PLO8 quiz

[Wintermute]

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I also don't play PLO8, so it is entirely possible that I'm very wrong here, but I can't improve if I don't try I suppose.

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Well I actually like your answers the best so far. I was player 1, and was surprised to scoop when the turn and river bricked out J and 9 of spades, respectively. When I saw his hand, I initially thought it was probably around a toss-up on the flop, with me having a slight edge (close, but as you mentioned he actually had the slight equity edge). However, my first reaction was that he had still misplayed the hand because he was fortunate to have an equity edge, or even correct equity odds to get committed on the flop. My reasoning is that his drawing hand only scoops when he catches the flush--any str he makes will put a low out there and it's reasonable to assign me a better low draw than he has given the action. Also, his flush is nowhere near iron-clad: if I have higher flush draw to go with a low draw and as little as any board pair, then his equity plummets. In addition, many of his str's will not be nut str's, and in the rare occasion where two of my sidecards stand to make a better str, it's crippling.

So from his perspective, after considering what range of hands the opponent might have, I think folding that flop is the best play. Or at the very least, call and see what the turn brings (this wasn't really an option for him because he actually was short, about 600 to 200, so he'd be close to committed with a call). But this kind of scenario is a big trap in short-handed games: playing a weak speculative hand, catching a flop that fits that hand very well given the range of flops you could get, and then shoving quickly, perhaps without considering the potential strength of your opponent's hand.

I also agree that his hand is pretty easily foldable preflop, but in a heads up match, three wheel cards can look pretty good.

Just thought the hand was interesting b/c I would find it hard to escape from his hand in his position, and probably wouldn't have learned anything from losing the pot if I were him, but after thinking about it more carefully I think a flop fold is his best play.

[sasubpar]

Yeah I forgot to comment on his flop play, mostly because I was too busy reminding myself to post that I would fold preflop.

Depending on the flop bet, with a 400 stack, I would think folding a good idea, but I think it would be really really really hard for him to do it given what he may see as some stealing attempts from player 1. If he has only 200, then any call pretty much ties him to the pot, he is probably better off just pushing the flop than flat calling and evaluating the turn.

He's got to know that his straight is extremely vulnerable, and that his flush cards blow, but he is heads up against what could be seen as a generic positional raise. If I just woke up on the flop and this hand was on my screen and I started with 400, I would probably fold if it was potted to me and pot a smaller bet, folding to a reraise. If I had started with 200, I would probably fold the flop regardless. You're not doing so well against a range of hands that seems reasonable and you don't have much of a stack to represent a better hand on the turn/river and have any FE, so folding seems better.