[SteelWheel]

I played in a satellite on 'Stars for their WCOOP PLO H/L event last night: No cards for virtually the first two hours, but somehow I managed to survive, eventually stole a few blinds, sucked out once or twice for scoops, and managed to win a seat.

I found that I had a difficult time adjusting to the increasing blinds as the tournament progressed. I think I have a pretty good handle on this game when played as a ring game (as much as anyone does, I guess)--try to limp and see flops with hands with four small cards, don't raise much, reraise with some really premium hands if I can get it heads-up, etc.

In this case though, I (obviously) had to cope with that old tourn vs ring game issue, where one is forced to gamble more pre-flop, just to cope with the ever-increasing blinds. I felt really uncomfortable with this though--after all, do I really want to make a pot raise with nothing but 2347 or A2xx? OTOH, trying to make the pot raise with the classic PLO-for Hi only type hands (AKKT, QQT9, etc), didn't feel right either, as anybody with four small cards can call and be on a semi-freeroll right there. In addition, of course, there was the issue that a pot raise doesn't really get you all-in in this kind of game; generally it's the re-raiser who can manage to get either himself or his opponent all-in.

I guess I must have done something right, since I managed to win a seat--but it still feels to me as if there must be a more optimal strategy to follow for this admittedly rare game (and even more rare in tournament format).

Any thoughts appreciated.