Just four of the original 65 players remain in an online PLO8 Bounty tournament. I’m the chip leader as player 21, but even I only have 17BB. We’ve been in the money since we got to the final table, but I’ve also picked up several bounties. It’s going to be an action-packed batch of hands!

UTG has a suited ace and a great low draw, with 41% of the pre-flop equity. He pots to 28K. I have 8K in the pot already, UTG only has 5.5K behind, so I repot (88K), and he’s all-in. The board isn’t kind to him, cutting off escape avenues on each street. I take another bounty with sixes and nines, and player 27 goes out in 4th.

I’ve got the other two players outchipped, but I’ve still got only a little over 20BB. I open to 24K with double-suited kings. BB goes all-in with a run-down and I call. The flop looks good for him, he has a variety of outs to a straight that don’t complete my club flush, but the turn and river just tease, leaving him empty. I collect the bounty and player 7 is out in 3rd.

I’ve got nearly twice what BB has in chips. I min-raise to 16K and BB folds.

D folds.

I fold my button.

I call D’s min-raise with a double-suited hand. He’s got a wrap around the lower cards on the flop and pots 32K. I fold.

I raise to 24K from the button and BB calls with deuces. I pot 48K with flopped top two pair and he folds.

He doesn’t even try.

I limp in from the button and BB checks his queens. He folds to a bet on the flop of 16K.

Blinds are up again. D limps in and I check. He min-bets with two pair and a flush draw, I fold.

I fold the button.

This is where I start to lose control of the game. I had more than twice D’s stack, but that doesn’t mean a lot in PLO8. I wanted to go for the kill here and went with the double-suited hand. I’m not as far behind as all that pre-flop, and call a pot vet to 30K. I’m marginally ahead for the high half on the flop, with middle pair, but I don’t have the flush draw and no good low, so I fold to a c-bet of 60K.

I start this hand with 64% overall equity. Suited ace, low pair, second-nut low draw against essentially nothing. I open to 30K and get called. The flop isn’t so good for me, a ten makes two pair for BB. I need an ace or the case three for the high pot, or another low card. Nothing comes, however, and BB’s seven is all he needs for the win.

Now I’m the one who’s massively outchipped. D raises to 30K and I fold.

I open to 30K and BB calls. Both of us start with good low draws, but his gets counterfeit on the flop. BB bets 30K with two pair, I have almost that many chips left and call with the straight draw, nut low draw, and top pair. On the turn, I have 95% equity, and the river doubles me up with a scoop.

D calls and I pot to 30K, which he calls. I want to go in for another double-up, and I’ve got a decent low draw, but I don’t know his is even better. The turn isn’t good for me, although I pick up bottom pair, but I commit, and bet 60K, D calls with middle pair. I shove the last bit in on the turn with just 13% equity, D calls, and he scoops the hand for the tournament win.

Summary

I was involved in this tournament for the majority of its run, going from 30/60 in Level 3 to 5K/10K (Level 25) in just 176 hands, an average of about 8 hands per 10-minute level, a little slower than a NLHE tournament, but not as much of a difference as in a live PLO8 game, where dealing plus split and side pot distribution can make for slower play even with skilled Omaha dealers.

I saw 65 showdowns at my table(s)—37% of the hands played—with 37 lows made (57% of showdowns). I was involved in nearly two-thirds of the showdowns myself (41 overall), winning highs in 25 (61% of showdowns) and lows in 9 (22%), with 5 scoops. I also won 17 hands without showdowns (nearly 10% of the hands I was dealt).

I put money into the pot in more than half of the hands I was dealt, even before play got short-handed. In fact, my VPIP didn’t stay below 60% until nearly hand 100. In part that was because I was short-stacked, but even after I took the chip lead with just a few players left, my VPIP was lower than it had been in the early stages of the game.

Before hand 75 I didn’t make a single pre-flop raise. In the last 100 hands, though, my PFR was 18%, nearly one in five hands.

Two attributes were most prominent in the hands that won chips either through getting other players to fold by raising or in showdowns. A suited ace combination featured in 65 of the hands that won without showdown or for the high hand (37%). 62 of those types of hands (which overlap to some extent) had three or more low-qualified cards (including aces).

