PLO shortstacking!

[sh58]

i know the hatred of shortstackers people on this forum have of shortstacking which i have a little sympathy for.....

however, my thread is a bit different

My mate has invited me to play PLO at this club in birmingham, england. the blinds are £1/£1 and the min. buyin in £25

i can't afford to play full, but he says he has shortstacked there loads of times and it is very profitable. my online BR is £1,100 and i play almost exclusively NLHE, but i am also competent in most other games. i really just wanna have fun there and not go broke.

1) strategy: play very tight, not open raise with anything, only reraise when you have bad aces and can get your whole stack in PF. otherwise call, and wait til the flop to reduce variance. post flop - just nuts peddle. is this ok. i am in no means an expert at PLO, but apparantly the game is juicy

2)how much shall i take if i want to survive several hours at most. i played 90 hands on the net shortstacking to simulate a night out which is obviously virtually insignificant statistically, but i ended up 3xBI (25BB), and got busted once (AAxx, KKxx PF)
i was thinking of taking £75-£100. so i can also top up a couple of times. does this seem alright

3)is it best just to not go (i haven't played poker in a casino or club before).

PRO's
1)fun
2)profit
3)live experience

CON's
1)busto
2)drunk, smelly, smoking people probably acting like a [censored]
3)travel (1 hour journey to get there)

[Bavid Denyamine]

3

[sc000t]

Just don't go.

[baztalkspoker]

I play mostly online but the few times I have played live I'm gobsmacked by how awful most live players are. I think playing live makes a refreshing change from online though and if there's nothing stopping yeah why the hell not, not sure why Bevid and Scooot are being so negative about it, suppose at least Scooot didnt tell u drive into the back of a lorry while you on your way so you got off lightly there [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] I think it's the anti-shortstackers at all costs coming out, jeez the guy is just looking for a fun poker night out with his mate ffs though. Oh well I mentioned the word shortstacker again, I'm going to get it in the neck now [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[sc000t]

Baz,

Thats my honest opinion of the situation. Bavids comment doenst seem insulting at all. Yes live players are horrible on average, but if you are planning on driving an hour to shorstack a high variance game (even higher with all the live action) like PLO you can count on making the right play 100% of the time and going broke 4 times easily. You'd run through the 100e pretty quickly in that game unless you triple up within the first few hands of sitting down. I'd just assume save the time and money and stay at home and learn more about the game. Not to mention you don't have much money as a bankroll anyway. You'd be better off getting online and playing .1/.25 plo and getting in a ton of hands and improving rather than spending that time driving, listening to drunk guys, and trying to win a 60/40 flip vs 5 horrible guys that can't fold because they have FOUR CARDS...I mean they gotta flop something!!!

EDIT: And don't get me started if they rake this. I hope they don't for your case if your planning on going, live rake is horrible.

[PLOlover]

take 200, reraise with good Aces too, and don't be suprised to come home broke.

[jomatty]

the answer depends on if you are looking for the best possible situation ev wise or just looking to have fun without getting hurt. 200 for a 1-1 game should give you a decent chance to get some play for your money and not get busted. sure there is a reasonable chance that you will get broke but there is also a plenty reasonable chance that you will book a win. even with 100 you have a decent chance to book a win. there is no reason in the world not to take a chance so long as you think you would enjoy it and are not striclty concerned with it being very profitable.

like scoot pointed out if you are only interested in improving as much as possible you would prob be better off staying home, but i doubt that is the case. it just isnt the way the world works where 100 % of the time you need to do exactly what will make you improve the most or make you the most money. you have plenty of time to play online and also have fun with your mate in a live game.

so my answer is...if you want then go for it! sure you might lose your money but that can happen at any time in any game.

matty

[baztalkspoker]

[ QUOTE ]
Baz,

Thats my honest opinion of the situation. Bavids comment doenst seem insulting at all. Yes live players are horrible on average, but if you are planning on driving an hour to shorstack a high variance game (even higher with all the live action) like PLO you can count on making the right play 100% of the time and going broke 4 times easily. You'd run through the 100e pretty quickly in that game unless you triple up within the first few hands of sitting down. I'd just assume save the time and money and stay at home and learn more about the game. Not to mention you don't have much money as a bankroll anyway. You'd be better off getting online and playing .1/.25 plo and getting in a ton of hands and improving rather than spending that time driving, listening to drunk guys, and trying to win a 60/40 flip vs 5 horrible guys that can't fold because they have FOUR CARDS...I mean they gotta flop something!!!

EDIT: And don't get me started if they rake this. I hope they don't for your case if your planning on going, live rake is horrible.

[/ QUOTE ]

ok I understand your reservations better now. Yeah for sure he could lose a few buy-ins quickly. I guess it depends on how bothered he is about the money though. If he can only afford to lose 3 buy-ins it's probably not a great idea, so I agree with you there. If he's a guy with a regular reasonable paying job then having the odd shot at something like this isn't exactly going to break the bank and even if he loses it's an experience after all, but that's up to him I suppose, the other option is if he does lose the 3 buy-ins he could just go on the p1ss with his mate or something [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Anyway I see your point Scooot. Personally I enjoy the few times I get to play live poker so that's why I would recommend it, purely for the change of scenery and obviously it's more sociable than staring at a screen.

[sh58]

thanks for all the comments, got a nice range of answers, just what i was looking for.

a couple of things to clear up the situation. when i said i have £1,100 bankroll i forgot the £300 in my full tilt account, and that's just my bankroll. i'm quite poor but have about £2,500 other money in bank etc.
however, i just quit my job and am gonna move down to brighton in a month or so, so it would kinda suck to lose £100 or £200. i am a professional musician tho so can find new work fairly easily if i try, specially in brighton which has wicked music scene.

i'm not that bothered about improving my PLO at the mo, as i have a reasonable ability at it and it seems that all opponents are absolutely terrible, and 2x as fishy as NLHE players who are also pretty terrible.

i mean if i could guarantee breaking even in the session on that one occasion i might go everynow and again just for a laugh. and i'm getting the train, so could go for a nite on the p1ss after.

i'm sure i'm +EV it's just getting there and losing £100 in 30 mins then twiddling my thumbs would be rather dull.

overall i'm probly edging towards not going, we'll see if my friends can persuade me otherwise.

[PLOlover]

[ QUOTE ]

overall i'm probly edging towards not going, we'll see if my friends can persuade me otherwise.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd go, just don't think shortstacking is some magic recipe for success.