texasflood2

December was a very tough month in my company.
I had several issues with clients, which made things more stressful than usual. On top of that, friends and relatives came to my house and stayed for a few days to celebrate Christmas and New Year.

Because of all that, my volume was honestly pretty bad.
That’s also the reason I didn’t post here earlier — but here we go.

I was close to losing my rakeback Black Box (the one that gives 40% rakeback), so I had to grind PLO100 Zoom to recover it — a format I really don’t like.

The main reason I don’t like playing Zoom is that many weaker players (including some regs) actually perform better in that format.
I know that sounds strange, but Zoom 6-max tends to help these players restrict their preflop ranges, which means they end up playing stronger hands and making fewer mistakes compared to regular tables.

So I had to adapt to that, because I was making a lot of mistakes against this dynamic.
I think that playing HU tables and Zoom 6-max at the same time is almost a recipe for disaster.

In one spot, you’re facing extremely wide ranges, and in another, very tight ranges.
I found myself value-betting too thin, calling with marginal hands, and misapplying ranges in general.

Still, despite all that, I managed to make some profit.
These are my numbers until yesterday (01/17/2026):

So... as you can see, I’ve made $4,310.20 in profit and $1,570.45 in rakeback.
So my current bankroll is $5,880.64 + the initial $1,500, for a total of $7,380.65.
I've played a total of 86 hours until right now.

I’ve already started playing PLO200, but I’m still $4,220 away from my goal to complete this challenge.

That said, I think it’s fair to celebrate a little — reaching PLO200 (6-max only) is already a part of the challenge, right?

However, I have to be honest: I think my bankroll management might be a bit aggressive.
Moving from PLO100 to PLO200 could probably be done in a more conservative way.

So I choose to not playing PLO200 HU until i have at least 40bi, 8k dollars, or a very very bad player on the table to fight against.

I also believe I’ve been running pretty well so far, so over a larger sample I’d expect my results to be around $1.5k/2k lower than where I am right now.

But, let's into to some hands

First one I shouldn't open this hand, and I shouldn't called a 3bet in BW, but I did.

So the flop wentcheck/check and the turn I decided to pot and let me explain why

My opponent is a very ABC reg — linear ranges, not creative, do you know?
Because of that, I knew he would c-bet his flush draws on the flop, and that he’s not capable of properly balancing his checking range with heart flush draws.

So when he checks back, his range becomes very capped, and I decided to attack it.

I also hold a J, which slightly blocks some of his improving cards on the turn (excluding backdoor flush draws).
And like I said, he’s not the kind of player who raises hands like AA with a spades, so I’m very comfortable betting here.

The river brings a card that I think is very good for my range.

As I mentioned before, he never has a heart flush here.
I also don’t block spades or straights, and let’s be honest — I’m never winning this hand at showdown.

So I’m at the bottom of my range, but I still have a heart blocker, which is extremely valuable in this spot.
For me, this is a very easy bluff — and it worked. What do you guys think?

Remember, poker is a game that you play against people, and a lot of then don't think about protect their ranges and you have to take advantage of that.

And another example of the same concept is this last hand: (I will answer this post with some HU hands also)

Here I defend versus a CO vs BTN 3-bet and decide to lead half pot on the flop, which I think is fine.

I believe this hand could also be played as a check-raise, but because I have backdoor clubs, I decided to lead.
Without the backdoor clubs, I would prefer checking.

Now, about the opponent: he’s a very bad reg.
He plays a lot of tables and constantly tries to “meta” against me for some reason.

When I lead and he doesn’t raise, I can cap a huge portion of his heart combinations — probably close to 90% of them.

But the main reason I chose this hand is to talk about a very tough concept in PLO — and poker in general:

BETTING FOR PROTECTION

On the turn I bet 33% and the reason is because I really don't want to give him a free card with my hand.
I’m not drawing dead against his flushes, but the hands he continues with against my flushes are drawing dead.

So I don’t think I need to bet bigger here.
I can use the same sizing with my strong flushes, keep my range protected, and the SPR on the river will be ~0.73, allowing me to shove comfortably.

