Been playing a fair bit of PLO cash sessions lately. Mostly $25 buy-ins, but I'm also dabbling (way) above my bankroll (for my skills) at $50 and $100. Had a pretty good session today, banking a solid $200 for about two hours of seat time. The variance is tough at times, but overall I'm feeling relatively good about my poker play...
....except it really isn't poker that I'm playing. The word "poker" would imply reading players, bluffing, and all the other REDi and meta-game stuff I'm so comfortable at in NLHE. Am I doing any of these things in PLO? Uh, no. Basically, I'm still just a beginning player, but I'm finding a lot of success by just letting other (bad) players make bigger mistakes than I am.
Yep, that's right. I'm playing just a "nut peddling" approach to the game. Playing very tight in the first few seats, waiting for big cards, and loosening up and trying to see flops in later position with more "bust'em" type hands. Occasionally, I limp-reraise big hands from up front, and very rarely I actually bluff at scary boards when heads up in position. But for the most part I'm just playing an entirely exploitable level-1 approach to the game. I'm waiting for cards and position, playing mostly fit or fold, chasing my monster draws, and varying my bet sizes based on hand strength. I'm making good money doing this, but only because the other players are actually far worse than I am...
... well, most of them. Occasionally I run into players who have tripled or quadrupled their starting stacks, and they seem to know what they're doing... but so many of the other players are, well, playing terribly. Bad starting hands, playing OOP, cold-calling raises with marginal hands, chasing with hands that are clearly beat, getting married to aces on wet boards, etc. I'm no PLO expert, but even I can see really fundamental and basic mistakes being made by more than half the fields I face.
It's fun and lucrative, even if it isn't real poker.
All-in for now...
-Bug
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