The dangers of Omaha Hi/Lo

I really enjoy playing Omaha Hi/Lo but have not been doing so of late until yesterday. I played in a low limit game of .10/.20 blinds and had been playing for over an hour. My starting stack had been reduced by about 40%. I had won a few small pots and lost a few larger ones when my hand did not improve on the turn or on the river in spite of having 12 outs or more to complete my hand. That is the nature of Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo.

You need to know when to hold them and when to fold them and when to go for the scoop. In Omaha Hi/Lo there is the chance that you will have to split the pot because your hand will win only the high side or the low side. To play Omaha Hi/Lo you really want to scoop up both sides of the pot.

The following hand developed that I totally misread.  I was dealt 4d,As,9h,7d at the dealer button.  Not a great hand, but good enough to see a flop cheaply. But it turned out not to be a cheap flop as one person raised the pot by one small bet. Four of us called and five of us saw the flop of 9d,Jd,Ah. I had hit top and bottom pair and a flush draw. Lots of chances to win, perhaps the whole pot as there appeared to be no low hand possible unless two small cards hit the turn and the river and did not pair each other or the board.

We all checked and the original raiser raised 5BB. The others folded and I just called with my drawing hand. The turn card was a 9s, giving me a full house. I made a pot sized bet putting me almost all in. My opponent called. The river card was a 5h. I raised all in and my opponent called.  He showed down his hand of 2d 7h Jh Jc, giving my opponent a full house, jacks full of nines, while I had the losing full house of nines full of aces.

The problem of the way I played this hand was that I some how thought that my hand was Aces full of nines, giving me the nut full house.  A mistake of this type is not uncommon in Omaha. Players just have to be extremely carefull of knowing what their hand really is. That was my last hand as I had busted out and decided that I did not want to rebuy back in. Lesson learned – I hope.

Do you play Omaha Hi/lo? Have you ever misplayed or misread a hand?  What was the worse situation you placed yourself into in error?