How It Is

While playing in a rather loose $20-$40 Omaha high-low game at Casinos Europa in Costa Rica, one of the California visitors asked me if I would object to having a kibitzer. I certainly didn't object, but I warned him that he might not see much action, since I fold a large number of hands.

True to my word, I folded the next five hands before the flop. Then, on my big blind, I picked up the 5 4, and an ace and a 3. A player who usually played only good starting hands raised from second position and it was folded around to me – a rare occurrence in that game.

I defended my blind. As the dealer centered the chips and prepared to flop, the kibitzer whispered in my ear, "Why didn't you reraise?" I whispered back to him that I didn't reraise because I rated to be an underdog. He said, "Oh, I can't believe that!" I said, "Believe it!"

The simple truth of the matter is that all wonderful low hands, such as A-2-3-4, are not as good when heads up. So, whenever a hand seems to be shaping up to be a heads-up dogfight, it obviously is important to know where you stand with four low cards.

Note that the hand, A-3-4-5 with the 5-4 suited, wins about 54.5 percent of the time against a random hand (as simulated on Mike Caro's Poker Probe). But, against an ace and three random cards, that hand wins only about 46 percent of the time (a preflop raiser generally has an ace). And against an A-2 and two random cards, or two aces and two random cards, the A-3-4-5 wins slightly less than 42 percent of the time. Thus, I rated to be a slight underdog.

The flop came J 8 and a 3. I checked, my opponent bet $20, and I called. Note that having even the nut-low draw after the flop is not enough to yield a positive expectation if the hand does not have much high potential (I had the second-nut low draw).

The turn card was the 5. He bet the $40. Now, I had both the second-nut low and two pair, which was more than enough to call with but no reason to get excited. I could possibly be beat both ways (preflop raisers often have A-2), or "get quartered" (lose three-fourths of the pot).

The last card was the 6. It didn't help me, but it might have helped my opponent (giving him a straight or a second pair). He bet the $40. Obviously, I had to call – but I wouldn't have been surprised to lose both ways (for example, if he held an A-2-4). I certainly didn't consider raising.

Surprisingly, my opponent threw his hand down on the table with disgust. He had a king and a queen, and the 10 9 (a straight-flush draw on the flop). But, he had hit nothing. I was actually rather surprised to scoop the pot.

Note that my opponent's preflop raise with a high-only hand (four cards all 9 or higher) is unwise in Omaha high-low. High hands are mainly playable with a high flop (two or three cards 9 or higher, which occurs about one time in four) and with a large number of preflop callers (most of whom will have mainly low cards). A preflop raise tends to decrease the number of callers, which might make the payoff of the pots you win inadequate to offset the much larger number of pots that you lose.

As the dealer was dealing the next hand, my kibitzer asked, "Why didn't you raise him at the end?" I replied, "I was much closer to folding than raising."

He shook his head in total disbelief. He clearly did not understand that many opponents would be quite likely to hold an A-2 for an early-position raise (if they are the type of players who raise before the flop only with an A-2 or pocket aces).

Perhaps the main reason why loose Omaha high-low games enable expert players to win more per hour than expert hold'em players ("pros") is that most average or poor Omaha high-low players have little or no knowledge of many of these basic concepts.

Editor's note: For a better understanding of many Omaha and hold'em basic concepts, get Poker at the Millennium by Caro and Cappelletti, which should be available at Christmastime.