OK so at my local B&M they run an Omaha Hi-Lo game that is one of the most ridiculously juicy games I've ever seen.

Overview
It's a 1-2 game but not really. Explanation:

NH Rules state a maximum bet of $2.00 so the blinds are $1 and $2 but the bet size doesn't increase on the turn and river. It's stupid and I hate it, but it's not like they can change the rules, and that's besides the point for this post.

Now with this structure the play is absolutely horrendous where literally an average of 7-8 people are routinely playing capped pots preflop. $100 pots are routine, and people will call multiple bets all the way with 4th flush no low.

My question for you guys is, with so many bad players calling all the way, How many players need to be in the pot where if I'm raising with the nut low and I get quartered I'll still make money?

Basically I want to extract maximum value every chance I get, and I think I missed a few bets where I was afraid of getting quartered. (And over half the time in that situation I scooped the low)

As long as the money you put in to the pot is less than 25% of the total, than you should make money even if you get quartered. I'm not taking into account the rake and tips of course.


In other words, if there are 3 players including ourselves and we split the low with someone we lose money, because we have contributed 1/3 of the pot and are getting 1/4 of it back. If there are 5 players, including ourselves and we split the low 2 ways than we still make money because we get 1/4 of the pot and contributed 1/5.

If you're winning 1/4 of the pot, you need to put in less than 1/4 of the money to end up in the green.

As a general rule, you won't lose any money if 4 or more people are in the pot, including you (obviously, if 3 people split the low, you'll usually lose quite a bit of money, but that is a rare occurrence). Think of it like this: If you win half the pot, you get half the money. If you win a quarter of the pot, you get a quarter, or 25% of the money. As long as you have contributed 25% or less of the money in the pot, you lose nothing.
Here's a practical example: 7 people call $2 pre-flop ($14 in the pot). On the flop 5 people stay in and call a single $2 bet ($24 in the pot). On the turn 4 people stay in and call a single $2 bet ($32 in the pot). On the river,3 people are in and each call 2 $2 bets ($44 in the pot). Each person who stayed in to the river thus put $10 into the pot.
One person wins the high, and 2 split the low. High hand wins $22, for a net profit of $12
Two people split the low, each winning $11, for a net profit of.... wait for it... $1.
Notice that the only time the low hands actually lost money was on the river bets. They won before the flop, and on the flop, with 7 and 5 people in the hand, broke even on the turn with 4 people in the hand, and lost a small amount on the river with just 3 people in the hand.

Hope this helps.

(will post something similar in o8 forum, but...)

in games like that, i cap the nuts either way as my default play:

-if the pot is HU and i'm positive i have crap for high, i will slow down--sometimes a read means AK high isn't crap for high, fyi.
-if the pot is 3way and one of the villains plays predictably enough for me to think that i get quartered a majority of the time, i will slow down.
-4way i cap the nut low every time.



the basic principles here are these:

1. never assume you are getting 1/6thed unless someone with insight into the spiritual world told you you're cursed for that day or there are two total nits who never raise without nut/nut going at each other.
2. in a given situation (generally on the river, but something similar applies to turn play in LO8--you just have to take counterfeit inverse odds into account), you want to raise in a 3way pot if you feel you are "right" 1/3 the time or more.

math behind 2:
if you're wrong and you get 1/4ed, you put in one bet as do the two villains and you get 3/4 of a bet back, net loss 1/4 bet.
if you're right and you get 1/2, you put in one bet as do the two villains and you get 1.5 bets back, net gain 1/2 bet.
hence, if you're right 1/3 of the time it's a breakeven play 3 way. against retards, you're right more than half the time, promise.



edit: and if the players are bad enough, you can generally wait until your draws are made and not counterfeited (or have protection) before you go nuts if you want to lower variance. i don't do that, but it's up to you.

I agree with the capping the nuts strat. for this type of game (being that the play is probably sub standard). The only exception to this is if the nut low is a one liner. Say the board reads A345J, so now anyone with a 2 and either an A, 3, 4, or a 5 to go with it also has the nut low. Besides this exception, everyone seems to be on the ball with the math.

Moved from GenPo and merged with the thread that was already here.

There's no reason to post in more than one forum. Patience please.

Sorry about that I'm all about the immediate gratification!

I left it there long enough for ya to get some answers, and honestly, checky's is all you need

i edited my post because i can't do simple math or play poker worth a **** after 2 beers and 3 hrs of sleep, apparently. the "magic number" 3way is 1/3 of the time, not 1/2, lol.