Ace Deuce: The Low is Never Guaranteed

Poker Variants / Marcus Steinhauer / 02 June 2010 / Leave a Comment

It's a common occurrence for players in a PLO eight or better game to get caught up in playing a pretty expensive hand, based only on getting the low. While this is not completely true in higher stakes, players seem to be making it more of a habit in low/mid stakes.

This now common mistake can find you losing a huge portion of your chip stack in chasing a low that may not even come. People also may only see the A, 2 in their hand and not see a brick in the hand as a 6, J where there are no other possibilities, or you may not have strong suits and you base yourself strictly on a low with not many other statistically correct possibilities.

Let's say you get dealt the A, 2, J, 6. You have strict low possibilities, a mild straight draw, and pending your suits, a possible flush draw. A flush does not look so appealing on a paired board either. This is why seemingly you need more than just a possible low draw to make your hand. If I go for a low draw, I look at a hand where I have more possibilities. A, 2, 3, K double suited, or with at least one suit gives me a few options. If the board comes with no low, I still have straight, flush, and board draws to hit a set and possibly fill up.

No hand is ever guaranteed in Omaha, but playing the low with no other draws is not a hand you want to draw to, or bank on pre & post flop. Go back to the A, J, 6, 2 hand. What happens if you throw a total of 35% of your stack down on a 3,9,8,K board, only to find the river pairs a 9, and there is no low? These errors could be easily avoided by having a sort of "backup plan". Basing yourself with a possible A, 2, 4, 4 hand gives you some more possibilities, because let's say you do catch a low draw on a K, 3, 7 board. Your best card in this situation in my mind, is a deuce. Some people on the table may have played an A, 2 preflop, but with only two more 4's are in the deck. Besides wanting a deuce, you can also take an Ace as you still have the nuts with a better shot not to chop the low.

That is another thing never guaranteed. Say you are in a 3 way hand, you are holding a hand such as A, 2, 9, 9. The board shows something close to K, 3, 7, 4, K. You have the nut low, but be careful! You still do not want to overly commit because at showdown, three handed, what happens if someone else flips over A, 2? You are quartered, and only get 25% of a pot you have been throwing chips into. In this instance, you may only break even, or often times lose money, all based on pre-flop & post-flop action by other players.

Omaha is a game of draws, we are all aware of this. We often times find ourselves chasing a straight, a flush, or two pair/set trying to fill up later in the hand. The only thing guaranteed in Omaha is the fact that there will be a high, but which high is no guarantee. The low, is a whole other beast. I have seen people often times go broke or being crippled pre-flop holding the A, 2, only to find the board double pairs or shows only high cards.

This brings up something else some younger players do not grasp yet. In lower/mid stakes PLO, you see 3, 4, and sometimes even 5 bet raises pre-flop with someone holding a high pair, or a low draw. The fact of the matter is, the best way to play Omaha pre-flop is to keep your pots small. You need to realize that this is a game of draws, and if you raise, odds are you will not get strong draws out of a hand.

This is a game where it is hard to bluff, because so many people see the strong draws they have, and see they have a good chance to hit one of their numerous draws. Keeping your pots small pre-flop benefits you to not get too deep in your hands chasing draws that may not hit. This especially jumps to your advantage when chasing a strong low.

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