These low-dollar HORSE tourneys on Full Tilt are a ton of fun, usually against some bad players in some of the games. The following hand came up in the middle of the tourney (8 players, 3 get paid).

Full Tilt Poker Game #672630477: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (4425825), Table 1 - 120/240 - Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 11:23:36 ET - 2006/05/29
Seat 1: Rocketwadster (1,820)
Seat 3: Seat 3 (2,450)
Seat 4: Seat 4 (2,310)
Seat 6: Seat 6 (4,575)
Seat 8: Seat 8 (845)
Seat 4 posts the small blind of 60
Seat 6 posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Rocketwadster [4c Ah 3h 4d]
Seat 8 raises to 240
Rocketwadster folds

Is that wacky or what? Seemed like an easy fold to me, but have been told it was crazy. Let's see what would have happened had I called that raise.
Seat 3 folds
Seat 4 calls 180
Seat 6 calls 120

*** FLOP *** [3c Qs Ad]
Seat 4 bets 120
Seat 6 folds
Seat 8 calls 120

Would have had to fold here too wouldn't I? Or is it a call. What if I continued?

*** TURN *** [3c Qs Ad] [5c]
Seat 4 bets 240
Seat 8 calls 240

Now it is a clear fold if the others weren't.

*** RIVER *** [3c Qs Ad 5c] [2h]
Seat 4 bets 240
Seat 8 folds


Nice river. Probably would have been 1/4'ed anyhow, so in hindsight, am I ever glad I folded pre-flop. Or am I???

Not that it matters, but I ended up winning this tourney today at lunch, and think this hand was the turning point, despite my not even playing it.

I call preflop with three to a wheel plus single suited to the NFD.

I would fold postflop as that flop counterfeited two of my low cards and my high is no good.

Is that a rule you have, or are you saying you would do that in this situation (look at teh chip stacks, your position, who the raise came from, etc.) This is a tourney remember, not a ring game, so there are a lot more factors to consider IMO than just your 4 cards...

You're to the right of the button so I call this easily as you have position on everybody except the button if he plays.

If I was in EP OOP, then I might fold if the players to act behind me showed a tendency to raise it up preflop.

But point taken that obviously chip stacks etc matter.

It was the small stack that raised pre-flop, which to me is a scenario I don't want to get involved in unless I have a premium hand (my hand is close to a call here, and I most likely would have if the small stack just limped) with my chip stack.

Also, remember that the majority of the opponents are donkeys who don't always understand some basic concepts of the games, so I certainly don't want to get into a raising war with my mediocre position either...

I hope I would fold here (but the OHL donkey I am, I'd convince myself one of the fours is an Ace).

I see a LOT of limping in OHL at this level and when I see a raise it usually means two aces.

With this hand that has lots of low but very little high potentially I hopefully fold pf, and definitely fold the flop.

Or A-2...

I probably call preflop- but that hand hits the muck on the flop. I think it would be very hard for you to get all the way to the river with that hand.

The reason three wheel cards are good is because of the tendency of bad players to overplay A2 without any countefit protection. your hand had lots of potential preflop.

Spoken like a true ring-game player. In a tournament, we can't rely on potential too often, especially with the small number of chips we start with.

As I indicated previously, had the short stack limped, I would probably play it, however, facing a raise and many larger stacks left to act, its an easy pass IMO.