Still Learning How To Play Omaha High-Low

A situation came up last night at my weekly poker game that still has me curious as to whether I made the correct play or not.  If you go by results only, then no, I made a poor decision that cost me about $250.  Yet, in the moment I felt it was the correct decision, despite being told by a better player whom I respect that I made an incorrect decision.

Here are the details.  We are seven-handed and alternating between hold'em and Omaha (with the dealer choosing the game and whether it is high only or high-low).  I am seated in the big blind with $315 in front of me and the game is Omaha high-low with blinds of $1-2 and it is $5 to come in.  I am dealt As-Qs-8c-3h.  The two players after me fold and the guy in the highjack seat raises to $15 (with a starting stack of $450).  The cutoff and button both call (starting stacks are $775 and $625, respectively).  The small blind folds and I call.  There is $61 in the pot.

The flop comes 9s-5d-3s.  I am first to act and have bottom pair, a nut-flush draw, and only three cards to a low.  I feel I have two options and that is to either make a blocking bet and hope it doesn't get raised or check and see what it is going to cost me to hang around for the flush draw.  Being first to act with three players behind me, one of which raised pre-flop, I didn't think I wanted to put any unnecessary money in the pot and a blocking bet of $20-30 wouldn't accomplish much.  I would either be raised by the original raiser or the other two players who had big chip stacks would put some pressure on me with sizable raises sniffing out my weakness.  I elected to check.

The original raiser also checked sending action to the cutoff.  Whether being the chip leader influenced his decision or not, he led out for a bet of $50, which is pretty normal for this guy as he likes to make big bets and put opponents to the test for large amounts of money (side story: on the final hand of the night the same guy made an all-in flop bet of $300 into a pot of about $100; that's just his style of play and he usually is either the big winner or big loser for the night).

The button thought for well over a minute about what he wanted to do and he decided to call the $50.  With $161 in the pot and a player behind me who initially raised pre-flop and checked the flop, it is $50 to me to call with my bottom pair, nut flush draw, and low hand that needs runner-runner to qualify (eight or lower that doesn't match what is already out there).  At this point I have $300 left.  I have to figure even if I do ever make it to the low it likely isn't going to be good unless the turn or river is a two.  So that means the best-case scenario I can hope for is I improve on my pair of threes (by hitting another three) or hit a spade for the nut flush to win the entire pot if a low doesn't qualify.  The worst-case scenario with still winning money is the same as best-case scenario but a low does qualify and I win half the pot (I just can't realistically think that I will win the low even with a two coming on the turn/river and another low card coming as well; remember, I need runner-runner low cards to qualify).

Although I am still learning how to play Omaha, I have figured out rather quickly that people don't slow play big hands, but they also bet draws pretty frequently as well since you have four cards in your hand to work with and there are so many possibilities to hit something for a big hand.  It is not unusual for two pair to be a horrible winning hand and it normally takes a straight or better to win.  With that being said, I've frequently seen people get all the money in with one player having a flush draw and another having a set (which is quite frequent to see with so many players holding so many cards).

After rambling on for this long, I think you can tell that I am trying to convince all my readers that calling or raising is a bold play here with such slim odds to win the full pot and risking so much to win half usually isn't a winning strategy in the long term.  I elected to fold my hand since I was worried that even if I hit a spade for the nut flush I would likely still have to avoid the board pairing to give someone a full house, since with that big of a bet and call I couldn't fathom one of the two players to have acted already not having a set.

Before I proceed with what happened after that I would like you to reflect on whether my fold was incorrect, correct, horrible, or a pretty standard fold that shouldn't have even made it on this website for discussion.

Okay, have you berated me enough?  Let's move on.

The original raiser decided to implement the check-raise and he made it $175 total.  The cutoff and button both thought for a bit and decided to call.  There is now $586 in the pot.

It should be noted, had I decided to call the $50 I probably would have been forced to go the distance with it because that would have meant there was $636 in the pot and it was $125 to me to call and if I do call I would have been left with $125 behind.  In all likelihood, if I called the $50 I probably would have moved all in after the pre-flop raiser's check-raise.  What reason would I have to hang on to the final $125?  If the other three players are willing to put in nearly $200 each at this point, what is another $125 to win a giant pot (or at least half of it)?

The turn was the seven of spades, creating a board of 9s-5d-3s-7s.  I have now completed my nut flush and am one step closer to making a low hand (except I have folded and cannot win anything).  Interestingly, the original pre-flop raiser who check-raised the flop decides to check the turn.  Normally I would think he is scared of the flush and was trying to push people out of drawing to the spade on the flop with something like a set or top two pair, but if you were going to price people out of drawing, why check the flop and risk it going check-check behind you for a free card or allowing the players to build a bigger pot so that when you do make your check-raise you have enticed more action by building a bigger pot and giving them the idea that they need to defend the money they have already put out there with their flop bet?  So, with that in mind I figured he had hit a big hand and was trying to show weakness so that he could string his opponents along for a little longer, which really doesn't make a ton of sense either because he only has $260 left and going all in with his hand is likely going to get called by at least one player, if not both.  That sort of makes me now question the line of thinking I have had up to this point.

