So far, I have mentioned about Passive and Active learning and how that is going to affect your game. Now I have to ask you when are you going to risk your chips? I am not talking about short tacks and dunking. I am talking about when do you think it is right time to risk to build your stack for the later game?
We are again going into a territory between theoretical and practical approach and I would welcome both. It is not only about which hand has more chance and which has less, it also involves what situation and what type of players you will face and deal. If you have any classic experience, please share with us. It will help others to understand as well.
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You mean tournaments, right?
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LOL
YES it is. It is rather not going to matter as much i cash games than tournaments since cash game deals with hands hand by hand. But tournaments can be more tricky since you have to think of long terms as you have to progress many levels.
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Of course it all depends on the field/players at your table, but here is my general approach:
Early stages (avg. stack >100bb)
-See as many flops as possible. Play trash from late position (I’ll open hands like T7 suited from the button at a decent clip).
-Identify fish and get in as many pots with them as possible; look to build a stack by exploiting mistakes and make big hands as we can see a lot of cheap flops (many players don’t raise/3bet enough, and don’t size big enough when they do).
-Play your backdoors. If we raise with QdJd and the flop comes 3d 7c 9s, we have two overs, a backdoor straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. We should not be folding to a less-than-large bet at too high a frequency; if we complete any of our draws there’s a high chance we will have the best hand, and it will be disguised, so we can expect to extract a lot of value. If we are not taking advantage of implied odds in the early, low-blind stages (the only part of the tournament where we can even have such lucrative implied odds in the first place), we are leaving a lot of value on the table.
-Be willing to let go of a strong starting hand when facing big resistance. Most players aren’t playing their draws or medium-strength hands very aggressively at this stage, so if they fight back hard, they usually “have it” more often than not. “You can’t win the tournament in the early stages, but you can lose it.”
-That said, don’t be too scared to bust early, either. If the pot/implied odds are in your favor, be willing to go with it for a big reward. Basically I’d rather bust early chasing the nut flush than bust early calling down with 1 pair and finding I’m outkicked, or something like that.
Middle stages (avg. stack 25-50bb)
-Start tightening up, especially from early position. Be more disciplined in general about position, as 1bb is now a more significant % of our stack and calling/placing multiple bets without winning the pot will be a significant setback from here on in. I will often fold hands as strong as AJ from early position at this stage. I am more judicious with my set-mining, too, as it’s more costly to miss and be forced to give up (early stages I’m playing any pair for a reasonable size pre, looking to exploit postflop mistakes for an oversized win. mid stages I start to fold 22-55 at some frequency).
-Be relentlessly aggressive about attacking the blinds when folded to. I probably open more often than GTO says I should when the action folds to me; players don’t defend as wide as they are supposed to, so I feel this is a profitable exploit. Winning the blinds is now more significant relative to stack size, so we’re further incentivized to steal opportunistically.
-Start taking note of who is playing more hands and who seems tight. Attack the tight players’ BB even more aggressively; do the opposite when a loose player is in the BB. Apply the same logic to postflop play (if a tight player calls a raise and the flop is low, we’re basically worried about sets and nothing else. We can cbet and double/triple barrel quite liberally, knowing their range will be top-heavy. If a loose player calls, we must proceed with more caution as their range is relatively uncapped).
Late Stage/Final Table (avg. stack <20bb)
-Steal, steal, steal, steal, steal. You won’t make enough legitimately strong hands to survive the blinds if you don’t. Note which players are folding to preflop raises and pressure them as often as you can without going total spazz.
-Look for the big fold. There is usually 1 you will have to make. We open 7 7 from UTG, a player in MP 3bets and the BB, a tight player, shoves for our effective stack. Just fold and wait for a better spot; you’re unlikely to be ahead of both players, and even if you are, the EQ is kinda dicey. Against one player, we can continue. Against 2 players, we’re gonna see a higher pp too often, and when we don’t we’re often facing a combined 3 or even 4 overcards. Wait for a better spot! Survival is very lucrative now as we can ladder up just by waiting patiently while others bust.
-Look for the big call/continue. It’s also coming. Recognize that whereas in the early/mid stages, 2nd pair decent kicker was a very speculative hand, it’s now a much stronger holding as players don’t have time to wait around and make “the good stuff.” I’ve missed my share of profitable spots by failing to shift my thinking quickly enough in these late configurations.
-Know your shove/fold ranges, and don’t be afraid to use them. Most players are far too tight from the SB/BB. For example, off a 15bb stack in the SB, if action folds to us then KTo and Q7 suited are reasonably profitable shoves. A5o is a very profitable shove.
-On the bubble, remember that your opponents are just as scared of busting as you are. For close decisions, erring on the side of more aggression will often be profitable. Don’t be afraid to bubble—you’ll win more in the long run by exploiting the fact that everyone ELSE is scared to do so, too.
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Thanks!
What is the best position and tactics to use to steal blinds in late game? In order of position preference, dealer, CO, MP, etc.
My style would be to call pre-flop and then bet the flop.
I’m just starting tournaments and have seen effective stealing when I get to final table (only a couple times). But I agree, the cards sometimes just don’t cooperate. I’d only try as semi-bluff the vast majority of the time.
I know it depends on player temperament.
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Often when I get moved to a new table I will start feeling out the player to my left. I do more stealing from the SB than any other position, as you only have to make 1 player fold.
The next time action folds to you in the SB, try minraising the BB. If they snap-fold it means they had the “fold” box checked. This often indicates a tighter player who is going to take up to 70-80% of their preflop range and not even consider putting more chips in the middle. Punish these players aggressively by min-raising their BB every time it folds to your SB. By the time they adjust—if they ever do—you’ve probably already stolen from them 3-4 times.
