Who are the best opponents you play with at least semi-regularly (online)?
I just started playing PLO again on party after an absence of several months so unfortunately I can't really give you an answer right now. Over the very small sample of 1000 hands I have played in that game this month there hasn't been anybody that really stood out.
What specifically do your best opponents do that makes them good (be specific if you can ie. hand reading not as helpful as other answers)?
Generally the opponents I have the most trouble with are more aggro than me, which is really pretty aggressive. If I am out of position against someone who plays as or more aggro than me then I am usually in a bad spot and I will try to switch sits or leave the game entirely. A solid opponent that can mix up their play is a nightmare to sit with OOP.
Do you ever tilt, and if so how do you combat it?
Sure. Like I said previously, I lost an 18K pot at 50/100 on UB back in May when I had my opponent drawing as close to dead as you can get while still being live and proceeded to blow my entire roll.
My main problem is that I don't like being stuck. I will generally keep playing until I am mentally exhausted if I'm stuck. Since I had that blowout back in May I've read Barry Greenstein's book. His suggesting about losing is to a) certainly try to win some of your money back but to be happy turning a big loss into a small one and b) quit when you are losing.
I also have an AHK script on my computer that closes all poker related software when I hit F12 immediately, as well as another that prevents me from playing above a given level.
Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
No I haven't even been in a Turkish restaurant.
What was your progression by stakes (ie. what stakes did you play for how long, what are normal stakes, etc)?
The very first time I played PLO would have been December 2004/January 2005. I was losing horribly at NL (mostly bc I was a fish), saw a $50 table with an open seat on stars, sat down and proceeded to win 6 or 7 buy-ins that session.
I continued to play $50 and $100 for a few months, hit my first big downswing in February, and found myself back at $25. I built my roll back up and by March 05 was taking regular shots at $400. I hit a big downswing again and was basically busto after cashing out a big chunk of my BR to pay off debt. I lost my internet connection for like 3 weeks after my provider decided to charge me $500 for 'excessive uploads' and had to wait to switch to a more reasonable company.
On April 7th, I deposited $1000 and proceeded to run it up to just over 15K in a week. I continued playing $200 PLO on party, with occasionaly shots at $400 and $1000 on UB and ended up booking a $40K profit that month. By the beginning of May I had paid off my entire $22K in University debt and had a 30K BR. I continued playing $200 and $400 as my normal levels and was winning $2500-$3000 a day playing for maybe 2-3 hours. At this point I quit my crappy job and have been playing poker ever since.
What do you guess your hourly earn rate is?
Right now, with the mix of PLO and NL I am playing it's about $180 an hour.
What is your VPIP and PFR overall? by position?
Again since I only just came back from a long break from PLO, my sample size is very small, but here it is:
Do you like Gladiator movies?
Only when they are of the brutal violence variety and not the oiled Kirk Douglas ones.
do you play much shorthanded or heads up? if so, what adjustments do you personally make when playing SH/HU?
I prefer to play short and love to play HU. Typically when I play 2-3 handed I raise pretty close to 100% of the time OTB, 100% when it's folded to me in the SB, and I probably reraise in the SB or BB about 30%. If my opponents are pushing thin I generally scale back and try to change gears as often as possible.
You have a strange friend who is playing online PLO. He calls you and says, "I'm about to run out of time on this hand, I have two pair but my opponent put me allin. Should i call, yes or no?" He really wants to hear either yes or no, what do you say? (this gets at value of twopair, work with me here)
I tell him to call and while he is celebating his victory / crying about his loss I find his girlfriend/sister/mom and SIIHP.
You mentioned knowing the odds as being important -- what are the top 5 common odds matchups should every good PLO player be aware of?
1. Top set vs bottom/middle set with live draws.
2. Flopped boat vs one or two people drawing live to their sidecards.
3. Any live four card trash hand against 3-4 people all in preflop.
4. Two players with similar wraps against one with even a very weak made hand.
5. The most important thing you can do is sit down and study how much having even backdoor draws improves your EV.
Have you ever seen a grown man naked?
I just saw Borat in the theatre, so yeah.
How cool is it that high stakes NL players are wandering over to PLO to learn the game at higher stakes?
It's great. New blood fuels the game and these guys can afford to make some costly mistakes while they are learning.
What are the most common mistakes decent NL players make coming to PLO? what hands/situations do they overvalue/undervalue?
I see far far too many former NL players peeling the flop in HU shorthanded situations with really poor draws to the 4th nut straight and with bottom pair. They end up putting in a lot of money making 'heroic' calldowns when there is 0% chance they are winning the hand.
what are the 3-5 pieces of advice you would give someone for midstakes play on how specifically to play against Aces?
1. Checkraising two pair against a large field on a even remotely drawy board is a huge leak
2. Not getting enough value out of strong made hands in loose passive games (ie checkraising is not always the best move).
3. Not calling/raising the flop enough in shorthanded situations when there is still lots of money left behind and you have fold equity is also a leak.
what are the 3-5 pieces of advice you would give someone for midstakes play on how specifically to play when holding Aces?
1. Don't cbet flops that are moderately good for you when it is likely you will be checkraised if your opponent has a hand (ie AAhxhx on a 67h8h board against a larger field).
2. Bloating the pot against a large field with relatively weak aces for a small percentage of your stack is a leak.
3. I can't think any more at the moment. I need to get something to eat.
Seeya
-g