So the pre-flop raiser/flop check-raiser checks the turn and the cutoff (who, remember, is chip leader) goes all in for his remaining $585.  The cutoff doesn't take too long to call for his remaining $435.  There is now $1,456 in the pot (really it is $1,606, but $150 of the chip leaders bet is coming back since he has everyone covered).  I am absolutely positive one of them has the nut low and I assume the other has at least a set, maybe a straight, and possibly the king-high flush (since I'm the dumb-dumb who folded the nut flush).

With that much money in the pot and only $260 left, I'm not sure what the pre-flop raiser was thinking, but he folds.  I understand that there are times when if you think you are beat you should fold and save your money, but there are also times when you are getting five-and-a-half-to-one odds on your money to win a huge pot and you should take a risk.  He had already risked nearly half his starting stack and if he had tried to aggressively push players out of the pot with nothing but a bluff on the flop then it was a poor decision as both players had already shown that they were pretty happy with their hands when they made a pot-sized bet and call.

So the action is done and we have a river to come.  It is the king of clubs.  The pre-flop raiser who just folded now throws a fit (which I don't understand and you won't either when I reveal his hand).

The board is 9s-5d-3s-7s-Kc and the two players remaining flip their cards.  The chip leader shows Ah-10d-8c-2d for a nut low and nothing for a high.  The button players shows Ac-Jc-9h-2h.  This gives him a tying hand for the low and a winning high hand of a pair of nines.  The pre-flop raiser shows Ks-Kd and said one of his other two cards was a spade giving him the second-nut flush.  So if he had the flush on the turn, why did a third king matter?  Baffling!

Ultimately I would have won half the pot with my nut flush, which would have resulted in turning my $315 stack into a $565 stack.  You might say I was too timid in my play and should have taken a chance with the nut flush, but I just couldn't fathom with such a big bet and a call on the flop that I wasn't drawing to a flush that could end up being bested by a boat if the board paired anything, and that's assuming I even get there with a third spade.

I'm curious to know what others think of this because so far I have only the opinion of one other player and he said I should have called, which would have committed me to everything once the check-raise, call, call happened on the flop.  Had I called the $50 bet and then re-raised all in after the pre-flop raiser made his check-raise I likely would have gotten him to come along for the extra $125, which would have increased my winning half to $630.

Despite folding this monster hand, I did end up winning for the night.  I took home a profit of $350 ($400 of which came from the cash game).  Last night's win puts me back in the black for the year and I am on pace to reach some of my financial goals for 2017.

Am I Too Amateurish To Understand This Play?

Last week I was involved in a hand that I felt was a bit reckless(I folded pre-flop, but was still at the table when the events to be transcribed on this blog happened), but after contemplating it and considering it from other angles I'm starting to question whether it was a brilliant play and I'm just not a good enough player to recognize its genius.

We were playing a tournament and there were seven players at the table.  The blinds were $300-600.  After the blinds posted and the cards were dealt, the player under the gun called for $600.  The next player raised it to $1,800.  The player to the immediate left of the raiser called the $1,800.  I then folded and the player on my left (who was dealing) called the $1,800.

This gets the action back to the small blind and there is currently $6,900 in the pot.  The small blind announces a re-raise for $6,000 more, making the total bet $7,800.  This puts $14,400 in the pot.  The big blind immediately folded.  So now action is back on the player under the gun who limped for $600.

Unless he is trying to be really sneaky with aces or kings by limping and waiting for an aggressive player behind him to raise it so he can do a re-raise, it is pretty obvious he is folding.  While he took his time to do so, he did eventually fold.

With $14,400 in the pot, it is now up to three players to call for $6,000,  re-raise an additional $6,000 or more, or fold.  The original raiser thought for about two minutes and eventually folded.  The player to my right also thought for about an additional minute and folded.  Both stated that had they been last to act and not had to worry about the players behind them they would have called.  The dealer then made a quick fold.

So the re-raise from the small blind was a profitable play with little stress as nobody called.  Without revealing the hands just yet, I'm curious what kind of hand you would need to make the play that the small blind made.  Obviously if you are holding aces, kings, queens, and possibly A-K, then that re-raise is in the wheelhouse of most poker players.  But past that, you are getting into a deeper level of hold'em than the ABC's of poker that many game theory books profess.  On the surface, making a re-raise into five players, three of which have shown initial strength, requires a premium hand.  However, now that I've thought things through a little longer I am starting to wonder whether making a squeeze play wouldn't be beneficial with dang near any decent hand.

