PLO/8 hand on Ultimate Bet - all in preflop

OK, I'm in the $1/$2 blind game on UB, and have built my $200 buyin to almost double that amount. I am dealt Ac-2-3c-6 in mid position. There is one limper, and I make it $9.

a) is this move mandatory, correct, defensible, or stupid?


The guy to my immediate left, the only person with a bigger stack, reraises to $31. He has made several reraises in the past few rounds and I suspect is using the combined factors of his stack, and his position on the other decent sized stacks, to muscle them around.

I decide to try and convince him to give it up as a lost cause, and reraise to $92.

b) same question as a)

He reraises to $207, and I go all in.

The board comes down K-J-5-2-10.

He shows A-A-4-9 (I think he had one suit), and scoops a $756.50 pot.

Who misplayed their hand the least? And did he have any business in the hand after I made the $92 reraise? For that matter, how should I have played the hand?

After he reraises just call.


-MJ

I think AA49 is a big favoite heads up against A236 (all in before the flop). With good non-pair hands like yours, you really don't mind multiway action. You might put in a small raise before the flop so that you can bet a decent amount on the flop. I think your opponent played the hand fine.

Going allin preflop with your hand you make things way too easy for him. Your hand is not too good heads up against his obvious aces, as you have a long way to go to take high.


Just call and use skill rather than bingo poker to see whether you can salvage anything from this hand. Going allin preflop is exactly what he wants with his aces, as it takes the decision out of it. You really wany multiway action with your hand, and any hand that plays against you here will have an obvious advantage.

There's something intersting I noticed about how you wrote your OP. You raise to $92 and ask if "he had any business in the hand" after that.

But when he reraises you to $207, you gloss over it. No stopping to reflect, no questioning where you stand, you just reraise all in.

So stop now and ask yourself: what business did YOU have being in that hand at that point?

You had a great hand. Probably the best you'd seen all evening.

But look at that flop. K-J-5. Could that have possibly hit your hand less? And there's your answer. Your hand is only good when you get a good flop. Until that point, you're still chasing him.

For the benifit of those without simulators (like me), could someone post the EV of each hand in this situation? Thanks.

What was the intention of your first raise? To thin the field or build a pot?


The ideal opponent in any PLO is game is one who thinks AA is a big hand. After his first raise, I would have called and seen the flop.


How many people are left after his raise to 31?

Yep, the answer to that is that the last reraise was, in the words I used a minute afterwards to a friend, "for the hell of it".:D Delving slightly deeper into the situation, I think if I'm honest, the macho element took over, and I would be damned if he got in the last raise!


With reference to some of the other posts, I also agree that I "made things easy for him" with his aces. I think the best way I could have handled the situation was to avoid it entirely by taking a seat that came up three to his left a while before. But no, I had just payed my blinds, and wanted my free hands /images/biggrin.gif Expensive free hand.

Intention combined elements of both, but basically the nature of the game lead me to believe that it was important to be in a position to dictate the action on the later streets - the raise gives me a chance to take control of the hand, whether I hit or miss the board.

After his raise to $31 all others folded. My $92 reraise was not on the strength of my hand, as such, it was basically designed to

a) give him a chance to take a loss, fold his rag aces and move on, and

b) discourage him from continuing to make these reraises-don't know whether I mentioned it originally, but he'd been making quite a few lately.

Also I didn't fancy just calling and beating out of position, heads up, against an aggressive opponent.

Did you seriously think he would dump his aces? As Mack says him thinking AA is a big hand makes him perfect to play against, so just call and see the flop. Hard to outplay a guy when you are allin.

Given the reasons reasons you outline in a) and b) above, I can't fault your play. You made your read and devised your plan - it just didn't work out.


I don't play on-line, but in a live game you would probably have to set up this play by dominating the player in question several times before this hand. I see it more as a play to get paid for prior domination, rather than for establishing domination. (It relies on him being fearful, and, once again, his AA must have allyed his fears.) Once it's heads up, his AA go up in value. A lot of times the AA or chance two pair take it high. However, I am surprised that his second low card was a 4.

I believe your re-raise of him was an awful mistake. Your hand vs. his hand in cold simulations is a dog. Don't know exactly how much as I don't have Poker Probe here. As several other posters have said what does re-raising him accomplish?? You now put yourself in a position of having to flip a coin for the money. And the coin has 3 heads and he has heads.

Good luck.


JoshieK