History: You have played a solid game and shown few bluffs, grinding your stack up to $250 without reaching a showdown. The villain is a very aggressive player, and likes to three-bet in position with most combination hands and big pocket pairs. He likes to come in for raises and rarely limps/calls. UTG is very weak-passive and limps far too often.
NL $1/2 Omaha, six-max (Real Money)
Seat 1: UTG ($127.45)
Seat 2: HJ ($150)
Seat 3: C/O: Hero ($275)
Seat 4: BTN: Villian ($310)
Seat 5: SB ($221)
Seat 6: BB ($72.75)
Dealt to Hero [Ah-Ac-6d-7s]
UTG calls [$2]
HJ folds
What’s your move? How does position and stack effect your decisions with aces preflop?
Adam says:
“I would raise the pot to $9. Before opening with this hand, it would be wise to plan for a potential three-bet from the villain. If Hero opens to 4.5 big blinds, villain three-bets 16 big blinds and then hero re-pops to 50 big blinds total, you are getting in 36 percent of your 138 big blind stack. In a four-bet pot by a solid player ideally you want to get as much of your stack in possible preflop with A-A-x-x hands. This is because you need to counter the fact that your hand is so face-up, by betting a large proportion of your stack. This way the villain has no manoeuvrability post-flop to outplay you with his superior knowledge of your hand. Therefore, you want 40 to 50 percent of your stack in preflop with one all-in bet behind.
However, as the villain is playing very loose-aggressive and three-betting any big pair as part of his range, if you have concluded that he will always call your raise preflop when he three-bets, sometimes you will also have his hand dominated which is a good reason to accept the slightly below optimal 36 percent.
Position isn’t really that important when playing A-A-x-x in this scenario. You are happy to raise out of position to the villain for the reasons above and you should want to raise in position too to thin the field with a big pair hand.”
Henry says:
“Due to the aggressive player having position on us, and the effective stack sizes between ourselves and the villain, I would choose not to open with this hand, due to the aces being off-suit, and knowing that we are unlikely to improve on many flops. By opening with this hand, we allow the very aggressive player on the button to raise, and although that allows us the option of reraising, it is unlikely that we will be able to get enough of the stacks in the pot preflop, and will certainly expose the strength and equally the vulnerability of our hand to the villain, at the same time, knowing very little about his hand.
However, if we do choose to limp/call, we are disguising the strength of our hand, and the times we do improve to top set it will be very hidden. Also, considering the vast majority of flops that we don’t improve on, it allows us to give up the pot having invested very little, avoiding the tricky situation that arises from seeing the flop in a three or four-bet preflop pot, with only one pair, no draw, where the villain knows almost everything about our hand and also has position on us.”
Hero raises to [$7]
Villain calls [$7]
SB folds
BB folds
UTG calls [$5]
** Dealing Flop ** [3c-4s-Qc]
UTG checks
Pot = $23, Hero = $268, Villain = $303, UTG = $120.45
What’s your move? Is this a good flop for our hand?
Adam says:
“I would continuation bet roughly three quarters of the pot. This is a pretty good flop for our hand as it isn’t very coordinated and you have the ace of clubs. When you continuation bet, if your opponents do not have a made hand like Q-3-x-x or higher where they will likely raise, your bet makes it difficult for them to call for draws as it will not be to the nuts. This flop will miss them most of the time and they will fold weak draws to a solid player’s continuation bet.”
Henry says:
“Supposing that we had open raised with this hand preflop, then this isn’t the worst flop for our hand. I think it contains very few likely two pair hands, meaning we are likely to have the best made hand at present, and we also have our live gutshot straight draw which will be pretty disguised seeing as we opened preflop after an UTG limper.
I am not keen on the bare ace play in Pot Limit Omaha online, as it rarely gets through, and more often than not, you will bet the bare ace and get raised by another player!
Given the flop texture, I am prepared to fire once at this board, probably betting $18 to $23 with the intention of reassessing the turn if I just get called. Although I don’t give a huge amount of concern to the fact that we hold the ace of clubs, it does make it less likely that if we get called on the flop, that the opponent is drawing to a flush, and more likely they have a made hand, or a straight draw.
