Went to my FIRST sheriff's sale. Some follow up questions

[Adam Craig]

I am new to sheriff's sale but not new to real estate. I have purchased dozens of home without interior access through auction.com, hubzu, xome and I know there are guys making a living at the courthouse steps so I finally decided it was time I start going. I have someone on fiverr running title searches and they do a great job so I understand the risk with these properties. 

I went to my first sheriff's sale to listen and learn but here are some follow up questions.

1. I told one of the bidders there which houses I was interested in. He said the bank will probably buy that one back. Does that mean some of the bidders down there represent the bank or are banks just putting a reserve.

2. I heard a couple people open the first bid up with "Plantiff" - What does this mean.

3. Lake County Ohio starts the bid at 2/3 the listed appraised value. But sometimes the listed mortgage is considerably higher then the ending bid. Are these properties being sold if they dont satisfy the mortgage?

4. On the property page link below - there are 5 categoris for the status of a given property. ACTIVE/CANCELLED/BANK/PRIVATE/BANK PLTF - What does bank,private, and bank pltf mean?

https://webapps.lakecountyohio.gov/Sheriff-Sales/