Bovada $500 PLO8 Bounty

You may have noticed that this PLO8 tournament‘s moving along a little faster than even the NLHE 6-Max I documented in February and March. In part, that’s because there are fewer entries, but the hands themselves take a little bit longer to play out, so there are fewer hands per level. This tournament also has a more aggressive blind structure.

I split another bounty in yesterday’s batch of hands. When I got into the tournament 100 hands ago, the blinds were 30/60. Now they’re 800/600. I entered the 6-Max at 30/60, as well; 100 hands into that tournament, blinds were 150/300 with a 30 ante. So, a little faster. We’re down to two tables, with everyone on the final table getting paid. I’ve just recovered to the chip stack I had almost eighty hands earlier, and I have less than 10BB (as player 21).

UTG and D limp in. BB has a lot of pre-flop opportunities to make the best high hand, D has almost nothing on either side of the pot. Everyone checks the flop and turn. BB makes a min-bet on the river and the others fold.

UTG has three lows and a suited ace. He limps. I follow along with a pair of nines and a couple high diamonds which are no good. CO comes along with the three lowest cards and suited ace, and SB calls with mid-range cards and a pair. BB has another suited ace, and tens. I make top pair on the flop, but SB has lots of straight outs, giving him a better chance for the high. We all check the flop and turn. On the river, the low comes through for CO and the straight’s there for SB. SB bets pot for 4K, gets called by CO, and they split.

PLayer 39 moves off the table for balancing. Four players limp. I don’t have anything usable as UTG and less than 10BB, so I’m not speculating. UTG1 has more chips, but a similarly unfocused hand. CO’s pair of twos might be playable but he elects not to. D pots to 3.2K with his low and gets the win.

UTG1 limps in and we have about a 60%/40% overall equity split (I’m in BB). I call a min-bet on the flop and we both check the turn. I have the low locked up, but with a 7542A, I’m not completely comfortable. He bets another 3.6K on the river and I give it up. If I make the call and lose, I have less than 7K behind. I know he has me beat on the top end, and even if he has A26X he has me beat.

UTG, HJ, and D limp in. BB has the nuts on the flop with top set, and bets 4.8K. UTG has the best low draw and calls. On the turn, BB opens for 16.8K, all of UTG’s remaining chips. UTG is drawing to a chop with less than a 50% chance of getting his chips back, and he folds.

CO calls with a garbage hand and just over 5K behind. I’m in D and fold what would be the 3rd nuts on the river (royal flush is out since I have the ace, but [qc 9c] and [kx kx] could have beaten my hand). SB tries to limp with four evens (a sequence of ranks with gaps: 6-8-10-12), then BB pots to 6.4K holding a suited ace and three low cards. CO goes all-in for 400 more, SB folds, and BB makes the call.Things are looking grim for CO on the flop and turn, then the river makes a flush to out race BB’s turned Broadway straight.

HJ calls with jacks and a suited ace. SB has the nut low draw, a blocker to any other nut low, and a king for his suited ace. He pots to 6.4K and HJ calls. D and I fold what would have been the nut high. We would just have gotten quartered anyway if we’d stayed in. HJ and BB go to the flop about dead even in overall equity. SB shoves for 3.5K; HJ has the nut high at the moment and calls. BB gets his low; the jacks stay true for HJ, and they chop the pot.

We’re up to a new blind level; I’ve got less than 5BB. Note that despite their being a median stack on the table of 10BB through the last level, it hasn’t been a complete shove-fest as it might be in a similarly shallow NLHE tournament. Now the median stack is 8BB. UTG immediately pots to 7K here with aces. While I have the best low draw in HJ, I fold, because I don’t have a good high hand draw. Everyone else is out, as well.

Patience can be a virtue in Omaha 8/B. I might easily have gone out on the previous hand drawing for a low that never gets there. The thing is, there’s always a high hand. Double-suited aces, even with no good low draw in UTG1. Sadly, D’s pair of queens is ahead of me for the high hand. He has one of my aces, though I don’t know that. I open to 7K, D shoves to 18.4K, and I’m committed for my last 2.7K. HU with D, with the other players out of the way, the aces are ahead of the queens as they should be. The flop looks bad, with Broadway draws that could invalidate my set of aces, but only one king remains in the deck. And the ace kills any chance of a low draw for either of us. Fives on the turn and river solidify my win with a full house.

There are times when I might play a pair of twos deep-stacked in a hi-lo tournament, but not at 10BB near the final table. I fold UTG. UTG1 is double-suited with an ace but no low, and also folds. In fact, everyone’s dissatisfied with their hand and folds. BB’s got the only decent low draw, but he gets a walk.

UTG’s double-suited with a low this hand and he pots to 6K. D has kings and a suited ace and shoves to 11.7K. UTG calls. D stays ahead all the way and gets a double up plus.

Everyone folds to the BB.

UTG has a low run-down and pots to 7K. SB min-raises to 12K with ace-three and a Broadway draw, and UTG calls for his last 1.6K. They’re relatively even pre-flop, but SB picks up trips at the same time as his ace is disqualified for the low. UTG gets a flush draw on the turn along with his low, but misses the scoop on the river.

