In PLO8 ‘Quartering’ usually refers to sharing the low half of the pot with one or more opponents while the high side of the pot goes to someone else. Not only is this a relatively common phenomenon, it can also be expensive. The best way to look at this is that for every dollar you put into the pot when quartered you can get just 25c back!
This article will look at getting quartered in PLO8 Poker Games and highlight those times when this can be avoided with some situational awareness and logical analysis of a hand. We will start with hand selection before the flop, then look at flop situations in which some of the danger signs appear. It is not always possible to avoid being quartered in loose online PLO8 poker games – however even avoiding this half the time will dramatically improve your bankroll!!
Before the flop the danger hands are ‘bare A-2’ or ‘bare A-3’ hands, these are hands with the 2 low cards and no additional backup for the low side of the pot. In fact, unless you have a suited ace or some high backup these are often trouble hands in Omaha Hi-Lo games and can lead to far worse than just being quartered.
The problem with playing such hands is that your opponents will also play A-2-X-X hands, especially when cheap to do so before the flop. If they have backup in the form of other baby cards or nut-high potential then you are actually in very bad shape – a hand match up will clearly demonstrate:
Hand 1: A-2-8-9 (4 suits) Pre-Flop Equity = 36.8%
Hand 2: A-2-4-K (double suited) Pre-Flop Equity = 63.2%
Most situations where being quartered gets expensive actually concern multi-way pots after the flop. If you are drawing to a low only hand while there are 2 opponents raising and re-raising is often an expensive error. At least one of your opponents is likely to have the same low as you a large proportion of the time. Without a strong (nut or close to it) high draw you must exit such pots as cheaply as possible.
Think of it this way – you flop the nut low with A-2-X-X, one opponent raises and another re-raises the pot. You have no high draw. What could they be betting with? Failing to spot these situations is the number one reason why inexperienced player lose by being quartered in PLO8 – make sure it does not happen to you!!
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