river decisions

[groth911t]

I'm pretty new to PLO and having a lot of trouble on the river. Two examples:

1/2 PLO, I raise with aaj7 doublesuited on the button, get 5 callers, the flop comes j103 rainbow. I check behind thinking that someone had to hit this flop. Turn card is a 2 giving me the nut flush draw, i call a half pot bet, the river is another 2 for jt322 He bets out the pot, and i make a crying call.

Another hand: 1/2 PLO on the turn I have the nut straight with a small spade redraw, the river the spade hits, i'm oop and we both have about a pot sized stack. I checked and called, because he had raised me on the flop and the spaded got there runner runner so I thought a big flush was less likely.

I could post a lot of hands like this where I folded as well. Am I better off just folding non-nut hands on the river to big bets? It seems like I'll just get eaten alive if I do this, so I'm looking for a rule of thumb on these river decisions. Any advice would be appreciated.

[SteveL91]

First hand is fine, IMO. Depending on stack/pot size, I might have just raised the turn.

I'm not really sure about the second hand: playing weakish flushes can be a big problem for me. Since it was a backdoor flush and you guys only have a PSB left, I think I'd tend to just bet myself, but I also find myself c/c'ing too at times and hating my decision either way. In general, I find people are far more willing to call lightly than bluff in these spots, at least up through 1/2. I'd be interested in other responses to this hand in particular.

[Perestroika]

You need more information for hand two, i.e- board texture preflop action, opponents tendencies. I mean whether to bet or check call on this river is completely dependent on the board texture. Lets say there was a flush draw on your straight flop, and he has called twice. Well him calling twice for the most part means some draw/scared set. If he has a busted draw checking behind is best because he will never call you, and you may get value with your bluff catcher. If he has a set and he is not a POW, checking is fine, if he is a passive caller, then betting is necessary. The better your opponent, i.e- the more he is able to turn his set into a bluff, the less likely I would be to bet a small runner-runner flush as he will rarely call you down worse,(this is an assumption bc you haven't given us the board texture) and will raise for value with hands you lose to and raise as a bluff with hands you beat and he will bet sizes that make it very difficult for you to play profitably.