When to trap with low in O8

At a new location playing with individuals you do not know, how do you know when to make multiple bets with a three card low board and you hold the nuts? In other words, how do you know that someone else isn't holding the other nut low to quarter you? It seems that I lose money here but whenever the lone low takes the high part of the pot I can make money. It also seems that O8 is the only game where you have to just call along with the nuts more so than other games.


Thanks;


Sherman

Sherman -


With nine starting opponents, when you hold A-2-X-X, and where X is neither ace nor deuce, the probability of getting quartered is about 0.38 and the probability of getting sixthed is about 0.05.


I play mostly in the L.A. area, where there are nine players (eight opponents) to a table. At a full table, I figure on having to share low, when A-2 is the nut low, roughly two hands out of five because with eight starting opponents, when holding A-2-X-X, and where X is neither ace nor deuce, the probability of getting quartered is about 0.35 and the probability of getting sixthed is about 0.04.


Obviously when you hold A-2-2-X or A-A-2-X, the chance of getting quartered or sixthed is reduced. With eight opponents, when you hold either A-2-2-X or A-A-2-X, where X is neither ace nor deuce, the probability of having to share the low half of the pot pot with an opponent is reduced from about 0.39 to about 0.28.


You should almost immediately get a feeling for the looseness of the game in which you are playing. When you are playing in a rock garden, I think you might seriously consider not raising when your ace-deuce is the nut low, and when there are three of you contesting the pot.


On the other hand, when the game is loose, and when there has been no pre-flop raising, one of your opponents is likely to be playing a non-nut low. In these circumstances, you probably will do better, overall, by jamming with the nut low, assuming my numbers are in the ball park.


However, never a guarantee my math is correct.


Whatever. In a loose, L.A. style game, where people are playing crap like 4-2-T-T, I generally wait until the turn or the river before jamming with the nut low, so as not to drive out these non-nut lows. Roughly two times out of five when we are three handed on the river, the nut low gets quartered.


When you get quartered and there are three of you in the pot, you lose two dollars for every eight dollars you bet. When you get sixthed and there are three of you in the pot, you lose four dollars for every eight dollars you bet. However, when there are three of you and you am *not* quartered, you win four dollars for every eight dollars you bet.


Thus, assuming my numbers for getting quartered and sixthed are correct, for a full, loose, L.A. game,


-2*0.35 -4*0.04 +4*0.61 = +1.58.


In other words, for every $8.00 you jam with, when there are three of you in the pot and when you have the nut low, you should expect to win $1.58, almost twenty cents on the dollar. But be careful; that's only in a loose game where opponents generally see the flop with trash and then continue play after the flop with non-nut lows or non-nut low draws.


Try to immediately identify the rocks in the game. When you are three handed, if one of your two opponents is a rock, tend not to jam with the nut low. Otherwise do. Note that the Las Vegas scene is substantially different from the L.A. scene, and higher limit games are also substantially different.


Just my opinion.


Buzz

... that you just wrote a classic post.


Happy Holidays! /images/biggrin.gif ,


Rick

I'm much more inclined to jam when the nut low holding is not A-2 or even A-3.


When an Ace or a deuce hits the board on a later street it will counterfeit many of the lows, making it much less likely for you to get quartered.