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The Power of the Wheel
By Chips_Middle | November 7, 2008
Anyone who reads this blog will know that I’ve been playing a little bit of HORSE poker lately. I wanted to use this post to talk about one of the limit games and specifically about a hand that shows the power of the wheel in split pot poker. In this case, Omaha Hi/Lo.
This hand was played online in a HORSE cash game. The game is $0.25 / $0.50 Omaha Hi/Lo split and there are 8 players at the table. I am in middle position holding:
It’s not a great hand but it has some potential and I’ve commented at some length about how clueless the opposition in HORSE games are. I figure it’s worthwhile seeing a flop here.
There is a limp and a raise in front of me and I call. Some more call behind me and we see the flop 6 handed.
The flop is:
At this point I have the nut low with 7 4 3 2 A. That’s great but it’s not what makes my hand strong here. What makes my hand strong here is that I have the nut low plus some other prospects. Any 2,3,5 or 6 will give me a straight to give me a two way hand that can compete for high and low halves of the pot.Â
In addition, my low hand can’t be counterfeited. If money were to go in the pot now, another nut low (2,3) is a strong possibility when assessing my opponent’s potential hand. Mind you, in this game there is money going in the pot if they have any qualifying low, or a flush draw and in some cases a high pair but, whatever. If a 2 or a 3 should come on the turn or river, the 5 in my hand means that I will still have the nut low.
In fact, the ace and 4 on the flop were the perfect cards for my starting hand. The ace is crucial. I have a low starting hand and it needs the ace to turn it into a strong low or draw to a strong low. The A 4 7 on the flop is just icing on the cake, giving me the nuts in one direction and draws and redraws for high and low.
This is the kind of situation that you play Omaha Hi / Lo for and Omaha in general. Hands that can develop in multiple ways with interesting possibilities, most of them good.
There is a check and a bet to me and I raise. Only one of my opponents manages to fold and we see the turn 5 handed.
The turn card is: 
Well that’s a blank. The first player bets, I raise and the guy behind me re-raises. First guy calls and I cap it at $2. They both call.
The river is 
Now there is a dream card. I have the nut low. An opponent who was sharing the nut low with me on the turn (quite likely, given the betting) has probably just lost. No spade, means the flush draw didn’t get there giving me the nuts for high as well.
There is a check, I bet $0.50. The guy behind me raises, $1. The first guy folds and I re-raise to $1.50. My opponent calls.
The guy who folded might have had some kind of low hand (or not) and probably had a flush draw. The guy who called had 9 9 T 2 and had made a pretty strong high hand on the turn.
The pot ended up being $7 which is pretty big for those stakes. At best his trip 9s figured to get half of that.Â
Therein lies the power of the wheel straight and the cards that can form it.Â
This is a junk hand in Omaha Hi/Lo. Middle cards don’t play well in split pot poker and with only one low card he can’t make a qualifying low. The best he can hope for is competing for high with middle set and that is less than ideal.
Compare that to my less than ideal hand full of low cards. When my hand hits, it is competing for both halves of the pot. On the turn, when my opponent’s dream card hit, I was guaranteed half the pot and still had outs to win the other half as well. He was in the lead for the high half of the pot and could not under any circumstances win the low.
Incidentally, on the river he is raising with 4 low cards on the board in a situation where he is splitting the pot against any hand containing 2 low cards???
The aim of split pot poker is to scoop the pot (to win both high and low). That’s why wheel straights and the cards that make them are so powerful.
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