An Omaha Blaze

Back in the early days of poker, there were several poker ranks that are no longer in common use today. For example, there was the "four-flush," which beat one pair (most often played in five-card stud). A "Dutch straight" (or "alternate straight") consisted of five sequential odd cards or even cards, for example, K-J-9-7-5 or 10-8-6-4-2. Back in a college-days poker game at East Campus, MIT, one of the foreign students claimed that he held a "blaze," which apparently was five facecards (I think that an ace was also considered a facecard). I recently read a lament by a lowball player, "He picked up a pat low, while I was looking at a blaze."



While playing in a big online pot-limit Omaha high-low tournament, I thought of blaze as I looked at K-Q-J-J single-suited. An aggressive player on my right made a small screening raise preflop, and I called into five-way action. Note that whereas K-Q-J-J would be a raising hand in straight high Omaha, in high-low, K-Q-J-J will fold after most flops. Generally in Omaha high-low, most straight-high hands (four cards 9 or higher) are playable only if the flop contains two (or three) high cards.



The flop came A-J-10 offsuit. Not only had I flopped the nut straight, but I also had a set of jacks. The two blinds checked to the aggressive player on my right. He made a small bet. What would you do in my position?



In straight high Omaha, I of course would merely call to "pull" in as much attendance as possible – especially if the pot was small. But in high-low, because the ace is a low card, it is important to raise enough to create bad odds for the low chasers. If a hand with a low draw is allowed to see a cheap low card on the turn (fourth card), it may improve enough to see the last card and cost you half a pot. So, I raised about half the pot, which would keep out most low hands yet not unduly pressure the high competition. Only one of the three remaining players called, as did the lead bettor.



In three-way action, the turn card was a rather unfortunate queen. Now, either opponent having a king would tie my nut-high straight. And there were now two hearts on the board (I did not have two hearts).



The player on my right checked to me. Both of my opponents had stacks of more than double the amount of chips in the pot. What would you do with my hand in this position (playing pot-limit)?



Although there was no longer any danger of a low, it is correct to bet the pot here to try to get a possible flush draw out. Keep in mind that with a very obvious straight on the board, I do not rate to get paid off on the river by a worse hand. So, I bet the pot, which was now fairly large, and which took about two-thirds of my chips – thereby essentially committing the rest of my chips to this hand. I did not want to see a heart on the river.



The player after me folded, but the original lead bettor on my right called. The bad news was that the river card was a heart. The good news was that it was the 10, which paired the board and therefore gave me jacks full.



But it was not over yet. I could still lose to pocket tens (quads), or pocket aces or queens (higher full boat). My opponent now went all in! If I had had a lot more chips to lose, I would have had a serious problem. As it was, I already had most of my chips in the pot and felt pot-committed. So, I called, expecting the worst. Fortunately, he had merely the big flush, so there was a happy ending to this story (and I went on to finish second in the tournament).



In retrospect, I concluded that my earlier bet of half the pot was slightly inadequate. If I had studied the situation more carefully, I would have noticed that a slightly bigger bet – say, about two-thirds of the pot – would have been more likely to allow me to bet all in or nearly all in on my next bet after the turn.



That so-called "spiking" of the pot after the flop, looking ahead to your next bet after the turn, is one of the most skillful moves in pot-limit poker. If you can set up the pot ("spike") such that you can bet all in after the turn (presumably with the current nuts), you significantly affect the implied odds of a potential caller, who would get no equity from a (big) bet on the river if he hits (nor may he bluff). Thus, what might normally be a favorable calling or even raising opportunity for an opponent with a big drawing hand after the turn becomes, instead, merely a call while getting short odds. And therefore you either deprive your opponent of seeing the last card or he calls with bad odds.



When playing pot-limit against big stacks, foresight and pot-size planning can often substantially increase your odds and your advantage.