27 of the hands that won low pots at showdown had suited aces (73%). The same number had three or four low cards (rather than just two). Only 18 of the low pot winners had A2 combos.

44 high or winning hands (25% of all hands) had pairs of tens or better, with 28 having pairs under ten (at least one winning had had both). 26 included three or more Broadway cards.

What conclusions can we draw from this? Well, the sample size is small, so drastic conclusions shouldn’t be made from this data, but the gross disparity in winning hands with suited aces—for both low and high pots—is something I plan to explore further. And I suspect that players may overvalue their nut low draws (A2) and high pairs.

If you’ve enjoyed the series, let me know. It’s going to be the last of its kind from me for a while, as my coverage of the WSOP starts in just about two weeks!

Wild Kingdom Index

• Hands 1-20
• Hands 21-40
• Hands 41-60
• Hands 61-80
• Hands 81-100
• Hands 101-120
• Hands 121-140
• Hands 141-160
• Hands 161-176

Bovada $500 PLO8 Bounty

The tournament is in the money and down to the last six players. I’ve been hanging on as player 21 for 40 hands not in the 10BB or less range. 11BB is the chip average right now. Believe it or not, but in two hands I’m going to be the chip leader.

The big stack in UTG1 limps in with double-suited cards and a low three-card straight, I come along with a middle three-card. SB has a single-suited pair of kings, BB doesn’t have to do anything with three Broadway cards including a suited king. I’m the only person left out on the flop: SB picks up the second nut flush, BB has the nut low, and UTG1 has outs to a full house and draws to chop the low.

SB shoves for 6.5K after the flop, BB raises to 13K, and UTG1 and I fold. Once we’re out of the way, it’s a simple chop no matter what happens.

UTG calls with double-suited kings and I come along with a four-card straight in HJ. SB calls and BB checks. Going into the flop, I’m the only player with a low draw. The blinds check the flop, but UTG has second-nut flush draw and bets 20K. I shove my bottom-two pair for another 9.2K and UTG and I are HU for the turn. Another five brings his outs down to the last king in the deck, but a river six works for me. After ruling the roost for a while, he’s back in the mix with the rest of us, actually down in third place for the moment.

I’m UTG and chip leader by a small amount. I’ve got three Broadway cards and a suited ace and limp in. CO has three wheel cards, SB has some garbage to bring along, and BB checks. Everyone checks the flop. SB has the best chance for the high pot with the flush draw and middle pair, but I have top pair.

The turn gives me top two pair and ruins CO’s chance for a low (but makes top and bottom pair for him) SB has low and Broadway draws, BB’s got the best low draw, as well as a gut-shot straight draw. Everyone checks again.

The river counterfeits one of SB’s two low cards, leaving BB with the best low of 7653A. My two pair is still good for the high. I bet 20K and CO calls, maybe thinking his A3 is good or misreading the low. Both the blinds fold, so BB misses out on the low half of the pot and half the bounty. I take the whole thing. Player 6 is out in 6th place.

SB limps in with single-suited queens, min-bets the flop, and takes the hand

CO pots to 21K with single-suited aces and wins the pot.

I’m the first limper as D, with a suited ace, the nut low draw and four low cards. SB has almost the exact same hand, just one worse rank on the top end. He limps. BB checks with garbage. Everyone checks the flop but SB’s hand is far better with the flush draw. SB bets 9K on the turn, folding out BB, who has the best hand at the moment (which he can’t possibly expect). I make the call, violating one of the dictums of PLO8: never draw for half the pot. SB bets 18K on the river and I lay down. Holdem players may think that was a bad laydown, but this is Omaha, and SB had me beat witih AKK84 v my AKK74: two cards from the hand must play, and in this case what was a worse card for making lows would have made all the difference if I’d called.

I limp in with my queens from CO and go heads-up with BB, who’s double-suited. BB check-folds the flop when I bet 15K.

SB attacks the BB with a raise to 18K and gets a fold.

CO pots to 21K with a double-suited hand and less than 5K behind. I min-raise to 36K from BB and he calls all-in. It’s speculative on my part, but if a low comes with an ace, my three-card straight has a good chance of catching. The paired flop is even better. Neither of us have a heart draw, he needs a backdoor something to survive. There’s a little hope for him on the turn for a low, but I scoop when the river comes and get the bounty for player 39, out in 5th place.

