people who know me know I don't like variance but I play PLO, the king of all swings and i love it. Why? Not sure but now that I understand the game more (took almost a year of on and off playing), I am taking more risks and liking it. Here are some examples.

Hand 1 - Pushing aces when you have fold equity

***** Hand History for Game 2644687476 *****
batboyd has left the table.
0/0 Omaha Game Table (PL) - Sat Sep 03 02:46:19 EDT 2005
Table Table 37264 (Real Money) -- Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: mikeedick ( $12.15)
Seat 2: ROLLTIDE42 ( $24.40)
Seat 3: studlynate86 ( $1.45)
Seat 4: cgoulet85 ( $31.85)
Seat 5: hacksaw001 ( $23.15)
Seat 6: chaotic1182 ( $3.50)
Seat 8: airbud ( $9.50)
Seat 9: briachek ( $25)
Seat 10: holdthehatch ( $11.46)
cgoulet85 posts small blind (0.10)
hacksaw001 posts big blind (0.25)
holdthehatch posts big blind (0.25)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to briachek [ Ad, 8c, 9s, As ]
chaotic1182 folds.
airbud calls (0.25)
briachek calls (0.25)
holdthehatch checks.
mikeedick folds.
ROLLTIDE42 calls (0.25)
studlynate86 calls (0.25)
cgoulet85 raises (1.90) to 2
hacksaw001 folds.
airbud calls (1.75)
briachek raises (8.75) to 9
holdthehatch folds.
ROLLTIDE42 folds.
studlynate86 calls (1.20)
studlynate86 is all-In.
cgoulet85 raises (29.20) to 31.20
airbud calls (7.50)
airbud is all-In.
briachek calls (16)
briachek is all-In.
Creating Main Pot with $6.25 with studlynate86
Creating Side Pot 1 with $22.95 with airbud
Creating Side Pot 2 with $29.50 with briachek
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 7d, 5d, 6c ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Tc ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 5c ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $6.25 | Side Pot 1: $22.95 | Side Pot 2: $29.50 | Side Pot 3: $6.20 | Rake: $3
Board: [ 7d 5d 6c Tc 5c ]
studlynate86 balance $3.12, bet $1.45, collected $3.12, net +$1.67 [ 8s Kc Th 9h ] [ a straight, six to ten -- Tc,9h,8s,7d,6c ]
cgoulet85 balance $6.85, bet $31.20, collected $6.20, lost -$25 [ 5s 8d Ks Ah ] [ three of a kind, fives -- Ah,Tc,5s,5d,5c ]
airbud balance $0, lost $9.50 [ Qs Qh 8h Ac ] [ two pairs, queens and fives -- Qs,Qh,Tc,5d,5c ]
briachek balance $55.58, bet $25, collected $55.58, net +$30.58 [ Ad 8c 9s As ] [ a straight, six to ten -- Tc,9s,8c,7d,6c ]

When you can get in heads up or 3 way with decent side pots and dead money. I used to shy away from this but now i look to gamble it up every once in a while.


hand 2

***** Hand History for Game 2644373184 *****
0/0 Omaha Game Table (PL) - Sat Sep 03 01:39:00 EDT 2005
Table Table 37545 (Real Money) -- Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: DynamicAI ( $10.60)
Seat 2: stuy1998 ( $5.02)
Seat 3: joecubano ( $75.42)
Seat 4: whisper0r ( $58.96)
Seat 5: roadrocket22 ( $14.75)
Seat 6: briachek ( $24.65)
Seat 7: Leverup ( $24.65)
Seat 8: RafeTurlock ( $23.45)
Seat 9: hotpants99 ( $22.13)
Seat 10: blakhole ( $16)
RafeTurlock posts small blind (0.10)
hotpants99 posts big blind (0.25)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to briachek [ 7h, Ad, As, Kc ]
blakhole calls (0.25)
DynamicAI folds.
stuy1998 calls (0.25)
joecubano raises (1.35) to 1.35
whisper0r calls (1.35)
roadrocket22 folds.
briachek calls (1.35)
Leverup folds.
RafeTurlock folds.
hotpants99 calls (1.10)
blakhole calls (1.10)
stuy1998 raises (4.77) to 5.02
stuy1998 is all-In.
joecubano calls (3.67)
whisper0r calls (3.67)
hotpants99: lame
briachek raises (23.30) to 24.65
briachek is all-In.
hotpants99 folds.
stuy1998: excellent....
blakhole folds.
stuy1998: call please
whisper0r: interrsting
stuy1998: interesting is right
whisper0r: get her joe
joecubano calls (19.63)
whisper0r folds.
Creating Main Pot with $21.78 with stuy1998
Creating Side Pot 1 with $37.36 with briachek
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Th, Ts, 2c ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5h ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 2d ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $21.78 | Side Pot 1: $37.36 | | Rake: $3
Board: [ Th Ts 2c 5h 2d ]
stuy1998 balance $0, lost $5.02 [ 7c 8c Jd 4d ] [ a pair of tens -- Jd,Th,Ts,8c,5h ]
joecubano balance $50.77, lost $24.65 [ 6h Ah 4s Qc ] [ a pair of tens with ace kicker -- Ah,Qc,Th,Ts,5hAh(kicker card) ]
briachek balance $59.14, bet $24.65, collected $59.14, net +$34.49 [ 7h Ad As Kc ] [ two pairs, aces and tens -- Ad,As,Th,Ts,5h ]

