Okay, so I've been dabbling a bit with the $50 6-handed PLO games on Empire lately. Despite knowing very little about PLO. This is a hand that came up today where I'm not sure I'm happy about how I played it on a single street. I discussed the hand briefly with Monk, but now that I check the hand history, it turns out that I REALLY butchered the details in my conversation with him For one thing, I claimed to have had KKQJ or something so that he wouldn't make fun of my preflop call.

Some quick backround : I was playing at a table where about 75-80% of the pots got raised preflop...BUT, almost all of these raises were either from me or Kamikaze (who isn't involved in this hand). The rest of the table was playing very passively preflop. I was playing a fairly ridiculous 75% of my hands, often for a raise, so my opponents viewed me as a bit wild. When my opponent raised preflop, I put him on an AA type of hand, perhaps a bit too hastily.

On the flop, I didn't want to give my opponent an easy chance to fold, so I decided to check-call and hope he continued to bet his (assumed) AA into me. The turn made me cringe...and the fact that my opponent checked behind didn't really tell me much. He could have picked up the nut boat, or he could just be giving up on the hand after his flop-bet failed. On the river, I bet about 1/3 of the pot, hoping to get value from something like an AKxx for top two...and I figured if my opponent raised, I was beaten and could fold. When he did raise, I had trouble following through with this plan, but I did fold and now I wonder if that was too weak-tight?

***** Hand History for Game 2494149547 *****
$50 PL Omaha - Sunday, August 07, 15:26:45 EDT 2005
Table Table 54885 (6 max) (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: TangRocks ( $113.85 )
Seat 2: TPro5 ( $21.65 )
Seat 3: ubdead ( $42.05 )
Seat 4: djthack ( $60.40 )
Seat 6: Kamikaze112 ( $76.05 )
Kamikaze112 posts small blind [$0.25].
TangRocks posts big blind [$0.50].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to TangRocks [ Js Kd 3h Ks ]
TPro5 calls [$0.50].
ubdead raises [$2].
djthack calls [$2].
Kamikaze112 folds.
TangRocks calls [$1.50].
TPro5 calls [$1.50].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, 3s, Kc ]
TangRocks checks.
TPro5 folds.
ubdead bets [$7.85].
djthack folds.
TangRocks calls [$7.85].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ad ]
TangRocks checks.
ubdead checks.
** Dealing River ** [ 8s ]
TangRocks bets [$8].
ubdead is all-In. <----About $24 more for me to call
TangRocks folds.
ubdead does not show cards.
ubdead wins $62.20

-TW

P.S. Monksta, perhaps you want to give this another analysis since the hand played out a bit differently than I remembered?

This probably doesn't matter, but as I folded, I typed "AA, eh?" in the chat...to which my opponent responded, "Nope, KK." Not sure what to make of that?

-TW

I understand the whole slowplaying thing but the angle I was working was your image. One of the main advantages of your image is that people overplay marginal hands against you in order to just beat you so you get paid off when you hit. Therefore, I would look for all opportunities to push people around, especially with a good hand. If you slow down when you hit a big hand, a smart opponent would know that. If you push weak hands and slow down with strong ones, they will notice and get a read on you.

Yeah, looking back, I probably should've just check-raised the flop. But considering how I did play the hand, what do you think about the river? I realize that a player might go too far with his hand because of my image, but checking the turn and then raising the river really seems like I'm beat, right? From my experience, most players respond to a LAG by calling more often, not by raising more often.

-TW

as a LAG, i would try to jam on the flop and get a call from someone with half a hand.

as for the river, that's a tough one. it sounds like your were fairly certain the PF raise represented AA. using briachek's 50% rule, if your are better than 50% sure that he holds the AA, then fold. sounds like you were, so i think it was a reasonable fold in these circumstances.

Well, in this case, I was getting better than 2:1 (since my opponent didn't have enough of a stack to make a full pot raise), so I guess I'd have to be 70ish% sure he had AA. All I can say is that I'd be surprised to see anything other than the nut boat if I called. His chat after the hand actually reinforces my belief that he had AA, because there have been times in the past where I've made similar comments when an opponent correctly guessed my hand. The chat took place after the hand, though, so it had nothing to do with my decision.

Looking back, I really don't feel bad about the river fold...but I do think I should've just made a move on the flop like you guys said.

-TW

you said that he had about $24 more which was about the size of the pot. Actually, looking back, the pot may have been about 32 and 24 more for you to call so you are getting better than 50/50. I've learned to make folds like this because most people only raise like this with the nuts and you feel like an idiot when you call and they have it.