get to push all in preflop with AA23 against one or two players then you are in good shape and I will do it every time.

Now when you are at $25/$50 against a bunch of buffalos who will call you with anything for any amount preflop, then probably you need to adjust to postflop play since AA23 or any premium hands won't do very well against many opponents. Try to extract as much as possible postflop when you hit but do raise preflop for value on your premium hands.

You don't need stinking "good luck" if you try hard to learn and play it well.

You have indicated ribbo only plays $3/$6, but I am pretty sure he has posted hands at the $400 PLO8 tables throughout his site...maybe I am confused there... :?

Thanks for the advice KJ-

what am I, chop liver??? :hand:

LOL, sorry Rocket, you were helpful as well, I liked reading that guys blog, some plays I wouldn't agree with, but different strokes for different folks.

That's $3/$6 PLO8, in another word, $600 PLO8.

Many of Ribbo's hands could have avoided being 1/4'ed or scooped if it was played by Smash. Just take this one for instance.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=vi...iew&hand=113495

He had AA39 ss. By the turn the board was 2248. If he were against A234, A388, A344, A223, or A225 then a 3 falls on the river... then he's guaranteed to be quartered or even scooped. If it were played by Smash, he may even have check-folded it because he's oop and he had no chance to scoop. He would rather lose a small pot than lossing a huge one.

Ribbo's attitude was, as he said himself, that he didn't mind throwing few hundred bucks on the table when it's 50/50. While aggression has its merit at PLO8, but really scooping is the main goal of the game and position is the key (Read Smash's post on the HU play, it suddenly changes my point of view after I thought about it and reviewed my plays). Yes at lower limit we can afford to get 1/4'ed, but how about when it's played at higher limits, like $2000, would you like to be 1/4'ed? Then your perception/undertanding of the game changes.

I agree, but for all those hands that Smash is folding compared to the ones Ribbo ends up winning half the pot on + the hands ribbo is quarterd on, who is really ahead??? :?

I know, it's because at lower levels like $400 or below, those tables have more poor players who don't understand what the game is all about. His style is good enough to win at those limits. Notice that I am not saying he's not capable to win at $600 and up, he's a very smart player and I am pretty sure that he could adjust to the new conditions and suit himself well. After all, poker is also about making adjustments based on your opponents.