Was I aggressive enough?

[briachek]

Party Poker Pot-Limit Omaha High, $0.25 BB (10 handed)

Hero ($25)
MP2 ($14.5)
MP3 ($32.55)
CO ($50.42)
Button ($7.92)
SB ($23.5)
BB ($34.3)
UTG ($15.02)
UTG+1 ($20.05)
UTG+2 ($24.75)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with , , , .
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.5, UTG+2 calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.50, MP2 calls $0.50, 1 fold, CO calls $0.50, Button calls $0.50, 1 fold, BB calls $0.25.

Flop: ($3.60) , , (7 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 bets $0.75, UTG+2 folds, Hero raises to $2.5, MP2 folds, CO folds, Button folds, BB folds, UTG+1 calls $1.75.

Turn: ($8.60) (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $3, UTG+1 calls $3.

River: ($14.60) (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: $14.60

Results in white below:
UTG+1 has Qs 5h 5c 6d (three of a kind, fives).

Outcome: Hero wins $14.60.

Flop raise was kind of a feeler to see if there was a higher flush out there. However, I've seen so many people call off their entire stacks with Q or K high flush fearing the nuts but won't fold or raise. This opponent seemed semi passive so I was afraid of it. Did I get enough out of this hand or could I have gotten more?

[kingsalami]

I am by no means an omaha expert but...


I would have played the hand the exact same way you did. Your flop bet looked good to me. You want to find out quickly if your flush is any good. I take it you were hoping he had completed the straight or was drawing to it. Without a pair on the board, which there wasn't i would have also bet the turn and checked the river. Not sure if that check on the river was a bit passive, but i'll let monk handle that one.

[starstealer]

Well, playing a jack-high flush in Omaha can be tough, however, the fact that it is heads-up should help. If you had checked the turn down, a value bet on the river would be much simpler - but I still think you have to make a 1/2 pot bet here. In all likelihood - he'll still call you down - whether he has a set or with a slightly bigger flush. However, if there's some folding equity from the king or queen high flush here - the bet should be priced like you've got the nut flush.

However, that can introduce a fair amount of variance into your play. That being said - I think a value bet is a good play here - and you most likely would need to pay off a raise if it comes (though that's up to you - this player seems to be a fish to me - so I'd call, but if he was more solid - obviously there's room for a "it depends...").

The safe route isn't horrible though. If that's the case, why play a hand that can give you this kind of sub-par flush? The hand really isn't at the top of my lists of hands - and I don't think Jxs is really a feature I would aim to hit.

Just a few thoughts

/d

[briachek]

I played it because it was a passive table preflop and I thought it had pretty decent straight possibilities so that I would want to see the flop. I wasn't looking for the flush, its kind of a plan b. I had been playing really tight and was seeing maybe 23% of flops. When its really passive preflop, that means many of BB hands are in for free and I can get from the SB for 15 cents if my hand is decent.

[Felonius_Monk]

On the flop there are 4 players still to act even before it gets back to the original better. If any of them call or raise you're done with the hand. If he raises you're done with the hand. I'd say that more often than not you're losing here. I would personally have folded the flop. However, if you're going to play it, I think a small raise is fairly mandatory

Once he calls, I would be worried about a larger flush; the problem you have is that you dont want to flush money down the toilet if he has that, but obviously giving a free card to a set would be very bad. I think the option of a middling bet is thus not too bad. On the river, if he calls he almost certainly beats if he's in any way reasonable so I think checking it down is much the best play. There are three flushes left in the deck that he can be holding that don't beat you, and one of them is 7-high, which could be a straight flush. Good time to slow down I think, but I wouldn't have been so aggressive on the flop with players left to act behind. Unless it's made by the backdoor or the pot is very shorthanded, I don't give much credence to any flush below nuts or second nuts, generally.

Monk
xxxxx

[briachek]

so you would have folded that flop with people to act behind you? I didn't put in the max raise because I wanted to see if anyone would push back. I was pretty much done with the hand if I was called behind me. However, since I had position on the one guy left, I gave him another opportunity to pop me on the turn if he had it so I could get a cheap showdown if he just called.

[Felonius_Monk]