PLO 5 is a tough game to find good bluffing spots. With changing board textures, it can get challenging to pull off a bluff. So when do you bluff? Here are a few instances.
Example: You have an Ah 10h 10s 9c 6h in position and Flop goes Aj 5s Jc, not only do you know that a specific opponent almost always 3 bets pre-flop with aces but you block his wrap outs (blockers) for him to continue profitably post-flop. He can only carry on with a set of jacks set of 5s or a rare 2 3 4 which could’ve been weeded out with the preflop position bet.
Blockers: When you have a high likelihood of ‘blocking’ the IMMEDIATE nuts or/and blocking the POTENTIAL nuts on the turn/river.
Check Bet Bet or Bet bet bet (2 or 3 barrel bluff/semi-bluff)- when you play deep stack PLO you can think of a 2 / 3 streets bluff when you feel that your hand is favourable to reach the river in terms of equity. The beauty of PLO or any variant of poker is that- there are many hands that you can win without showdown- the is when your opponent does not have the nuts and also where the opponent is fairly scared to call without having said the top 2-3 hands. If you can eliminate those holdings then you can pre-plan a few bluffs. What does that mean?
Example:
Say Flop is Kh Qh 3c and you have Ah Jh 10s 9s Qc. Obviously, you’ve flopped the joint here. This you know that unless the board pairs that you hold the nuts, you can comfortably bet this 3 streets in most scenarios. Let’s say that action is 3 way (60 bigs each) on the flop and you are on the button. You bet pot when the action checks to you, and the opposition calls. When the opposition calls out of position you know he doesn’t have kings there, as it is very tough for him to slow play kings on that board and you have all the redraw blockers so it isn’t that he is extracting value. Yes, he could have some 3s and some K Qs that he is playing cautiously. Once he calls you can put him on a weaker draw like 2nd nut flush draws, some K Qs, but remember a few K Qs are off as you have a Q. In this case, when he flats, he perhaps has a weaker drawing hand that allows you to put in a tester 0.5X-0.6X bet on the turn should the board pair. This is a bluff and it allows you to maintain control over the hand.
Also when you have nut flush or nut straight blockers, you significantly reduce the combinations of holdings that will call off multiple streets, at least a fairly tight player allowing you to safely execute 2 or 3 barrel bluffs – this gets easier by practice. When you play more and practice in position betting, you will find that is easier to maintain control over the hand and execute pot control.
ALSO READ: Approaching PLO 5- A Beginner’s Guide By Aditya Sarkar
PLO5 is a great game of changing hand dynamics, playing nutty holdings, and storytelling- if you align your game to this, it will be easier for you to maintain control over hands/game/bankroll.
Hope you liked this read. Feel free to ping me your thoughts. Stay tuned for the next one!
Aditya Sarkar is an online Pot Limit Omaha player. He has a day job (Marketing Lead in a startup) but he manages to squeeze in 25-30 hours of PLO every week, mostly PLO 5 cash games. Why does he love PLO? It’s just faster and more exciting to play. He picked up PLO in college (MDI Gurgaon) way back in 2015 and has been playing the game ever since 🙂 Sarkar is also an author as he recently wrote his first ebook on PLO. Having worked with a poker company, he wanted to help out players to work on their fundamentals. Through the book, he aimed to bridge the gap between the sharks, the amateurs and beginners.
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