Monday, January 22, 2007

Questionable Play in PLO

All right, the game is $2-$3 PLO at Ameristar. Its a good game. The basic PLO players are there, Alan, Doug, Jeff, Kimmy is in the game, and $30-$60 Alex. There are two fresh faces at the table and one of them will be the villain in the hand that i want to discuss. He says hes from Tunica, well plays in Tunica, and that he plays the big Omaha game down there. You know the one, $5-$10-$25. He has a good table sense, but he liked to gamble it up. It was like the money wasn't a lot to him. He was calling with some obscure draws, but NOT bluffing off his chips, he was just a calling station.

OK, here we go...

Someone raises to $15 pre-flop. I have A A 5 8, i think the 5 and the 8 were suited in hearts, but that's not a factor. $15 was the typical raise, so i decide to see a flop, hoping to hit a set, or a straight. The villain calls behind me, and is the only one who has position on me. We take the flop 5 handed.

Ac Jc 9d

Not a terrible flop for me, but there are a lot of bad cards i can see on the turn. It checks to me, so i bet the pot $75. The villain calls behind me, and everyone else folds.

the turn card comes Ah.

I quad up. Now here's where the question comes in. NOW WHAT?

I take a peak at his stack, he's got $400 and change. I have him covered. I decide right then that i want ALL of it. Not some of it, EVERY LAST DOLLAR! How do i do that?

I decide that I'm going to bet almost instantly. With only $225 in the pot, i have to build it a little bit, so i can get it all in on the river, right? If I check, sure he could try to represent the Ace, but like i said, he wasn't bluffing, but he was calling. So again, if i bet, can he honestly put me on what i have? If i bet, he might come over the top right there, especially if he has 9's full or J's full.

I don't know, it just seemed to me that, if I checked there, number one, i have to hope he hits. Chances are, he was going to miss anyway, in which case i don't get paid off. If I check, and he hits, i bet the pot, he can still get away from it, because he's not pot committed. If I force him to call a bet on the turn, THEN he hits his draw, he is forced to call my all in on the river.

The only way i can check the turn i feel, is if i also check the river. And pray that he either hits something, and commits himself, or tries to steal it, when he misses the river. I just don't like checking here. That's what i want to hear from you guys. What do you do? And don't tell me how crappy this is written, I know it is. But its 4:30 a.m. and i don't feel like proof-reading.

The end of the hand went as follows...

The Ace hits the turn, i bet $150, and he folds. I've examined this hand forwards and backwards, and i still like the way i played it. The only thing i can think of, is that i could have bet less on the turn. But I think that might have thrown up a few flags as well.

Let me know...

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