Mixed-Game Strategies

Q: Pot-limit Omaha: James “Keyman” Key from Lexington, KY asks, “If you see a multiway flop holding say Q-Q-5-6 (maybe it’s different with suits) and the flop comes 9-9-7 and someone leads out, should you continue with an overpair on a paired board? I am sure this is a rookie question but I’m a rookie to PLO.”

A: PLO is different from most other forms of poker and generally your decisions are more complicated. When you are playing the Q-Q-5-6 in a multiway pot you are only going to have an easy decision to move past the flop when you flop a queen or the nut straight (2-3-4, 3-4-7, or 4-7-8). And even in those cases, your decision might not be clear cut. With a flop of 4-7-8 with two hearts, for example, you’ve flopped the nuts but if there are three other players willing to get their money in on this flop, you probably don’t have enough equity to get your money in. Opponents that might be willing to get the money in could reasonably have A-A-J-4 with hearts, J-10-9-8, and 6-5-4-3. In this case the Q-Q-5-6 will only have 15 percent or 16 percent equity depending on the suits involved. In the situation where you get it all-in heads-up on the flop here, you might be up against a set and flush draw where you would be a small favorite. But you could also be up against a player with the same straight as you have and a additional flush draw. Here you would be getting freerolled and not in a good spot.

On a flop of 9-9-7 as you asked in your question, when you are facing multiple opponents, your hand has very little value. You have to ask yourself, if I call a bet here, what cards can hit the turn that would make my hand substantially better or worse? Only a queen would make your hand way better. But any ace, king, jack, ten, 7, 6, or 5 will lower the value of your hand tremendously. An 8 on the turn gives you a straight, but it’s the worst straight possible and the board is paired so you rarely are going to want to put more money in the pot. So, to continue after a 9-9-7 flop in a multiway pot would just be too risky, and the reward would not justify the risk you must take.

Q: No-limit hold’em: “I am comfortable being aggressive in limit games, but find myself being a lot more passive than I think I should be in big bet games. Do you have any advice for players who are reasonably tough at mixed games, but become a bit passive in no-limit?”

A: I know this situation well. It was my biggest struggle when I started playing no-limit coming from a background of mixed limit games. What I came to realize after playing both limit and no-limit for quite some time was that winning at limit poker is geared to being able to get value for your big hands while no-limit is more of a game of unlimited options where you need to use creative bet sizing to manipulate your opponents into reacting the way you want. It might sound simple but the truly great no-limit players just understand how to manipulate their opponents through bet sizing. Without that, we are all just sitting around a no-limit table to see who plays the tightest or to see who coolers whom.

Q: Omaha eight-or-better: “I think I have a good idea about when to play most A-3 hands, but how good do my side cards have to be to play A-4 hands facing only limps or one raise?”

A: You generally want your A-4 hands to have two broadway cards in them or have a 5 in the hand as well. Most A-4-5 hands have decent value (as do as A-4-J-T or A-4-K-Q types of hands). Obviously having your ace suited is a big key that makes any hand better. But hands like A-4-8-8 or A-4-4-K have very little value in Omaha eight-or-better and will mostly just get you in trouble.

Q: Stud eight-or-better: “What’s your general rule in stud eight-or-better about high-only hands? How good does your high hand need to be for you to play for only the high half? And what are the mitigating circumstances, like, for example, if you know it’s going to at most be three-handed, can you then play a lower pair?

A: When playing a high only hand in stud eight-or-better, almost always try to get the pot heads-up. When deciding which high hand to play and which one to throw away, take a look at the up cards on the board on third street. Make sure your hand is live. Big pocket pairs are much better than big split pairs. Small pairs are no good as high-only hands in stud eight-or-better. A starting hand like 6-6-J has very little value and will just cause you to lose money unless played in very specific steal spots. Hands like 5-5-4 have value, but those are not high-only hands like you asked about. With these hands, you have high value, but can back into a low much easier. Just like in all stud games, the dead cards on third street are the most important factor in selecting which hands to play. ♠