A hypothetical hand


You hold the following.

A 3 5 J


Flop 2 4 7

Turn 7

River K


If there are 3 or more players left in this pot,
and a lot of betting and raising on the river
is it simply an automatic call, even though
it's very likely you will get "quartered", or is
this a hand where even though you have the
nut low, should be folded?

In a limit game, I'd say it's pretty much an automatic call by the time you get to the river. The pot should be big enough by then that I imagine you'll be priced in, even for 1/4 of the pot. If there are 4 or more players, and you get quartered, you still make money on the hand (you could get sixthed - it's unusual but it happens).

You make a good point Niceguy,
I should have used a hypothetical pot limit game
Do you still call if it's basically your entire stack
after the re-raising dust settles??

I thought getting quartered in limit was bad...and then I got quartered in pot limit recently. I was freakin' pissed at the idiot re-raising over and over with his A2.

It really depends.


I might even fold on the turn if the action there is much heavier than the action preflop/flop. But if 3 or more other opponents are still in on the river before you, taking a 1/4 is probably slightly +EV.

Considering you can only have a nut high if an ace hits on the turn and a blank hits the river (or vice versa), you might even argue that folding the nut low on the flop is the right play (depending on pot odds and such).

i just dont see any possible situation here where folding on the flop is the right play.

One guy jams the pot, everyone else folds around to you. Do you want to call against A234?

Do you want to call a similar situation on the turn against A344?


Playing for half of a hi/lo pot sucks (especially in pot limit).

the odds of a guy having A234 is very bad. And even he was lucky enough to have it against my A35x, i can still hit a winning hand with an A 3 5 or 6 on the turn or river after the flop comes 2 4 7. Not only that but if an A or 3 does come, it ruins the low hand for my opponent giving me both pots.

In a limit game you would be getting good enough odds to call. In a pot limit game you would also have to call. Unless you were being eighted if there were 2 other people you'd have to call. If someone bet the pot and another person called thats 3 times the amount of what you need to call. Don't worry about getting 1/8 of the pot though. You have a better chance of getting 1/2 the pot.