Day 4: Won another small amount, and got my Stars balance up to $319. No real major hands I can remember here, but I will have to check if I saved any HH's on my computer at home.

Day 5: Ugh. Lost 3 buy-ins, and my balance went all the way back down to $244. Here, I didn't win a single race all day. Got in with wrap + flush draw vs. set and lost. Got in with set vs. flush/straight draw and lost. Got in with AAxx double-suited preflop and lost. Think I lost a sizable pot with second set to top set, which I'm worried might be becoming a leak, but it's very hard for me not to go broke with second set when there is an obvious draw out and a guy raises me in position.

Day 6: Crawled back, won a little less than 2 buy-ins, and got back to $288. About the same as when I started Day 4, but I am still learning. I experimented a lot more today with just smooth-calling OOP with marginal AAxx hands and just looking to flop a deceptive top set. I learned from my first five days that repopping AAxx out of the blinds can be a risky proposition, especially if you get more than one caller. Still, some hands, like double-suited Aces, I really can't resist raising or justify giving up equity by smooth-calling. Played one really big pot that I absolutely botched (see my "On a scale of bad to awful..." post on Non-Hold'em) but managed to win with 11 outs. Meh, that's Poker I guess. Considering all the races I lost on Day 5, I guess I'm entitled to suck out once. Still, I'm trying to be focused on my play, and I fully acknowledge that I made an absolutely abysmal play. Also, I made a straight flush in one hand yesterday and extracted some value from a J-high flush. That was fun.

So, things I've learned so far:

1. In big pots, position matter a LOT. Repopping out of the blinds is dangerous multi-way, and dangerous if you don't hit the flop in a big way. Really the only kind of hand I like to repot so far is AAxx double-suited, preferably with a live straight draw (so basically, the most premium of all Omaha hands). Maybe as I move up and fold equity increases, I can open up this range, but people just do not fold preflop at 25PLO, and you have to play complete guessing games if you miss post-flop. I guess you have to repot with equity on the theory that when you do hit, you have a chance to win a much bigger pot.

2. Overpairs and two pair are tricky. In multiway pots, I have observed that playing overpairs is pretty much like playing small pairs in Hold'em. Really, you're hoping to hit a set and play a big pot, and you aren't really happy if you don't hit that set. Heads-up, however, overpairs and two pair hands (especially top two) are considerably better hands, and I think a lot of people miss a ton of value by checking these hands back on the river when they might make a little extra. I guess this is just a subset of the Omaha principle that the more multiway the pot is, the stronger hand you have to make. Heads-up, a pair of Aces will win unimproved a fair share of the time. Multiway, you're really just looking for set and full-house value even with AA/KK. Heads-up, two pair can frequently be a value-betting hand. Multiway, it's pretty much a full house draw that you better have something else to go with. Knowing when to value bet marginal hands like two pair, non-nut straights and flushes, etc, seems to be a major component of playing the game well.

3. The number one criterion of hand selection is definitely connectedness. This concept is pretty familiar to me from my experience in O8 and Stud-8, but it's way more important in PLO. Straights are big money-makers, and more than that, straights with draws to bigger straights are probably the biggest money-makers. I used to think Omaha was this big gambling game where people only got in with wraps/flush draws vs. sets and the like. I was only half right. Another time money goes in frequently is when two people hold the nut straight, but incidentally, usually only one guy has any chance of scooping because he is the only one with a redraw in the form of two pair, a set, a higher straight draw, or a flush draw for back-up. Coin flips are an unavoidable part of this high variance game, but where you should really be looking to put the money in is with the nuts with a draw to an even better hand.

Not that they read my blog, but congrats to Mike Matusow on bracelet #3 in one of the toughest events of the WSOP, and congrats to Daniel Negreanu on bracelet #4 in the $2000 Limit Hold'em event. Also, shameless plug for people who like a lot of Poker content and aren't aware of PokerRoad, that site is getting a lot bigger and better, and they have a ton of content and podcasts. Check it out.