Nut Nut

"Nut Nut" is something you always want to say when you turn over your hand in an omaha 8/b game. I was playing in a small stakes on line omaha 8/b game (most of which are pretty soft) and picked up the following hand: Ah-2c-6h-Kc. With several limpers, I limped as well and wanted to make sure I hit the flop big before committing any more money to the pot. The flop came 10h-4h-7c. While I hadn't made anything yet, I had draws to both the nut flush and nut low. After a bet and a call in front of me, I raised on my big draw. As desired, everyone behind me folded and the other two players called the bet. The turn was my gin card--the three of hearts. This completed my nut low and nut flush.

The betting on this street was what got interesting. I was last to act and by the time it got to me there was already a bet and a raise. I made it 3 bets and the initial bettor capped it at 4. Everyone called. At that point, I figured I would be getting 3/4 of the pot and split the low. The river card was an off suit queen--basically a blank card for my hand. Just like on the turn, there was another bet and raise before me. I made it 3 and it got capped again. When all of the hands were finally turned up, one player showed A-5-6-10. He flopped top pair and top kicker, turned a straight and a low but neither was good enough. The other player who turned out to be the real donkey showed Kh-Qh-9-8. He had a big draw on the flop and made the flush on the turn. However, this player was the one that kept doing the extra raising for me.

While clearly, both of my opponents were justified to play their hands, their betting was not done too well. I think this hand clearly shows you that you need to be very careful when you are chasing non nut draws in omaha 8/b and to not go too crazy with your raising when you get there.