Another OPL hand

[Zag]

I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but I want to confirm.

I have only been at this table for one circuit, and this is my first button. (I bought in one behind button.) One player I know is good, and another I know is a calling station. The rest I've never seen, but one has demonstrated fishiness already.

On the button, I pick up As Ks Jh 9h. There are three limpers to me, but, miraculously, both of the known calling stations have folded. Is this a raising hand? I would have raised if either of the calling stations were in there, hoping to isolate them, but I figured that my overlay was not as stong against the others.

Anyway, the flop was 8s Ts 5h, giving me 15 outs for the nuts. They checked to me, I bet the pot, which was pretty standard for the first bet, and they all folded. I was left feeling pretty unsatisfied.

Should I have bet preflop? Should I have bet less (or even checked behind) on the flop?

[crockpot]

i have no clue why you feel unsatisfied about this hand. maybe it's worth a raise pre-flop, but the primary purpose of that would be to set up a steal on the flop. you don't want to narrow the field with a hand like this. on the flop, you bet with what was probably the best hand and won the pot uncontested. what's to analyze?

[Zag]

Well, there you go; I fell much better now. I don't know if you saw my other OPL note, but I am just starting at game and still struggling out of the basics.

Here's another hand: I had just lost my entire buy-in by overplaying second set (I also had the second nut flush draw.) When the full house got there, top set took all my cash. So I bought in again and planned to be a little more careful with second set.

Some 20 hands later, I am on the button with 88AQ, two suited, and I limp along with four others. The flop is 689 rainbow. There is a bet, a call, a big raise, a big reraise (by a good player), and an all-in call to me. It would be a little more than half my chips to call, and I figure that I am looking at a made straight and top set, so I lay it down. There is one more raise behind me, as I expected, so I would have had to go all in on the flop.

Of course, the river brings the last 8, and the short stack nearly quadruples with sixes full of eights. The other two players had the straight on the flop, so they chop the large portion of the pot. (I noticed that the good player also had the nut flush draw and an overcard to the straight.)

Anyway, this was a huge pot that would have more than tripled me up. I know better than to judge by results, but I don't know the cards the way I do in Hold'em, so I don't have another way to evaluate. Was I too wimpy, here?

[crockpot]

you are not being too wimpy here. against the right opponents i would consider laying down top set here, because the board pairing outs are incredibly dead due to the idiots who will go all in with their two pair or lower set type hands here. i certainly would fold middle set unless i had a nut flush draw or higher straight draw to complement it.

by the way, common parlance is to write it PLO, not OPL. (on the off chance you're israeli and don't like the name, sorry.) my website has a "starting out in online poker" section, and i hope to add the pot-limit omaha page within a few days, so be sure to check it out if you think you could use the help. check my profile for a link.

[sam h]

On the button, I would raise with this hand. It's not premium but its pretty good and you have the best position. It may even buy you a free card on the flop, which is handy because this is the type of hand that will have lots of backdoor draws even when you miss.

You hit the flop well and did the right thing by potting it. Nobody called but you were still drawing. So its not a bad result at all just to take it down then and there.

[Graham]

There is a bet, a call, a big raise, a big reraise (by a good player), and an all-in call to me. ...There is one more raise behind me

What do you want to be - wimpy or a fish..? I'd muck middles set so fast there'd be scorch marks on the felt.