Hand 2 Hand Combat -- Brian Townsend

Event: Online pot-limit Omaha cash game
Stacks: Brian Townsend – $129,129; Villain – $62,597
Blinds: $200-$400
Antes: $70
Players: 3

Townsend raises to $1,200 from the button with the A A 10 9. The villain reraises to $4,010 from the big blind. Townsend reraises to $12,440, and the villain calls.

Craig Tapscott: Share with us how to play A-A here preflop. And, do you have a good feel for your opponents at the table?

Brian Townsend: Both of my opponents are good and aggressive. They realize that I’m opening a lot of hands from the button. Because of this, they will be reraising me with a wide variety of hands. It happens in this hand, as you can see. My decision to four-bet does expose my hand some, but it doesn’t do so completely, as I also will be four-betting with some hands that are not A-A-X-X.

CT: So, it’s pretty standard in PLO [pot-limit Omaha] for the villain to call here, knowing that you have a big hand most of the time?

BT: My opponent may correctly suspect that I have A-A-X-X much of the time, but he does not know my side cards or my suits, making it hard for him to play perfectly against me. Also, post-flop, the effective stack will be two times the size of the pot, so it will be difficult for my opponent to play well against me, since the stack-to-pot ratio is so shallow. All in all, I think the reraise is the clear play preflop, as my hand is very strong.
 
Flop:  9 7 2 (pot: $25,290)

BT: The flop is a pretty good one for my hand, as there are no three-card straights or monotone board textures out. I have an effective stack of two times the size of the pot left, and would have been four-betting this opponent with a hand like A-K-Q-J with diamonds, so I opted to bet a bit over half the pot. This will allow me to fold the occasional times that I don’t have an overpair, saving me money if I were to pot it.
 
The villain checks. Townsend bets $16,800. The villain shoves all in for $50,087. Townsend calls.

BT: He check-raises all in, and I realize that I probably have about 50 percent equity versus his range. I have to call about $33,000 to win about $125,000. I have more than enough equity to call versus his range. He shows me top two pair, and a flush draw and inside-straight draw, so I have a bit less than 20 percent equity in the hand.

Turn: 4
River: 8
The villain shows the 9 7 10 6. The villain wins the pot of $125,464 with a 10-high flush.

CT: So, a standard call there, it seems; correct?

BT: Yes. I have more than enough odds versus his range of hands. He has a lot of incentive to semibluff me, as there is a lot of money in the pot for him.
 
CT:  Let’s talk about the growth of your PLO game. I remember that two years ago, you were taking on all comers and playing at the highest stakes. Then, I read on your blog that you went through some tough variance and took some big hits, so you began to really re-evaluate your game. Can you share the process you went through, and the things you learned and how you adjusted?

BT: The main problem with my PLO game two years ago was that I hadn’t played enough hands. It takes a long time to become skillful at a game. I was overvaluing my hands from my no-limit hold’em past. I wasn’t thinking critically about hand strengths. This was one of the major things I had to overcome, but there were some smaller things, as well. When I was starting to move up to the higher-stakes PLO games, I encountered a lot more preflop aggression. I wasn’t adjusting well, and also wasn’t playing aggressively enough in three-bet pots. I was basically getting run over.

CT: What else did you do to strengthen your game plan?

BT: I wasn’t attacking the weaker players at the table well. I didn’t have a good grasp of what turn cards were profitable and to barrel with, and so on. It took a lot of table time to learn which cards were likely to hit an opponent’s range.

CT: What part of your game was strong?

BT: My sense of being very aware of position at the table. You can play a lot of hands when you have position on your opponents in PLO, as you can peel flops very lightly and represent many hands. This was something that came naturally from my no-limit hold’em play, in which position is very important. In PLO, position is even more important, as it’s much harder to push a preflop edge in PLO. Good players are very aggressive when in position preflop, realizing how important it is to take free cards when they need them.

CT: What mistakes do you see no-limit hold’em players make when making the transition to PLO?

BT: The most obvious is overvaluing hands, to which most good no-limit hold’em players quickly adjust. The concept of potting your good hands for protection is one with which most no-limit hold’em players have a lot of trouble. Let’s say that you have 100 big blinds, and you open from the button with A-K-J-5 double-suited. The aggressive small blind three-bets, and the flop comes A-8-7 with no suits, but it gives you a backdoor-flush draw. Your opponent leads for three-fourths of the pot. This is a spot where you need to raise. In no-limit hold’em, there is no analogy to this. If you had the same board in no-limit hold’em and held 9-8 or a weak ace, you would never raise, as there is more value in letting your opponent bluff and less chance of being outdrawn. Now, in this example, pretty much any turn card is going to be very hard to play — except a jack, king, or ace. I think flatting [flat-calling] here is OK if your opponent is very, very weak and will play the turn straightforwardly, but that’s very rare for high-stakes Omaha games.

CT: Great. Can you share some basic strategy tips with players just getting their feet wet in PLO cash games?

BT: Well, basically you have to put in the time. There is no way around playing lots and lots of hands. I would recommend getting as much information about the game as you can. I prefer educational videos — I am biased, of course — but reading forums or books can be helpful, as well. You also should try to discuss hands and go over strategy with people at your stakes.

Brian Townsend is a high-stakes regular in both no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha games online, and has played in the nosebleed high-stakes games around the world, including the “big game” in Bobby’s Room at Bellagio. He also is an instructor at Cardrunners.com.