A Few Pot-Limit Problems

As readers of this magazine probably know, I started my poker career playing limit hold'em almost exclusively for more than two years. After I had moved up to the middle and higher limits, my next step was moving up to pot-limit, which has now become my favorite betting structure. If you are not very familiar with this type of betting yet, TwoPlusTwo has a good forum on big-bet poker, where serious discussions take place regarding pot-limit and no-limit live games. From time to time, I contribute to the forum myself. In this column, I will share with you three pot-limit problems that were posted on this forum in threads I was involved in.

Problem No. 1: Pot-limit Omaha

I have the J 9 8 7 in the big blind. There are four limpers to me. (Although I saw a free play, I probably would have limped with this hand from the button and maybe even the cutoff. Is that poor preflop selection or is it fine in late position?) My stack is about 100 times the big blind, and most of my opponents have me covered or nearly so.

The flop is J-10-8 with one heart, giving me top and bottom pair, a baby straight, and a backdoor flush draw. Is this flop worth betting into the field with? Almost any card on the turn can hurt me. If anyone calls me, I'll probably have to surrender on the turn.

I chose to bet the pot and got called in two places. My plan was to keep betting if a small rag came off, and to stop betting if any card above a jack came, if the 10 paired, or if a 9 or 7 came. The turn was the A, making the board J-10-8-A with two diamonds. I check-folded.

Did I do anything wrong here, at any stage?

My reply:

I think I would have checked the flop, even though your hand might be good now and a case can be made for playing your hand exactly the way you did. If you get called, you have a big problem: You don't know if your opponents are drawing or simply want to wait for the turn to raise with the nuts (if they hold the dry Q-9, for example). The reason I probably would have checked is that there are too many cards on the board that limpers love. In fact, it would be highly unlikely for none of them to have J-J, 10-10, Q-9, or even A-K-Q, and any one of those hands might decide to become aggressive to see if you can take the heat. For example, if I had A-K-Q-X against the big blind betting out in an unraised pot, I might very well raise pot to see if my opponent (you, in this case) is willing to go broke with his hand in a nothing pot to begin with. The question is: Are you willing to stand a raise with your hand? The answer: Of course not. Even though your starting hand is fine, against this flop, you have a problem hand, as there is not a single nut card for you in the deck. So, I would say: Check the hand on the flop, and against any substantial action, simply release the hand. That said, if it gets checked to the button who is a very loose bettor and the other players are unlikely to be bagging a good hand, you might try to win the pot then and there, as your hand does have some value in a heads-up situation, and is in fact probably the best hand. If it is, your opponent is unlikely to have the right odds to call your raise, and you will have secured a small pot with a very vulnerable hand, which is a good thing. If the pot gets big (that is, you cannot make your opponents lay down their hands), you will have to be very lucky to win it. Now, if the button is in there with 9-7 also (for the same straight you have), it is almost impossible for him to call your raise if he doesn't have any other outs, and by playing like this, you will have made him lay down a probable split.

Problem No. 2: Pot-limit hold'em

I have A-Q and am last to act in a $5-$5 pot-limit hold'em game. There are a few callers, I raise the pot, and get called in two places. The flop comes K J 10, giving me the nut straight. The first player comes out betting the pot ($120), and the second player calls. I just call – yes, yes, I know, bad mistake, but read on! The turn is a 10, pairing the board. They both check to me and I fire $300. Player No. 1 thinks for a while, then folds, and the middle guy calls. The river is a blank; he checks to me, I bet $200, and he check-raises me all in for my last $200. He shows down J-10 for a full house – and takes it down. The first player claims to have laid down Q-9, the second-nut straight.

I think my not raising on the flop with such a scary board is probably a bad move in general, even though in this case there were only four cards that would have given me a loser (there were no flush draws out there, assuming player No. 1 was telling the truth about laying down the Q-9). What about my bet on the end – was that a mistake? It was such a tight game that I may have laid my hand down if my opponent had come over the top of me on the turn, with the paired board staring me in the face. So, I guess he just outplayed me for my last $400. Any thoughts would be most welcome.

My reply:

You basically gave the answers yourself: Yes, you should have raised on the flop, and yes, you got outplayed on the end by the small full house. When there's so much action against this scary board, it is highly unlikely that no one has a full house when the board pairs – even though I understand your turn bet (but not your river bet). More than that, I don't like your play in general. I don't like big preflop raises; I think standard raises are better. Now, you make a big raise with precisely the hand your opponents figure you for, a big ace. The next time you call, your opponents will know you have small cards, a suited ace, or a small pair. This is not a balanced strategy. Beware of predictability and giving away your hand when playing pot-limit! Also, I don't like big bets against paired boards, as you will get action only when you're beat.

Reply No. 2:

I agree with Rolf about the size of your preflop bet. After the flop, there was a flush draw on the board – all the more reason why you should have raised the pot, to give them bad odds to draw to the flush. Yes, I will slow-play sometimes, with a set, for example, but I have come to believe that slow-playing often costs more than it's worth …

Reply No. 3:

I think the worst errors you made were your flop passivity and your river bet. On the river, you opened the betting again, for what reason? How could a player call the flop and turn and not have a busted draw or have you beat? I guess there's K-J suited and Q-9 suited, but these hands are pretty unlikely. I think there's an essay in Bob Ciaffone's book that discusses this idea well.

I cannot speak to the preflop strategy, but if you raise the pot on the flop (a fine idea), the J-10 cannot possibly call, and you win a very nice pot. (By the way, it's a little shocking that the J-10 was able to call the first bet in the given situation.) You will then get the initial player to either go all in or fold on the turn, but you win the pot, which is the most important consideration here.

Problem No. 3: Pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better starting hands

I am trying to teach myself pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better online (10 cent-25 cent blinds, so I don't "pay" too much). What does everyone think the starting-hand strategy should be? I have read Cloutier and, as usual, he is supertight in his recommendations. If I'm summarizing him right, he says you should only play:

• A-2 – and two other cards (either Broadway or little)

• Big rundowns, A-K-Q-J to J-10-9-8

• Big pairs with connecting cards

• 5-4-3-2 if you can get in cheap … that's it.

I have played a little Omaha high, so I can recognize a good high hand (look, I might PLAY trash, but I do KNOW it's trash). But is there more to pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better beyond dropping anything but the very good high hands and adding the nut-low draw?

My reply:

Of course. Every pot-limit game changes the mechanics dramatically (compared to limit). The nuts is out there a lot less often, since fewer players enter the pot, and a bare nut-low draw may not even be worth playing on the flop when facing one opponent and a pot-sized bet. On the other hand, if you think your opponent might not have the goods he's representing, or if you have a very good draw (for example, nut-low and nut-flush draws on a K-8-4 flop), you might become very aggressive and make him lay down a better hand at the moment. However, at the micro-limit you're playing, this might not be easy to do. If people are playing with just a few dollars in front of them, you simply have to play the percentages and show down the best hand. In this case, Cloutier's extremely tight approach might be enough to beat your opponents, since some of them might not have a clue about how to play PLO/8 anyway. However, when you get to the higher levels, the comments above become increasingly important, and the strategy of playing just good hands and drawing only to the nuts will not be enough to make you a winning player.