Recently at $20-$40 mixed game at Wynn, the structure has been that each player picks one game in the rotation. At a seven-handed table, that means there will be up to seven different games in the mix, and any players’ pick will come up once per rotation.
My choice in this case was Five-Card Double Board Omaha. The structure of the game is each player gets five hole cards followed by a round of betting. Then comes two flops, two turns, and two rivers, with each having a round of betting as well.
I generally like the game because it tends to generate a lot of action and builds large pots, which brings me to an interesting hand I recently played. There was a dynamic in the game where a couple of players didn’t care much for my choice, and vocalized it every time it came up with friendly chiding comments. “Ugh, here we go with Mark’s pick again!”
One player who consistently shared these types of remarks was an Asian lady who is a solid player at mix games ranging from $20-$40 to $80-$160 and higher. Which brings me to the hand.
At this point several hours into the session, we had played four rounds of this game and she had not opened a pot for a raise coming in yet. Every hand she had previously played she had limped, and combined with her negative comments about the game, it made me think that she wished to keep her contributions to the pot small in a game she wasn’t too comfortable with.
Finally in a spot where she was second to act, she opened for a raise. A recreational player who likes to see a lot of flops called, and in the big blind I looked down at K-J-J-9-7. My holding was rather formidable and if I was first to enter a pot, I would open this hand for a raise from any position.
With $40 from two players, the $10 dead small blind, and my $20 big blind, there was $110 in the pot and I was getting 11:2 odds. With her range weighted extremely strong, this was a spot for an easy call and I tossed in four $5 chips. We took the flops three-handed with $130 total in the middle.
I smashed the first board with a flop of K-7-7 with two clubs, and the second board came Q-4-3 rainbow. I checked to the preflop raiser planning to pop it when it came back around, and she led with a bet which the recreational player called. I then made it $40, and both players called growing the pot to $250.
It of course crossed my mind that there was some chance either player could potentially have K-K, but at least it was a hand which I blocked. Additionally, I was rather light on the second board as my only realistic chances of improving were to drill my two-out jack or add a backdoor draw of some type on the turn. Another thought that crossed my mind was, an ace on the first board would be devastating for me, as the raiser’s range is heavily weighted towards A-A with all things considered.
The next cards out were an ace and a 4, making both boards K-7-7-A and Q-4-3-4 respectively. I was extremely disappointed and elected to check my hand, and sure enough the preflop raiser bet out, and the recreational player called. On the second board, I was effectively dead to a jack, and on the first board, I started to evaluate what my opponents’ range really was.
She hadn’t raised all day, so I thought Q-Q on the second board was unlikely. The only two hands she could realistically have here were A-A or possibly K-K that she flatted my raise with on the flop, and both these hands have me scooped on both boards dead to one out and two outs each.
With the $80 added on this street, the pot grew to $330, and my only chance of winning half for $165 would be if she had Q-Q that I didn’t think she would open with a raise. Also, I would have to call a $40 bet on this street and the next. So even getting just over 4:1 pot odds, this was looking like a spot where even though I held a full house, I would be good almost never.
I showed my neighbor my holding, grimaced, and threw away my hand.
The rivers were 8 and 2, making final boards of K-7-7-A-8 and Q-4-3-4-2. The preflop raiser bet and the recreational player called, and the hands were tabled. The preflop raiser showed A-A-10-6-2, and the recreational player showed 6-6-5-3-2 for a rivered straight that was a full wrap on the other board.
I smiled when the hands were tabled and said I threw away sevens full of kings. She looked at me incredulously, to which my neighbor nodded and said “No, he really did.”
Without the additional information she offered about how much she didn’t like this game, I wouldn’t have been convinced enough of how strong her starting hand range was to make the laydown. But when all factors were considered, her loose lips sunk her chips on this hand to my benefit.
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 Instagram @mazsterfulpoker or by email at markmaz17@hotmail.com.
