Omaha
High/Low:
THE
GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
BY:
Russ Fox
"Death
is not the end; there remains the litigation
over the estate." -- Ambrose
Bierce
Last
month we lost one of the greatest Presidents
of all time, Ronald Reagan. This month
we have lost one of the best poker writers
- Andy Glazer. Andy, who I tried and tried
to get to be a speaker at ESCARGOT, is
someone I try to approach in writing skill.
His writing had depth, and kept you turning
the page like a great novelist. He will
be missed.
Andy
didn't play much Omaha - he primarily
played no limit hold'em. That doesn't
mean he wasn't a good Omaha player; based
on some comments he made to me about the
hand (below) I suspect he was quite good.
Anyway,
a few years ago when I was first attempting
to persuade Andy to be a speaker he was
talking to me while I was playing in a
$6/$12 Omaha game. I was in the big blind
and was dealt the biggest trap hand you
can have: 3
4
5
6
. The first player to act raised, and
everyone called so I threw in the extra
$6. Andy, who saw my hand, frowned. He
knew that the pot odds said that I should
call, but he still didn't like it.
The flop, though, improved my hand just
a bit: 5
5
5
. Quads make any hand look good. I checked,
the original raiser bet, four players
called and I threw in my $6. I figured
to win a pretty good size pot. The turn
was the A
. The small blind bet and I elected to
raise because I was pretty sure that everyone
would call. I was wrong: the original
raiser re-raised, and the small blind
capped the betting.
I
hoped that a high card would come on the
river but the 2 came
instead. The betting on the river was
identical to the turn. The small blind
had Aces full and got nothing. The original
raiser turned over A
2
3
4
to get � of the pot (I got the other �
with my low). Yes, my quad fives ended
up being useless.
After
the hand was completed (and after Andy
again rebuffed my efforts at getting him
to give a speech) we talked a bit about
Omaha. Andy didn't like my pre-flop call
(in spite of the pot odds I was getting).
Sure, they were great pot odds but how
likely would it be that I would know to
continue with my hand?
Sure,
it's easy to continue with a hand when
you have quads. However, what if the flop
were A
7
8
? The perfect flop comes so rarely.
I happen to agree with now with
how Andy felt about the hand. I would
need to be able to see a good flop: something
like the quads I flopped or an A2 would
suffice. Do these occur at a high enough
rate to make throwing in the additional
$6 a reasonable play?
For
a hand that can flop the nut low/nut low
draw, I think it does. But for a totally
random hand, say 2
7
9
J
, I don't think calling is a good play
even if everyone else at the table has
called. Let's say the flop is 4 8
9
. Do you stay and hope that your Jack-high
flush is the highest flush? Of course,
if you knew that it was the highest flush
you should stay but how are you going
to know?
Contrast
that hand with the hand I held; at least
with 3456 you know when you've
flopped the nut low (or low draw). Still,
both hands (with the associated flops)
are one-way hands. Winning Omaha players
voluntarily play hands that can scoop.
Any hand can flop quads - it just doesn't
happen that often. But only a few hands
are winning hands. Almost all of them
contain an Ace.
After
talking with Andy for a few minutes he
had to return to the tournament he was
playing in. And I returned to playing
Omaha. Hopefully, Andy is upstairs telling
stories, playing cards, and relaxing a
bit. He deserves it.
©
The Poker Forum.com, all rights reserved
|