The reason I've had this change of heart is because you really only have to get past the initial raiser to probably win the hand.  Let me explain a little further.  When the small blind made his re-raise to $7,800, he had the big blind (who is likely folding as they have any two random cards and the likelihood of lucking into a top quality hand at this moment is pretty slim) and the under-the-gun limper (who, again, likely was wanting to see a cheap flop and didn't take his position into mind when calling), who both were likely folding for the reasons explained previously in this sentence.  Now we get to the initial raiser.

I don't remember exactly what the chip counts were, but let's assume that everyone is near the same amount and the $6,000 re-raise wouldn't put anyone all in.  It would be a large dent to your tournament livelihood, but if you call and fold on the flop there is still enough in your stack to survive.  You'll have to be pickier with hand selection, but it isn't completely crippling.

Unless the original raiser has a premium, top-tier hand, with two players behind he probably isn't calling the $6,000.  He has to assume somebody has him beat of the three players remaining and will likely fold.  And then you get to the two players who simply called the $1,800 raise.  They can't have hands they are particularly in love with because they would likely have re-raised themselves following the initial $1,800 raise.

So from the perspective of the small blind, you really only have to avoid one of about three or four hands from the initial raiser to make this play profitable.  And if you do happen to run into a really big hand from the initial raiser, he will either get cute and smooth call, allowing you to possibly hit a big hand, or put in a third raise and let you know immediately where you stand.

Therefore, you don't necessarily need a big hand to make this play.  It can be profitable by just showing great strength and avoiding a big hand from the initial raiser.  No one else has shown that they are willing to put a ton of chips in the pot with their medium-strength hands.

I've talked myself into this squeeze play being well-executed and I don't utilize that strategy enough in my own play.

For those interested in results, the small blind made his re-raise with pocket nines.  The under-the-gun player had something like A-10 offsuit.  The initial raiser had pocket tens.  The player to the left of the initial raiser had A-K offsuit.  And the dealer was just hoping for an $1,800 flop with J-9 suited.

The nines weren't in a great spot had he simply called the raise and the pocket tens would have tripped up on the flop.  Well done squeeze play.  Well done.

Year-End Weatherford Tournament Results

I didn't have the great results I'd hoped for, but I did end up making the money (although that wasn't that hard to do).

My starting chip stack was below average and despite winning a decent number of pots in the early rounds, I never could catch up to the average stack in the room.  Players dropped out rather quickly at the beginning of the tournament (which isn't that surprising since most of them rely on the re-buys to have success in the normal weekly game).  I did feel that my overall strategy and implementation of that strategy was good.  Really, the only mistake I made in the tournament was the last hand I played.

With 18 players starting in the tournament, we were down to the final 10 and with one more player to be knocked out we would combine to a final table of nine.  There was one player at our table who had nearly all the chips and the rest of us were trying to survive.  Unfortunately, a few of the other short stacks at the table were doubled up and I couldn't ever get a hand to take a chance with at doubling my stack.  So while the blinds continued to rise, my stack never really increased at the same level.

Luckily for me, a player with a really great hand ended up being cooled by the big stack at the table and was eliminated in tenth place.  So we then went to nine players at a single table.  This is where I messed up.  I was in the eighth spot at the table and wouldn't be a blind for another five hands when I was dealt A-7 suited.  The action had folded to me and with only two players to not have acted and the two blinds left, I decided to try and steal the blinds and survive another round.  I moved all in.  The player to my immediate left considered his chip stack, which wasn't much more than mine, and he eventually called with A-K offsuit (which I felt was a no-brainer, but he isn't a big gambler).  The other players folded and I ended up missing a flush draw that came out on the flop.  I did hit a seven on the turn, but he had already paired his king on the flop.

So I was out in ninth place and made $50.  I worked so hard to make the final table with my small chip stack and then when I finally did I risked everything with a marginal all-in hand in late position.  Maybe I am being results-oriented because my plan to steal the blinds wasn't a bad one since there weren't many people left to make a decision behind me.  However, I probably should have passed on this situation and waited for a slightly better hand to make a stand.  Especially since going through the blinds once wouldn't have been the end of my tournament, but it would have severely crippled me and made my stack meaningless.  Implementing the sit-and-wait strategy would only have helped if I got a better all-in hand in the next four (unlikely) or had folded long enough to wait out one or two more spots to make a little more money (also unlikely).

The results of the tournament were as follows:

Andy H. - 1st place

Paul M. - 2nd place

Wes M. - 3rd place

Scott F. - 4th place

Jason H. - 5th place

J.P. - 6th place

Darrel K. - 7th place

Dennis W. - 8th place

Matt C. - 9th place

Brandon H. 10th place

Jason S. - 11th place

Troy J. - 12th place

Michael B. - 13th place

Brandon C. - 14th place

Paul D. - 15th place

Danny S. - 16th place

Mark J. - 17th place

Randall W. - 18th place

I expect next year to do better as I will have gained more knowledge, refined my strategy, and increased my starting stack.  Unfortunately I have to wait about 11 months for that to happen.