There are other generalizations (i.e. on the bubble, steal from a medium-short stack when very short stacks are still in the tournament; if paying attention, these medium stacks should be very reluctant to get into raised pot confrontations that could put them all-in on later streets while there are other players just about to bust and put the rest in the $$ payout)… but you’re right that “player temperament” and gameflow dynamics play a big role in when/how to steal.
Some games the blinds are by far the easiest way to get free chips. Other games, people aren’t folding much preflop but are playing very face-up fit-or-fold post flop, where your strategy (limp/call pre and then try to steal the pot on the flop) would be more effective.
Basically, one of the most widespread leaks in NLHE is that people don’t defend wide enough—even against consistent and obviously overbluffing aggression. So personally, a lot of my stealing strategy involves taking some of my marginal call/fold hands, along with
a few of my really bad hands, and turning them into bluffs either pre or post flop. If I get played back at or villain seems to confidently call, I will shut down (and that’s no big deal as my hand didn’t have much EQ in the first place). If my bluff gets through, it’s a big win for my range (I won a pot with a hand that isn’t expected to win much).
Try not to semi-bluff/steal too often with your medium-strong hands, which is a common mistake. These hands should also find some bluffs but for the most part you want to play them more straight-up, as getting raised off your EQ is a bigger deal now (since you had more equity in the first place).
Oh, and to your question about position—of course, the fewer players left to act behind, the more likely a steal attempt is to succeed 
I hope this was the kind of answer you were looking for!
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Thank you. I copied this to a Word file I’ve made and used it in a tournament today.
This steal tactic didn’t work well in a Hi/Lo setting. But your other stuff on end game tactic was gold. I did muck some good hands to let others take each other out. Then got lucky with some big hands at the end to win. I don’t think it was as much my skill as I got the cards.
But looking at PTO theory for the first time, I was happy to see that I have the inconsistency part down. I really need to get into the numbers at some point, but right now I’m so overwhelmed with new concepts that I’m just trying to stay slow.
Let me know if this is a violation of this board’s policy to ask about another company, but is PLO Mastermind with their trainer worthwhile? I learned how to play backgammon really well by using GNU Backgammon as a trainer and getting the percentages ingrained in my game. I’d like to do that with Omaha Hi/Lo.
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I haven’t purchased any poker training in NLHE or OHL, and I’m not familiar with the resource you’re asking about. Reddit tells me Mastermind is created by JNandez; there was some controversy about whether or not he’s been scummy, but he’s never been in doubt as one of the world experts in PLO theory. So hard to imagine it’s not a solid resource.
Evidently, per Reddit, the course is mostly (exclusively?) helping you learn preflop ranges by position, which should be highly valuable. Redditors note that the postflop instruction is mostly HU which can be limiting as in reality, you’ll often reach the flop multiway and these spots can be harder to evaluate with a solver/less realistic (people don’t play like the computer does at equilibrium, so while GTO is never “losing” long run, non-GTO exploits may be even more profitable in many spots).
And yeah the aforementioned stealing tactic will be less successful in OHL as players feel more comfortable seeing the flop with pretty much anything. I still do fine bullying weak/passive players, but you may have to work a bit harder to establish that you’re gonna be a pain in the neck post-flop if they put up resistance. Eventually their spirit breaks and they just fold 80% of their range to your raises preflop 
But I definitely think Omaha, in all its variants, tends to involve more postflop navigation (though players definitely overdo this and overlook the importance of still playing proper ranges pre)
Oh, and specifically for OHL, a really simple and effective tactic is anytime you have the nut hi OR not lo, take the most aggressive line possible. Check-raise all in; open-shove 3x the pot, whatever—just apply max pressure however seems most pressure-y in the moment. Force your opponent to a decision for all their chips as to whether they’re gonna chop, get quartered, or get scooped. Worst case they call and you chop.
Yes sometimes multi-way this will backfire and you will quarter yourself, but for the most part it’s a very +EV play.
But definitely just learning the proper preflop ranges will make you instantly profitable here and probably a mild winner in low-stakes live cash OHL games without doing anything else. You can shove for 50bb pre with AA25 double-suited and get called by K953; it’s wild lol
I bought one of Nandez’s books and it’s next on the list. I have to review the last one I finished (a 1992 book I’m sure people would laugh at but it has what seems like lots of good poker strategy meta advice - both 7 card stud and OHL - Ray Zee High-Low-Split Poker).
As to the site and the trainer, I later got to the subscription part where it’s $200/month. So I’ll pass since I have no desire to play in cash games much (maybe a cruise or going to Vegas to visit family). But I really want to find a OHL trainer to play through a lot of hands fast and get immediate statistical feedback like I did for backgammon (I know there are many more degrees of freedom in OHL so I may be naive. But with computing power, the product should be there.)
Finally, yes. OHL is a game of nuts. As you pointed out nuts can be quartered. But from Zee’s book and my limited experience, hi nuts are usually worth all in but low nuts not so much. Most people draw to lows on this site since they are easier to see and thus others are more likely to have the low nuts (plus lows are only a simple series whereas Highs are much more varied as they involve suits and pairs /trips so less likely to be quartered). So Zee actually says he would sometimes throw out nut lows or nut low draws with too many people in the pot.
A thing about OHL is that while you may have the nuts on the flop, that can change often on the turn or river. I imagine that is true on hold-em too but less so given the additional cards in OHL as well as hi & low. So that makes extracting equity challenging as too high a raise gets people out but too low leaves them in for the draw. I’ve made a mess of that aspect a bunch of times.
Anyway back to OP, I usually risk all my chips only with nut highs or I’m pretty sure I have a good high and the villain is going low. (But you never know for sure since people deceive in poker - gasp.)
I agree on pre-flop strength, there are quick estimates which can be done which I use (pairs, suited, low cards, face cards, ect).
Take care