---

Poker Video: Pot-Limit Omaha by DJ Sensei (Mid Stakes)

Time Link to 00:08:11

Hi Dan, I've been playing in these games here and there for a few months. The NL Omaha aspect is pretty amusing, I actually prefer the NL tables because you see a lot of wierd stuff even from regs, some pretty spewy plays.

You mention how if you see someone do that with AAxx, you know that when they 3bet/4bet you normal size they don't have AAxx. I don't find this true because I think those awkward jams are often raggy, unsuited AAxx combos that they don't want to take postflop. However when they have like AAJT ds they just make a normal sized reraise because they don't mind going postflop. I have also seen a guys shove like that (especially half stackers) with strong rundowns.

Time Link to 00:12:07

table 2, you fold QQ79 with one suit to the Q from the cutoff, then soon after raise same table and position with AQJ3 with one suit to the J. Can you explain why the latter is much stronger to open there?

Also around the same time table 3, it folds to you in SB and you raise J872 ds, I often wonder how wide I should steal SB v BB in plo vs a reg. Regs seem to vary so wildly in style at plo that I feel I'm often guessing as to what is profitable to steal with there. The BB will be (and prob should be) calling IP a TON and it's hard to gauge what he will fold postflop, and what he is willing to stack off with postflop BvB. For these reasons I have been playing pretty tight SB vs BB unless I gain a read that the opponent is very tight vs steals.

Time Link to 00:15:06

table 1 - fold AJ53 with one suit to the Ace from cutoff, with what appears to be a very passive rando on the button? (playing 37/5 and he didnt attempt to bluff previous hand when his straight wrap missed)

Hi Dan, I've been playing in these games here and there for a few months. The NL Omaha aspect is pretty amusing, I actually prefer the NL tables because you see a lot of wierd stuff even from regs, some pretty spewy plays.

You mention how if you see someone do that with AAxx, you know that when they 3bet/4bet you normal size they don't have AAxx. I don't find this true because I think those awkward jams are often raggy, unsuited AAxx combos that they don't want to take postflop. However when they have like AAJT ds they just make a normal sized reraise because they don't mind going postflop. I have also seen a guys shove like that (especially half stackers) with strong rundowns.

I think shortstackers probably have a much wider range for shipping. Most of the ones I've encountered are kind of gamble-y though, so that might be a factor. As for the deeper-stacked shippers, I don't see them making too many non-ship 3bets. Maybe I'm just not paying enough attention. And even if they're not shipping the stronger AA hands, they'll ship enough of them (most AA combos aren't 'stronger') that we can benefit by making the assumption that AA is just out of their range when they don't ship.

table 2, you fold QQ79 with one suit to the Q from the cutoff, then soon after raise same table and position with AQJ3 with one suit to the J. Can you explain why the latter is much stronger to open there?

It isn't much stronger, really. They're probably about the same. I guess chalk this one up to live-sweat-video-making.

Also around the same time table 3, it folds to you in SB and you raise J872 ds, I often wonder how wide I should steal SB v BB in plo vs a reg. Regs seem to vary so wildly in style at plo that I feel I'm often guessing as to what is profitable to steal with there. The BB will be (and prob should be) calling IP a TON and it's hard to gauge what he will fold postflop, and what he is willing to stack off with postflop BvB. For these reasons I have been playing pretty tight SB vs BB unless I gain a read that the opponent is very tight vs steals.

SB stealing range depends entirely on who's in the BB. This guy was probably not a good candidate for stealing as he's a bit LAGgy.

table 1 - fold AJ53 with one suit to the Ace from cutoff, with what appears to be a very passive rando on the button? (playing 37/5 and he didnt attempt to bluff previous hand when his straight wrap missed)

Passive doesn't exactly mean that we should be stealing wider from the CO against his BTN, since he'll often wind up just calling us down, and this isn't the kind of hand that actually makes many strong showdownables. I'd rather have a nit on the button and passive players OOP with this sort of hand.