Action folds to me in the CO and I decide to take a stab at the pot with my run-down. Four consecutive cards, no low, with a suited ten-nine. I pot to 7K and get called by BB, with a pair of sixes, three low ranks, and a suited ace. He goes all-in for his last 2.6K on the flop with top pair and a backup low (I don’t have any low draw). I have a lot of outs: another nine gives me trips; a seven, ten, jack, or queen makes my straight. The turn isn’t good for me, but it gives BB a low and he pulls ahead for the high. But a queen shows up on the river so we split the pot.

UTG1 limps in with a four-card straight, SB calls with a pair and suited ace, and BB checks, with about half the overall equity in his double-suited six-rank run-down. BB has the only flush draw and bets the minimum, which is all that’s needed to get a fold from the others.

D is first to make a move and he goes all-in for about 3BB with a suited ace and second nut low draw. Nobody calls him and he takes the blinds.

D’s the only player with significantly better than average equity in the hand, at 29%, and he limps into the pot. HU before the flop, he’s 66% against BB. After the flop, BB’s behind by a 3:1 margin and elects to fold to a pot-sized bet of 6.3K.

SB limps in and we go to the flop with 115% chance of making the best high between us, since a lot of them are chops. He’s got gut-shot Broadway on the flop, I’ve got an open-ended straight, and we both check. Another queen on the turn elicits a bet of 2.5K from him, and I fold.

UTG and CO make the call. BB checks. BB has the only low draw, the other two both have high pairs. UTG min-bets the flop and CO pots to 16.3K. BB gets out of the way and UTG is all-in for his last 2.7K before the turn, but way behind. There’s a glimmer of hope for UTG on the turn as he picks up a flush draw, but nothing comes through, player 34 is eliminated in 13th place and CO gets a bounty.

CO paradoxically is ahead of SB’s aces and BB’s nine by quite a bit, with a double-suited pair of threes. He folds along with everyone else ahead of SB, though, who pots to 7.5K and wins the hand.

Summary

I’ve gained a thousand chips in the last 20 hands, but at the rate the blinds have gone up, I’ve gone from just under 10BB to just over 6BB. That and the cards have radically decreased my inclination to put chips into the pot, my overall VPIP has dropped all the way from 60% to 50% in just these 20 hands. Three of the four hands I got involved with went to showdown, and I won part of the pot for each of those, I scooped one for a double-up but am having difficulty staying ahead of the blinds, which are coming around fast with just three players left to go before the money.

Seven of the latest twenty winning hands have suited aces (one has double-suited aces). Four have three or more Broadway cards. Finally, seven winning hands have high pairs. None of the hands winning low pots had A2 combos. Eight hands went to showdown, four had lows.

Tomorrow is the #PNWPokerCalendar, we get to the money in the PLO8 tournament on Thursday!

Bovada $500 PLO8 Bounty

Less than a hundred hands into the bounty tournament, and more than 40 of the 65 entries are already out. I picked up a second bounty on Hand 78, but I’m still behind where I was sixty hands ago, and the blinds are a bit higher.

This seems as if it would be an ideal time for CO to wake up from whatever enchanted slumber he’s in, but not a chance. Folds go through to D, who has a suited ace and nut low draw. He raises to 2.8K. SB doesn’t have much of anything, but re-raises to 9.2K. D is all-in to call. their equity is equal pre-flop, for all intents and purposes. Both players have [ax qx], but the nine in D’s hand gives him an open-ended straight on the flop, which comes through on the river, and D scoops the pot with nut-nut.

I limp in UTG with four low cards; CO and SB come along. CO opens for 1.6K on the flop with top pair. BB is the only caller, with his open-ended straight draw. Another 1.6K bet from CO gets called. The river pairs BB with the case queen. The short stack would have made a set. Even I would have had two pair for a win. BB takes the pot.

HJ calls with double-suited Broadway cards. SB limps in with a pair of tens, and I check in BB. SB opens to 2.4K on the flop with top set. I have the only low draw, but no way to know that. I also have a gutshot straight draw, but choose to fold. SB wins more chips.

Blinds are up again. UTG’s about to become a bounty. Only 9 places pay in the tournament; if his plan was to fold to the money, it’s not working. BB gets a walk.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen someone with pre-flop equity of 0% on both sides of the pot before, but that’s where the tiny stack in BB is. That is assuming all of the players stayed in the hand. No low draw, no chance of a set (the other ten is held by HJ) and a higher pair dealt to CO. It doesn’t really matter, BB is bounty bait at this point.UTG has a suited ace and nut low draw; he raises to 2K. CO calls with kings, and I come along with a pair and suited king-queen. With HJ out of the way, BB has a slim chance at a flush for the high pot, pre-flop. It’s checked to me on the flop and I pot to 7.1K with the second nut flush. UTG calls with the low draw, and he still has a chance at a full house or better for the high. UTG picks up a lot of equity with two pair on the turn, and he’s already got the low locked up. I shove my remaining 2.7K, hoping that an A2 draw might be counterfeit, but he calls. We split the pot and make a small gain, as well as splitting the bounty money.

