Those with experience playing Texas hold’em know that when a pair appears on the board amid the community cards, that doesn’t always mean someone automatically has trips. For example, if two players see a flop of J-6-6, neither is probably going to suspect the other has trips since the chances of flopping two sixes when holding a six in one’s hand is so small. It happens, of course, but by no means should the players always expect someone to turn over trips in this case.
Pot-limit Omaha is a different story when it comes to the possibility of someone making trips when a pair appears on the board. Since players are dealt four hole cards instead of two, that doubles the likelihood, say, that when J-6-6 flops someone might be holding a six. The fact that more players tend to stick around for the flop in PLO also means there are more cards out there, again increasing the chances of someone holding a six.
Of course, if someone bets on this flop and a player calls, you can pretty much count on the possibility that at least one of them is holding a six, and it wouldn’t be surprising if both were. However, having a six in your hand in this situation isn’t necessarily a good thing in PLO. Because there exists a distinct possibility that if you aren’t careful you could lose a lot of money by drawing very, very thin or even dead.
How can this be? In hold’em, having trips like this is a great spot, isn’t it? So why isn’t it the case in PLO?
First of all, having trip sixes here is not necessarily having the best hand, particularly if another player — or perhaps two other players — are also showing interest in the flop. Let’s say you hold A-T-7-6 on this J-6-6 board. You bet out and get not one, but two callers. You can’t all have sixes, right? The turn then brings a queen. Again, you bet, and again both players call. The river brings an ten, giving you a full house, sixes full of tens. You happily bet again, one player calls with a glum look on his face, and the third player shoves over the top.
Now what are you going to do? Where do you think you stand in this hand?
Since two players stuck around after that flop, you can be certain that one of them has the case six. But what could the other one have? The board now reads J-6-6-Q-10. It is almost a certainty that the player shoving all in here is going to have J-J-x-x, Q-Q-x-x, or perhaps J-6-x-x. Your full house is going to be beaten by any of these hands. In fact, you likely were drawing dead from the get-go.
I’d guess the glum-faced player who called has the case six and our river all-in has the big pair, giving him the better full house. In any event, sixes full of tens aren’t looking too good right now.
The lesson here is twofold. Don’t get overly excited in PLO when flopping trips like this, especially if there is an overcard to your trips on the board. And secondly, never get too carried away with full houses that are not the nuts, sometimes called “the underfull.” If you must proceed, try your best to keep the pot small. Because when your chips go sliding across the table to the fellow with two jacks, having the underfull ain’t so wonderful.
