Hand
7: The Promo Raise
$3/$6
Omaha Hi/Lo – A Tuesday in March
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: ( $155.5 )
Seat 2: ( $143 )
Seat 3: ( $210 )
Seat 4: ( $116.75 )
Seat 5: ( $238.6 )
Seat 6: ( $172.3 )
Seat 7: ( $148 )
Seat 8: ( $184.6 )
Seat 7 posts small blind [$1].
Seat 8 posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [J
,
3
, A, 5 ]
Seat 1 calls [$3]
Seat 2
folds
Hero
calls [$3]
Seat 4
calls [$3]
Seat
5 folds
Seat
6 calls [$3]
Seat 7
(SB) completes [$2]
Seat 8
(BB) checks
I
call with a good but not great hand. A3s alone is enough to call, and the
5 provides significant strength primarily as a backup for low, but also makes 3
potential straight draws (A3, 35, A5) possible where before there was only 1
(A3). Having the J helps a fair bit if I'm up against A2xx hands where xx
are low.
**
Dealing Flop ** [ J, 5, 7
] pot=$18
SB checks,
BB
checks,
UTG
bets [$3], pot=$21
Hero
raises [$6]
We’ve
got top and bottom pair (J5) and the second nut low draw (A3). But the
board is dangerous with both low draw, flush draw, and 1-gap (75) and 3-gap (J7)
straight draws. So my primary objective here is to limit the field, so my
hand has a chance to hold up for high. And importantly, my raise can offer
just bad enough odds to callers that they should be folding here.
My
raise here puts $27 in the pot, so someone calling another $6 makes a $33 pot.
So if they are going just one way, say a bare A2 or Ax flushdraw, then the must
risk $6 to win $10.5 (33/2 - 6), so their odds are 1.75 to 1. And a bare
A2 will hit on 16 cards and miss on 29 cards or 1.8 to 1. So they don’t
have odds to call now. And a flush draw with no low like A5s has only 9
outs for 4:1 odds. And both of those hands should also be thinking about
counterfeit/quarter or redraws.
Net,
because of my raise, a bare A2 or flushdraw with no low is now slightly
incorrect to call.
But,
if I had called instead of raising, OR, if UTG had not bet which allowed me to
raise, then I could only offer my opponents a $3 bet into a $21 pot, offering
them just 7:1 for the pot, or just under 3.5 to 1 for half the pot. In
which case the A2 has an easy call, and the flushdraw only makes a small error
by staying.
And
if betting is likely to keep many opponents in here it’s probably better to
check rather than bet, since against many opponent my bare two pair is not
likely to be best by the river.
MP2
folds,
Button
folds,
SB
folds,
BB
folds,
UTG
calls [$3].
Everyone
folds back to me, which is great. But what if they had a good hand and
stayed, aren’t I in trouble then? No!
Take
a look at what Hero’s equity is here vs. a weak A2 draw and the nutflushdraw
with weak low. I am clearly ahead:
As
Js 5s 3h 0.411 Hero
Ts
Ac 5d 2d 0.339 vs. A2 + weak pair
9s
Ah Kh 4h 0.251 vs. Axs with no low
I’m
even in good shape vs. A2s with the flushdraw, tho I am slightly behind
As
Js 5s 3h 0.475
9s
2s Ah Kh 0.525
**
Dealing Turn ** [ 3 ] pot=$30
UTG
[$6]
Hero
[$6].
Bad
card for me, since it helps someone else to make a low. I put UTG on A2,
and now hope my 3-pair will become a fullhouse or holdup for high. I’m
getting ~2.5 to 1 for the high side of the pot, and if he has A2 then I easily
have that much equity to call down.
** 
] pot=$42
This
is a bad card in that it makes more straights possible. But a good card in
that it makes a low for me. I now have A3578 for low, using A3 from hand
with 578 on the board.
UTG
bets [$6]
Hero
calls [$6]
UTG shows A 2 T K
We
split the pot. And my promo raise is very likely to have knocked out
someone who had bad odds, but who would have outdrawn my high.