PLO on the button

so since i’m trying to get supernova on stars this year i stopped playing on ftp altogether. i just really don’t like the software, the games are harder, the support is nonexistant, and they just go down at random times…. in all, try to run a professional business guys, i might be back, but i highly doubt it.

with that i moved up to plo$25 since i played that and higher deep stacked before and i’m pretty sure i can easily beat it….
unfortunately i’m running like total shit, so who’s to know for sure. currently i’m losing ever so slightly under $50/h.
goals for 2010: make supernova, make $100k, switch to cash games as the main game.
getting a reasonable number of VPPs playing $25 plo, so if i put in enough volume i should definitely be able to make supernova, but i’m obviously hoping i can move up fairly soon (currently i’m way overrolled but i wanna play a certain number of hands before moving up (or at least have a decent profit), like 50k hands minimum, 100k would be nice).

things you never hear a holdem player say: “i’m so sick of flopping the nuts”. that’s how my week has been….
also, this hand illustrates how you can just have a billion outs (like 49 or so) and still miss:

this dude i just put a note on that he draws to naked non nut flushes
on paired boards (and i have position on the dude, pretty awesome right ?)

PokerStars Game #37522257305: Omaha Pot Limit ($0.10/$0.25 USD) -
2010/01/02 5:01:12 ET
Table ‘Thekla’ 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: impressionn ($18.80 in chips)
Seat 2: 10242048 ($25 in chips)
Seat 3: EiGhTz_MSU ($36.55 in chips)
Seat 4: xyious ($21.45 in chips)
Seat 5: ErwinKoo ($56.10 in chips)
Seat 6: 5SpeedLimit5 ($127.85 in chips)
EiGhTz_MSU: posts small blind $0.10
xyious: posts big blind $0.25
* HOLE CARDS *
Dealt to xyious [Th Ks 9c Jh]
ErwinKoo: folds
5SpeedLimit5: folds
impressionn: calls $0.25
10242048: folds
EiGhTz_MSU: calls $0.15
xyious: raises $0.75 to $1
impressionn: calls $0.75
EiGhTz_MSU: calls $0.75
* FLOP * [Kh Qh 6c]
EiGhTz_MSU: checks
xyious: bets $2
impressionn: folds
EiGhTz_MSU: calls $2
* TURN * [Kh Qh 6c] [4s]
EiGhTz_MSU: checks
xyious: bets $4
EiGhTz_MSU: raises $14.70 to $18.70
xyious: calls $14.45 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($0.25) returned to EiGhTz_MSU
* RIVER * [Kh Qh 6c 4s] [8s]
* SHOW DOWN *
EiGhTz_MSU: shows [7h 9h 5h 4d] (a straight, Four to Eight)
xyious: shows [Th Ks 9c Jh] (a pair of Kings)
EiGhTz_MSU collected $41.75 from pot
* SUMMARY *
Total pot $43.90 | Rake $2.15
Board [Kh Qh 6c 4s 8s]
Seat 1: impressionn folded on the Flop
Seat 2: 10242048 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: EiGhTz_MSU (small blind) showed [7h 9h 5h 4d] and won ($41.75)
with a straight, Four to Eight
Seat 4: xyious (big blind) showed [Th Ks 9c Jh] and lost with a pair of
Kings
Seat 5: ErwinKoo folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: 5SpeedLimit5 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

pokenum -o 7h 9h 5h 4d – th ks 9c jh - kh qh 6c
Omaha Hi: 820 enumerated boards containing 6c Kh Qh
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
4d 9h 7h 5h 76 9.27 744 90.73 0 0.00 0.093
Ks 9c Jh Th 744 90.73 76 9.27 0 0.00 0.907

Just some random thoughts i’ve had after watching the video….
one thing you can clearly see is that Ansky himself is thinking about the advice he’s giving. rethinking his opinion, rethinking what the best play is. his friend/student probably isn’t.
I have to say that that is a problem of mine as well…. I hold on to my opinion, however wrong it may be, way too long. When i see a play that some regular or pro is making and i think it’s horrible i probably will continue to think it’s horrible. Unless said pro comes forward, tells me the reasons for his play, and it makes sense to me. What i should be doing, however, is really the opposite. I should see a play that a pro is making and think about his reasons for playing that way, i should assume that he’s making the better play than i would be, and i should be thinking about his intentions, his logic, his reasons. Then i should obviously come to a conclusion about his play that either means i agree with it or i disagree with it. But i think the initial assumption should be that I’m wrong.
However ! The more important point should be to think about the play in the first place. Obviously watching a video on DC is nice and all, very entertaining. But when you see an instructor playing, even explaining his plays, you need to think about it. Not only think about what you would do in the same situation, but also think about his reasons. Are they correct reasons, are they good reasons, are there any better reasons for making the same play, for making a different play ?
Anywho, those were my random thoughts of the day. I should really work on thinking before agreeing or disagreeing with someone.