I limp into the hand from SB and BB pops it up to 18K with the low draw. I call. Neither of us bet the flop or turn, and we check the river. I probably could have bet the turn when I was ahead, but I was leery of the nines.

SB opens to 12K and BB folds.

I raise from UTG to 21K and everyone folds.

SB limps into the hand. I check from BB, then bet 12K on the flop with trips to forstall any flush draws and get a fold.

UTG raises to 21K with a pair and some cards in the middle. D makes the call. About half of UTG’s stack is in. The rest of UTG’s stack goes in on the flop (I kind of wish I had my cards back) and D calls. They split the blinds and make a few chips each.

Blinds are up again and only two of us are above 10BB. UTG folds, I pot from D to 28K with a suited ace, and the blinds fold.

I fold UTG and D raises to 16K with a good low draw. I think if I was him I might have committed to the full pot (28K), as that would have forced either of the players in the blind to commit fully to the hand or fold. Instead, SB folds and BB just calls. The flop gives BB a flush draw, top pair, and a potential low, though he doesn’t know how good (or if) D has a low. D’s wrapped around the low cards with the possibility for a wheel. He makes the pot bet here for 36K, and BB runs with it, shoving to 41.4K. D has to make the call. D misses everything. BB doesn’t get his flush, but just the ace is good enough, and he scoops the pot.

I get a walk in BB.

UTG makes a move with a pair of threes, potting to 28K, with less than 1BB back. I have a suited ace and the nut low draw and re-pot to 92K. UTG and I are HU to the flop after he puts in his last chips. I flop the low end of the wheel, but the five I need makes a higher straight for UTG, who’s made a set. That comes on the turn, I’ve got the wheel for the low and UTG takes the high with the straight to the seven.

I raise from D to 28K with a suited ace and nut low draw, BB goes all in with kings, and I call. BB makes two pair without the kings on the flop. The turn pairs my ace but gives him a flush draw reducing my chances of making a winning two pair or straight. The river is safe, and we chop the small blind.

Blind-on-blind action. SB raises to 24K with fives and a suited ace. BB re-raises to 72K with a suited ace and slightly better low draw. SB goes all-in to call. The four on the flop reverses the roles of the two players, double-pairing BB and giving SB a shot at the low. They split the pot.

Summary

VPIP at this stage of the tournament is skewed because the table is short-handed and you necessarily have to play more hands. I’m holding at 50% through these hands, making three more pre-flop raises. My overall PFR is up to 8%, after sticking at 0 for the first 75 hands. Six of my hands went to showdown in this group, and I won the high pots in five of them, losing only one. I took three hands without a showdown.

My showdown hands were the only hands that went to showdown (not surprising, considering the small number of players left; at least two of us need to be in it for a showdown). There were lows on four of the showdowns. Again, the predominant factor in winning hands was a suited ace (7 in high hands, 4 in low hands). That doesn’t mean they won because of the suited ace, but hands where the player got involved and won had the suited ace. It could mean they decided to play the hand, call a bet, whatever.

Five hands had high pairs. Nine of the winning high hands had three or more low-qualified cards (including an ace).

I was planning to publish the next (and final) batch of hands Sunday, but I’m going to hold off until Monday. Duty calls!

Bovada $500 PLO8 Bounty

Three hours into an online 65-entry PLO8 Bounty tournament and we’re down to twelve players, with three spots to go before the first payout. I’ve been at or under 10BB for the past 20 hands as player 21. Let’s get to the action!

Disaster strikes! I limp in with the third nut low draw. SB has a suited ace and three low cards, and pots to 8.8K, with only 120 chips behind. I re-pot and he goes all-in to call. I lose my best low card but make two pair on the flop to pull ahead for the high, and I’m still good on the turn, but the river gives SB both a straight and the low, and I double him up, leaving me with less than 2.5BB on the next hand with the blinds going up.

I’m in dire straits. I have so few chips that I can go all-in without making a pot-sized raise, and I do that as second-to-act. CO calls. Target on my back, bounty on my head. I’m double-suited with an ace and the second nut low draw, and just barely ahead for overall equity. My ace is better than CO’s, but he has a better low. The turn is grim, as it gives CO two pair for the high, as well as the better low draw, but I get lucky on the river, which invalidates his low, and we split the blinds.

