Poker Strategy - Calling Big River Bets In Omaha Hi-Lo

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Calling Big Bets On The River In Omaha Hi-Lo

Omaha Hi-Lo may be the biggest action poker game there is, whether you play live games or online poker. With each player holding four card and two ways to win, there are multiple players on every street, resulting in some enormous pots.

As big as the limit form of the game is, the pot-limit form is even bigger, with many players being able to get their entire stacks in by the river.

In most casinos, the split version of the game is fixed-limit, but you can find nearly any kind of poker game online, including pot-limit Omaha Hi-Lo.

For this reason, you may find yourself in an Omaha Hi-Lo game facing a river bet for your entire stack. What to do in this situation?

The simple answer is, assuming the river bet still represents a large portion of your stack (that is to say you have not already committed 80 percent or more of your stack before the river), you should fold, unless you have the nuts for either high or low.

What if your opponent is bluffing? This is unlikely. With each of nine or ten players holding four cards before the flop, and few hands having much more value than any other, it is very frequent that the players who end up in the showdown hold the nuts or close to it, much more frequently than Texas Holdem. Most Omaha players know this, which means they are unlikely to be bluffing, since a bluff is predicated on the belief that your opponent does not hold the nuts.

What if your opponent is going the other way than you? That is to say, the opponent

has a perfect high hand, but not low and you hold a medium strength low hand. This is a possibility, however, consider what this means. If you call and are right, you win half the pot, and if you call and are wrong, you lose everything. These are not great odds. In addition, if there are players behind you, they may have the nuts going the same way as you, in which case they will carve you up. Many Omaha Hi-Lo players have gone broke having the second best hand both ways.

So when should you call a big bet on the river? There are some situations when it is correct to do so.

When you don’t have it, but the nuts requires 2 perfect cards
If you have the king high heart flush and someone moves all-in on the river, you do not have the nuts and should usually fold, even though it is painful to do so. Unlike in Texas hold’em, it is more likely than not that one of your opponents was dealt the ace of hearts. If they were, they probably didn’t fold it, meaning only one of their other three cards has to be a heart to bury you. On the other hand, if you have KK34 and the board is K 8 8 9 T of mixed suits, you have to call an all-in bet. Technically 88xx is the nuts, but an opponent would have to have been dealt exactly the last two eights in the deck, as opposed to say, an ace and any heart. It can happen, but it’s unlikely enough that you should call.

When there are just two players and the pot is already large
This speaks to the situation where your opponent may be going the other way. Calling in that hope is often a losing poker strategy, but if winning half the pot represents a significant addition to your stack, and there’s no one behind you that may squeeze you, it may be worth it to call with a good but not perfect hand one way or both ways in the hopes that your opponent is going the other way.

Also, it’s conceivable that with only two players, an opponent may try a bluff, especially if a card that missed all draws hits the river. If you read your opponent for making this play and you have a hand that has a reasonable chance to win a showdown, you may call.

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