Concerning the preflop jams w/ AA at no-limit tables:
I've been doing some crude piece-wise integration of average flop equity calculations (Slowhabit demonstrates this in his "The PLO Handbook: Transitioning from NLHE to PLO") and in general, without a pocket pair or an A in your hand (assuming your opponent has most AAxx and not just strong AA), there are tons of hands you can call with preflop that are plus EV when you 3bet and face a 4bet... Probably most excellent (excellent being a relative term) PLO players know this intuitively or explicitly already. In some cases, it's not even thinly profitable, but very profitable. The key to the profitability seems to be centered around the player who faces a 4bet not having to call off more than 1/4th of his stack. I did some additional calculations and it seems that once you start having to call a little over 1/4th of the remaining money preflop, you start having problems breaking even with most everything but the premo-drawing hands.
Anyway, so I messed around for a bit w/ like, 3betting to 50bb w an AA hand as good or better than AA8Tss, and some really sloppy players will call with a wide range. But some of the more reasonable (like 40/20 or 30/15-ish) players will mostly fold it seems. However, they seem to all think that around 30-35bb's (100bb stacks) is more of a call. I'm getting called about 8 out of 10 times so far when I make it this size, even against sub-30VPIP players. The interesting thing is, I've only gotten action on flops twice so far, and once was from an 80+ VPIP player. This is, of course, really small sample size, but if you could get called preflop most of the time for 1/3rd of player stacks, and you have AA, you're forcing them to make a decent mistake with the hands they call with even if they commit correctly on appropriate flops. In addition, if they aren't calling the flop with any piece, they are making another pretty big mistake.
In the case that they are making mistakes postflop (such as folding T986 on a 63Qr flop to your flop pot-sized AI), then we can start doing this w/ non-AA hands. There's no way to get an idea of what's going on postflop without a 200+ sample size, but can you see where I'm going with this?
Of course, I am mostly playing 25PLO atm. Things could be different at 200. But for the most part, what I've seen from these videos is that, players that fit into a certain profile behave essentially the same. Rec players still have a really bad sense of pot-odds, at any point during the hand. And there are actually 200PLO players that are playing in the 25PLO games (eg. ef5tornado and smok3alot420, in this particular video). I even see two regs in this video down at 25PLO, so....

Time Link to 00:12:45

On table 3, what's about the bottom range of flops (as far as your equity) you'll get aggressive with postflop vs this player? A little insight into your x/c, x/r and leading ranges would be helpful as well.

Time Link to 00:17:16

Hmm.... kinda feel like a bit of a douche now since you're pretty much talking about what I posted earlier Should have watched the whole video first. Maybe what I said will be helpful....

DJ, say it isn't so!

Since MagicNinja does not make PLO videos anymore, you are by far the man now. Really hope you were joking. Please come back for a 3rd season. You are superb. Plus you are playing on Merge(like most of us) as well as the NL Omaha tables.

You are the perfect instructor, and on the right site.

So count me in as a upriser!!! You must continue.

Also really glad turned you onto the NL Omaha, I think it is awesome.

Just another reason you should continue. Also I posted this in other forum, but maybe come back and do a Coaching Kristy type series for Omaha. Or a Omaha round table. So many good things can be done, just take charge and make it happen!

Coaching Kristy type series for Omaha

That would be so great!

I dont know if DC producers look at this list but I'd say vote for the coaching kristy plo thing guys
http://imagination.nixonthegrouch.com/index.php

On table 3, what's about the bottom range of flops (as far as your equity) you'll get aggressive with postflop vs this player? A little insight into your x/c, x/r and leading ranges would be helpful as well.

Its a little tougher OOP, because I like to make small raises on various flop types in 3bet pots but if I checkraise small he can peel a lot. Of course leading is an option too. I'd probably lead with a range of hands that don't mind whatever he does in response. So like, 2nd pair with some decent kickers. If he ships I can fold, if he calls I can be confident if I improve on the turn (or barrel other good cards), if he folds that's probably a good outcome since he probably folded equity. Of course your leading range should also include some strong stuff. Big draws, sets on drawy boards, etc. And his cbet% needs to be accounted for. The lower it is, the more we should be leading with both strong and marginal hands. The higher it is, the more we should be checkraising (with both, really, though we need to be more cautious about semibluffing hands that don't fare well against his calling range.)

DJ, say it isn't so!

Since MagicNinja does not make PLO videos anymore, you are by far the man now. Really hope you were joking. Please come back for a 3rd season. You are superb. Plus you are playing on Merge(like most of us) as well as the NL Omaha tables.

You are the perfect instructor, and on the right site.

So count me in as a upriser!!! You must continue.

Aww thanks. I'm sure I'll make more in the future, but not this coming season. (I will be making some vids, but the subject is TBD!)