I’ve got four low cards, a five-rank run-down, and on the next hand I’m going to lose a third of my stack as BB. I shove UTG, D calls with a suited ace and four low cards. I get lucky and pair my five on the flop; we chop up the blinds on the river. Not everyday you win chips in PLO8 with just a pair of fives.

Player 65 is moved to the other table. CO min-raises to 6K with the low draw and suited ace, and when it gets to me in BB, I shove. He calls.He catches the diamond draw on the flop, but I make two pair, and he needs running cards for a low. I get lucky and my pairs hold up. He gets lucky and makes the low on the river for a split.

Going for three in a row. Then again, we are at just five players on the table, so the blinds are coming around fast. UTG limps in, D calls, and I put in the extra 1.5K from SB. BB checks. I make two pair on the flop to move me up from the bottom of the equity ladder. UTG bets 6K, D is all-in for just about that much, and I have the option to fold with 9.6K behind, call with 3.6K behind, or shove and hope top two is best. I shove, BB folds, and UTG calls the 3.6K. We’ve got two all-in players and a pot of 37.1K. On the turn—well, I did get it in with the best hand at the time—a jack makes a better two pair for UTG, and I have 7% overall equity in the hand: UTG has the spade flush draw, as well. I get a massive save on the river with the king, and we short stacks split the main pot, with me getting a sizable (7.2K) side pot all to myself because neither UTG or I have a low.

My stack has gone from 2.5BB to 7BB in just four hands. Not exactly a spot where I can get complacent, but I can take a breather, even though this hand has 35% equity in this spot, better than even BB’s kings, overall (and mostly because of the low straight draw. BB doesn’t get to do anything with the kings, he gets a walk.

What a time to get dealt quad aces, eh? It doesn’t mean a thing in Omaha, so there’s not much BB can do when SB pots to 9K as an open with a suited king and three low cards. There’s no single card that can come that can improve his hand; he can’t make a set, a straight, or a flush. He folds.

I limp my suited ace and SB comes along. SB leads out on the flop with the flush and second nut low. BB folds. I’ve got a low, but since I could be beat there and I don’t have much of anything for the high (I could get a backdoor full house or quads, I suppose), I fold.

SB limps into my BB. He bets 6K on the flop with the flush draw, I have top two pair and shove. SB only has 3K behind and makes the call. The cards run out to the river and he takes the low. My two pair stays good. Since there was nobody else in the pot and there aren’t any antes, the split doesn’t make a difference to either of our stacks.

We’re at final now with just eight players. The biggest stack is between the button and the SB (me!). HJ—one of the big stacks—makes the call with a suited ace, then D shoves for 12K double-suited with an ace. BB has even less and makes sort of a desperation shove with 1BB in and just 1.5BB behind. HJ makes the call, he’ll still be in 2nd chip position if he loses. The lows of both HJ and D are counterfeit on the flop, nobody has a club flush draw, D’s behind in the chance of having the best high hand on the river, but he does for the moment. On the turn, BB has the best high hand and D picks up the best draw, for the heart flush. The river prevents anyone from getting a low, BB takes a 33K main pot with queens, and D gets 3.2K for the side pot high, with eights.

UTG3 has kings and a suited ace and limps in. HJ has garbege and goes all-in for less. CO and SB limp. BB checks, and there’s a bounty in the offing. The stack at risk hits three pairs on the flop: any pairing of the board will make a full house and likely be the winning hand. Nobody has the club flush draw, UTG3 and CO have straight draws. CO bets 19.2K on the flop after a check from UTG3. Everyone but the all-in player folds. The turn makes HJ’s full house, though CO still has an out (only the T♣ remains) for a better full house. HJ takes the main pot after the river, and CO gets a side pot of 3K.

UTG3 has a pair of nines and 23 for a low draw. He pots to 14K—almost his entire stack—and SB calls with a sllightly better low, suited ace, and suited king. And a lot more chips. SB bets the flop with two pair and an ace kicker, and UTG3 puts his last 2.2K in, if the board hadn’t paired, he might have won with two pair, but the fives on the flop work for SB and he takes out player 28 in 9th place: the first of the players to cash.

Action folds to D, who raises this pot and takes the blinds after knocking out player 28.

