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This was a fun hand I played yesterday where I felt I was very much in control all along. It shows the advantage of position - if I was out of position, I could very easily have been pushed off this hand, yet in position, I had my opponent fully under control and could build a big pot with (at first glance) a mediocre hand in the knowledge that I held all the aces (so to speak).
PLO 200. So, I had JJ97ss on the button and took a look at a flop after a couple of limps. Table up to that point had been relatively tight, though by no means a complete rock garden.
Flop brought 48T with two hearts (i had clubs). The BB bet the minimum, one caller and(because the table had been tight, and I had a big straight draw with a pair to back it up) it was a good chance to take a pop at the pot. I raise pot, only the BB called. He'd been fairly passive so far.
Turn brought 3[c], which gave me the flush draw too. He checked to me, and this seems like a pretty clear bet; I have a strong draw, but the important thing so far had been his passivity and that telltale minimum flop bet which put him solidly on a drawing hand... Although I thought there was a very good chance he'd call, I believed I quite possibly had at the very least 50% equity or so on balance, and that even if he pushed in over the top I had enough outs not to be pushed off the hand. The extra bit of fold equity, plus my position and right to bluff the river if a scare card came and he checked, makes it a good bet in my view.
He called again, river brought a 4 (pairing the board), he checked and I checked in turn with a fair bit of confidence I was ahead. He mucked his missed draw, and I won a good sized pot with very little indeed.
Not an especially exciting hand but a decent example of hoiw position, a lot of backup, and fold equity can make a marginal play very profitable. It also shows how strong even a mediocre pair can be in a decent-sized pot when someone is calling along and you both have a draw - it can be a MASSIVE advantage in PLO to have that bit of backup in case you're both drawin and you both miss. Here, his play told me he was almost certainly drawing and though I thought he'd probably call my turn bet, I felt there was a very good chance a blank on the river would let me take the pot. If he had bet the river I may even have called with the JJ.
Most importantly, position is the daddy in PLO!
Anyhow, gotta go grab some food! Later,
Monk
