Those Treacherous Trap Hands in Omaha High-low By Shane Smith

Editor's note: Shane Smith, Tom McEvoy's guest columnist for this issue, presents a roundup of some of the worst Omaha high-low trap hands to avoid.

Trap hands in Omaha high-low are those that look pretty but act ugly. Five general types of trap hands to avoid are:

1. A-2 without another low card. With no extra outs for a low draw, this hand often gets counterfeited. It seems to be a cruel trick of the poker gods that this usually happens on the river, after it has cost you a bundle to draw to it.

2. A-A without connectors or suited cards. Aces are far more powerful in Omaha high than in Omaha high-low. For example, suppose the flop comes A-10-4. Anyone with a hand such as 2-3-4-5, K-Q-J-10, or A-2-3-X will be drawing to this flop. Usually, you cannot raise these players out of their draws in a multiway pot. If another wheel card comes, you probably will lose to a wheel; if a high connector comes, you may lose to the high straight. Your only win may be for the board to pair.

3. K-K-J-X or J-10-9-X without the third connector or suited cards. Big pairs are also stronger holdings in Omaha high than in Omaha high-low. High hands lose value (especially the three-legged ones) when two low cards appear on the flop. Play them cautiously.

T.J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy wrote in Championship Omaha, "K-Q-J-6, three high cards with a dangler. Who the hell wants to play that kind of hand?! We've seen players call half a bet with hands like that in the small blind in an unraised pot, but why waste the money? The only time you should be playing this type of hand is when you're dealt it in the big blind in an unraised pot.

"Suppose you're playing in a tournament at the $400-$800 level and you're in the small blind for $200. It costs you $200 to complete the bet, and you do. If you don't flop anything to your K-Q-J-6 or Q-J-10-5, that's $200 lost. But with that same $200 in your stack in a later position, you might get four-way action and that $200 becomes $800. At a later period, you could win $600 or $800 with that $200 you lost. You have to think about these things all the time, because in tournament play you can't go back to your pocket. You should always be thinking like a pilot, flying ahead of the plane."

4. Four cards to a low straight. Expert players usually will fold this type of hand because when a low straight is possible, a nut low is also out there, thus giving them a draw for only half the pot with no potential for a scoop. Of course, the lowest end of a high straight is usually a stone-cold loser.

In the newest Omaha book on the market, Omaha High-Low: Play to Win With the Odds by Bill Boston, the author lists several trap hands. In his statistical analysis of 5,277 Omaha high-low hands, Boston notes that 3-4-5-6 ranks 976th out of 5,277 hands, and 4-5-6-7 ranks 3,480th out of 5,277. "If your hand has a middle-straight possibility only, muck it unless you are in the blind and there is no raise. When you make a straight that is lower than the best possible straight, you normally are trapped and playing dead. Of course, in a tournament with few players remaining, any straight may be good; therefore, these hands may be considered, based on your position and the action in front of you."

T.J. Cloutier adds to Boston's advice: "If you get any action on a hand such as 3-4-5-6 in a three- or four-way pot and the flop comes K-7-2, you might think that you have a pretty good low draw. But if somebody plays with you, he probably has an A-3 in his hand and you're in real bad shape. You want to stay away from these types of run-down hands – 8-7-6-5, 7-6-5-4, 6-5-4-3.

"Even 2-3-4-5 can be a trap: It looks just good enough to play if you're willing to draw to the 2-3 for low. A lot of people are going to play 2-3-4-5 because they're hoping to catch an ace on the flop, and, in fact, you don't want to play an aceless 2-3 hand unless you also have the 4-5. However, if no ace comes on the flop, you only have the third-best low to draw to. Then what do you do with the hand?

"Remember that in a cash game where people can go to their pockets, they play a lot of strange hands, but in a tournament it's different – the kinds of cards people play is pretty cut-and-dried. This is why you can be a little more flexible at times in tournaments. You have an advantage when you have a pretty fair idea about what cards they have and they do not have any idea about what you have. Then, when you have cards that you're fairly certain are live, and it won't cost you much, you might play a hand that you wouldn't otherwise play. It all depends on how the game is being played at your table at that time."

5. "Any ace" hands such as A-4-7-10 or A-6-9-J, particularly when the ace is not suited. Boston's advice on these types of hands is: "Playing for low when they hold a two-gap hand is a costly mistake that many Omaha high-low players make. An example of a two-gapper is A-4-5-9, in which you need to catch a deuce and a trey to make a wheel. The odds of flopping a 2 and a 3 are more than 100-to-1, making this a potential trap hand that may wind up costing you many chips. Unsuited, two-gap hands are candidates for the muck unless you are in the blind in an unraised pot."

As McEvoy would say, "If we can avoid the mine fields, we can make it to the winner's circle, where I hope to meet you soon."

Editor's note: Shane Smith is the author of Omaha Hi-Lo: How to Win at the Lower Limits, and Poker Tournament Tips From the Pros, both of which are available through Card Player. For more information on Smith's, Cloutier's, and Boston's books, visit www.pokerbooks.com.