Now, about protection:

I think a lot of players, when they start betting hands “for protection”, end up stripping their ranges of all reasonable hands, making them extremely weak and unbalanced — and I was definitely one of those players.

When many instructors here on RIO started saying “don’t bet for protection”, my ranges improved a lot.
But for a long time, I still didn’t fully understand when I should bet for protection.
So oney day I watchet this video from Galfond on Youtube, that finally bring me some light about this concept

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gicvnchey3U

After watching it, I created a simple concept for myself:

When the pot is already big enough for that specific hand, start thinking about betting for pure protection.

And I think this J8 hand fits perfectly with what I’m trying to illustrate here.

Thanks!

Yes, of course!

For someone starting in PLO, I’d recommend beginning with Tom Coldwell’s videos.
After that, watch a lot of the Essentials content from Phil Galfond — his hand reviews and reviews of another players are excellent for understanding the mental process behind decisions.

Once you are more familiar with the game, I highly recommend you buying “Solving the PLO Puzzle” by Richard Gryko and Cory Mikesell.
It helps a lot with understanding the theoretical foundations of the game and how to think about ranges.

That should give you a very solid starting path.

tesla79
Yes, exactly!

I work in my own company, so I can manage my schedule, but it’s still tough.
Sometimes I have the time, but I don’t have the mental energy to play because of day-to-day work and family issues.

That said, I’m still able to find time to play — and I have to be honest, my wife deserves a lot of the credit for that. Without her support, it would be much harder.

One piece of advice I’d give to anyone trying to take poker seriously while balancing a full-time job is to cut alcohol and stay home more. It makes a huge difference in consistency and focus.

Regarding the video, I’ve already watched that one and it’s excellent.
I’d also recommend:

Laurence Heads – “Donking Flops and Playing Turns” (03.17.2025)

Richard Gryko – “Leading Flops in 3-Bet Pots” (02.21.2018)

About the low traffic here — I’m aware of that.
Still, I like the idea of keeping this as an old-school thread that might help someone in the future. You never know.

Thanks a lot for the words and encouragement!

Almost the end of the month, and I have to be honest — it’s been a really tough period.
Work has been more stressful than usual, and both of my kids got sick, so I couldn’t put in as much volume as planned.

So far, I’ve only played around 50 hours, roughly 20k hands.
I’ll try to squeeze in at least 12 more hours between today and tomorrow.

Poker-wise, things are actually going pretty well.
I made $980 at PLO50 and $560 in rakeback, so I’ve started mixing in some PLO100 tables.

I also found a very weak opponent in the HU pool, and that’s the main reason I ended up making more than I expected.

THE NUMBERS SO FAR

As you can see, the sample isn’t great, but I already have $2,172 in profit + 40% rakeback ($644).
So a total of $2,844, plus the initial bank of $1,500, brings me to $4,316.

BANKROLL MANAGEMENT PLAN

My bankroll rules are simple:

After 60 buy-ins of the limit I’m playing, I start mixing the next stake.
→ So after reaching $3k (including the initial $1,500), I began mixing PLO50 + PLO100.

Once I hit 100 buy-ins, I move up permanently to that limit.

After reaching 60 buy-ins again, I begin mixing the next limit.

So my short-term goal now is $5k → then I’ll play PLO100 only until I reach $6k,
and then I’ll start mixing some PLO200 tables.

But I need to be careful. In my opinion, the jump from PLO50 → PLO100 isn’t huge,
but the pool from PLO100 → PLO200 has a lot more strong regulars.

ABOUT SOME STUDY SECTION

I think a very important thing to work is 6-max tables is about build leading range, in SRP and also 3betP. In PLO50 and PLO100 people react pretty bad against leading ranges. You realize a lot of equity of your hand and when you face a raise it's a very easy decision, because it's not a polarized range.

I will show some hands and also discuss about how to choose between leading and check

The first hand it was against a good reg.
My key questions vs regs are always:

1️⃣ How much can my equity improve on the turn?
2️⃣ Can I profitably check-call this hand?

