Blind Beauty

While playing in a $40 buy-in online pot-limit Omaha high-low tournament with the blinds at $100-$200, I picked up the Q 2 and a 6 and 4. At a table where there had been very little raising before the flop, a player in middle position made it $400 to go and everyone folded around to me. Should I defend my big blind with this "ratty" hand (one high card and three aceless low cards) in pot-limit?

My old Omaha computer program would evaluate this hand as having six "blind calling points," where five points were considered enough to defend my blind in limit poker: two points for the 4-2 (two prime low cards), one point for the additional low card (the 6), one point for the flush couple, and one point each for the two straight couples (6-4 and 4-2). For more on this, see Page 80 of my How to Win at Omaha High Low Poker , Cardoza Publishing.

What are the real odds on this type of hand when heads up? If you simulate this Q-6-4-2 against an A-3-5-7 (using Caro's Poker Probe), the Q-6-4-2 wins about 44 percent of the tim e. If simulated against an A-2 and two random cards, the Q-6-4-2 wins about 39 percent of the tim e. Against pocket aces and two other random cards, the Q-6-4-2 wins about 40 percent of the tim e. Thus, it certainly seems right to put up an additional $200 to compete for a $900 pot. And my money odds are even better if my opponent is the type who will bet aggressively and pay off when I win.

But putting "points" and simulations aside, this ratty hand doesn't really look all that bad. Indeed, many fish would play this hand regularly. Of course, it would look even better if there were some low odd cards in the flop. So, I called the additional $200 and watched the flop come A 6 4. The good news was that I flopped two pair and a flush draw. The bad news was that my low cards were badly counterfeited, and if he had aces up, my two pair were in serious trouble. I checked. My opponent bet a mere $200. Maybe he didn't have much. I called.

The turn card was the 9 – no help. If he had made even a medium-sized bet here, I would have folded. But, he again bet $200. Maybe he was baiting me. But the price was right, so I called, and rooted for the 3.

The river card was the very nice 5. Not only did I now have a flush, but suddenly I had the second-best low (only a 2-3 would beat me). What would you do here in this position? I had started the hand with a little more than $4,000 in chips and my opponent had started with about $3,000.

I really liked my hand now, but I expected that my opponent would bet. So, I checked. My opponent bet a seemingly routine $400 at me. Although opponents some tim es trap with small bets, I believed that it would be very unlikely for this particular opponent to small-bet this hand with both a 2-3 nut low, and a big flush draw on the turn and flush on the river. Thus, I felt quite confident that I would not lose this hand both ways.

So, I decided to turn up the pressure and do a little headhunting. I raised the pot, which now was enough to put him all in. I thought that if he called, he would probably have half or at least a quarter of the pot. But, he called with his A-3-5-7 (straight and 5-3 low) and was eliminated. It's funny how a ratty hand that I was about to fold suddenly turned into a thing of beauty – yet another rags to riches story.

Strategy question: In a no-limit hold'em tournament, you have the largest stack. The best two-word strategy is:

A. push it

B. double it

C. flaunt it

D. work it

E. defend it

F. nurse it

G. nibble it

H. hide it

I. keep it

The answer is on page 135.