I recently played in a good $20-$40 Omaha eight-or-better game at the Wynn which also included a half kill. (If a player scoops, the next hand is played at $30-$60 and the winner would post an additional blind known as the kill. The kill has last action preflop unless they’re directly facing a raise.)
In this particular hand, I was in the cutoff and the kill was posted in the hijack. The small blind and blind remained at $10 and $20 respectively, but it would cost $30 to call. I peeled my cards dealt and looked at a playable but speculative holding of A
9
8
3.
A loose player limped in in middle position in front of the kill, and I contemplated my options. The advantage to raising would be to put pressure on the blinds to prevent them from entering, and would also increase the existing pot size in a spot where between the random dealt kill and passive limper, I figured to be overall ahead.
On the downside, it would limit the range of hands I could have. I would have a wider combination of almost any four playable cards (examples including everything from 10-5-4-2, K-Q-J-9, and weak A-2 and A-3 combinations.)
If I did choose to raise, the hand I actually held would be closer to the bottom of my range in this spot as it didn’t have particularly strong high potential and only had A-3-8 going towards the low. This would mean that I am behind any A-2, and I also lack backup protection in the event of pairing the ace or the three. All things considered, I elected to limp in.
The small blind was a longtime pro who regularly plays in games ranging from $20-$40 to $80-$160. He generally leans towards aggressive tendencies and lines in the hands he plays, and this was no exception as he came in for a raise.
At this point, I was glad I chose to limp since it exposed the power of his hand by letting him raise, and I would not have liked the position I would have been in if I raised my weaker holding and allowed him to three-bet which could potentially have forced folds from the big blind, kill, and maybe even the limper.
As played, the loose, splashy player in the big blind called, the limper called, the kill folded, and we took the flop four ways with two bets and the dead kill, a pot totaling $270.
The flop came Q-9-5 with two spades. The small blind fired $30, the big blind folded, and the limper called. Now I had a choice to call and peel, or fold.
Given I had a pair and a backdoor low draw, and the current pot was $330 with a $30 bet laying me 11:1, my predisposition was to calling and taking a card off.
Additionally, I attempted an assessment of every player’s range in this spot. Since the small blind raised multiway out of position, I figured him to have a very strong preflop hand with a range generally consisting of A-2-3-x, A-2-wheel, A-2-wheel-paint, A-A-x-x, and other such combinations.
Given the flop texture, I figured his hand generally missed this board, and that his most likely connection to this specific flop would be if he now has a spade draw. Obviously, he could have a holding like A-2-Q-Q or A
J 10x 2x that hit the flop rather hard, but I thought that would be the minority of his possible holdings.
The limper figured to have a mixed bag range containing some low card and high card combinations, and I also determined from his flop call that he didn’t think his hand warranted a raise while facing a bet from a player that most likely missed the flop. So I pegged his range as light as well.
All things considered, I put in the call and the pot was now $360.
Turn came a red 10 and the small blind bet $60. As he bet, the limper looked slightly displeased and took a moment before he mucked his hand. The most likely holding my opponent could have that still has a piece of this board would be a spade draw, and if I was going to have a reasonable chance of winning this pot I would have to represent a turned straight and raise now.
I would also have to follow through with a bet on any non-spade river if I took this line since his most likely range is very likely to fold to a river bet when missed, and he would also often hold one or maybe two pair combinations which would beat me at showdown.
Executing the two-street play would require a raise to $120 here and a potential $60 bet on the river, so the total I could be risking would be $180. The pot was at $420 and laying me about 2.33:1 odds on the move, so it would need to be successful only around 31% of the time to turn a profit.
I announced raise and put in the two bets, and my opponent thought for about five seconds before folding his hand. I instantly felt good about the line I took and my read on the situation, and tried to assess what his most likely holding actually was.
My best guess was A-A possibly with the naked A which he figured would be worth betting but did not have enough strength to compete against my raise, and thus wasn’t worth seeing a river. By reading the range and situation appropriately, it allowed me to steal a pot which my hand had no business winning on pure strength. These spots come up from time to time in eight-or-better if we pay attention when hand ranges make them available.
Mark Mazmanian has been a mixed-game specialist for more than two decades playing in games all over the country. The Las Vegas resident can be reached on IG maztastic1 or by email at markmaz17hotmail.com.
