In PLO, no one is a Donkey.

Pre-flop raising in PLO is stupid. Nearly anybody who does it has one of two hands. Either AAxx, or KKAx.

If I call with a speculative hand in that spot and hit, invariably that person will pot it, with a naked pair of aces. At least at the levels I'm playing (10¢/25¢). You could argue that raising is just building you a bigger pot, but I dunno. I've seen it not work out enough that I don't think there's much point.

I wish that I had Pokertracker (for Mac - hurry up already) so I could see some of my stats over the last few thousand hands. But I suspect that I've won more by NOT raising preflop when holding big hands.

Which is where the Donkey comment comes in. If I happen to make a loose-ish call when I suspect someone is raising with the typical holdings, and flop something good, and win at showdown, I get called a Donkey. Is that fair? Starting hand value is so close that raising isn't really going to force anybody out. They can't really fault me for calling. PLO is a game of suckouts and bad beats, that's just how it works.

I think being good at PLO strengthens your NL game. By constantly getting it in with the best of it (and losing) it prepares you for the volatility of NLHE. It doesn't sting as much for me anymore. Plus, it really makes you look at all the angles.