Aces in PL Omaha...and Bron Bron

Following a particularly exhausting "State of the Marriage" conversation that surprisingly didn't include any poker rants (from either of us), I had a few minutes before sleep came to me last night...so I did what anyone reading this blog would do. I fired up the new laptop and hopped on Full Tilt. Unfortunately, I made one too many pointless arguments during the marriage "discussion" because I missed the Riverchasers tournament by three minutes.

Next best thing: my "money game" ... .50/$1 PLO. This seems to be the best level for my bankroll and my limited knowledge of the game. It has just enough solid players that you can easily single them out and avoid them with anything less than the nuts. It has enough loose-passive players to make flops worth seeing. It has enough complete donkeys with money to burn to call $30 bets with top pair. In essence: c'est parfait.

I hadn't been at the table long (still around my $100 buy-in) when I found AcAd3c8d in middle position. It's not a GREAT hand, I don't like hands that aren't all connected, but with aces and double-suited, I prepared to see a flop. A familiar face in this level and game raised from UTG+2 to $8. now, to anyone not familiar, this is a ridiculously large raise for this game where it's routine to go three or four hands without a pre-flop raise. He might as well have lit up the neon sign that said, "I have pocket aces and think we're playing Texas Hold'em."

So I know at this point, my aces are somewhat irrelevant. But I still have two possible nut-flush draws and can hide the fact that at the very least we're chopping this pot. So I call. A player with only $12 in front of him/her just puts the rest in and "bumps" it to $12 to see the flop. Much to my surprise, the button calls. The initial raiser calls, I call and we see a rainbow flop of 8-3-Q with almost $50 in the pot. Initial raiser bets the max with his "top pair" ... I call off the remainder of my chips not even remotely fearing a set and knowing my meager two pair are good here. Player to my left is all-in, but surprisingly the button also calls. Rest of the hand checked down, I click the re-load button figuring the button for a set or higher two pair and he promptly flips a queen for a pair of queens, as previously determined the initial raiser's AA didn't improve and the all-in player had unimproved KK in his hand.

I scooped a pot of over $300 in a .50/$1 game.

I am not complaining mind you. Not bad for 30 seconds of work. But as I sat there for a few more rounds, I saw exorbitant raises with AA two more times. One time, I had odds and chased a flush draw that didn't get there. I folded on the river and the player flipped his AA. I typed "didn't need to show...pretty clear what you had." He responded, "nice read...I can respect that." Nice read? My overweight, trash-digging mental midget of a mutt who was snoring loudly on the couch next to me knew he had aces.

I know in texas hold'em, you generally want to raise those aces up to push a lot of the drawing hands out that might hit and beat you. But in Omaha...what's the point? Nobody knows what they have until the flop. Why not call the bet and if you hit trips, nobody sees it coming. Or if you're double-suited, see if you pick up a draw that the king-high flush may not be prepared for. Or if the board comes rags, put out a bet. If you get re-raised, you can smell a set and fold. But what good does it do to take out a billboard that says, "I have AA...if you can beat me, feel comfortable slow-playing against me and if not, just fold and save yourself some money."

Again, I'm not complaining mind you.

On a side note, I was playing these hands while watching the one-man freak show that was LeBron James last night. LBJ is simply incredible...not the one that was married to Ladybird...the basketball player. I saw the younger LBJ play in high school, I appreciated his physical prowess and promptly told everyone who would listen that he would flame out in the NBA when he faced players equal to him in physique and athleticism. I think it was apparent last night that he'll have to find those aliens from Space Jam if he wants to find an equal in those departments. I cannot find any superlatives to write that the gaggle of sports columnists around the country haven't already used this morning...you know the columnists...the ones that said LBJ would never be big-time because he passed the ball at the end of Game 1. At least I said that BEFORE he got to the NBA.

Oh and a reminder. He's 22. That's less than the amount of straight points he scored to finish off the game last night (25). Incredible.