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Hmm...Mayne gnomes would like to look at the hands I'm posting as examples of how not to play Omaha for his pending strat guides
First, note why I decided to enter the pot, even though it's not the reason I'm posting this hand:
I have three fairly connected high cards, and while I did have a dangling card, it was the same suit as my ace (otherwise, I'd muck it.)...It's extremely important when playing a game in which the goal is to build nut hands that your cards be co-ordinated...
5TJA is a fairly good hand if the 5 is suited to the ace, but a bad hand if it is not, because (barring a very oddball flop) you're only playing with 3 cards if it's not. Should the T or the J be suited to the ace, you may consider playing this hand in late position and you would certainly complete with it.
If the 5 and the A are suited, I'd also call small raises, but I would fold to heavy pre-flop action, because it's likely that I'm up against at least one very big hand (although in PLO25, you'd be surprised by what a lot of players consider to be big hands...You may read some of my early posts as an example of some of the garbage hands that I played when I was a rank beginner.).
With that said, let's look at what the rest of the table did wrong here:
The key thing to remember in Pot-Limit Omaha high is that unless you flop a very high top boat (i.e. you have AAxx and the board comes A66...Although fold to a flop of 666 if you catch any heat when you bet, as you may be facing 3 - 6 opponents with 4 cards, and it's very likely that someone had a 6...Especially in loose games where people will limp 4 random cards in the hope of connecting with a big flop.) or quads, you will very rarely have a lock on the hand, especially since any flush will probably make your then-nut straights garbage unless you have a damn good reason to believe that your opponent was drawing to something then the flush.. (And obviously, you can flush a nut flush down the shitter if the board pairs.)
.For instance, You have 9sJcQdAh, and the flop comes QcKcTh...You bet the pot with your nut straight (which you should always do when you take the lead on betting, imho...As for calling, call timid bets with your modest draws to the nuts (4-10 outs...Anything less isn't worth calling), fold if you're drawing dead or need runner-runner to make the nuts, be willing to call large bets or raise the pot if you're looking at 12+ outs to a hand that is better than the current nuts...Don't count tainted outs (i.e. a "nut" flush card that pairs the board and doesn't give you top boat or quads) though), and the 2h comes on the turn. You bet the pot again, and the 6h comes on the river...It's still very likely that your hand is good, because your opponent would have to be either double-suited to both clubs and hearts (not that likely at all) or extremely fishy to be chasing a runner-runner flush, and there's a good chance that he'll muck a baby flush if he did indeed hit backdoor clubs.
Now that I've set the stage for explaining this hand, watch jess6944 and dockersmith very carefully, as they both misplay the hand very, very badly.
jess6944 should not have played 6s Jc Jh 7c, even from the button:
Yes, she does have a pair of jacks (but on a full table, an overpair is fairly likey, espeically since a lot of pot-limit Omaha high players -- Most notably Lyle Berman and T.J. Cloutier -- aren't particularly fond of raising pre-flop, the exception being to get into a heads up all-in scenario while holding AAxx, which requires a re-raise of a pot that was raised by a player in late position and had at least a couple of callers.), one of which is suited to her two connected high cards (A suited jack is worthless in Omaha, since you're not going to play for the 4th nut flush in a game where the nut hand usually wins the pot.)..Furthermore, having just 2 connected cards isn't very valuable in Omaha, because all it can give you is two nut straights that are extremely vulnerable to redraws to higher straights---In this case jess6944 would need to flop 3-4-5 or 4-5-8 to hit the nut straight...Playing 3 and 4 connected cards can give you nut straights with exponentially more flops than playing two can...
J7 x 2 and J6 x 2 are turdburgers, obviously...
So yes, this hand belongs in the muck. (The fact that I hold a J is irrelevant, as Jess has no way of knowing this, even though it makes her hand even worse than it would otherwise be.)
Dockersmith has 2c 6d Ac Kh in early position...
This hand is not really playable, especially from early position, because the only nut straight AK makes is TJQ, A2 and 26 can only make non-nut straights with a flop of 3-4-5, which we all know to be worthless in Omaha (Note: The fish that dominate PLO25 on PokerStars often don't know this.  ), and A2 can mae a nut flush, the hand's only redeeming characteristic. (Note fish will see this hand and think: WHOA!!! I HAVE s00t3d BIG SL1CK~!1!!!1!)
We now see the flop:
2d Ad 2h
Wow! Dockersmith has made a full house AA222. Jess, on the other hand, has made the utterly pathetic (for pretty well any flop, especially this one) JJ22A.
