PLO Flopped Boat

Please critique my play here. I'll give the hand breakdown, and then my thoughts on why I played it that way.


I'm holding AAJ2 in MP, not a very strong hand. A few limpers in front of me, I limp, cutoff limps, blinds check. (Pot about £10)


Flop comes A K K.

Checks to me, I check, cut-off checks.


Turn comes King.

Checks to me, I check, cut-off bets £5, everyone but me folds. I call.


River comes 4.

I check, cut-off bets £10, I call, he shows AK for the quads and takes the pot down.


Some may say I played this hand very weakly. But I don't think so at all. The only possible hand I'm going to get paid off by is AK if I bet that flop, and AK will either be check-raising or waiting for the turn to bet in this case. If their holdings are any weaker, they're going to fold to any action, unless maybe they're holding something like KQ and are very bad. In the event someone was holding a king with a decently high kicker and wanted to gamble, I was going to try and let them fill up on the turn. I wasn't really worried about anyone having KK, but as soon as the King hit on the turn, I was pretty sure I was beat and went into check-call mode.


How would everyone else have played this hand? This is much different than when you're holding a 75 on the flop of 7 7 5 and want to protect your boat from someone holding KQJ7, and thus need to bet as much as possible. I think only losing £15 (plus the blinds) with Aces full of Kings isn't too terrible, but then again, if I was certain, I wouldn't be posting this to the forum. What do you all think?


Thanks,

Max

Flop:

I will sometimes do the same thing to let

somebody try to pick up a flush or straight draw or a lower house so your reasoning is good.


But with the pot this small you should really bet it to build a pot and hope that you get played with (AK is a _likely_ holding by one of your opps).


Turn&River: What do you think he had when he bet

on the third K twice? That's the real

question? OK - the bets are small but

why bother calling when you are "pretty sure"

he's got it? And why the guy

with Quads did not bother betting the

pot I don't know (specially on the river).


Nobody's going to bet it for him and betting small would make it an obvious "milking" bet (but hey it worked for him this time).


Once the third K comes on the table and one

guy suddenly comes out betting you pretty much know he has the last K (since if he had AK it would be likely he bet the flop). What else could

he be betting with? QQ or another pair in the

hand? Possibly. But in effect you have put

him on the K and are paying to see it (just $15 -

but still).


You lost just $15-17 so it's not too bad:

but you could have picked up the pot on the flop.


Thing is your play is not "too terrible" -

it's the person with quads who I think makes

the mistake of this pot.

He should have bet the pot twice.

After all this is Pot-Limit.


Some people say quads are hard

to play - but the rare occations I have them in PLO

(once on a flop of AAA! with the last A in my hand)

I always bet the pot on the turn and river.

On most occations with 2 or 3 other players in the pot one

of them is going to call you in my expericene

(just like you did: would you have _folded_ if

Mr Quad-Kings bet the pot twice?).


My views - nothing else.


OmaHal

He claims he would have folded on the flop had I bet, but I don't think that's the case at all. AFter all, he DID have AK, which was the second nuts to AA, and there was no pre-flop raise. For a small bet on that flop, where someone could be trying to pick up the pot, I think he may have called, and then it'd be a much bigger pot and I'd have to make the same decisions.


I understand what you're saying. Basically, everytime a third of a rank card hits the board, and you've got the otherwise best hand, should you fold if someone comes out betting? The money was so small in relation to stacks that I thought it wouldn't really hurt. I guess in Omaha, if someone could have quads, someone does :-)


Ma

Max - I mostly agree with OmaHal. I think a pot size bet on the flop is the way to go. You have the nuts - bet it. If he calls you have a good read on his hand. When the King hit the turn you "knew" his hand (AKxx). That means the ace is dead and you have no draw to improve. Your read was good so go with it. Check the turn and then fold to any bet. You would have saved money and saving money is just as good as earning money. Don't pay to see that King - you knew he had it. With 3 big cards on the board quads are more likely than not in Omaha. Thats my two-bits worth. Better luck next time.


Zeno

All things considered i don't think too much damage was done. Checking the flop is the obvious play, but the AK man should have bet it for you. If he says hes going to fold to your bet on the flop he is lyingor your play is transparent (which it wasn't as you checked).


I think the AK man should not have bet the pot either on the turn or river. He is representing a specific holding that is unbeatable if he has it. A half pot bet or even smaller is fine here. Either he has it or he is bluffing, and either or bets do not have to be (and should not be) full pot sized.


Yes you could have folded but the damage done was small. Picking up the case Ace (impossible as he had it) would have been justification for calling the turn if you think there's a very good chance he would lose his whole stack to you with Quad Kings.