If we get raised on the flop, then this has turned into the tricky situation I mentioned earlier where we hold only one pair, and only a very poor inside straight draw as improvement…
Fold”
Hero bets [$23]
Villain raises to [$60]
UTG folds
What’s your move? Does your gutshot draw affect the way you play the hand at all?
Adam says:
“I would call. When the villain raises we should try to put him on a range of hands. Even though he is a very loose-aggressive player, we should assume he is doing so intelligently like three-betting preflop when edges between two hands are usually quite marginal, with the intention of stealing when his opponent misses. He will be aware that you are playing a solid game and that you potentially have a big combo hand, if not Q-Q-x-x.
It’s very unlikely that he has complete air here as you could just reraise with a combination hand and he would have to make an expensive fold.
He could have two pair or a set, but the size of his raise suggests that he is not really protecting his made hand all that well as he is laying you 3:1 and could have raised the full pot to $81 to only give you 2:1
He might have a combination draw of his own like 6-5-2-x, Q-6-5-x or a pair with a weak flush draw or straight draw, which he doesn’t mind calling all-in if Hero three-bets. Depending on just how solid Hero has been with his opening range, he may perceive you to be making a protection bet with A-A-x-x off-suit here and is trying to semi-bluff you off the pot.
The equity of Hero’s aces isn’t good at all against the range of hands Villain may have so I certainly wouldn’t three-bet here. I wouldn’t fold either because of the good price to call coupled with the fact that we have the bare ace of clubs which can be used to turn our hand into a bluff. Also the villain is clearly very loose-aggressive and capable of a semi-bluff so we are not always behind here either. We have three genuine money cards to hit with the gutshot when calling, maybe two aces, and nine clubs which can be used to represent the nuts.
Calling is even better if Hero can make a capable read on various turn cards as there are so many potential scare cards.”
Henry says:
“We are in bad shape against most of the hands the villain would reraise here, drawing very slim against sets or any two pairs, and still in bad shape against any combination straight/flush draw or pair with flush/straight draw hands which the aggressive villain would be correct to raise us with in this spot.
Our gutshot draw is simply not good enough to consider a call with, having only three nut outs, some of the time giving us a split situation with even a possible freeroll against us with any live flush draw. Even if we hit our remaining two aces, this completes a straight and would then be in very bad shape against any wrap on the flop, although we would more than likely feel obliged to see the river if we hit the ace on the turn. Most of the time we will be doing our money in this unnecessary spot. A fold is required.”
Hero calls
** Dealing Turn ** [5c]
Pot = $143, Hero = $208, Villain = $243
What’s your move? What do you consider his range to be?
Adam says:
Correct action here is dependant on certain reads you need to make on the villain. Whether you use the club to turn your hand into a bluff is dependent on:
(1) How the villain would perceive you to play a combination hand like A-A-x-x or A-K-Q-x with the nut flush draw to his flop raise.
(2) How the villain would perceive you to play the bare nut flush on the flop. Would you bet-call, or check-call?
These are both dependant on the playing style and aggression factor (the ratio between aggressive and passive actions) of Hero so far. Also, you need to gauge how susceptible your opponent is to folding on scare cards.
Assuming that:
(1) Hero’s opening range has been tight, but he will play a big combination hand fast to a loose-aggressive opponent.
(2) The villain is a good intelligent player who is considering your possible hand ranges and will not just sway to pressure on scare cards without good reason.
I would check as Hero has hit a made hand that isn’t to the nuts, meaning you’re now way ahead or way behind. Betting will only accomplish a lesser hand to fold or a better hand to call. On these assumptions it is likely that Villain doesn’t put you on a nut flush draw.
You now in effect have a bluff catching hand. If Villain were to bet after you check, you would have reason to be suspicious as he is now double barrelling a non-nut hand. Even if he knows you do not have the nuts, he isn’t likely to barrel three times for value for the times your hand is too weak to call.