Also, you need to think about polarity advantage.
You shouldn’t build a leading range without some polarity advantage
(except in extremely low SPR spots).

In this scenario, checking feels bad because the hand doesn’t check-call well,
and with two backdoor flush draws a lot of turns improve my equity.
So for me this is a very clear lead.
He folds.

The second hand was against a reg, but he is not a good one.
So I decided to lead because I have some polarity and also some good turns, but the key was another thing. I knew it if he only calls I could play agressive on hearts (even with a hand without blockers), because he wouldn't be able to protect his range putting some flushdras on his calling range.
He raises and very easy fold.

The third hand was against a recreational player (but not a dumb recreational, he has some very good notion), so I decided to lead more to realize my equity cheap, being aware that I could pot on turns like 5,T,9. And with a A on my hand, I decide to not bluff, I don't think that I could make KK and QQ folds, and I also has a reasanoble showdown value.
But the point that I want to show you if I decided to check, I probably would face a large size, so against recreational you can think about that. For me, Leading is preferable

And the last hand was against the same player of the first hand, he is a good reg in my opinion.
I decided to lead, But i think that it's okay to put this hand on the check range to check raise or check call. I think this hand play good in all ranges. But I decided to lead more because people over check and react poorly against leads. So he calls and look the turn, he decides to get it in with AA without any aditional equity and without blocking my value range.

In the next post, I’m planning to bring more Heads-Up content.
What do you guys think?

Thanks

It would be nice make a video of lead in multiway pots from SB. I think people doesn't have idea that bet frequency on a K high flop is so high from SB against BB and BTN, for example.
Thanks for the video!

Hey,
I would like to see some spots in monocolor boards that are three straights presents, like JT9 and 765.I'm really curious to see how to play in this specific boards, probably cbets frequency drops a lot

43 min, top left:

Does anyone agree with me the best option is 4bet? The reason is because the Big Blind, DickPrice, seems to be a very tight player. And he has 400bb. Utg has 250 bbs, so the scenario probably would be this one:

hero 4bets, BB 5bets, UTG folds, BTN folds; POT pre flop: $ 504,50 (rake $2,75)
Hero's equity against BB = 43%

EV = $ 501,75 * 0,43 - $196,25 = $19,50 = +975bb/100

I really comend you watch the classes from Leszek Badurowicz (2016) and watch the classes from Emty, about Polarity and range advantage.

Will help you a lot!

48 min, Table 1
I think the best option here is check/raise; you have advantage equity against the nuts. A lot of these flops you'll check/fold, so you build protection with your check range; Some hands that he would fold against a cbet, he would bluff, and you don't need to put yourself in "tought" situations on the turn.

I know this class was 3 years ago, but if someone decides to watch I think that I solved the math problem with KQT9ds on 55 min table 2:

I will work with this range to villain ($4b2,AA) what I think that is tight enough based on that Jack said about the villain.

So we will call $88,00 to see the turn. And on the turn we need to invest $182,65 to won $673,20. Pot odds = 27,1%

In other words, we need to have at least 27,1% on the turn to our move be breakeven.

ProPokerTools said in 3199 trials: How often do(es) PLAYER_1 have hand vs. range equity of at least 27.1% on the turn 42,3882%

So now we know that hero will call 42,40% and will fold 57,6%.
Call% = 42,4% fold% = 57,6%

Now we need to discover the average equity of hero when he calls on the turn:

Based on what PPT said the average equity of hero on the turn when he calls is: 51.16%

Profit = (Pot final * AE - call flop - call turn)
Profit = (673,3 * 0,5116 - 88 - 182,65)
Profit = ($73,81)

EV = (Profit * Call%) + (Fold * Fold%)
EV = (73,81 * 0,424) + (-88 * 0,576)
EV = - $19,39

In bb/100 that move is -969bb/100

So call on the flop isn't profitable.

I'm really glad that I helped you in some way! Good luck man!

