Omaha High/Low:

WHERE A WIN IS A LOSS AND A LOSS IS A WIN

BY: Russ Fox

"I don’t deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either." – Jack Benny

You pick up your big blind hand and see A488. Not a bad big blind hand (you're playing in a $6/$12 Omaha game). Three players call, and the small blind, a tight player who has been on a losing streak recently, raises. You elect to call, as do the other three players. The flop shocks you: 889. You have flopped quads.

You double-check your hand and you still have quads. The dealer then prompts you to do something as the small blind has bet. You call, as do two other players. You could have raised, but if ever there is a time to slow play it's when you have the eternal nuts.

The turn is the K, and the small blind bets again. If you raise you're likely to knock out the interlopers so you decide to call. Unfortunately, the other two players fold. The river is the K, making the ever so slight possibility that the small blind could beat you. But the odds are so small there's no reason to consider it. And, besides, if this unlikely event should happen, the sign on the wall says you'll be part of the $14,000 jackpot.

The cardroom I play in gives out bad-beat jackpots. These occur when a very big hand (quad eights or better, with a pair playing from the hand or two cards for a straight flush) loses. One dollar from each pot is put into the jackpot for this game (each game and betting limits in this cardroom has a different jackpot).

Anyway, on the river, the small blind bets, you raise, and he calls and states, "Jackpot." Yes, I lost the hand. The small blind held KKTT and, miraculously, drew runner-runner Kings to beat me. I ended up winning $7,000 of the $14,000 jackpot, the small blind got $3,500, and the other players at the table (one player sat out) received $584. So you're thinking, why am I writing about this? Because I see many, many people playing for jackpots: playing hands that are horrible just for the remote chance of winning a big jackpot.

Let's take a typical hand I saw played: QQ83. Why in the world would you play this dog of a hand? "It's only $6 to see the flop, and I might hit the Jackpot." I actually heard this response from a player after he lost over $100 playing this hand.

The player had a somewhat good flop for his hand: Q72. He, for the moment, had the nut high (three Queens). He had the third nut flush draw. On the negative side, he had the third nut flush draw. Also, his low was hardly worth talking about. The betting was capped ($24), so he was $30 into the pot. Five players saw the turn of the A, which undoubtedly counterfeited someone's A3 low draw. He still had the best high hand possible (although there were now two flush draws on the board). The betting was again capped ($48), so he had put $78 into this hand. No one folded.

The River brought the 4, which made him a flush but also caused him to no longer have the nut high. The River only cost him $24 (for a total investment of $102). He finished second-second - there was no Ace-high flush but there was a King-high flush. Someone else had A366 to take the low.

A hand folded is a bet not made. A bet not made is money saved. Money saved adds to your daily/weekly/monthly/annual winnings. Thus, fold your awful hands - don't play for the jackpot! If you play enough hours, sooner or later you'll be at the table and the miracle will occur. But actively seeking it out pre-flop is wasting your money and will make a loss a bigger loss or turn a win into a loss.

However, if you play a reasonable starting hand (such as A488) and are lucky enough to flop quads, slow playing makes sense. Here, you have a realistic possibility of hitting the jackpot. Losing with this hand is a good thing. Why not give your opponents some rope to (most likely) hang themselves? If it turns out that you've hung yourself you'll be annoyed only if you end up with the third best hand and just get table share.

I was asked the day I won the jackpot whether I like jackpots. I don't because they tend to take money out of circulation from the poker tables. Usually, when someone wins $5,000 (or more) that money ends up buying a new stereo, a vacation, etc. Also, if the $1 jackpot drop were eliminated I'd win more. But jackpots do attract players - when the Omaha jackpot gets very large at the cardroom I play at there will be four games filled with fish. Overall, I shouldn't complain -- especially after depositing a $7,000 check into the bank.

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