One big table :P

I like it a lot, but I think that if you are going to sit out and talk about hands, might as well use 2 tables and sit out. with only 1 table, you do not need to sit out, you could have the replayer as a 2nd table on the side instead of over.

More middle stakes please :)
and if you are looking for video themes, one on flush boards(J73hhh) would be great as they are not easy to play (sizing, delay cbet, bluffs, thin value ...)

ty

I see you have noted that MrSweets28 is "cool". What sort of player do you use this sort of description for?

i think this is your best essential video ive seen. lot of concepts covered, explained clearly but briefly. big ol' thumbs up

Really liked this.,....I'm embarrassed to say I play 2-4 tables best and apparently learn best 1-2 tables at a time

Mr Phil, i've played a lot of 25 50c and some 50/1c and the trend seems to be to fold close to 0 big blinds vs sb steal. Only a handful of nits still do it. :) So is raising strong hands and limping playable hands a good strategy? I mean who notices at these stakes :D

I've put in a few thousand hands at 100 PLO zoom and the rake is huge ~15bb/100. People who are more experienced on PLO zoom what is your opinion on how beatable 50 and 100 zoom actually are and what are the winrates you can expect at these stakes? I'm considering jumping straight into the 200 pool because of this...

BTN A853ds at 30:00.

Could click3betting the UTG here be a cool option? As somekind of isolation and still not giving a good price to sb/bb. And it's really awkward for anyone to 4b you given the SPR. Your hand plays "decent" IP, even multiway.

I have seen a couple of topguys do this, but I'm not sure about the success they've had with it.
It seems a little silly but I love experimenting outside-the-box.

I think this is the best format. It allowed you to work on one thought process at a time without distraction. It was not slow or lacking in action. And it allowed you to talk about some hands/situations that you would typically might gloss over for other ideas from other hands.

More like this please.

I think the one table format works very well Phil, especially for essential videos. There was really no point where you didn't have something you wanted to talk about, so I don't think their is any lack of content. One concept at a time is definitely easier to grasp then 2 or 3 at a time.

Thanks for the vid!

I enjoyed the clear explanation of every hand using one table.

Coming from someone just learning these games, this format is definitely appreciated. It's much easier to grasp the concepts one table/hand at a time.
Cheers!

Pretty cool vid, Phil. Although we would all have much to learn from this vid, I think it will be particularly helpful for beginners and micro/low stakes PLO players who are working on their fundamentals.

If you would be willing to do a similar 1-table vid for higher stakes, that'd be very cool too!

Hi Phil,

At 8:10 with 9763ds from EP you say that against weak, "foldy" BB you'd open the hand. I understand overfolding, but I don't know what you mean by "weak"?

I keep hearing this from so many players. Weak this, weak that - but people never name the exact traits / plays (or the lack thereof) that make a player weak, which makes it impossible for me to understand why our specific hand / line becomes +EV when it normally isn't. I get little to no information as to why and how it's -EV under which other circumstances.
A player is weak, therefore we are in a +EV situation. The explanation often stops at that point or gets fuzzy. It leaves me confused, not informed.
What's your take on this?

Thanks for another quality video!

Thank you for all the kind words, guys! I'm glad everyone seems to have gotten something out of this.

I have a few questions regarding 3betting UTG/HJ. At 44:00 you 3bet T987ds OOP HU (there was a third player, but he was already all in). Would you be 3 betting this hand with 1 overcaller? What about 2? Or would you rather call, since your FD's are most likely dead and you're just bloating pot and risk getting 4bet(which I guess is not terrible if UTG does it, since you go to the pot HU, with a great hand to crack AAxx).
At 52:00 you decided to just flat T986ss, saying it is much weaker and plays better to flat. I'm wondering what's worse, that it has low gap or that it isn't double suited? Say you would 3bet it if it was T986ds, but you would just flat with T987ss?

Potentially one of the best videos to date! One table works perfectly to learn the concepts/ thought processes. I always come away from these videos with a new train of thought or something new to try. Thanks so much. Really :)
As a student playing my way up through the micros I'd love to see even smaller stakes and any other thoughts on how to exploit players/ pools would be golden!
Thanks again.

My first post/comment on the site. Hope I can get some feedback!

Really enjoyed the video Phil. Would be great if you could do a similar video, maybe even a series, with 1-2 tables of 2/5 or 5/10 6max zoom. Would it be also possible to have a HUD running also and discuss stat implications?

I know you touched on this in the video, would be good to get other peoples or pros feedback on this subject with regards to opening sizes.

You suggested 3 sorts of strategies. 1) Opening larger with hands that play better heads up (somewhat exploitable vs good regs) 2) Opening the same amount from every position (then obviously you have a debate about what size to choose) (less exploitable but may reduce EV) 3) Opening larger from earlier positions with your entire opening range.

