September 02, 2005
Because you almost always have extra outs in Omaha (your pair of kings may become useful, or you might get lucky by making a straight you weren't initially drawing for) it is usually still correct to go all the way to the river with your Pokerparty hand in cases like this. Before the flop you usually don't raise to get players out (to thin the field), you raise to build a big pot in case the flop comes favorable: it is better to pay two bets before the flop in a six-way pot than three bets in a four-way pot, in my opinion. (This is from a risk / reward point of view. You will usually have to receive help from the flop to continue in the hand, even if you're up against "only" three players.
In a ten-handed, loose-passive game my percentage "folding-calling-raising" in EP would be something like 5-85-10, in tougher Pokerparty games maybe 55-25-20, and in tougher, short-handed games it might be more like 15-10-75.
The fact that you are playing the top Pokerparty cards in the deck, has given you more protection against drawouts than is usually the case in limit Omaha). The problem is your Pokerparty hand has no suits, and you have to be very lucky to get a rainbow flop like in our example. Even then, if a flush (any flush) gets back-doored, it is quite likely to be out there, and therefore it is recommended to play big suited cards yourself- so you can be the lucky one by catching runner-runner flush.
Example: flop Kh Tc 3h, your Pokerparty opponent bets the pot, you (in early position) call with Ah Jh xx. Turn: Jd. You figure your opponent for a very good hand (top set, three kings) but decide to represent the nut straight you might very well have (after all, you must be in there with something to call a pot-sized bet on the flop, right?) and bet the pot.
The fact is: you will usually need to flop a king (for top set), two spades (for a flush draw + overpair) or 75x (for an open-ender + overpair) to be a serious Pokerparty contender for the pot, and even with the last two flops your hand is not necessarily worth your entire stack. What's more, you cannot be too aggressive with your hand before the flop. Whenever you make a big raise and someone comes over the top, you are almost certainly up against aces.
A lot of hold'em players think this is a good hand, almost as good as a pair of jacks in hold'em. It is not. You've got no suits, no straight draws, nothing- the only thing you have is a pair of jacks.
Hold'em players might think the best flop would be AAK, but how are you ever going to make money with your Pokerparty hand here? Pot-limit Omaha players know better than to keep calling with Axxx to try to make a full house. You might get some action if your Pokerparty opponent is in there with KKxx, but any reasonable player holding those kings will be deeply suspicious if there's a lot of action after he has bet, called or raised with his kings and will certainly not take his hand all the way to the river.
Some, even experienced, Pokerparty players call raises cold with this hand on a regular basis and quite often they get away with it, but most of the time they are making a big mistake. In tighter games, ace-little suited in late position might be good enough to try to steal the blinds with, and in short-handed games, you even hold a pretty decent hand most of the time.
