Omaha 8 Limit:

Suppose 3 players go to the flop (including us). We flop the nut low on a flush board. We have no chance of making the hi.

Villain 1 opens, Villain 2 raises. Looks like we are getting quartered here, but we don't know that for sure. What do we do? Suppose we call and then Villain 1 reraises, Villain 2 then caps? Still proceed and call?


And then what about the scenario where the flush comes in on the turn and that's when the raise, reraise, blowing up takes place? What's our play then?

Lastly, suppose the flush comes in on the river, and the same capping reraising action takes place? What's our play then?

(In all these cases we have the nut low but no hi). Idk but in the last case (the reraising going on on the river, I would think we're priced in to call even though we realize getting quartered is likely). Not sure though.

We need to know how many players were dealt cards. (The situation is different if ten players were dealt cards than if only three players or four players were dealt cards).

No offense intended, but I think it depends on how Villain 1 and Villain 2 play and what they seem to be trying to accomplish.

We "play poker."

Maybe... Maybe not. If either or both of them would not play this way without flopping the nut low, then we fold. Otherwise it depends on what we think the actions of Villain 1 and Villain 2 mean. For example, do we think one of them is trying to force us out of the pot?

I'd be slightly concerned about the possibility of collusion.

I'd put one of them on the nut high flush and try to guess at what the other one was trying to accomplish.

How much is in the pot at this point?

Disregarding the rake, if the last betting round is going to cost us 4 big bets, and if we're going to get quartered, then there have to be at least 12 big bets, exclusive of our last 4 big bets, in the pot at the showdown.

Disregarding the rake, if the last betting round is going to cost us 4 big bets, and if we're going to get sixthed, then there have to be at least 20 big bets, exclusive of our last 4 big bets, in the pot at the showdown.

Buzz

Buzz

If you are getting quartered in a three-way pot, you only -lose- one quarter of the bets that you put in (you're putting in 4/12th of the pot and taking out 3/12th). So if you are CERTAIN you are getting quartered, you should only fold if the amount you will need to put in to see showdown is greater than the size of the current pot not counting the current betting round.

Also when you win half the pot in a 3-way pot, you profit twice as much as you lose when quartering. So you should always call a bet of any size in this situation if you think there is at least a 1/3 chance of winning half instead of quartering, even if there is nothing already in the pot.

Generally, I think you would do fine never folding in LO8 if you know you are getting quartered at worst in a multi-way pot.

In a limit O8 game, check calling is okay with nut low no high possibility as long as there are 4 players+ in the hand. To fold like these guys mentioned - you have to work out the math and find out if its a good fold and you have to be 100% sure one of them has nut low as well (which they usually do)...esp if one of them raised or 3b pre which might indicate an A23 type hand.

Huge factor not mentioned: Backup low cards. If you have A234 and A2 is the current nut low, you might have four outs twice to win the whole low.

===
Anyway, you have to consider that Omaha players tend to be fairly accustomed to a game when the nuts is relatively easy to make. So situations of actually getting taken to the cleaners for a quarter, calling caps down to the river, when you should have known about it, are very rare.

So, e.g., flop comes low and three suited, plr A bets, plr B raises, you call two cold. It would be rare for B to raise a naked low here without some high or a non-nut flush.* So the nut flush makes up a ton of his range, along with NL+small flush.

Now A reraises in a multiway pot, representing exactly the nut flush (rarely, NL+top set). What on earth is B going to four-bet there? Since B is almost always sharing quarters with you, it would be silly to keep jamming.** If for some reason he does jam, maybe he has NL and a set and will slow down on the turn.

I haven't discussed nut "mere flush" versus straight flush but even then, Omaha players usually slow down before capping every round with the second nuts.

Now, if a flush isn't the current nuts, then it's even better--if they cap the flop, depending on hand reads, you could have top set versus a wrap, or nut straight versus a wrap. You might even be the one getting value for your low!

Summary: You need to be pretty sure you're getting a bad price (1/4 of your bets versus the amount you're defending) to fold here.

So I agree with Nick that situations where you're having to call down caps on every street are so rare that you probably don't need to spend study time worrying about them. Be aware that theoretically they exist, though.

*Except she should raise some two-way hands with a low flush to knock you out if she suspects A is semibluffing =.

**If this happens, you must NOT get mad at B for costing you money, although it's super-tempting. You want B to play equally badly next time when you have half and someone else is getting screwed! Don't educate the weak ones at the table.

Pedantically, don't you mean unequalized bets you haven't put in in the current betting round?

E.g., A leads, you call, B raises, A 3-bets. Everyone's already in for one bet on this round, so you should count that as money in the center of the table to be defended.

Right, you would count bets you have already called as being part of the pot, but not bets you haven't called yet.