Joniko1

Mine would be, in no particular order:

1. Positional awareness (playing more pots in position)

2. Aggression (attacking weakness)

3. Tilt control (maintaining A-game)

4. Exploitative play (identifying player types and playing accordingly)

5. Understanding SPR (stacking off lighter in low SPR situations and vice versa)

Looking forward to the article!

Perhaps it's too nitty, but OOP this deep on a drawy board against an aggressive opponent I would probably just fold to the flop bet.  We have very poor visability and very few chances to improve and we are probably going to face further action where it will be difficult for us to call on most boards (or we'll be playing a guessing game).

We're almost 250bbs deep and with just an overpair and wrap (where our outs aren't clean due to the presence of two FDs) on the turn - does jamming here not isolate us against better hands?

Unless one of these players is v.agressive so you think there is a good chance that you will get c/r, I would c-bet.  Against someone where you will get c/r a lot this seems like a good hand to check back as it can't call a c/r but has plenty of cards to improve on the turn and pick up a NFD or trips. 

I would always c-bet mono boards half pot (whether I hit or not) unless I have a Villain specific reason not to.  Villain will miss more than he hits and will probably fold his missed hands to a c-bet.  A bigger bet is not necessary on a lock-down board and you can even bet smaller against some opponents at lower stakes.

I don't like c/c as you are giving a free card to a lot of hands that can improve to 2 pair or better which would fold to your c-bet.

+1 to flatting this pre-flop rather than 3-betting.

Excellent video.  It's really nice to see a video which focuses on exploiting other players rather than the much more fashionable balance and GTO.

Some aggression will definitely serve you well as there are players that will fold too much but you definitely need to be selective (I refer to the fold to c-bet stat a lot).  It's more a case of being very wary when faced with aggression. 

In holdem people used to say that in the micros keep betting for value with top pair until faced with aggression, then fold unless you have a very strong hand.  It's a similar thing in PLO, but with different ranges.  For example (and massively oversimplified), I think you can bet a Q high flush for value on the river but if someone is betting into you on the river and you hold a Q high flush, it will often be a fold.

My default line IP in HU or three way pots is to c-bet.  When deciding if a check back might be better I ask myself:

1. How likely is a c/r from this opponent (i.e. ZenFish's point that if you're likely to get c/r off your equity you should be much less likely to c-bet); and

2. How strong is my hand now/what potential does it have on the turn.  Hands that you would like to see a turn with but can't call a c/r seem perfect candidates to check back (e.g. a gutshot and backdoor FDs). 

As Braampje says, you might be overvaluing certain hands on the river and bluff catching a bit too wide. PLO 10 is all about getting value with your strong hands and folding a lot to Villain aggression (because the player pool is overall too loose passive, when people bet they often have something). Posting your positional stats might also be helpful.

Jonna - thanks for doing this, great thread.

Pre-flop, I'm inclined to just call against a tightish UTG open with a nutty hand that plays well in multi-way pots and given the presence of the Ah doesn't play so well against a 4-bet (although if I opted to 3-bet I would call the 4-bet as we're slightly more than 100bb deep).  

Flop, I'd raise smallish/get it in on the flop.  We're ahead of all JQxx with hearts, AKQx, etc and we have decent equity against top set. I don't think we have great implied odds to call IP as our draws are rather obvious.  I don't really like calling flop to raise turn on a brick turn we're getting it behind against hands like JQxx with hearts and AKQx and he can c/f a lot of those hands on the turn when we do hit.

I think you'll have a good idea how well you're doing in the games much earlier than that. Evaluating where you stand against the player pool on a qualitative basis is likely to better (i.e. observing whether people are making obvious mistakes, etc).  From the live PLO I have played you are going to have a much bigger edge playing live than the same games online, in which case a larger winrate should be possible which will reduce your variance.

The fact that a 3000 hour sample is most likely going to take 3 years means that it is going to be of little (if any) practical value.  Your game will evolve as will the games of your opponents, and (hopefully) you will have improved significantly over that time.

At low stakes I would be much more inclined to play an exploitative/exploitable strategy than worry about taking the GTO line.  Even against unknowns, I would prefer taking the line which I think exploits the weaknesses of the player pool at that limit rather than looking to be perfectly balanced/GTO. Against know opponents, I would be focusing on their style/weaknesses. 

Taking your AK5 rainbow board, I think the key questions would be (a) what is his defending range and what boards is it likely to hit hardest, (b) what proportion of the time is he c/r on the flop (c) what proportion of the time is he c/f against a c-bet. 

If you have few hands on "nemesis", I'd generally be giving him credit when he c/r flops like this at low stakes.  If he is clearly attacking certain flops aggressively by c/r then you can think about adjusting by checking back more when you have a good reason to do so (i.e. he's making you fold hands with decent equity that can't stand a check-raise). Defending with a wider range v. flop c/r is going to be very villain dependent IMO and I wouldn't be doing it as standard vs the low stakes player pool.  

So, basically, I would be looking at 3 adjustments:

1. Cbetting less against agressive c/r opponents (I'm sure not c-betting at all is wrong). 

2. Defending lighter against loose c/rs.

3. Opening a tighter range against tough players who are going to defend aggressively.

There are many posters (way) more qualified than me to comment on the applications of GT at low stakes so I'll be watching the responses with interest. 

I'd just muck this hand pre-flop.  Multiway this is trash and even on good flops for you (like this one) you'll rarely know where you stand or otherwise you'll make a vulnerable hand and be forced to play it OOP to the CO.

For me, the rest of the hand is super-tough to play because of the pre-flop mistake. 

I disagree with the statement that at PLO10 people are x/c the flop with trips on a drawy board about half the time.  I think they are donking or c/r 80%+.  The fact that the hand before someone x/c top set might influence the thinking here, but I really don't see this very often.  Much more often people are x/c with their weaker hands and draws and so going for thin value against the loose passive player pool is much the better line.