Don't get too fancy in Omaha 8/b

I've been an advocate for quite some time now that when playing low limit omaha 8/b, you should just play ABC poker. If you have the nuts, you should raise, if you have a draw to the nuts you probably just want to call. Sure, there are all kinds of circumstances and situations that would call for doing something out of the ordinary. However, playing a simple strategy will win you money in the long run. There are just too many bad omaha 8/b players out there. I see way too many river bets called with nothing more than an 8-7 low.

I had just taken a seat in a $4/$8 omaha 8/b game with a half kill (we would play $6/$12 when the kill was in effect). The first hand I was dealt was As-2s-7c-9d. This is a marginal hand as I don't have much of a good draw to the high other than the spade flush or making a 9 high straight. However, when I make my straight, that also puts low cards out on the board which devalues the hand somewhat. Knowing that this was a loose table, I limped in as did 7 others. The flop came 3c-9s-Js. I liked my hand. I had the nut flush draw and a back door nut low draw. I check called the flop and we took a turn with 5 players left in the hand. The turn was the 6d. I now had the "nut nut" draw. I also had a made hand with a pair of 9s which I knew would be no good unless I paired my ace or hit another 9. Part of me didn't want the low to hit as I was fairly certain that I'd be getting quartered and only winning a small pot. I really wanted the spade to hit--the river was the Ks. I just made my hand. I checked with 3 players left to act behind me (we lost one after the turn betting). Sure enough, one player bet out and the other two folded. The dealer was in the process of pushing the player the pot when he realized that I was still in the hand. I announced raise and was quickly reraised back.

How sick is that. I go for the check raise and get reraised. I knew I was beat, but the pot was so big that I had to pay it off. For all I knew, this player had the second nut flush where I held the nut flush. Of course, the other thing going through my mind was that I ran into the straight flush. I paid off the third bet and saw Qs-10s. I flashed my two spades as I threw my hand into the muck. What I failed to do in this hand was recognize that I was not holding the nuts on the river. Reading the board is so easy to do. However, sometimes you get clouded when you hit what you think is your perfect card when it is actually a disaster card. That is what happened to me. I would have been better off by one bet if I just led out, got raised and paid off the one extra bet. Because I got fancy with a check raise, I ended up paying off one more bet than I had to.