Pot-Limit Omaha: Diagnostic Test

What follows is a five-question diagnostic test that covers a wide range of topics. For the full 50-question test, you can pick up Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha, Volume III: The Short-Handed Workbook.

1. It’s a $1-$2 game online.

Seat 1: $500
Seat 2: Open
Seat 3: $150
Seat 4: $200
Seat 5: Open
Seat 6: $400

You plan to buy in for the $200 maximum. Assuming that all else is equal — you know nothing about the players at the table — which seat do you take?

a. Seat 2
b. Seat 5
c. Neither

2. It’s a $1-$2 game online, six-handed, with $200 stacks. You are dealt the J 10 9 3 on the button. The under-the-gun (UTG) player and cutoff limp in. You limp in. The small blind completes, and the big blind checks. The flop comes 10 9 4. It gets checked to the cutoff, who bets $10. Should you:

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

3. It’s a $1-$2 game online, six-handed, with $200 stacks. You are dealt the J J 10 4 on the button. Only the UTG player limps in. You limp in. The small blind completes, and the big blind checks. The flop comes K J 2. The small blind checks. The big blind bets $8, and the UTG player folds. Should you:

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

4. It’s a $1-$2 game online, six-handed, with $200 stacks. You are dealt the A K Q 9 on the button, and open with a raise to $7. The small blind — a loose player who likes to three-bet from the small blind — reraises to $23, and the big blind folds. You call. The flop comes Q 7 2. Your opponent bets $46. Should you:

a. Fold?
b. Call?
c. Raise all in to $177?

5. It’s a $1-$2 game online, six-handed, with $200 stacks. You are dealt the J J 10 8 on the button. The UTG player opens with a raise to $7. The hijack reraises to $24, and the cutoff folds. You call. Both blinds fold. The UTG player calls. The flop comes 8 7 4. Both opponents check. You bet $72, and only the UTG player calls. The turn is the 7. Your opponent bets $104 all in. Should you:

a. Fold?
b. Call?

Answers and Analysis
1. a

Question No. 1 deals with game selection and seat selection. You have a choice between two open seats. The problem with Seat 5 is that you have two big stacks to your left and two small stacks to your right. All else being equal, you want the big stacks on your right and the smaller stacks on your left. Moreover, we can assume that the players with the two bigger stacks are tougher players, and presume that the player with the $150 stack in Seat 3 is not tough until he proves otherwise. Seat 2 is the best option.

Seat selection is discussed in Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha, Volume I, in Part VIII: Miscellaneous Topics, while the impact of stack sizes on your play is discussed in Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha, Volume II, in Part II: The LAG Approach.

2. b
3. b
4. c

Questions No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 deal with basic post-flop hand valuation and SPR (stack-to-pot ratio).

In question No. 3, you have bare top two pair in a high SPR situation (SPR of 20); similarly, in question No. 4, you have middle set in a high SPR situation (SPR of 25). That said, bare top two pair and middle set are small-pot hands that are too strong to fold for one bet, but not strong enough to raise and bloat the pot. Thus, flat-calling is the best play in both cases.

In question No. 5, you have top pair in a low SPR situation. The play is to shove.

SPR is covered in depth in Part II of Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha, Volume I.

5. b

Question No. 5 deals with picking off bluffs, which is covered in Part III of Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha, Volume I. This hand is actually one that I played during the $2,500 pot-limit Omaha event at the 2010 World Series of Poker.

The key here is hand reading. My opponent here is representing any hand that beats whatever I have. In this case, I have jacks up. The problem is that if my opponent actually had any of the hands that beat me, he would have shoved on the flop, given the stack sizes.

If he had 8-8-X-X, 8-7-X-X, 7-4-X-X, or 4-4-X-X, he more likely would have shoved on the flop. Moreover, this is an awfully strange way to play A-A-X-X, K-K-X-X, or Q-Q-X-X, unless he has a flush draw to go with it; but in that case, he also more likely would have shoved on the flop.

Basically, if he had any of the hands that beat me, he would have shoved all in on the flop.

The most likely case is that my opponent has the bare nut-flush draw, and maybe something like A-K-Q-J with the nut-flush draw, given his preflop raise. That said, this is still not an easy call to make; even if I am right, I am still not much better than a coin flip against A-K-Q-X with nut clubs, because any overcard also beats me.

But in the end, I made the call, because I felt pretty strongly that I had the best hand, and I wouldn’t have respected myself if I didn’t make the call. My opponent showed A-K-Q-5 with the nut-flush draw. The 9 hit the river, and I won with the straight.

Final Grade

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.