Okay, so, as sad as this is to admit, I learned some of what I know about PLO from Briachek (namely that I can't hit a Royal Flush if I'm using 3 of my hole cards ) ... So, suffice it to say that I'm a total setminer...

Well, I've been playin a lot lately, mostly because I've been takin it up the poop chute with a diamond encrusted, salt, vinegar, and bleach coated concrete telephone pole playin NL... meh...

So, this may seem like a total rookie question... But, what's really the point of raising PF w/ ANYTHING...??? Say I have AAKK double soooted... I raise, 4 callers, which seems to ALWAYS happen, and 972 flops, what are the chances my hand is good anymore...??? In a game where chasing is like breathing for most or masturbating to transvestite farm animal escort ads to Monk, what really is the point...??? Do you guys raise often, and if so, in what situations...???

Thanks...

See also

forum/poker-article10471.html

i think that there are some otther reasons why you might want to consider raising.

first, more money in the pot pf seems to make people play more foolishly on later streets (yes, even MORE foolishly).

second, if you raise in position, you are basically giving yourself a chance to make better decisions with position in bigger pots. it also allows your opponents to make bigger mistakes OOP. these things are definitely +EV.

the raise definitely increases variance, cuz you're going to whiff a lot. that being said, when you show down, it'll be more likely that it's for the villains whole stack.

think of it as playing the odds in craps -- it improves your EV but increases your variance. the comparison is not entirely valid, as craps starts as a -EV proposition while poker (hopefully) does not, but you get the idea.

here's what i've posted in the past.


here's my theory for plo high - don't raise preflop I don't as I have a .04 preflop raise % and those are only with good AAxx hands that I'm trying to isolate with when there is a raise and calls or reraise and I can pretty much get all in heads up. Other than that, i just call and look for a good flop since its a postflop game.

Pros - adds deception since people won't know if you have aces, a good wrap, ect. People that don't know you will not put you on AAxx if you flop top set because they will have expected a raise preflop. You let people overplay their hands and see if they are strong by letting them bet for you and just trap when you hit. You will get paid off by a bigger variety of hands because people that shouldn't have seen the flop will and chase things that they shouldn't why you have or are drawing to the nuts.

Cons - you don't reduce the fields so you are more likely to be sucked out on and if a draw is out there, someone likely has it. You will have to learn to try and make people pay the wrong price by check raising and always max raising. It can be expensive when you hit a bad run but good when you hold. You will have to learn how to fold hands or this game isn't for you.

That's my take. Its worked very well for me but raising obviously has worked very well for others.

PLO is pretty much all I have played the last few months. And Ive had good success at the $25 & $50 games.

I raise all my good starting hands when im BTN, CO or MP3. I just limp with AAxx then if there is a raise/re-raise and I can get most of my stack in I will push. I limp from EP/MP with all playable hands and will call most raises with strong hands.

I find people do play much loser PostFlop when there was a big raise PreFlop. Also, by building a pot PF you can bet enough to protect your hand on the flop and be able to stack opponents by the river. However, you need to still laydown your hand even though you have invested alot of your stack when the turn/river is a BAD card.