The PLO Rounds Are Where Stacks Go to Die in Mixed Events

Thirty-five players remain in WSOP Event #28, the $600 Mixed NLH/PLO Deepstack, and the chip leader — Julio Abreu at 3.6 million — nearly tripled up while the field lost almost half its players in a single level push.

When the final day's first milestone hit at 66 players, the chip leader was Travis Macmillan, a two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner from Canada with $375K in lifetime cashes, sitting on 3,000,000. By the time the field shrank to 35, Macmillan had chipped up to 3,285,000 — a modest 9.5% gain. Abreu, meanwhile, exploded from outside the top-five leaderboard to 3,600,000 and the outright lead.

The story isn't Abreu's heater, though. It's the 31 players who vanished between those two snapshots. Mixed NLH/PLO events are showing up on the WSOP schedule more frequently, and the strategic writing on how to actually navigate the format switch is almost nonexistent. So let's fix that.

The single most dangerous moment in a mixed event isn't a bad beat — it's the orbit where the dealer pushes the button card from "No-Limit Hold'em" to "Pot-Limit Omaha" and half the table doesn't adjust.

Why PLO Rounds Eat Short Stacks Alive

In a pure NLH tournament, a 15-big-blind stack has a clear playbook: pick a spot, shove, and let fold equity do the work. The math is well-understood, the ranges are narrow, and a shove with A-9 offsuit at 15 BBs is often perfectly fine.

PLO destroys that playbook in three ways.

1. You can't shove light and expect folds. In PLO, starting-hand equities run much closer together than in hold'em. A hand like A♠K♦7♣2♥ — which looks strong — is only about 57% against a random double-suited rundown. That's a coinflip, not a domination. Your opponents know this, so they call your shoves wider. Fold equity evaporates.

2. Pot-limit structure caps your aggression. You literally cannot open-shove for 15 BBs in PLO. The maximum first-in raise is pot — roughly 3.5 BBs from the button. That means you're playing post-flop poker with a stack that was designed to avoid post-flop poker. Short stacks in PLO rounds are forced into spots they have no business being in.

3. Multi-way pots are the default. PLO hands play better multi-way because of the equity compression. When three or four players see a flop, the short stack's edge with any single hand shrinks further. In NLH, you can isolate. In PLO, good luck.

The Adjustment That Matters Most

Look at the two players who maintained or grew their stacks from the 66-player mark to 35: Macmillan (3,000,000 → 3,285,000) and John Ghosn (2,750,000 → 3,300,000, a 20% jump on $9,359 in career earnings — the man is running hot). Both entered the stretch with big stacks.

That's not a coincidence. Big stacks in mixed events have an asymmetric advantage during PLO rounds because they can play position, see flops in the pot-limit structure, and put pressure on medium stacks who are terrified of busting before the game switches back to NLH.

So here's the framework.

When you're deep (40+ BBs)

• Open wider in PLO rounds, but only in position. Double-suited connected hands from the cutoff and button print money against scared stacks.
• Flat more three-bets in position instead of four-betting. PLO pots bloat fast. Keep the pot manageable and use your positional edge post-flop.
• Target the 12-20 BB stacks relentlessly. They can't shove, they can't re-pot comfortably, and they hate playing PLO flops out of position.

When you're short (under 20 BBs)

• Tighten dramatically in PLO rounds. Your opening range from early position should be premium rundowns and big pairs with suits — that's it. No speculative junk.
• Time your aggression for NLH rounds. If you have 14 BBs and the format is about to switch back to hold'em in two orbits, survive. Don't punt 14 BBs into a PLO pot where three players are calling. Wait for the NLH round, find your shove spot, and let fold equity work again.
• Never open-limp. It's tempting when you feel lost in PLO to just see a cheap flop. But limping with a short stack is bleeding chips into pots you can't control. If your hand isn't good enough to pot it, muck it.

The Jin Xin Lesson

China's Jin Xin sat at 2,300,000 when the field was 66 and has grown to 2,800,000 at 35 — a 21.7% increase. Xin entered both snapshots in the top five without ever holding the chip lead. That's the template: steady accumulation, not wild swings. In a mixed event, the player who avoids catastrophic PLO pots and picks up chips in controlled NLH spots will almost always ladder.

One Heuristic to Take to the Table

Here's the rule: when the format switches to PLO rounds, pretend you have two-thirds of your actual stack. If you have 30 BBs, play like you have 20. If you have 15, play like you have 10. This mental adjustment forces tighter ranges, fewer speculative calls, and more patience — exactly the behaviors that keep you alive until the game flips back to NLH and your shove-fold toolkit works again.

Abreu is at 3.6 million. Macmillan, Ghosn, and Xin are all above 2.7 million. The 31 players who busted between the two milestones had one thing in common: they played PLO rounds like NLH rounds with extra cards.

Don't be the 32nd.