They have some interesting little bonuses over there that sometimes you don’t see coming. If you have rakeback there it’s certainly worth playing on full tilt at least sometimes to take advantage of that.
Interestingly enough it would be possible to make iron man playing $5 PLO, if you put in some seriously volume. 4 tabling i make 40 or so points per hour, so 5 hours would be enough to make iron man. Hopefully i can increase my volume a little bit over the next month, maybe getting it to very gradually replace the SNG grind. Right now i’m hoping to do a one hour session every day. My SNG sessions are 2 hours long, so once i move up to $10 PLO i hope i can replace one SNG session every day with one PLO session, so that i can get 2 hours of PLO per day. Obviously once i’m crushing the $50 PLO games i can switch over completely and make more money than i do now. For that, though, i would need to double my bankroll about 4 times.
Which then reminds me. The bankroll that i would probably not recommend playing with, but i will be. I started playing $5 plo with a $50 deposit, so 10 max buyins. That is certainly not enough, but the bankroll is obviously very replaceable. That is less true once it grows. So i will move up to $10 PLO at $125, which again is not enough. Moving down at $75 if i get crushed by the players and/or the badrun. so then i will move up to $25 PLO at $375, moving back down at $200. $25 PLO is a level where i will (in case i’m good enough) make a decent amount of money, so i’m not terribly upset by staying there a while, which is even more true at $50. so moving up to $50 PLO at $1k, back down at $500. From there i will probably be moving up very very slowly. To $100 PLO at $5k, back down at $2.5k. To $200 at $20k, back down at $5k.
At $50 PLO I will be making a substantial amount of money by rakeback, given that i put in enough volume. So with that i will be making what resembles regular income. Obviously not enough, but enough to cover rent if i actually play 8 hours 30 days (which will be very hard to do, especially optimally if i run bad, and obviously if i run good i won’t be needing to).
So that is the bankroll strategy that i will be using without recommending it to everyone. Obviously if you have no problems replacing a $100 or $250 bankroll it’s a reasonable suggestion. At $200 PLO i get very nitty with my bankroll which for a pro is obviously never a bad thing.

I play pretty well when i’m actually focusing, i think. Hopefully some of you will disagree with some of my plays and make me think about different lines that could be better, but in general i think i’m fairly decent. So I will try to really focus on the game, think about decisions rather than just reflex-click buttons.
I have made a video of myself 4 tabling and i have noticed that (even tho it’s very obvious) when I explain my plays I tend to play better. I actually made some plays that I knew at the time I probably shouldn’t be making, and I said as much. But on the whole it was really good and it’s something that i can definitely recommend to anyone. Make a video of yourself playing, explain every single one of your plays. You don`t even have to show the video to anyone.
So for the end of this year i will mostly be focusing on focusing ! Also on improving reads, since i disagree with Vanessa. She seems to think that (at least in some of the plays that she talks about, in her PLO pro series especially) everyone plays the same way. Obviously if you were playing against her you would probably call the river a bit light since she’s capable of turning made hands into bluffs. You would probably bet a lot of flops that she doesn’t CBet since she would just give up on the hands if she raises pre and then checks the flop. That, however, wasn’t really the point. The point was that some people will bet a lot of rivers, some people will never bet the river without the nuts, some people just love to bluff, etc. So basically I’m hoping i can get to a point where i will know what kinda player someone is. Value bet the people who will call too much, bluff the people who won’t call a lot, raise bluff people who bluff a lot, etc.
In the past i haven’t really been able to do that, since I’m way too curious and don’t trust my reads enough. Frequently i would have a read that someone would always have it when they bet and still call them down. The negreanu way to play i guess…. Also because it’s easy to just go into auto pilot when you play more than one table.
So the plan is to play the player more than the game. Play the situation instead of the cards. Not playing on auto pilot.

Greetings.

My name is Alexander Knopf, nick xyious on most poker sites (all that i currently play).
I am a 27 year old SNG pro, trying to get into PLO to get a break from the every day 40 tabling grind.
I have several other blogs, xyious.com/blog being my programming blog that is rarely updated because i don’t have time to do any programming. xyious.com/blog/blog2.php being my grind update blog. not much content on that one either, but i update it with my results so my family and friends know how i’m doing.
My problem is that i have a $1k bankroll and i have to cash out $2k every month. that obviously creates a decent amount of stress. It also prevents me from getting a coach for my PLO game, even tho i would really like having one. I have played some PLO in the past, as high as $200 while shortstacking, but currently i’m at $5 buyin with a $50 deposit, hoping i can grind it up to a few million dollars while gaining some experience.
I’m always up to talk some PLO cash strategy, and i’m on messenger 24/7. I would be happy to join study groups or strategy talk groups.
Gonna use this blog to track my progress both of my play and of my education.
I will eventually upload some member videos, and i always appreciate comments about my play.
so feel free to leave comments, send private messages, ask for my messenger sn.