Ben Tolleren on PLO: Content Creation, Top Players, and Poker Bots

Poker pro Ben Tolleren recently shared his thoughts on various aspects of Pot Limit Omaha (PLO), including content creation, playing against top players, and the future of poker bots.

Tolleren thinks that creating content for platforms like Run It Once at high stakes such as $25/$50 and $50/$100 is not worth the effort for the compensation provided. He mentions that Phil Galfond's unique playing style makes it difficult for others to copy, as Galfond analyzes each situation with his 'giant brain' rather than providing formulas that can be memorized.

When discussing his own aggressive PLO strategy, Tolleren emphasizes the importance of understanding the theory and context behind his actions. He notes that simply copying his frequency of actions without knowing the underlying strategy can lead to mistakes. Tolleren shares his experience of waiting for action during Isildur's upswings, mentioning that he stayed up late to play against him. He also expresses skepticism about the current capabilities of poker bots in PLO, citing the complexity of the game and the need for bots to have a strategy against every possible starting hand combination. Tolleren names Sauce123, MOP, Ike Haxton, and Ben86 as the top 4 PLO players, and supernova9 as the top European player. He also discusses the concept of 'hardcore blockers' in PLO, explaining how certain cards can block multiple combinations.