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Cashing In On Your Image In PLO Cash Tables

Players often are very unmindful of the image they most likely have on a crucial day while playing Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) 5. For example, you just lost a big pot and next hand, you flopped a big hand, middle set with nut flush redraw in a three-way pot. You are in the middle position. Instead of checking to the preflop aggressor should the small blind check, you should look to bet into him to reduce the risk of getting check backed.

 Points to consider

•     Look to increase the pot size when you have a monster and also a loose image
•     Avoid trapping, especially when you have a loose image
•     If you are making steals, then bet big when you have absolute nuts too, to keep your opponents guessing (levelling)

 Villain stats

• 70% PFR
• 65% C-bet
• 20% WTSD
• You called. Say your stats are:
• 50% PFR
• 40% C-bet

Say there is a paired board. Opponent bets out 50% of the pot. Now, paired boards often offer steal positions. When someone bets into a paired board, often, by calling, you provide him information that you already have a hand. On the flipside, a draw heavy board can have both made hands (like sets) and draw heavy holdings, so when you float a draw heavy board, you can represent different kinds of hands on later streets, more so, if you have the nut blockers for those later streets. Villain stats are indicative of a loose player. Your floats look stronger than his floats.

Your ‘just calls’ look stronger than his possible steal play / c-bet play on the paired board. Both plays made on the flop can work against weaker players who fire one bullet and give up. Players who get scared when you flat on paired boards on a HU match-up. If you know this, shouldn’t you make use of these, given that:

1.     Stack are deep enough
2.     He doesn’t double / triple barrel

ALSO READ: Storytelling In PLO! What’s That?

As I have discussed in my book PLO 6: 50 Mistakes That I have Made, I avoid playing against very strong players as I reduce my odds of making money in the longer run. Weak players as covered in the book are those who are:

• Overly tight or overly loose
• Who give up after one barrel
• Who play big pots with non-nutted equity and so forth

It is common in PLO to see players limping to the pre flop aggressor. While this is good when you have an overly aggressive opposition and you have been playing like the tightest player, a donk lead by you can prove handy. HU PLO can be used by strong Villains to be more exploitative. In the case of being a tight player, this play can be detrimental as you will lose action / cbet of Villain as a donk lead can be seen as very strong.

When you just lost a big pot, you are often seen as a player who wants to win back. If you flop big, do not slow play. Bet right in if you need to. Do not risk getting checked back if you are in middle position and flopped middle set and expect the player behind you to bet first.

Also, ensure that you do not get labelled as a tight player after say 200 hands, that will scare villain off when you bet big. Mix in donk leads when you need to lead. Run against the motion plays, Do not always go for the check raise. Mix your play to NOT come under a specific category header (Very tight / Very lose), which would make you easier to play against. Think in terms of Tight aggressive or loose aggressive that we will discuss in more detail in subsequent posts.

Learnings

•     Be mindful of your image on the table to make moves accordingly
•     Don’t always check to the pre flop aggressor )conditions apply). PLO hands are often vulnerable and you want to suck in hands like top 2 with weak redraws or middle sets. If you check, you might make it tougher for reasonably strong Villain hands to call on the next streets.

Note: This post is not about giving you the winning recipe. It is about understanding a few strategies to make you a tricky player to play against, to get max value in spots where you would get low value should you not factor in table images and to get more info about players by making specific plays. Hope you liked this read. Stay tuned for the next one.

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