Mixed-Game Strategies

1. Can you explain when it is a good time to raise on seventh street in stud eight-or-better, especially when three-handed? Is it ever correct to raise with just the low?

It always a good time to raise on the end if you can get an opponent to fold a hand that is surely better than yours – low or high. This will be the case when the original river bettor doesn’t have you beat in the same direction high or low. If that is the case, raising a third player out won’t do you any good. But I think what you are referring to is when is it better to raise for value versus raising someone out of the pot when you are going to chop it anyway.

Stud eight-or-better is a game of experience and you have to learn when raising is going to cost you half of a bet versus gaining you half of a bet. When a high hand bets the river and you have a low hand that you think beats the third player’s low, but you know he has to call anyway, then this would be a good case of when it is profitable to raise the river. When you have a board of 2-3-5-7 with A-6-Q in the hole, and the high hand leads into you, the third player might be showing a board of 3-4-8-T, it might lose you money to raise the river where the opponent will almost always fold a worse low than you have. By calling and letting him call just one bet on the river, you can profit an extra half of a bet when you share the final bet with the high hand.

2. Is there anything wrong with the mentality of waiting for a flop in order to build a pot in Omaha eight-or-better? I never raise preflop, even if I have A-A-2-3 double-suited, because I want to make sure the flop gives me at least a low draw before I put more money in. Am I playing scared or is my postflop strategy saving me money?

The question should not be “is there anything wrong with…?” The question should be “is it more profitable to…?”  There is nothing wrong with playing your own style, but it is certainly more profitable over the long run to build pots with huge hands. You are missing a ton of value when seeing a flop four or five-handed when you don’t make every player put in an extra bet or two when you have the best hand. The strategy you are describing is very indicative of playing scared and you need to be worried that this preflop strategy is not saving you money, but actually costing you money. Sure you will often miss flops, even with huge starting hands, and you will sometimes have to fold right on the flop. But, over the long run, you will be making extra bets by building pots preflop with huge hands.  

3. When playing Razz, how much does your up card affect your decision making? Let’s say I’m dealt (A-8) 2. Would I play that any differently than (A-2) 8?

Both hands are usually going to be worth opening the action, but the other up cards players are showing will determine your ultimate decision. Your up card will always affect the way you play your hand. This is because your up card is the key info your opponents will be using to play the hand against you. The lower your up card the more careful an opponent has to be with a big hand. This also makes it more difficult for your opponent to play against you. When your up card is an 8 and your opponent makes a 7-low on fifth, he can raise without any concern no matter what cards you catch up to that point. When your up card is a deuce and your opponent makes a 7 low on fifth, he might be able to raise you, but if your board is 3 cards under an 8, then your opponent might have to slow down and might even be concerned he is behind.

4. I’m just getting into pot-limit Omaha, but have a good deal of experience with hold’em. In hold’em, I know that I want to play my suited connectors against many players and my big pocket pairs against only one opponent. Does the same kind of logic apply to PLO, or should I not be isolating in late position with big pairs? I’m worried I’m being too transparent.

The concepts are similar but not identical. In pot-limit Omaha, stack sizes are a much more important factor in deciding how to play hands optimally. Generally, if you are able to get a minimum of 40 percent of effective stacks in preflop with A-A-x-x hands you can’t go wrong. The question is when you only can get a smaller percentage of effective stacks in with aces by raising or reraising, how do you know what is optimal? If you are not comfortable with postflop play in pot-limit Omaha (most players are not), you probably should stay away from bloating a pot preflop with A-A-x-x hands, or any other hands for that matter. You should play hands for the minimum preflop and select hands that tend to flop top set or huge nut draws. Big cards are your friend in pot-limit Omaha and small cards will only get you into trouble.  You certainly do want to mix up your preflop play with a few raises here and there, but like you stated in the question, you don’t want to be transparent by only raising big pairs and never raising other playable hands such as big running cards. You will find over time that opening hands such as J-T-9-8 or K-Q-T-9 will be much easier to play postflop than big pairs. ♠

Glantz is answering Card Player reader questions about mixed-game poker strategy. Readers can email Matt questions direct to [email protected] and also should check out this website www.mattglantzpoker.com for more strategy and updates from the tournament trail.