$320 FL O8: 8-game: LO8 round, PF check or raise?

[Sohmurr]

I didn't play this hand. I saw it in a video and I think it's from the PS WCOOP (I think this year's) 8-game, event 18.

It's still early in the tournament. This is the first round of LO8. Starting stacks were 5000.

6-handed:
UTG (3225)
UTG+1 (4175)
CU (5505)
Button (6720)
SB (4650)
Hero (5725)

Seat 5 posts SB (30)
Hero posts BB (60)
Hero dealt 4♠Q♣K♦A♣

UTG calls 60
UTG+1 folds
CU folds
Button calls 60
SB calls 30
Hero ???

This is my take on it. We're playing this mostly as a high hand. Yes, A♣4♠ does give us some low options, but they're rarely going to be the nut lo and it has easy counterfeit potential. If the board comes all high, then we're probably the best hand and may be able to take it down right then. Therefore, the question is do we raise to build the pot so when the board comes high only we get paid off more? We're still fairly deep so we can take the loss if the board is uncooperative. What do you all think?

 

[c9h13no3]

the question is do we raise to build the pot so when the board comes high only we get paid off more?

This is a pretty standard check, and raising just increases your variance and the amount of times that you'll have to draw to half, or draw at weak non-nut draws.

 

[Sohmurr]

I agree with the check. The hand is from a training video Tom "LearnedfromTV" Chambers made for CardPlayerPro. He had a $20/$40 8-game table (which I posted the Stud8 hand in ring game forums for analysis) and an 8-game WCOOP event running.

Unfortunately, he didn't mention anything about his preflop raise here although he talked about the later streets a bit.

This is the rest of the hand:

Hero raises 60 to 120
UTG calls 60
Button calls 60
SB calls 60

Flop: 3♣Q♠9♦ (pot: 480)

SB checks
Hero bets 60
UTG raises 60 to 120
Button folds
SB folds
Hero calls

Turn: 10♦ (pot: 720)

Hero checks
UTG bets 120
Hero folds

He Cbets flop because he flopped top pair and some back door draws. He then says the turn doesn't help him much and folds to UTG's bet. He would have peeled any low because it also gives his AQ more equity along with the 2nd nut low draw. Lastly he says that most of the high hands UTG will raise on the flop will have improved from the 10♦ so he's not in great shape to continue.

I really wish he had said something about the preflop raise but he was talking about a cash game hand while he did it so he must have forgotten.

He has decent tournament results (no recent wins) in different games, but the way he played this and the ring game Stud8 hand were odd to me.

 

[sky4ever]

The thing with Omaha Hi & Hi/Lo, especially at high limits and/or big tournaments, is that there are pretty much no standard plays. At this level the players are acting mostly on their reads and their understanding of their opponents.