The more I think about this, I feel it would be the least exploitable and best option to choose the 3rd option for a few reasons:
1 - We will be playing post flop from an fairly early position and larger sizing prevents more multiway pots where HJ/CO/BU will have more information and control than us post flop.
2 - Because we have a stronger range, there is a lot less negative value when we get 3-bet and the pot is bloated reducing the flop/turn SPR (as oppose to when we get 3-bet with our weaker BU/CO open range)
3 - Reducing the SPR I feel is always good when we our out of position. I feel the deeper we are, the greater the effect of positional advantage is

However, one trade off is, we do narrow our opponents ranges to stronger hands, which although easier to define and hand read will have much better equity and playability vs our actual hand.

Sorry for the essay
Cheers

Also, I don't understand why you'd go with the very small c-bet with KKQ2 UTG raise vs SB defend on Q45 rainbow.
It intrinsically feels like a bad strategy for a betting range, can you try to convince me why it isn't? I know you mentioned in the video something like 'the board doesn't hit both of our ranges very well'

Thanks

Very good video/ format / time spent on its hand for me

Here is my question. After watching the video I see how many hands u would fold that I would call with. Hands like Ak98 double suited or AQQ5 suited to the ace. Obv not callin 3 bets cold but just one standard raise with it. So the question is I have been losing for a while and it is in spots that are standard all ins. When I got top set vs draw and such. But obv I must be leaking more in other areas. I just can't imagine how bad I am running in all ins. I mean is it normal to lose so much? I feel like I win less then 30% of all ins long term. I don't use a HUD. Just looking for something to make sense. Thanks

No site I play on has a HUD working there. I Know when people talk about poker we all think we are better then We are. But I have played enough to know when I play bad and when I play good and when I got lucky to win or unlukcy to lose. Plo is maddening at how often I get it in ahead and lose. I know for a fact that I get it In ahead way more often then not. I realize the odds are not as big as hold em but still if I am a 55% fav 90% of the time u would think I would win more often. The people I play run like perfect aganst me constantly. Every single night I play I run I to one awful player playing every hand and running like nothing u ever seen before. Is this common? One bad different player running good every single day?

Yeah it's weird I may have no bankroll management anymore. Unlike when I first started. Maybe we get to a point where money don't mean much and I don't br as much as I should. I used to be so good at it. Maybe this is an issue.

I realize the odds are not as big as hold em but still if I am a 55%
fav 90% of the time u would think I would win more often. The people I
play run like perfect aganst me constantly. Every single night I play
I run I to one awful player playing every hand and running like
nothing u ever seen before. Is this common? One bad different player
running good every single day?

Yes, it is quite common. If you are a 55% fav 90% of the time, that means your opponent still has a 45% chance to beat you every time. And you are probably not talking about 90% as in 900 out of 1000 times, so the sample size becomes an issue here, too.

I hate to say this, but it's actually not these all-in spots that dictate your winrate. You get the money in because you have to, and once all your chips are in the middle of the pot, there's nothing you can do. And because there's nothing else you can do, there is no money to be made (or lost), assuming that you are not making any serious equity mistakes.

Instead, you should be focusing on other spots that you can fight for. Those hands that end before river, without a showdown. Those spots where everyone seems to be over folding. Stuff like this is affected less by variance, and less variance in this context means more skill.

In short, try to focus on what you can do, and forget what you can't do much about.

Let me ask u this. Do u have a pont where u quit? Either when up a certain amount and when down a certain amount. Thanks

I don't procrastinate about not playing. I will play poker everyday all day if I could. I did it for 6 years that way and I still love the game as much as ever. I work now so I don't play as much but my biggest problem is I never quit good. Always keep playing when I lose a ton. Thank you for the advise

Nice vid Phil. I liked it.
I thought one table gave good insight into what hands you play in multi way pots. At higher stakes your almost always heads up but I've been playing a lot on 100plo and there are a lot of 3-4way pots so seeing what you play as well as you explaining the pros and cons of hands was great.
The one table format gave you plenty of time to discuss the hands completely. Even tho you only discussed about a dozen hands you really didn’t stop talking.
I think you should do a vid like this every few weeks at different stakes.

My second day as a member. LOVED the one table / deeper explanation format. Absolutely crushes the 4 table "mad rush" approach imo. Joined so i can start actually making a dollar but have to start at the micros. Both you and Jack M seem to open WAY more hands than i do but with much greater reference to position / prior action, from which position and board texture. Gave this approach a crack at PLO5 for one session after watching and it was a completely different game, (and crushed it for about 3 BI). Did i just discover the "opposable thumb" of PLO?

I thought the paceing was way to slow, first video on RIO i got bored watching :( But thanks anyway!

Solid vid Phil, thx!

Hand question: AhAdKd7d in bb, 3 way, flop JsTd5d @ 50:30+
You lead, which I like. In the actual hand you get it in on flop being a slight favorite. But, I am quite interested in how you would have played it if you get a caller or 2 and turn came
a) a blank (like 6h)
b) a weakly board-changing (like 7h)
c) a strongy board-changing non-flush card, like Ks, 8h, ...

Really liked this video, seeing that level of depth for a video at these stakes was really good.

Happily looking forward to more similar from yourself and others.

I really enjoyed and learned from this video. I imagine many (or most) Essential subscribers are like me -- low or micro stakes, primarily NLHE, players looking to include PLO in our repertoire. This video format and pace is very good for helping us to learn PLO. Which seems appropriate given that it's an Essential video.