Shorthanded PLO8

[neverforgetlol]

Let's discuss strategy here. By shorthanded I mean 3-6 players or so.

Obviously you open up your range, but I think one of the keys is to push a lot harder on flops when you have "ok" hands both ways. For example 2nd or 3rd nut low draw and top or middle pair. I'm still having some trouble being aggressive enough though. Another question is how to treat nut low draws with no good high. For example I have 24xx on a K3A flop.

I also think you need to do a lot less limping preflop. In a full game you can limp in with all sorts of hands (usually oop) since you will get good odds, but not so in shorthanded. That being said, how do you play from the blinds, for example? UTG? etc.

[bbartlog]

I don't open up my range (much) 6-handed vs full ring. But I play fairly loose in a full ring game anyway. Anyway, since I focus on playability of the hands, and having fewer players doesn't really help me play (for example) AKT5r any more easily, I just don't change the hand standards that much. This is a lot different from hand selection in the later stages of a SNG (which is also shorthanded play) because the stacks in a cash game are still 100BB deep.
I agree about pushing 2-way hands, though I think you can do the same thing in a tight full ring game; it really depends most on how many people see the flop.
I'm not sure why you would limp less. I still limp quite a lot (like 80-90%) in the 6-handed PLO8 games I play and it doesn't seem to have hurt me. But I think preflop raising in PLO8 is actually a pretty complex topic. The obvious reason for raising preflop (my hand is a good one) is accompanied by a bunch of other considerations. You change the effective stack sizes (stack vs pot size on flop) by raising preflop, you change (probably) the number of players who see the flop, you may gain fold equity against some players...

[niss]

The limp can be underrated in S/H games because, since the play is pretty loose, it might not be that hard to get a lot of your money in on the flop. But the thing about limited pfring is not falling into the trap of raising only AA or A23 suited hands. You've got to raise some hands where players will c/r a cb on what they perceive to be a missed (non-Ace) flop for you (i.e., flop of 9TJ and you raised JJQK). You've also got to hope things work out so you can show down an off-beat pfr or two.

[Burdzthewurd]

If you can find some old Wintermute threads in the archives do that, he posted lots of HU or 3-handed PLO8 hands which were really interesting reads.

[wiseheart]

Some of those wintermute threads are pure gold.

[Kuso]

free wintermute!