omaha hi, did i play this right?

3-3-6-12 omaha hi. i get 3s-3h-2h-5d, 2nd last postition. (is this called cutoff?, just before the button?) seven of ten players call the big blind, including me, button folds. so no raise, seven in, pot is $21.


flop comes 3d-3c-2h; i flop quads, but also hold one of the 2s, which lessens the chance of someone paying me off with a full house. everybody checks to me. i check as well (waiting to get to the $6 round. turn comes a 7h. everybody checks again to me. I CHECK AGAIN, thinking everyone will fold, and if anyone had a boat they'd have bet it. so i didn't bet cuz the next round is $12. river is 6c. three checks, middle position bets $12, next two fold, i raise to $24, earlies fold, bettor calls with her straight i'm pretty sure. so, the question is, should i have bet the turn? if the final round was still $6 i would have bet the turn, but since it was $12 i waited, and got two $12 bets from the straight. was this correct?? i think if i bet the turn she would have folded and never would have mader her straight which got her betting on the river. thoughts?

5332 is a quite the DOG hand. The best you can hope to do is flop a set with an uncoordinated board, say k73 and hope nobody has a bigger set and nobody back-doors a straight or flush; neither of those "hopes" is particularly likely. You are still in trouble if you fill up. OK, so MAYBE you will flop A46 with an 11-card "wrap-around" straight draw. Your quads chances are so remote (and obviously not very profitable anyway) to not figure in EV calculations.


Your "2-flush" has value ONLY if there is a flop raise, you back-door the flush, whatever hand you survived the flop with will LOSE to a hand your flush will beat, AND everybody checks the river. That's not often. Otherwise its a liability. The chances that nobody has you covered is close to zero.


So much for your pre-flop call.


Your decisions to slow play seemed reasonable but not compelling. Your reason that the next round was more expense if NOT a good reason. If you are going to get a play on the flop or turn then go ahead and bet it, waiting will at best increase your EV only slightly.


So if MP will call the turn with her straight draw but then only check-call the river if you bet the turn, you make more money betting since you betting gains you $6 4 of 5 times she misses, wherease checking gains you $6 only 1 time in 5 that she makes it (and bets into you AND calls the raise).


As you play one of the primary factors to keep track of is how often this group will call flop bets. Typical loose low limit games feature players routinely calling "one time" on the flop. Certainly most of those with any straight draw or any over-pair or any back-door flush draw will call. If so, you should routinely BET your monsters on the flop so as not to lose that money. After that, consider "slow playing" the turn.


With so many players in I would have bet this hand the whole way; "slow playing" only if someone on my right bet into me.


- Louie

Hi Corb,


Frankly, I would not have played this hand at all. It has almost no chance of flopping the nuts or a nut draw, and especially in a game this loose, you need to play for the nuts. In fact, the odds against flopping quads when you have one pair are 375-to-1. So you got tremendously lucky.


However, if some momentary lapse of reason caused me to play this hand, I would just come out betting on the flop and turn. It's a super loose game - someone will pay off.


TRLS