Another one of those post-storm lulls. BB gets a walk.

UTG pots to 3.5K with one of the worst hands on the board and wins the blinds.

CO pots this hand to win the blinds.

I limp in and D shoves for 4.1K. I call with a pair and nut low draw, and we’re HU to the flop. I practically tie up the high on the flop with a set, and I’m good for the low through the turn, though D picks up an open-ended straight draw. The set holds on the river, but my ace is counterfeit and we split the pot.

HJ limps in with a low draw, suited ace, and thee Broadway cards. I check the BB. One of HJ’s low cards is counterfeit on the flop, and we end up checking it to the river while he waits for another low card that doesn’t pair the board to show up. Nothing does and I take the small pot.

UTG calls with a pair and some not-so-low cards. CO has a suited ace and four lows, so he pots to 4.5K with 1.2K behind. UTG just calls. CO shoves on the flop with the paired ace and UTG calls because there’s already more than 11K in the pot, he’s getting nearly 10:1, with about 24% equity. That drops to just 8% on the turn when the chance of a low disappears. The river makes a nut flush for CO and he takes the entire pot.

SB limps in without much and is up against BB with slightly less. I think that if I had HJ’s hand—suited Broadway cards and third nut low—that I might have tried to get in on this one. SB gets middle pair and BB has a low open-ended straight draw. BB bets 1K and SB calls. Both players check the turn. SB makes a min-bet on the river, BB has missed everything and folds.

I limp into the hand from the CO with almost a 50/50 chance of making the best low, and 36% overall equity. The flop is horrible for my hand, though and I fold when BB bets 2.5K on second pair and a flush draw.

We’re down to two tables now. Five players limp in. BB pots to 7.2K after the flop gives him trips. Even with the other ace in my hand, I only have 6% equity, less than everyone except SB. I fold along with everyone else.

Only UTG3, CO, and the blinds get to the flop here, with three limps and a check. BB and UTG3 check the flop, UTG3 bets 1.2K, CO and BB call. The turn continues to make the aces of UTG3 even better, with CO picking up a gut-shot straight draw and BB with a Broadway draw for BB, but BB folds in the face of pot-bet (8.4K) from CO. UTG3 makes the call. Both players check the river and split the pot, with CO taking the low and UTG3 the high.

People are being relatively cautious about pre-flop betting, as you may have noticed. With stacks this shallow, it only takes a couple of bets for most of the players to be involved for all of their chips. UTG2 just min-raises here with a suited ace, then UTG3 pots to 9K with a pair of aces. Everyone folds and UTG3 takes the pot.

UTG1 limps in with high double-suited cards, and HJ shoves 5.2K with a suited ace and low draw. SB calls with the same low draw and another suited ace. D has jacks and calls. UTG1 also makes the call. Going to the flop, SB has duplicates of all of HJ’s low cards, plus another low card, which gives him a slightly higher chance of making the best low. UTG1 shoves his remaining 19.9K and gets called by SB. UTG1 takes the high from the main and side pots, HJ takes the low side pot and half the main low; SB get half the low main. Fortunately for SB and HJ, there was a little extra money from D’s call, so everyone gets chips.

UTG and HJ limp, I pot to 6K in SB with a suited ace and the three lowest cards. They both fold and I win.

UTG2 pots to 4.2K with just 1.3K back. Not an optimal hand with no suits and no premium low. He’s called by CO and BB. CO has the nut low draw, and BB has kings, but there are so many low cards dealt that nobody has a better than 10% chance of making the best low. CO has top and bottom pair on the flop, but BB’s flush draw gives him better odds for the high hand. UTG2 has a backup low better than CO’s, and goes all-in. Both CO and BB call. The turn counterfeit’s UTG2’s low, throwing it back to CO, who now has 60% overall equity, though UTG2 has the best hand for the high with a better two pair. CO bets 3.6K and BB calls. Backdoor diamonds come through to give CO the scoop. He bets 12.1K, BB folds, and CO gets a bounty as well as a pot of 24.2K. Player 42 is gone in 17th place.

Lull hand. Nobody makes a move until it gets to D, who pots the low draw and takes the blinds.

Summary

MY VPIP for this group of hands dips to 40%, but overall it’s still near 60%. Overall PFR is only 4%, with just one more raise preflop from me here. I don’t win any low pots, but I take the high in three out of three showdowns, and I win the pot I raise preflop without a showdown.

Overall, the best predictors of winning hands are suited aces. Nearly half the hands that won with or without showdown had three  or more low-qualified ranks. Pairs aren’t as good. With stacks growing ever shallower, more A2 combos are being aggressive preflop to win without a showdown or being forced to make it to showdown.

Only two bounties on my table in these twenty hands, but several players have been knocked off in the rest of the tournament. We’re closing in on the final table (and the money). I may be one of the shorter stacks, well under average, but I promise, I’ll get you there.

More PLO8 tomorrow.