Stack Management in Pot-Limit Omaha Tournaments Part II – A Hand from the 2013 World Series of Poker

Last time I addressed the perverse nature of pot-limit Omaha tournaments, where correct play can deviate markedly from normal cash game strategy. This time, I’ll examine a hand I was involved in from the bubble of the 2013 World Series of Poker $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event that illustrates many of these concepts. In doing so, we can examine some nuances to microstack, middling stack, and chip-leading play.

I held K-10-8-6 double-suited and the small blind folded aces.

The Cutoff

First things first, the opener should absolutely be folding all of his hands preflop. Eight big blinds was less than two starting stacks at this point, and folding it almost certainly guarantees him a cash. With eight blinds, you have the opportunity to sit through nearly six more orbits, or more than 50 hands, and someone is certain to bust before then. This is a very clear fold-into-the-money situation.

In contrast, doubling up to 3.6 starting stacks just does not have that much value, given that not getting involved locks up a mincash that is immediately worth $2,621, roughly 1.8 buy-ins alone, with a freeroll to higher payouts. Raising to 2.5 blinds and folding jeopardizes this certainty on the off chance that the bubble continues for an eternity and you can only afford to see four more orbits. I expect that this player just saw that he had a good hand and didn’t foresee but these are the kinds of things that permeate tournament poker.

The Big Blind

The small blind and I are involved in a much more complicated dance that is not so easy to untangle. Part of this is because there is value in doubling up the small blind’s already formidable stack. Even though each additional chip you win in a tournament is worth more and more, in general, the bigger your stack, the more reasonable it is to risk your tournament life for a potential double up.

The fact that a healthy stack may be correctly folding the preflop nuts really illustrates how warped pot-limit Omaha tournament situations can be. It begs the question, “If the small blind is folding aces, shouldn’t the big blind just be reraising all hands?” Without specific reads, no. There was no way for me to know that the opener, who entered the pot with only eight big blinds would be willing to fold or that the small blind would let go of aces.

The Small Blind

Like most bubble situations with a bigger stack to your left, this is not an enviable situation. Until the bubble is over, your chips and every hand you play just have a lower expected value than normal. However, all you can do is make the best of a bad situation.

There’s a lot to be said about the small blind’s sizing. In the scenarios that the big blind folds, the small blind’s sizing mostly doesn’t matter, as he is intending on committing against the original raiser’s stack. If he raises the exact minimum, it’s possible the cutoff can peel a flop and he’s lost his fold equity though. Let’s examine some possible different sizings to see if we can discover something optimal.

Raise the pot: This is what my opponent chose. One benefit to raising so much is that the big blind can’t simply peel as many hands. Against a smaller sizing, it’s cheaper for the big blind to call a wider range and push the small blind off his hand post-flop, especially because the small-blind’s range is often going to be weighted towards Broadway-esque hands. However, a bigger size is more costly to him the times he does have to fold to a reraise.

Call: By not raising, the small blind is both not exerting any fold equity on the opener and the big stack in the blind has the option to come along for cheap. One may argue that by flatting, if the big blind makes a 7.5 big blind pot sized reraise, it is possible to call the three-bet and see a flop, but having to invest 7.5 blinds and folding on an overwhelming majority of flops is lighting chips on fire.

Raise to 5.25 big blinds: At this size, the small blind still has the option to re-open the action if the big blind decides to flat and the initial opener goes all in. It’s a bit counterintuitive with what I said about a larger sizing forcing the big blind to play tighter, but raising to this smaller size actually forces the big blind to see less flops. One issue with this is that it requires the big blind to be cognizant of what is going on or that the opener to be willing to jam with you. This may not always be the case.

Again, this is a difficult situation to navigate and there is no option we can take that achieves all of our priorties – cashing the tournament at a high frequency, pressuring the initial opener, preventing the big blinds from flat-calling too liberally, and folding to the big blind reraises cheaply. Our responsibility to our bankroll is just to make the best positive expected value play we can and raising to 5.25 big blinds fulfills most of objectives the best. ♠

Ben Yu discovered poker while at Stanford University where he developed his prowess for mixed games. He has lived for the WSOP ever since 2010 when he broke out with a 2nd place finish in the World Series of Poker $1500 limit holdem shootout. His poker-induced adventures have included living abroad in Rosarito, Mexico and Toronto, Canada to continue playing online and traveling the European Poker Tour circuit to in search of the most delicious schnitzels and pierogies.