I have the three lowest cards and open to 14K from UTG2. CO is in, and BB calls. Both have me well covered. BB flops the nuts (he’s got deuces over eights, but also eights over deuces). I’ve got the best low draw. I go all-in for my last 3.2K, CO raises to 53.5K, drawing dead on his flush, and BB is all-in for 28K. Everyone gets chips from the pot, but CO’s about 20K lighter after winning the low side pot. BB gets the high pots for both main and side, and I take the low main. Mmmmm, lo mein.

I limp in with a pair and a suited ace. D shoves for 13.5K with another suited ace and a good low draw. I’m the only caller. It looks at first like I might be scooped, with D’s king kicker for the ace and his low coming through on the turn, but the river queen saves my bacon and we chop the blinds.

UTG1 min-raises with a badugied rundown and SB calls with three wheel cards. Pre-flop, SB has a slight edge in equity because of the low draw, which increases slightly on the flop. SB shoves with bottom pair and a number of two pair outs, as well as a wheel draw on top of the low draw. UTG1 makes the call for 16.7K—most of his chips—with no low and just second pair (and an ace on the flop). It seems insane to me. The four comes on the turn, locking up a scoop for SB.

The loser of the last hand is now UTG with less than a big blind. He shoves 4.3K, putting his bounty up for grabs (in his favor, he does have four low-qualified cards). UTG2 goes all-in for 9.8K, with a suited ace and three Broadway cards. CO calls with a number of the cards UTG2 needs to complete his Broadway and a pair of tens. SB has the other tens and a low draw and makes the call. Over 35K in the pot and I’ve already got more in the pot than I need to call, even with garbage? Why not?

SB bets 43.4K on the flop with the best made low. I decide my top and bottom pair and high pot draws are good enough and make the call. CO is the only other player not already all-in and he’d have to call off his stack on the hope of making something high, so he folds.

The turn counterfeits SB’s low and my two pair (which I was splitting with UTG in the main pot). That’s more of a significant issue for SB, since I’m still ahead for the high in the two side pots.

The seven on the river counterfeits one of UTG2’s low cards, meaning he’s sharing the same 7532A low with SB for the pots they’re involved in. It also makes my nine-high straight.

SB and I just get our money back from side pot number 2. Side pot 1 was the two of us and UTG2; I get the high and they quarter the low. The same goes for the main pot, which included just enough from UTG to keep them from losing chips because of the quarter. The bounty, unfortunately, isn’t awarded proportionally to who got UTG’s chips, it just gets split evenly between the three of us. Player 17 is out in 8th place.

Yet another posty-bloodletting lull. BB gets a walk.

Well, now that’s over, time to get back to carnage. UTG1 limps in with four low-qualified cards, CO has the nut low draw, a suited ace, and aces, and pots to 22.5K. BB calls all-in with a couple low cards and a king suited in hearts, just like CO’s ace. UTG1 folds his limp. Oddly enough, BB’s slightly ahead for the high pot pre-flop. He somehow manages to stay in contention on the flop, then gets dealt a blow on the turn, only to lose it all on the river as CO makes a full house for the high. Player 16 is eliminated in 7th place and player 41 takes the bounty.

HJ raises to 15K with the kings and suited A2 to take the blinds.

Summary

By necessity, I get a bit more active in this group of hands, putting money into 10 of them (maintaining a 50% VPIP over 140 hands). Getting short-stacked after Hand 121, put me in the position of making three pre-flop raises in a row, nearly as many as I’d made in the previous 120 hands. I went to showdown nine times, profiting in all but the first (Hand 121, again). None of my profitable showdowns were scoops; I won the high hand in seven of eight and the low in one. I picked up a third of a bounty in Hand 137, though I got half the pot in which the player was knocked out. Even though I managed to pull off a recovery after the first hand of the group, I’m in the bottom three of the six players left in the tournament, and still down around 8BB.

Fourteen of twenty hands went to showdown in this group. That’s 25% of the showdowns at my table for the entire tournament, in just 14% of the hands. Ten of the showdowns resulted in low pots, a third of the low pots awarded (on this table) so far.

Fourteen of the hands that won either high or low pots had suited aces. In a sort of odd reversal, thirteen of the winning high hands had three or more low-qualified cards, including ten of the hands that won the high at showdown.