I knew the short stack would push because that's what he does and the original raiser kept raising so I knew it wasn't really good so I thought I could get him to fold with tons of dead money in there. Wrong but he had a shit hand so money for me.

Hand 3

***** Hand History for Game 2641647976 *****
0/0 Omaha Game Table (PL) - Fri Sep 02 17:41:20 EDT 2005
Table Table 36827 (Real Money) -- Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: Armand2 ( $54.91)
Seat 3: jackodpleez ( $16.95)
Seat 4: barnus ( $35.27)
Seat 5: bridgeiscool ( $31.05)
Seat 6: Surma ( $24.40)
Seat 7: hbd312 ( $25.60)
Seat 8: CHAS711 ( $24.30)
Seat 9: briachek ( $23.60)
Seat 10: R8794581 ( $27.25)
hbd312 posts small blind (0.10)
CHAS711 posts big blind (0.25)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to briachek [ 4h, Kh, Ah, Ac ]
briachek calls (0.25)
R8794581 folds.
jackodpleez raises (1.10) to 1.10
barnus folds.
bridgeiscool calls (1.10)
Surma folds.
hbd312 calls (1)
CHAS711 folds.
briachek raises (5.50) to 5.75
jackodpleez raises (15.85) to 16.95
jackodpleez is all-In.
bridgeiscool folds.
hbd312 folds.
briachek calls (11.20)
Creating Main Pot with $34.55 with jackodpleez
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Kc, 8d, Js ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 2h ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 4d ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $34.55 | | Rake: $1.80
Board: [ Kc 8d Js 2h 4d ]
Armand2 balance $54.91, sits out
jackodpleez balance $0, lost $16.95 [ Ad Ks 2c As ] [ two pairs, kings and twos -- Ks,Kc,Js,2c,2h ]
briachek balance $41.20, bet $16.95, collected $34.55, net +$17.60 [ 4h Kh Ah Ac ] [ two pairs, kings and fours -- Kh,Kc,Js,4h,4d ]

Very similar hands and I got lucky. My K4 trumped his K2 so I guess the best hand won.

I know I got lucky pushing these hands but I looked for times to get in BIG bets to isolate and have fold equity. This is something I didn't really do in the past but I like now.

In my amateur opinion, these plays are ok but as you stated, omaha is the king of swings. Getting your money in with AAxx with dead money is always great but it can backfire. A nice backup would be double suited or the str cards like the AA98 hand. Remember that no hand is a huge favorite over any other hand PF in omaha.

i understand that but with the crap these people push, you are going to be a decent favorite and if you can get dead money in there or just fold equity, its definitely +EV. I've done this a couple times and everyone just folded and i win a sweet $5-10 with no flop.

In Omaha 8, I will push all in with AAxx if x is a low draw hand (2,3,4). You would be amazed at how many people with call with KK, QQ, JJ, naked A2xx hands. I used to not be a believer in the move, but after tracking it at NL 25 with PTO, it showed me to be a ++++++++EV move.

It should be noted, that I will do this at the NL 25 tables. Anything above that, I think it is to much of a gamble.

Tom

I dunno, if I CAN get all in preflop in a PLO8 game with AA2, AA3 or AA4 (maybe be a bit more cautious with AA5 but even that.... Perhaps if it's suited with another low card, a 6 or something) then I will do. Just that the opportunity so rarely occurs. Even at 200PLO8 you get a lot of people gambling it up, or thinking A23 is a good heads up hand worth their whole stack (if they're uber-aggro).

Oddly, I played the 25PLO8 today at Empire along with some 100PLO8 to clear the bonus. I guess lots of other people had the same idea, because I really can't recall the 25PLO8 ever being so tight. It was about the standard of a reasonable 200 game.