Henry says:
“Having made a pretty questionable call on the flop, we now have little choice but to fire with our bare ace, possibly getting called by a set, which we can now beat with our straight. I would now lead into the villain for somewhere between $80 to $100 with the intention of folding if he jams on us.”
Hero checks
Villain checks
** Dealing River ** [Ks]
What’s your move? Is a blocker bet of any use here?
Adam says:
“Villain checks behind which is standard as you know he doesn’t have the nuts. If he has a flush he would not be able to get two streets of value anyway so will likely take a pot control line on the turn and then fire on the river if Hero checks again. If Villain has a made hand he would also check because the club is a scare card.
I would check again rather than blocker bet as this gives Villain a chance to bet his bluffs as well as his made hands. Betting will again only get him to fold worse, call with better, or potentially reraise you on a bluff.”
Henry says:
“Having taken this line, it is fairly safe to assume that the villain usually has two pairs or a set here and no flush of any reasonable value. I would tend to bet about $70 here as a type of value bet/bluff. Knowing that he may well make a frustration call with a set due to the check/check on the turn, also it may be possible to get him to fold either the same straight that we have, or a bad flush. It is a very horrible situation to be in, especially being out of position.”
Hero checks
Villian bets [$115]
Pot = $258, Hero = $206, Villain = $128
What’s your move?
Adam says:
“The villain is probably never value betting here with the two pair or set part of his range and maybe not even a turned straight, because if he thinks you just have weak made hands in your range he knows you will not call anyway and it saves him money when you check-call with a straight or bad flush and could just check instead and win on showdown. This means his bet is either a bluff or a value bet with a flush and sometimes a straight.
My read on the situation is that he is bluffing so I would call. Now that you show clear signs of not having a strong hand, a good loose-aggressive villain is very capable of acting on that. The strong bet size on the river suggests that he isn’t trying to get value from a flush or straight against what has been represented as a very weak hand. The fact you know he doesn’t have the nuts eases the decision more as Pot Limit Omaha players tend to try and get big bets in for value with only the nuts.”
Henry says:
“If the villain had any kind of showdown hand, I think he would most likely check behind on the river as he did on the turn. We know he can’t be value betting the nut flush, although he may be betting a king or queen flush, I think this is unlikely considering his check on the turn. This is why a small blocker bet might be of some use in this spot.
From the way the hand has played out, I think we have to make a crying call and expect to see trips/two pair trying to force out weak flushes and straights. It is also possible that the villain raised us on the flop with 6-5, having missed, now cannot win without a bet. A pretty horrible spot to be in.”
Do you have any general tips with playing aces in Omaha?
Adam says:
“If you are not mixing up your four-bet range with other good Pot Limit Omaha hands and it is very polarised to A-A-x-x, you need to get as much of your stack in preflop as possible, over 40 percent, to make up for the transparency of your hand.
If this isn’t possible (and you should plan for such scenarios when deciding on your action), it may be wise to take a more passive line. If your opening range is quite tight and you will play big combo hands fast to a very loose-aggressive villain, check-calling also makes it much more effective to bluff with the bare suited ace on a flush draw board.
You’ve probably all heard it before but one pair is not a hand in Omaha! Don’t get married to A-A-x-x, especially bad ones. The equity of getting all in with As-Ac-5h-9d, etc against an average opponent preflop is pretty bad.”
Henry says:
“Try to refrain from over-committing preflop unless it is possible to get more than 40 percent of your stack in before the flop. Even the worst aces, for example A-A-7-2 off-suit still hold a slight edge over almost all hands preflop, however double suited aces with your two other cards working together have seriously more potential.
Don’t get married to unimproved aces post-flop where you hold one pair and no flush/straight draw. By all means bet them in position when checked to, once considering the board texture. Always be aware that by three- or four-betting preflop with them, you are effectively turning your hand face-up, and telling all your opponents exactly what they have to beat. Treat them like you would any other weak one pair hand post-flop.”