FLO8 - Fluctations or Mistakes?

[Buzz]

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The problem, is not a lack of 'action', it is too much of the wrong sort of action, and gutless wimpy flop play by loose-passive (and tight-passive) players, who are afraid of being 3 bet.

[/ QUOTE ]Hi Rob - The first and often the toughest step in solving a problem is recognizing what the problem is. If you truly have the problem defined correctly, now you have to employ a method that will solve the problem you have, not a method that would solve a different problem.

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The problem area is the 'grey' zone, usually 4 players on a flop, with 2 or 3 bets pre-flop, and 1 bet on the flop, and most turns.

[/ QUOTE ]I agree that sounds tough. Why not look for another table or another place to play, one more suited to your taste?

In other words, your problem may not be the game of Omaha-8 itself, as much as the particular opponents you're finding.

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The Starting hand advantages are marginal, and these mindless callers don't make any mistakes like folding, a hand that might win something!

[/ QUOTE ]If they're not making mistakes like folding a hand that might win, could it be that you are not giving them credit for playing well, at least in that aspect of the game?

Stop thinking about what they should be doing and are not doing. Instead start thinking about what they are doing (and then figure out how to beat that or cope with that).

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In FLO8 with the betting structure as is, it appears that loose-aggressive pre-flop, loose-passive players post-flop can push you in the Rock direction; and simply play a mindless strategy and yet avoid through mutual support losing significant chips.

[/ QUOTE ]They don't push me that way. Poor players who jam before the flop take away some of the edge of expert players. But they're still at a disadvantage. Preflop raises mean different things from different players. My own preflop raises mean one thing one time and a different thing another time.

I want to get in situations where I have an edge and can recognize that, in other words, situations where I have favorable odds.

Conversely, I want to avoid situations where I either don't have favorable odds or can't tell where I stand. When I can't tell where I stand, I'm forced to gamble. Jam before the flop or get jammed before the flop, and that's where you are.

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There's something wrong, when top set is a 'marginal' hand, and not a no-brainer raise of a loose calling field.

[/ QUOTE ]Top set is usually very strong (depending somewhat on exactly what rank it is - when the turn is a card of a higher rank than your set, and when the board then pairs on the river, even if you had the top set on the flop, you often end up with a losing full house). In games where you have to seriously worry about someone making a straight and/or flush, I think you play top set like a drawing hand. Whoever draws best on the river wins.

Other times, where top set has a good chance to win unimproved, you can play top set more as a made hand.

How best to play top set (or anything) depends on how your opponents are playing.

You can't expect your opponents to play a certain way and then blame them for your defeat if they play some other way that you think is not as good. the fault is yours for not coping with the way your opponents are actually playing.

I don't mean this post to sound harsh or critical. But you have to cope with the actual opposition you are facing, not the opposition you think you should be facing.

Buzz