Folding the nuts? Poker strategy
Folding the best hand? Are you nuts?
Many card players start out their careers in small buy in
no-limit Hold 'em tournaments. From there they move to real
money tables and try to find a structure they are comfortable
with. Be that no-limit Hold'em, higher stakes fixed-limit, or
pot-limit. Occasionally a pure Hold'em player decides to try one
of the other popular poker games
such as 7-card, or Omaha or often the somewhat exotic
Omaha-Hi-Low.
These three games present a situation that is much more unusual
in Hold'em, a situation where two or more players hold the nuts.
Examples are as follows; in 7-card you and another player both
have 2 cards down and 4 up and the four up either form a
straight or with the two hole cards could form a straight
equally high. In Omaha there are plenty of times where more than
one player has the nut straight. Omaha Hi-Low presents the most
examples and the most complications. It is also our best
evidence that sometimes the nuts just don't cut it.
With hi-low as a separate issue let's first consider 7-Card and
Omaha. Here, given the right information about your opponent you
will choose to act differently. If your opponent is a maniac and
you have the best possible hand - for example a straight with a
flush draw on the board, or trips with a straight draw on the
board - you are going to raise as much as possible. Or in 7-Card
a straight in your hand and what could be an equally high
straight and also a flush draw in his hand
If your opponent is a rock then you will have to reconsider. The
last thing you want to do is let him free roll on
your money. Free rolling meaning that in the worst case
situation he is going to split the pot with you and in the best
case he is going to win. It is also important to realize that in
Omaha, the highest trips can be the favorite to LOSE against a
serious draw. In the worst case scenario you have the top trips
and the flop has a straight flush draw on it. Your opponent
could be holding a hand No Pair 9 High that has a 68.47% chance
of winning! This would be the case if he had #4s #5s #8c #9c
while you had #7d #7h #Ah #Kh and the flop was #3s #6c #7s. Here
if you have the set and your opponent, the rock, raises in such
a way that you have to put in more than 1/3 of the pot you
should fold. If he is a maniac you should raise or call
depending on what you think he might be holding.
In Omaha-hi-low the nut low is often split by a number of
people. Do not call pot bets with just the nut low and no high
card or draw to a new nut low in a multi-way pot. You run the
risk of only winning back