How to beat PLO25

[Troll_Inc]

I see it as a public service to the game (or at least to readers of this forum) to provide strategies on how to beat a standard 10c/25c PLO game. Here is my contribution, which contains advice I've picked up on this forum, and some of my own conclusions based on research and recent play.

By standard PLO25 tables and opponents, I mean the loose passive game most frequently found at FT, Stars, UB, etc. Basic characteristics: very little preflop raising, almost no re-raises preflop, 3-4 people seeing the flops on average, and not a lot of bluffing post flop.

Before I discuss strategy, to beat this game you need to understand fully how to play pot limit poker and be able to count outs and translate this into knowing how much you can correctly call. For example, if you only have the nut flush draw you probably shouldn't call a pot sized bet. Knowing implied odds will be a bonus that can win you some more money. Lastly, you need to be able to read a board cold and know what the nut straight, full house, etc is. These skills are by no means easy or automatic, and may take a while to master. Depending on your bankroll, PLO2, 10, or 25 is probably a good place to hone these skills.

Strategy.
1. Starting cards. Pairs above 10, straight cards should be 678 or above, and this includes when you have an ace high flush draw too. Play A678s, but not A854s. We are talking top 20% hands or so, and lists are available elsewhere.

2. Position. You pretty much only want to play your very best cards from the small blind. So look for reasons to fold here. Big Blind you will play often because there isn't much raising in these games. If you get into a game with >30 pfr, then this strategy doesn't apply. EP only play premium hands. LP you can loosen up a tiny, tiny bit, but don't over do it.

3. That's probably advice #3, don't overdo any deception or aggression. Do everything about 1/3 of the time that you would think is appropriate, i.e. bluff very little, play king high flushes very little, raise from SB with 789Tds. Deviate very little from correct ABC poker.

4. Raising. Minimum raise or 3BB from the button or cutoff with premium hands. You can do this from early position with premium hands only occasionally if you have opponents that will try and take any pot on the flop if it is checked to them. (These players will identify themselves very quickly.) Basically what you want to do is get your opponents who play 70% of their hands to commit money incorrectly.

5. Flop play. "Tighten up" is what someone advised on this board. Words to live by in a loose passive (preflop) game. If there are 4 ppl seeing every flop, then it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you need to hit a flop fairly hard.
I'm not saying you have to nut peddle, but it's pretty close.

6. Reading opponents based on their flop play. Much like small stakes no limit in a casino, you can never put an opponent on specific cards, just how much they value their hand. Of course you need to adjust this per each opponent, but this is very accomplishable. If you never see a villain play a single hand in the 3 orbits since you sat at the table and he reraises a full pot sized bet on the flop, you can be pretty certain he has the current nuts.
There is a lot of minimum and small betting on the flop; depending on the opponent, this might be flush draw or nothing at all, or the nuts. But each opponent is pretty predictable. If you find a table with opponents you can read, and they aren't loose and aggro, you need to find a new table. (How to beat maniac LAGs who don't know PLO very well or just want to dump their money isn't covered here.)

7. Chat. There is an inordinate amount of chatter that goes on at these tables. Often you can use this information to find out how good someone is, how well they know the game. Mimic the bad chat of bad players.

8. Mistakes. The basic strategy for beating this game is playing ABC poker waiting for someone to make a mistake. You'll have top set vs 2nd set. Someone will bet a flush draw, you'll reraise and they'll put themselves all in, they'll have a straight and you a flush, etc. This doesn't make for that interesting of a game, but I believe it is the best way.

9. Bluffing. You'll want to keep this to a minimum because many of these players will make bad calls (mistakes). You want them to call bad when they have a ten high flush and you an ace high. So how are they going to know when you run a naked ace bluff against them? Pick and choose your best spots to pick up an abandoned pot based on who your opponents are in the hand, their tendencies, your position, your table image, etc. Just don't do it very often.

Here are what my stats look like from today as an example of what I think you might expect for avg VPIP and pot sizes, and at any single table you should expect variation from the average. However, the strategy outlined here should provide less variance than playing more aggressively.





I doubt for an extended stretch that anyone could stay at 20bb/100. But I feel that researching, listening to people's advice, reviewing past hands, and thinking about what has worked in the past has led me (back) to this optimal strategy.

Another disclaimer, is that I'd never argue this is the _only_ strategy that works at these games. For example, there are certainly proven winners like The_Rempel who advocate more aggressive strategies. If you are a newer player, I'd certainly recommend trying your hand at a lot of different types of strategies. My ultimate goal is to be able to sit down anywhere at anytime at any game for which I'm properly rolled; identify a winning strategy, and then be able to execute it.