M
msufan
Rock Star
Silver Level
Online 6-max $.50/$1.00 PLO on Bovada, all 6 seats are full. One player has been a loose cannon, but everyone else is playing fairly normally. Usually there's one raise preflop and 2-3 players make it to the flop. We are in the big blind for this hand and are starting the hand with $50.
Hero is dealt a near-perfect starting hand:
Action before it gets to us: UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, Normal Guy raises to $5.50, button folds, and Mr. Loose Cannon calls $5.50 from the small blind.
What should hero do from here?
1. Raise pot? Obviously we have about the best possible PLO starting hand. We can raise to as much as $24 (if we called the $5.50, there would be $18.50 in the pot, so our max raise is $18.50 more). If we do this, we expect to be called by both of the people who've already put in $5.50 and no one else. Certainly it is possible that the Normal Guy could fold, and if he does, the Loose Cannon might not want to call that much more in a heads up pot, but all indications are that Loose Cannon will call from the small blind no matter what. If we do raise pot, are there any flops in which we would be unwilling to commit our last $26, or are we effectively committing our entire stack right now?
2. Raise smaller? Is there any merit to raising less than pot? If so, how much should we raise and why? Are we trying to keep people around, disguise our hand, or prevent ourselves from becoming pot-committed?
3. Smooth call? If we feel like a pot-sized raise commits our whole stack with just a pair of aces, are we better off smooth calling and seeing what hits the flop?
Hero is dealt a near-perfect starting hand:
Action before it gets to us: UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, Normal Guy raises to $5.50, button folds, and Mr. Loose Cannon calls $5.50 from the small blind.
What should hero do from here?
1. Raise pot? Obviously we have about the best possible PLO starting hand. We can raise to as much as $24 (if we called the $5.50, there would be $18.50 in the pot, so our max raise is $18.50 more). If we do this, we expect to be called by both of the people who've already put in $5.50 and no one else. Certainly it is possible that the Normal Guy could fold, and if he does, the Loose Cannon might not want to call that much more in a heads up pot, but all indications are that Loose Cannon will call from the small blind no matter what. If we do raise pot, are there any flops in which we would be unwilling to commit our last $26, or are we effectively committing our entire stack right now?
2. Raise smaller? Is there any merit to raising less than pot? If so, how much should we raise and why? Are we trying to keep people around, disguise our hand, or prevent ourselves from becoming pot-committed?
3. Smooth call? If we feel like a pot-sized raise commits our whole stack with just a pair of aces, are we better off smooth calling and seeing what hits the flop?