Thanks a lot, Phil! It's very gratifying for me to hear you saying this. Beyond that, I believe that Essential Plan has helped me so much at such a low cost that I feel it is my duty to contribute in some way to the Run It Once. Once again, ty a lot!

I don't have a clear idea about how much hands you need to play to prove that you can beat the game. I'm saying that because I already saw a graph from a amazing player (sphinmx) who beats NL500 since 2011 until now and in this graph he stayed BE for almost 200k hands in a ocasional year. So if he, who is a excellent player and play NLH (The variance is less than PLO), stayed 200k hands "Breakeven", how much hands we need to prove that we can beat a specific limit in PLO?

Can someone help me with this number?

The graphic that I said

Why? And which river should he call?

Hey Kerith. I like the way you played that hand. Pre-flop I think is fine, because that hand is first 15. Another good point that I want you consider is about the T on the river. Is a very scared card in general (more than a 8, for example) because complete three type of straight 78,Q8,KQ. So is a good card to bluff IMO. Congratz!

Seems to be a very easy 3bet pot OTT for me:

Look, I consider this range pre flop: $fi30!$3b4o!(Js,Jh,Ts,Td) - I deleted my cards because ProPokerTools have a bug and doesn’t discount the combos of hands that my hand blocks, that's the reason about !(Js,Jh,Ts,Td).

OTF, I think he xc with this hands: (AA,66,AJ,A6,AKQ,AQT,AKT,AT:Ass,AT:Acc)

OTT I can't respect his size and I don't believe that he will make that size with AA, but I will consider all the aces in his range. So against this range: (AA,AJ,A6ss,A8ss,AKTss,AKQss,AQTss,AT9ss,66) you still are the favorite with 66% of equity.

The final syntax if you want to put in PPT: $fi30!$3b4o!(Js,Jh,Ts,Td):(AA,66,AJ,A6,AKQ,AQT,AKT,AT:Ass,AT:Acc):(AA,AJ,A6ss,A8ss,AKTss,AKQss,AQTss,AT9ss,66) 2566 combos

Thanks to answer me, restacks. First, I'm sorry if I'm talking bullshit. I'll try to explain myself better.

"The whole notion of not playing a medium strength hand by x/c to "avoid" representing a medium strength hand is completely absurd "

I think the biggest problem is not to have a balance check call range otf, so you will show to the villain "look, i have a hand that isn't strong enough to go to showdown, plz check!" And if you put KhJh9d8d in your check call range you will can balance, the problem is if you put KhJh9c8c (with just one backdoord flush), So in this other situation I do not think the hero can balance.

But I want to hero understand this, because is so important IMO.

btw, I agree:

"It's also just as problematic to play strong hands in a face up way"

But play medium hands in face up way is worse than strong hands. Because in the strong cenario, you won't be kicked like the second cenario.

cc is the worst option (between xc or xr)

kobepaul1 Ty to post this hand!
The way you played that hand is the worst way to play IMO. I'm sorry.

But, when you choose to 3bet KJs98s OOP you need to know how to play a 3betP OOP with a medium hand and is very clear that you don't know. But it's okay, RIO is a forum where people try to help each other. That is what I want to do.

First thing, you need to understand how important is to know your range. You will have, in a lot of situations, three types of range, strong/medium/weak. It's not a big problem play your strong range very face up because youwill be earning most part of the time. The same way, is not a big problem play your weak range face up because you will be losing almost always.

BUT the problem is when you play your medium range face up, because you will be kicked out of the hand or value will be extracted from you, because villain know that you have a medium hand.

Look at this image of a great instructor of mine:

And try to guess what you did in that hand? Yes, you played your medium hand showing that you have a medium range. Is the worst option!

So OTF you have three options:
1) Check/raise against a loose opponent.
2) Bet and gii against a loose opponent
3) Bet/fold against a tight opponent

Jimmy mentioned a very important thing: "medium hand".

If you think about your range, you have three types in a lot of situation, strong/medium/weak.