3 checks, and Dockersmiths...min-bets?!?!?!?!
Fish alert: Dockersmith has what Omaha professional Rolf "Ace" Slotboom calls an "under-full", or a full house in which the trip component is lower than the highest card on the board...While he has no reason to believe that anybody has AAxx (though it's still possible, especially since I just explained how I like to play it.), he's just asking loose players holding a pocket pair to call him.
Jess and 2 other players call him (perhaps drawing for the same thing she is)...Since I know that at least one person is peddling 2xxx and possibly even A2xx, I'm drawing dead and muck my hand without a second thought (Even on an uncoordinated board, top pair is garbage unless you're heads up, in which case there's a reasonable chance that you have the best hand)...Why rep aces if it's likely that somebody else has at least one and the table is already looser than "that girl" to begin with?
The turn is an 8, which now gives anybody with 88 in their hand a higher boat (but still an underfull) and causes Docker to draw dead to everything but aces full or deuces full.
AGain, he bets timidly, either overvaluing his now-shit hand or thinking that he has a lock and not wanting anybody to fold.
Jess calls, drawing to what she thinks is 2 outs (that have a slight chance of being tainted) and what I know to be 1.
YOWZA!!!
A J comes on the river and Jess is in Hog Heaven.
Docker, thinking he has a lock on the hand, bets the pot. (heheheh...I've suckered her now with my fullhouse! I'M DA N3XT DAINLE NETRGEAUN!111!1!11)
Jess, certain she made her hand (she has no reason to think AAxx is out on a table this loose..Assuming she even thinks that deeply about her poker game...lol), re-raises him all-in.
Docker calls (muahaha...I have a fullhouse! She can't beat me.)
Jess turns her JJ67 over and takes the pot from a shocked Docker.
And Docker does his one intelligent thing all hand in not bitching about RIVERSTARZ!!111!!!11!!!!!11!1
*********** # 7 **************
PokerStars Game #2260049256: Omaha Pot Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2005/08/04 - 09:31:27 (ET) Table 'Paulina II' Seat #2 is the button Seat 1: jess6944 ($12.05 in chips) Seat 2: ANYWAYASWAY ($9.25 in chips) Seat 3: rigger1 ($9.65 in chips) Seat 4: jj_frap ($25 in chips) Seat 5: ruffo ($45.10 in chips) Seat 6: smili68 ($22.50 in chips) Seat 7: dockersmith ($8.15 in chips) Seat 8: Limppi ($39.55 in chips) Seat 9: gelyro ($6.90 in chips)
rigger1: posts small blind $0.10
jj_frap: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jj_frap [Tc Ah 5h Jd]
ruffo: folds
smili68: calls $0.25
dockersmith: calls $0.25
Limppi: folds
gelyro: calls $0.25
jess6944: calls $0.25
ANYWAYASWAY: folds
rigger1: calls $0.15
jj_frap: checks
*** FLOP *** [2d Ad 2h]
rigger1: checks
jj_frap: checks
smili68: checks
dockersmith: bets $0.25
gelyro: calls $0.25
jess6944: calls $0.25
rigger1: folds
jj_frap: folds
smili68: calls $0.25
*** TURN *** [2d Ad 2h] [8h]
smili68: checks
dockersmith: bets $0.25
gelyro: calls $0.25
jess6944: calls $0.25
smili68: calls $0.25
*** RIVER *** [2d Ad 2h 8h] [Js]
smili68: checks
dockersmith: bets $3.35
gelyro: folds
jess6944: raises $4.65 to $8
smili68: folds
dockersmith: calls $4.05 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jess6944: shows [6s Jc Jh 7c] (a full house, Jacks full of Deuces)
dockersmith: shows [2c 6d Ac Kh] (a full house, Deuces full of Aces)
jess6944 collected $17.40 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $18.30 | Rake $0.90
Board [2d Ad 2h 8h Js]
Seat 1: jess6944 showed [6s Jc Jh 7c] and won ($17.40) with a full house, Jacks full of Deuces Seat 2: ANYWAYASWAY (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 3: rigger1 (small blind) folded on the Flop Seat 4: jj_frap (big blind) folded on the Flop Seat 5: ruffo folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 6: smili68 folded on the River Seat 7: dockersmith showed [2c 6d Ac Kh] and lost with a full house, Deuces full of Aces Seat 8: Limppi folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 9: gelyro folded on the River
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Why I play Omaha...
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