PTO

That is the anagram of Poker Tracker Omaha. When I first got this tool for my cash games, my results changes drastically. My haphazard notes on players got refined and I started to really win big at the low levels (.10/.25, .25/.50). There were players whom I thought were good/profitable, but really were not, and once I know the hands that they were playing, I was able to then take advantage of it.

I mention this now because I hadn't updated my stats since I started this blog. The main reason was that the tool wasn't properly updating from the hand histories for my SNGs. I finally got in gear and went to the forums to pick up an update which fixed the issues and I analyzed the games of the two players whom I believe at the better HU players I've played against: tatta and vendo. It's funny, because originally, I thought vendo was a mark, but it was that my style of play was effective against his general style. I've moved him into the "good player" category because he's made the appropriate adjustments against me and had taken several games in a row.

The interesting thing that I found was that they were more selective from the SB, and that they both really opened up their check-raising range against me. Makes sense, since I raise PF 50% of the time, and cbet a good number of flops, seems like the right thing to do. So today, I found vendo at the $55+2.5 and I played against him with my new knowledge. My goal was to be less aggro PF, and fold the worst ~15% of hands from the SB (1 out of 6ish). Then try to limit my aggression post-flop in the early betting rounds.

Worked pretty well. We stayed pretty close to the starting stacks through the first few rounds. I was fortunate that I was able to show him a slow play of the nut flush across flop and turn, and only value bet the river in position. He called down with 2 pair. I don't think he's ever seen me do that.

In the end, I found that he didn't check-raise me as much as he normally did, and I was able to make many value bets on the river, which were called. In the later blind rounds, I was able to then bluff a few turns, because I had shown so little aggression up to that point that he respected my bets again.

I eventually won the match, but I was more happy that I was able to implement a strategy, and see my opponent begin to behave in a way that help me make decisions. I would like to have a few more matches against him to see if I can continue to adjust appropriately. I'd also like to try tatta again and see if I can figure out a successful strategy against him.