On Running It Twice

Pot-limit Omaha has become more and more popular throughout the years, moving from Europe to the southern U.S. to the Internet’s high stakes games and now it’s being played most places. There’s a pot-limit Omaha game of some size at almost every card room in southern California on a weekly and, in many cases, daily basis.

Many people consider it “the game of the future.” I don’t think it will ever be as popular as no-limit hold‘em, but I could be proven wrong and I wouldn’t balk at the idea. Like hold’em, the game has advanced immensely in the last few years and the higher limit games don’t even closely resemble the games of five years ago. Many of the expert players are putting in tons of action on the flop with one and two pair hands and increasing the variance of the game by huge amounts. In addition, they are playing for $5,000, $10,000, and $25,000 pots regularly, and when the high stakes games go, they are playing $100,000 and bigger pots. All ten of the biggest pots in the history of online poker came during heads up pot-limit Omaha matches.

With all of these huge pots and massive variance, players look for ways to reduce the swings in their bankrolls and their emotions. There are several ways I’ve seen people reduce the variance in these all in situations. You can get insurance, where someone at the table is willing to give you some percentage or all of the pot if you lose and you have to pay them an agreed upon amount if you win. You are paying a premium in this example. For instance, from an old Poker After Dark clip “starring” Phil Hellmuth (who, by the way, is one of the only people who does this on a regular basis), Phil got all-in with 4-4 vs A-Q on a Q-10-4 rainbow board for a $230,000 pot. He asked for insurance on his hand where he would pay $10,000 and a $500 fee if he wins or receive $250,000 minus that $500 fee if he lost. Since he’s roughly a 96.46 percent favorite (or 27.25-to-1) he’s taking a big hit in the odds he’s getting and the fee. Not the greatest deal, but some players prefer to reduce their variance this way. There is even a website called insuredplay.com that offers this service to anyone who wants it when playing online. Another way I’ve heard of people reducing their variance in all-in pots is to just split the pot up based on perceived equities. This doesn’t happen much, but does on occasion. By far the most used method is to run it twice (or more). Running it twice happens when two players are all in and they decide to run out the remainder of the board two or more times.

This allows for players to reduce their variance by spreading out the odds over two, three, or four board run outs. After all of the boards are dealt, the money in the pot is split up based on who won on each run out. If both players win one run out each, the pot is split. If one person wins both times, he gets the whole pot.

With the proliferation of cash games on TV, many people got to see this happen for the first time and, like other trends before that, running it twice was brought to the lower limit games. While rebuilding at the beginning of this year, I often played $1-$2 and $2-$5 pot-limit Omaha. In the casino where I played, players were allowed to run it twice as long as everyone agreed. Much to the chagrin of the other players, I refused to run it twice. It wasn’t everyone’s favorite stance, but I had my reasons and I think they are valid. First, it takes a long time. The money is all in and some people want to know what the other guy has before they make a decision on running it twice, then they have to deal the board out twice, finally, they have to split the pot. This adds up to a much slower game (especially if it’s a multiway pot where they are running it more than once) and cuts into the already small hourly rate possible in that game. More hands equals more money and I like to get out as many hands as possible. Second, I like it to hurt when you lose a pot. If you’re playing a $500 pot at $1-$2 pot-limit Omaha and you run it twice, often, the pot is split. No harm, no foul or as my sister used to tell her kids, “no blood, no Band-Aid.” I like a little (emotional) blood in my poker and running it twice is an easily handled Band-Aid that you never have to take off. I was certain that losing any one, or five, pots wouldn’t affect the way I played but it would affect the play of my opponents. So, why give them that safety net. Finally, my style of pot-limit Omaha in those games differs quite a bit from the rest of the people I was playing with. I relied on increasing my non-showdown winnings to bolster my winrate. As a result, I often don’t want people to call. They are more likely to call an all-in if they know they get a chance to run it twice. Since I made it clear from the start that I never run it twice, they don’t get to have this fallback.

Any player can do whatever they want with regards to running it twice. Everyone has their own opinions on the subject. The only thing that should be certain when deciding to run it twice is to be consistent. Don’t be the guy who only runs it twice when behind or randomly chooses when and how you will run it twice. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG