Pot-Limit Omaha Quiz

Note: What follows is a special preview from Jeff Hwang’s upcoming book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume II: LAG Play and The Short-Handed Workbook, slated for a late summer/early fall release.

The Hand

It’s a $2-$4 six-max game online, three-handed, and you ($651) are dealt the K 10 9 7 on the button.

1. Do you:

a. Fold?
b. Call?
c. Raise?

Action: You raise to $14. The small blind ($400) reraises to $46, and the big blind ($599.80) calls.

2. Do you:

a. Fold?
b. Call?
c. Reraise?

Action: You call.
Flop (pot: $138): A 8 5
Hypothetical action: Both blinds check to you.

3. Do you:

a. Check?
b. Bet?

Actual action: The small blind bets $100, and the big blind folds.

4. Do you:

a. Fold?
b. Call?
c. Raise?

Grades and Analysis

1. a(0), b(5), c(10). You have more than enough hand to open fire on the blinds, with a three-card gapped rundown (10-9-7), an overcard kicker (king) that in this case connects to form a sucker-end 17-card wrap, and a suit. Calling and trying to play a small pot in position is OK, but clearly second-best, assuming that you are comfortable playing with the initiative.

Folding is not an option.

2. a(2), b(10), c(0). Reraising at this point serves no real purpose, other than to neutralize your positional advantage, and is — at best — gambling.

Folding is extremely weak, given that you have the positional advantage. Situations in which you voluntarily put money into the pot before the flop and then should fold for one bet are extremely rare in pot-limit Omana (PLO). Suffice it to say that this is not one of them.

3. a(0), b(10). Betting is clearly the best option. You have the nut-flush draw and the nut gutshot, are in a low SPR [stack-to-pot ratio] situation (SPR of 2.6 with the small blind, and 4.0 with the big blind), and both opponents have checked to you. If you bet, you cannot be raised off the hand, given your draw, so there is little downside in betting.

4. a(0), b(2), c(10). As a general rule, in low SPR situations, if you are going to play, you are going to shove. And I don’t see folding as an option, given that you are getting nearly direct pot odds to call with your draws.

In the actual hand, I raised and set the small blind all in. He called, showing the A Q J 8, for top two pair.

Sometimes he has air in this spot, and sometimes he doesn’t. Either way, I could not be in bad shape, regardless of his holding. As it was, I had 44 percent equity, which is dead-on for a low SPR situation of 4.0, but well over par in this SPR situation of 2.6.

I hit the J on the river to make my flush and win the pot.

Jeff Hwang is a semiprofessional player and author of Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy and Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha: Small Ball and Short-Handed Play. He is also a longtime contributor to the Motley Fool. You can check out his website at jeffhwang.com.