Strong and weak is not a problem, because you can have strong hands in a weak range and weak hands in a strong range. But when you played a medium range showing that you have a medium hand, you will very exploitable. In a medium range you don't have a lot of weak hands and strong hands, that's the problem. Basic, you only have "trouble" situations.
Try to understand this and you will understand poker better. A example about medium range is that hand: http://www.runitonce.com/plo/3bet-pot-how-to-continue-postflop/ Hero shows to villain that he has a medium range with a medium hand, so...

About your hand, I like your cbet because you are playing PLO5 and people just call with a J, with kings, with QQ etc. I agree with your size, ok? But when he raises you you have a very easy fold with a medium hand in a medium range. Take a note and let's play another hand. BTW, PLO5, People don't bluff very much OTF J42r.

And I disagree about yout check otf, You can't balance your range otf in this spot.

Yes, I agree with you. Flat pre-flop is a good option.

To showdown, hero has Q high only. That's what I meant.

But hero didn't flat, he 3bet... So we need to think what to do OTF in a 3betP IP. I'm almost convinced that the best option is check and choose to a delay cbet. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know...

I think people should discuss this hand because that is a very nice spot to learn PLO IMO.

Samuelazo, I need to confess that I have a lot of trouble to play that specific 3betPot even IP 100bb. Like If we cbet this flop and villain raises, we need to fold a lot of equity? I think so, because we will find a lot of better draws. At the same time, if we check, we can "protect" our range because a lot turns which is bad for our range will be good for our hand, right?

on the other hand, we have only Qhigh? We need to bluff to won this hand, because we don't have showdown value.

IMO, against this typo of opponent, you can choose a delay cbet and bet turn again in missed draws and for value when hero hits. The reason is because if he is passive, he will fold the same hands otf that he will fold against a bet ott, I don't believe he will change this hands in a bluff ott because hero checked behind.

But, I don't think I have the technical knowledge enough to analyze this hand with quality. I'm Sorry

Hey Ibra. I put a very similar range that you said. And hero has 52% of equity against villain's range OTT. At the same I agree with you about the flop, I think we should't call. Against the same range hero has 37% of equity and doesn't close the action. At the same time, a lot of cards will be poor and hero needs to fold. And "good" cards like a T will be tough to play. So I think otf is fold and ott is raise gii.

Villain's range IMO: $fi20!$3b2o:((AddJ,JJ,8765,987,874,AAdd,Add87,AKJ6))

Nice spot!!!
I believe a lot of people would raise otf, but I think you need to consider some things. SPR is large, 9.3 and you don't have position. So if you didn't have the backdoor flush, a hand like QdQc6d6c I check/call almost all the time.

But, this hand is good enough to choose the two lines, XC and XR. The reason is because when you XR you can shove a lot of turns in spr <1: Spades (9) T (2) 3 (2) 2 (2) 4(2) 5(2) 6(1) 7(2) = 22 cards and the flop has 3, and you have 4, so 52 - 7 =~ 50%. But, without backdoor flush, some cards will be hard to shove, like 5 cards os spades, As Ks Js 9s and 8s. In other words, you only can shove "safe" in 17 cards within 45 = 38%. 62% of the time will be tough to play ott, that's the reason that I prefer call without backdoor flush.

I'd check otf and, if both check too otf, i would bet 1/2 ott for pure protection and to buy the river showdown. The way you played, I don't like to bet OTT. 6c Is a card which improve their range, so I consider a check fold.

I agree with you miami about flop, both options are good, except for one thing. Hero doesn't close the action because of SB. So I prefer raise in this specific spot, even if I know that I'm flipping against wraps. BTW, hero has only one backdoor flush. I think otf
Ts9h2c (two backdoor flush) I can call even with the SB to act.

OTT, I like the way hero played, because 7, despite being a scared card, complete J8 and 86. Is not so safe like a 6 (which just complete 87), but, at the same time, is not so scared like a 8 or J (which complete three types of straight).

SPR is 2.2, It's close jimmy, but it is a very easy bet/fold IMO. What do you think he has to cbet against 3 people otf T9 (it is horrible for his range) and XR OTT? I only can see straight, or 9988+fd,QJJ+fd, a very specific hand. You need 25% and you don't have this equity in my calculations against his range.

