100/200 Omaha8 hand Bellagio/Sklansky

[Danielih]

Hi. I thought this was a decent hand for discussion and I am curious as to Davids response to my comments on the hand should he read this. Not all the details may be 100% but this is as close as I can remember. The game is running 6-7 handed, There is one extremely weak player and two other players who are mediocre omaha8 players at best. I find myself near the top of the players in the game and David finds the best game. One players open limps, David limps there are 6 to the flop (everyone but me)

The flop is K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
The first limper bets out and David thinks for a second and raises, everyone else, folds and it is heads up going into the turn.
Then turn is 8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] check bet call
The river is J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] check bet call

The first guy opens up A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

David shows A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

David quarters him with the running hearts although his 77 was good for high and the 3/4 anyways.

1. I diasagree with his attempt to make the pot heads up. Since on the flop one could reason that his opponent has AA AK A25 A2 diamond draw I am not sure why isolating the opponent with only a draw yourself, a draw that may be for half the pot is the ideal situation. If you simply call the flop then you would get a few callers behind you drawing to worse low hands and possibly high hands. When you raise to isolate you are assuming your 77 is good for high and you are going to make your low which could easily have been counterfeited or not gotten there. If any of the other opponents has low draws and or diamond draws they will not fold the flop to the raise and you end up drawing to a quarter of the pot. While the situation worked out I feel it is a marginal decision at best. David wanted to get heads up, he got heads up with a weaker player and while the weaker player had a better hand than David suspected, David was still a favorite to quarter with the other guy having about 12 outs twice to quarter.

With less players in the pot I feel that raising is a better decision because you can feel comfortable the other player(s) will certainly fold to a raise and you dont want them in the pot. With 4 other players I feel you risk being called and or reraised and are left with a draw to maybe only a quarter of the pot, although perhaps David reasoned his opponent did not have A2.

I think this is an interesting hand because many people wonder when it is correct to isolate in Omaha8 and this is one such occasion when it may be the right play, maybe not.
Regards,
Danny