Another $500,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Challenge

Just as a disappointing World Series of Poker was coming to a close for me, I was approached by Tony Bloom, a high-stakes gambler from Europe, to play a $500,000 match in pot-limit Omaha.



I'd recently won a challenge match in pot-limit Omaha against Barry Greenstein, but I got the feeling that Tony would pose a much tougher challenge since pot-limit Omaha is such a popular game overseas.



Nonetheless, when you make an open challenge to anybody in the world, you'll inevitably attract the best of the best.



I met Tony in the poker room at Wynn Las Vegas at around 1:30 p.m. and we planned on playing until 7:30 p.m., since both of us had previous plans that evening. In a fast-action game like pot-limit Omaha, though, there was no guarantee that the match would even go that long.



Going into the match, I was hoping that I could use the same strategy on Tony that had worked against Barry. Actually, since I had very little heads-up experience in the game, it was the only real strategy with which I was familiar.



I knew early on against Tony that I was playing a completely different match. Tony was much more aggressive than I was, and was making more "plays" at pots than I was. I had to go into my bag of tricks to stay afloat, and it seemed to be working.



Aside from a rough stretch in which I was down $180,000, I led most of the way. The following hand should teach you a very important lesson, or at least make you aware of some of the major strategic differences of playing a game like pot-limit Omaha versus, say, pot-limit hold'em.



The blinds were $1,000-$2,000, and going into this hand I had about a $600,000 to $400,000 lead in the match. Tony raised from the button and I called with the 6 6 7 9. That's a very strong hand, especially heads up, since all four cards are "working together."



Since I was out of position, though, I just called the raise. There isn't a form of poker I can think of in which position plays a more significant role than in pot-limit Omaha. The disadvantage of playing from out of position in this game is substantial, as it forces you to play a little more cautiously.



The flop came J 5 4, giving me an open-end straight draw and a backdoor-flush draw, and, of course, I still had my pair of sixes. It was a decent draw, but not exactly a monster. I checked and Tony bet the pot, $12,000.



Rather than get frisky, I decided to just call the bet and hope to fill my straight. The turn card was my absolute gin card, the 8. That card gave me the nut straight, with a higher straight draw, not to mention straight-flush draw with the 5-6-7-8 of diamonds working.



I quickly checked to Tony, hoping he might bet at the pot. When he reached for chips, I had to contain my excitement.



He fired out a bet of $30,000, which made me believe that he either had a strong hand or was making a desperate bluff at the pot, trying to represent what I already had!



I check-raised $90,000 more, making it a total of $120,000. Tony hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "I'm all in." Is there a sweeter phrase in the world than that when you are sitting on the nuts?



I called, and it was show time. Even though I had the nuts, I still had to worry about what Tony had. I assumed he also had the nut straight to make that play, but I was eager to see what kind of a redraw he had. Did he have two pair to go with it? A set? Or, maybe a higher flush or straight draw?



When Tony turned over 6-7-J-Q, I quickly realized that I was on a total freeroll! About 35 percent of the time I'd win the match with the turn of a card. Actually, now that I think about it, there is a sweeter phrase in the world when all of the money is on the line: "Freeroll!"



Both Tony and I were standing in anticipation as a crowd gathered in the Wynn Las Vegas poker room, wanting to be part of the moment. All I could think about was, "6, 7, diamond; 6, 7, diamond."



How about the 9 for a river card! The "ultimate" card fell, giving me a 9-high straight flush to end the match.



Hands like this one illustrate that pot-limit Omaha is a tricky game. It's a game in which you could have the absolute nuts, but it might not be correct to get all of your money into the pot. Now, I'm no pot-limit Omaha expert or anything like that, but I wonder if Tony made the right play on the turn by going all in.



Assuming that even if I didn't have the same straight he did, after investing $120,000 on the turn, I'd probably have to call with any kind of drawing hand with which I could make that play. The question is: Was there a way that Tony could avoid going broke on this hand?



It's debatable, but that's what makes it interesting. If Tony were to just call my $90,000 raise rather than go all in, he possibly could lay his hand down on the river when the flush gets there. Of course, the other side of the coin is that by just calling, he could get outplayed on the river if a scare card comes.



I can see both sides of the debate, but there is one key factor that sways me in the direction of a call being the right play. It comes right out of Doyle Brunson's playbook, and it deals with the power of position.



If Tony could put me on the most obvious hand, the 6-7, a better play might have been just calling the raise and representing a draw himself! That way, if the board paired on the river, or if a diamond came and I checked, Tony could go all in and put maximum pressure on me if all I had was the straight.



Doyle talked about this play in Super/System. He described a situation in hold'em in which the board read something like A-K-J-10 and his opponent bet. Doyle knew his opponent had a queen, as did Doyle. Rather than raise, though, Doyle just called the bet, hoping that a flush card would come or that the board would pair.



In Doyle's example, the board pairs, his opponent checks, Doyle moves all in, and his opponent lays down his straight. Doyle won the entire pot by correctly reading his opponent's hand as the same as his, and by using the power of position.



Tony couldn't have won this pot against me regardless, since I made my straight flush, but I still think he had a chance to save his last bet by not going all in on the turn.



It's an interesting situation and a deadly weapon for your playbook when used correctly. Pot-limit Omaha just happens to be a game in which you'll have lots of opportunities to use it.

Read Daniel's daily blog at www.fullcontactpoker.com.