Being able to save that last bet with a big drawing hand when you can be fairly sure you're up against a set is an important part of PLO; often, you'll see players move in when they're an underdog on the strength of a great draw. If you were going to move in anywhere, I think the flop is better than the turn; you're behind to a set but if there's any chance you can fold your opponent you'll know on the flop as a re-raise is a very strong move.
I count 7 flush outs (the 3 pairs the board and you have 3 flush cards in your hand, 2 on board, 13-6=7) plus 6 straight cards (two of the straightening cards are spades that make your flush and cant be counted twice) so 13 outs in total.
I think the correct play is to call the flop and call the turn. If you hit your draw on the river you can get the last 6 bucks out of him (no way he'll fold for such a small sum) and if you miss everything you can fold. You were correct to call your 2-pair on the off chance he had something other than a set, though by this point that's what i'm expecting him to turn over. If the river was a blank you can safely save the last 6 bucks in the knowledge that you're beaten here.
I can see some reasons for going in on the turn in this hand that I think Edgar is considering (always the chance of folding a stronger hand, always the tiniest chance he has something like a full high wrap with a lower flush draw and is thus behing to your top pair, you don't lose MUCH equity by putting in the last 6 bucks), and so I don't think it's a bad play at all. My choice would be to save that last 6 bucks if you miss your hand, and use it as implied odds that swing the turn call to +ve EV. I'm going to write something about precisely this play in a forthcoming article.
The reason I wouldn't RE-raise the flop, lumber, is that your opponent shows a lot of strength by raising your lead bet. What you could have tried would have been check-raising the hand (though I prefer to lead out with huge draws like yours), then he might lead with a weak hand (2 pair etc) and you can go back over the top. That would be fine in this spot as your holding of a jack makes it less likely that someone has a set of jacks, and thus more likely that you can fold a weaker hand like bottom set or two pair by re-raising (though the standard of your opponents at PLO25 probably wont fold those hands!). But, once you lead out (for less than the pot btw! Always bet the pot here, you reveal less about your hand by doing so) and get RAISED, chances are very good he has a set in which case you're slight underdog but have odds to continue and hope for someone else to maybe fish in for a couple of bucks too. I think I would've played it exactly like you did except raise the full pot on the flop; it may seem very passive but that's the way to go here, I think, for the reasons I outlined. Questions/comments?
Monk
xxxxxStatistics: Posted by Felonius_Monk — Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:20 am
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