Concerning the preflop jams w/ AA at no-limit tables:
I've been doing some crude piece-wise integration of average flop equity calculations (Slowhabit demonstrates this in his "The PLO Handbook: Transitioning from NLHE to PLO") and in general, without a pocket pair or an A in your hand (assuming your opponent has most AAxx and not just strong AA), there are tons of hands you can call with preflop that are plus EV when you 3bet and face a 4bet... Probably most excellent (excellent being a relative term) PLO players know this intuitively or explicitly already. In some cases, it's not even thinly profitable, but very profitable. The key to the profitability seems to be centered around the player who faces a 4bet not having to call off more than 1/4th of his stack. I did some additional calculations and it seems that once you start having to call a little over 1/4th of the remaining money preflop, you start having problems breaking even with most everything but the premo-drawing hands.
Anyway, so I messed around for a bit w/ like, 3betting to 50bb w an AA hand as good or better than AA8Tss, and some really sloppy players will call with a wide range. But some of the more reasonable (like 40/20 or 30/15-ish) players will mostly fold it seems. However, they seem to all think that around 30-35bb's (100bb stacks) is more of a call. I'm getting called about 8 out of 10 times so far when I make it this size, even against sub-30VPIP players. The interesting thing is, I've only gotten action on flops twice so far, and once was from an 80+ VPIP player. This is, of course, really small sample size, but if you could get called preflop most of the time for 1/3rd of player stacks, and you have AA, you're forcing them to make a decent mistake with the hands they call with even if they commit correctly on appropriate flops. In addition, if they aren't calling the flop with any piece, they are making another pretty big mistake.

Yea I think this is a pretty key way to exploit people. If they're calling off that much of their stack pre, they'll wind up getting the rest in as an underdog pretty often.

Hey DJ enjoyed the series thanks for doing it. Just wondered if you could list or send a link to the stats you use on your hud for plo. Thanks

Its a little tougher OOP, because I like to make small raises on various flop types in 3bet pots but if I checkraise small he can peel a lot. Of course leading is an option too. I'd probably lead with a range of hands that don't mind whatever he does in response. So like, 2nd pair with some decent kickers. If he ships I can fold, if he calls I can be confident if I improve on the turn (or barrel other good cards), if he folds that's probably a good outcome since he probably folded equity. Of course your leading range should also include some strong stuff. Big draws, sets on drawy boards, etc. And his cbet% needs to be accounted for. The lower it is, the more we should be leading with both strong and marginal hands. The higher it is, the more we should be checkraising (with both, really, though we need to be more cautious about semibluffing hands that don't fare well against his calling range.)

Thanks DJ, this is really helpful. When you say, "hands that don't fare well against his calling range", would you say a hand like 789A on a T84tt flop (we do not have the FD) would qualify as a hand we wouldn't want to x/r? Or 89TJ on a Q35tt w/ the 9-high FD?

I'm such a fan of your PLO vids I'm now having to go back 7 months to get fresh material.

Could you tell me what you think is an appropriate cbet stat for both HU and multiway pots in these games?

You are certainly cbetting more than I do, but you seem fine with cbet/folding TPTK in certain situations, and that is still tough for me.

I'm such a fan of your PLO vids I'm now having to go back 7 months to get fresh material.

Much appreciated! There's plenty more to come, I'm sure.

Could you tell me what you think is an appropriate cbet stat for both HU and multiway pots in these games?

You are certainly cbetting more than I do, but you seem fine with cbet/folding TPTK in certain situations, and that is still tough for me.

I've never recommended trying to engineer your own style just to match particular statistical reference points. Instead, take the style you're comfortable with and practice shifting your lines in certain spots to see what works best. While I won't give you a specific number, I do recommend that your default cbetting % be fairly high (especially HU). But still, whenever you choose to cbet, be sure that you have a good reason to do so and a good plan going forward.

Good reasons include:
1) Your hand is strong, so you want to make the pot larger, and your opponent(s) will call with worse hands.
2) Your hand may not be that great, but your opponent(s) will fold often enough that you can profit by taking down the pot immediately.
3) Your opponent(s) will fold sometimes, but if they don't you will be able to win the pot often enough on later streets (either by getting there or by barreling again).

If you aren't confident that a single cbet will succeed AND you don't have a good way to play the hand out after facing resistance (particularly when you may well end up putting more bad money in the pot on later streets!) then you probably shouldn't put fire that cbet.