-
BeJamin is Back! Monster PLO Pot
After a few months of getting back into a routine with the new family I finally found time to set aside to start playing and studying poker again. Last year my big focus was to play as much live as I could. In the past I have mainly focused online besides the sporadic cash game at Casino Nova Scotia or a friendly home game for low or no stakes. I’m happy to say I hit my goal of playing 10 live MTTs in 2024 but the results where lacking. Now I am back in 2025 with a new focus on rebuilding my game from the ground up and taking the proper time to study and learn the game. I’m excited to share that journey with fellow RecPoker members and I hope you will follow along with me!
To dip my toes into the new year and new challenges ahead, I decide to walk before I could crawl, which as I’m learning from my daughter Lucy, is impossible. I hop into a $1/$2 NL/PLO mixed cash game. This game plays at my local card room next to the weekly $125 mystery bounty tournament which I played several times last year. From the few times I had walked by the cash table I noticed stacks relatively deep even early in the evening. Eager to get a chunk of the change I decided that I would sit in instead of playing the tourney as I normally would. I’ve played some PLO before but was hesitant to say the least understanding the variance that the 4-card game can bring. To add to the confusion of the mix game aspect, there was also double board bomb pots every orbit for $5, both NL and PLO. Let the games begin!
I get there a few minutes behind, but we find ourselves short handed (5-handed to be exact) to start the game everyone starting with $200 (100BB). One of the players we busted in our first ever live tournament back in 2023 and she flashes a copy of Mastering Small Stakes PLO by Fernando “Jnandez” Habegger which I immediately recognize. I’ve also seen her win lots of sattie seats and frequents almost every cash game. She is two seats to my right with only one player between us. I have a lot of respect for her game and know that she will be one of the tougher opponents at the table. After some more friendly banter cards get in the air. To start out things are mellow. Some small pots back and forth but no major heartache. But we couldn’t resist changing all that.
The hand starts with a raise from our main opponent (our friend with the PLO book) with the player between us calling the open. We look down at AsAc2s5d in the small blind and our first decision. Being more familiar with holdem than PLO my thoughts turn to 3-bet but I do consider just flatting. I like our wheel draw possibilities but not being double suited makes our aces look not as good as they could. Another consideration is that we are going to be out of position for the entire hand (cutoff open, button called, and we are in the small blind). But ultimately it felt like too good of a hand not to try and build a pot with and with a player in the BB I don’t want to go 4-ways with this hand. The open was for $10 and I make it $35 with the three of us over starting stacks ($250-$275 effective). BB folds and both players that started the hand call. With a pot building we see 9c7h5s on the flop.
We fire right out betting $40 into the pot of around $110 and both players call. My main thought is I can go bigger with this bet. There should be a decent amount to get value from and lots of scary turn cards I don’t want to see. If I go bigger, I can play heads-up on the turn instead of still being multiway. Curious to see what everyone thinks about my sizing on the flop or if maybe I should have slowed down and checked?
The turn is the 9s bringing in the backdoor nut flush draw and giving us two pair. Board is now 9c7h5s9s (Our hand: AsAc2s5d). I now decide to slow down and check. I love my flush draw, but I could easily be drawing very slim if one of the two opponents has a 9 or maybe a slow played set on the flop. To my surprise it checks though on the turn. Thoughts on the check and both players checking behind?
River is an absolute dream the 9h giving us the second nuts. The board is now: 9c7h5s9s9h (Our hand: AsAc2s5d). I contain my excitement and set the trap, checking, and hoping that our friend who flashed the Jnandez book earlier takes the bait. Sure, enough she obliges and shoves her remaining stack for around ¾ pot sized bet. Before I can even think about Vegas or the fucking Mirage the woman quietly calling down the entire time (besides the check on the turn) snap calls. Not expecting it I’m instantly unsure of my hand, even knowing there’s only one thing I lose too. My head starts to spin. Maybe the trap was being too fancy and I should’ve shoved myself? With so much in the pot the question is, can we ever fold the second-best hand given this action?
Results to follow!
-
1 Reply
-
great write-up, Ben, I am on tenterhooks! I don’t think shoving is better than check/calling as there is only one case 9 in the deck and shoving first stops the player without it from putting chips in on the river. As to whether to call or not – man, it sure seems likely that one of them has that 9 doesn’t it??!? I’m guessing the first player shoved a smaller boat or something, second player COULD have a similar hand (best case scenario for you) or more likely they have the 9. Can’t wait to find out! My guess: first player = smaller boat, second player = case 9
Log in to reply.