Pot limit "Do you want that?" hand

[Roy Hobbs]

I just started playing in an incredible pot limit home game with some people from work. .5 ante, no blinds, dealers choice. Mostly, people will call HE or Omaha, but occasionally there are some funky games. This hand arose from one of those games, called "Do you want that?"

This is a five card stud high low split game. One card is dealt face down, and then the top card of the deck is turned up. The player to the dealer's left is offered the card, or for $1, the next card in the deck, sight unseen. After everyone has a second card, there is a round of betting. Then the process is repeated, starting with the next player, etc. After all five cards are out, you have the option to pay $2 to pitch one card for the top card on the deck. If you pitch a face up card, it's dealt to you face up.

I have (T)823A.

The obvious high player, to my right, has (X)TTTQ. He makes a ludicrously small $10 bet in a $60 pot. There is noone that has a shot to catch up with him, and I think he wants to get one of the loose players to call him with two pair or a gutshot.

The competition for the low is equally weak. The best hand showing is (X)345J. I raise to $50. The other low hand mulls it over, and calls.

Q1: Am I raising the right amount here?

I decide not to pitch my ten, knowing that he has to pitch his jack.

Q2: I think this is obviously correct, but I thought I'd post this question anyways.

Obviously, he pitched his jack and beat my 8. My question, for future hands, is this...I should be happy that he called, right?

RH

[crockpot]

is there a betting round after the twist? if so, i'm going to assume you will fold if he catches any non-board pair card 9 or lower here, which is pretty much the sane way to play even if he will always bluff if he pairs his holecard.

ignoring the dead cards that you didn't mention, there are 39 unseen cards, and 21 of them beat you. he is risking $52 to win $80 (half of the $160 pot), which is a good proposition when he will win it over half the time.

if you think you can outplay your opponent and make him fold when he catches an 8 or 9, then he is only winning with 14 of 39 cards, and your bet is offering him slightly worse odds than he is getting from the pot.

either way, i believe you should have raised the pot instead of $50. you are giving him way too good odds to beat you here. also, your goal in pot-limit poker is to induce the biggest mistakes possible, and you will not do that by raising less than the maximum here.

[Ignatius]

There are three important questions here: Is there a final betting round after the draw (and if so, what are the stacks)? Do you use a qualifier or a declare for low? Has the 345J position on you?

> I think he wants to get one of the loose players to call him with two pair or a gutshot.
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No. What he wants is players to compete for low. Inviting high players in only makes sense if he already is full, but any further discussion of his play only makes sense if we know whether there is another betting round and if there is a qualifier for low. If not, then with trips he is up for beeing freerolled by a str8-draw unless he can get a third player in.
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> I should be happy that he called, right?
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No. The high player should he happy, but you should want him out. He only needs to get there slightly less than 1/4 of the time (exactly 1/4 if you had bet the pot), to cost you money.

[tdomeski]

My advice. . .don't play that game anymore.