Of course!

First, remember. OTF, how much equity you need to gii? 26%, right?
So I drew a black line from 26% equity and that line said to me that you will have this almost 58% of the time:

The numbers from PPT always vary a bit because of the numbers of trials. It's hard to simulate a lot of flops, I think.

So... After that, we need to drew a line next to the green line. If the line is "linear" is more easy, because we just need to drew one line, like this:

You need the space below to be offset by the space above.
However, you need to agree with me, that line doesn't are perfect. If you want to do more perfect calculations, you need more lines. That's the reason that I put two (a red and a yellow). Beyond that, plz, look that hand that I commented, I put 5 lines, if I'm not wrong.

And to calculate the average of each line, you need to pick the highest number - smallest number / 2 + smallest number.

AND you need to remember that is the average from ONE LINE. But, now You need to get the ratio of that line and multiply it by the times that happens and dividing total number of times you will call the flop.

To be clearer: Look the yellow line from the first post, ok? Highset equity number = 43% smallest equity number = 26%. Average = (43% - 26% / 2) + 26% = 34,5%
Now, look the black lines. Yellow line is between 20% until 59,5% of frequency, right? So happens 39,5% in ratio of 59,5% (total that hero will call OTF)

So now you do this: 34,5% * 39,5% / 59,5% and you will discovered the average equity from yellow line in total situations.

Hey Jimmy, I do it this way:

First: I put my hand and his range and I put in "Questions" Hand vs Range.
Second: I calculate my pot odds otf. So I need to have more equity than odds to be profitable, right? If you are playing 100bb deep, its easy: Pot otf: 47,5 + 47,5 + 2,5 = 97,5 and he will shoves 52,5, so ~ 26% odds and I need 26% > EQ. *** When the spr is bigget than 1.0, I imagine a overbet to do the calculations, ok?***

Now we know that we need more than 26% of equity. So I use a screenshot program, the name is lightshot, to do lines, like this:

The graph says to me that hero will has 26% > equity 59,5% of the time. So now I know that my call% will be = 59,5% of the time and my fold% = 40,5% of the time.

Another important point. If you 3bet and fold face a 4bet, do you agree with me that your move will be -15bb in this hand? So will be -1500bb/100

Now the question is: If I call, my move will be less than -1500bb/100 or more? If it's less, the call is profitable. If it's more, the best choice is fold vs a 4bet, because you will lose more money.

How to calculate this? Very easy. First, we need to calculate our Average Equity = AE

AE = L1 + L2, where l1 = red line and l2 = yellow line.

L1: (0,91 - 0,43)/2 + 0,43 = 67% our average equity here and happens 20% of the time (look the black line)

L2: (0,43 - 0,26)/2 + 0,26 = 34,5% our average equity here and happens 29,5% of the time.

Now, we need to calculate the percentage that equity in reason that % of call%.

L1: 67% * 20% / CALL% = 0,67 * 0,20 / 0,595 = 22,5%

L2: 0,345 * 0,2 / 0,595 = 11,6%

SO AE = 22,5% + 11,6% = 34,1%

Now, we need to calculate our profit
PROFIT = (FINAL POT * AE) - (CALL pre-flop + call pos flop)
PROFIT = (202,5 * 0,341) - (32,5 + 52,5)
PROFIT = - 15,95bb

Now, we need to calculate the times that we will call and the times that we will fold OTF, this is Peel And Stack off = PSO

EV PSO = (Profit * Call%) + (Fold * Fold%) when fold will be the negative price we call to see flop but we fold, ok?

EV PSO = (-15,95 * 0,595) + (-32,5 * 0,405)
EV = -9,49 + (-13,16)
EV = - 22,65

So if you fold, your ev will be -1500bb/100 and if you call the 4bet your ev will be -2265bb/100. So fold is the best choice.

If you have any doubts, please, ask me! And I recommend to watch two classes by Tom Coldwell: 3bet Small IP and Calling 4bet.