Bad luck, bad play or both?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I went on to win the thing so I ain’t too unhappy about it, but I’d like some feedback on these two hands. Did I play them poorly or just get unlucky?

Hand one: I have the nut high and the nut low as of the turn in middle position. My feeling is I don’t want anyone to go away, even with so many others in the pot, so I don’t want to bet too big. I’m not too worried about the club flush draw because people were tending to bet them. What I was hoping is that someone would raise me so I could slap in a pot-sized re-raise.

Pot-limit Omaha Hi/Lo $10+$1(real money),#1,040,871,466

Avalon Single Table Tournament,4 Jul 2005 2:51 AM ET

Seat1:DJCrazyD($2,348inchips)
Seat3:glynch28($1,510inchips)
Seat4:krp6($1,865inchips)
Seat5:pokerchickx1($1,537inchips)
Seat6:nicetell($670inchips)
Seat7:labratter($1,750inchips)
Seat8:Otto93($3,490inchips) [ 2H,9S,AC,10S ]
Seat10:AgentGRO($1,830inchips)

ANTES/BLINDS
krp6 posts blind ($15), pokerchickx1 posts blind ($30).

PRE-FLOP
nicetell folds, labratter folds, Otto93 calls $30, AgentGRO calls $30, DJCrazyD calls $30, glynch28 calls $30, krp6 calls $15, pokerchickx1 checks.

FLOP [board cards 7C,JD,3C ]
krp6 checks, pokerchickx1 checks, Otto93 checks, AgentGRO checks, DJCrazyD checks, glynch28 checks.

TURN [board cards 7C,JD,3C,8H ]
krp6 checks, pokerchickx1 checks, Otto93 bets $60, AgentGRO calls $60, DJCrazyD calls $60, glynch28 calls $60, krp6 calls $60, pokerchickx1 calls $60.

RIVER [board cards 7C,JD,3C,8H,AS ]
krp6 checks, pokerchickx1 checks, Otto93 bets $200, AgentGRO calls $200, DJCrazyD bets $400, glynch28 bets $1,420 and is all-in, krp6 folds, pokerchickx1 folds, Otto93 bets $3,200 and is all-in, AgentGRO folds, DJCrazyD calls $1,858 and is all-in.

SHOWDOWN
Otto93 shows [ 2H,9S,AC,10S ]
DJCrazyD shows [ 4S,2S,6D,4H ]
glynch28 shows [ 10D,7S,9C,8C ]
Otto93 wins $1,142, DJCrazyD wins low $838, Otto93 wins $838, DJCrazyD wins low $2,500, Otto93 wins $1,250, glynch28 wins $1,250.

Hand two I was aware of the possibility of an opponent with an A2 being in tremendous shape but I didn’t think he had it (I honestly can’t tell you why I didn’t but I didn’t). I was more worried about the flush draw.

Pot-limit Omaha Hi/Lo $10+$1(real money),#1,040,880,843

Avalon Single Table Tournament,4 Jul 2005 2:55 AM ET

Seat1:DJCrazyD($1,798inchips)

Seat3:glynch28($1,085inchips)
Seat4:krp6($1,510inchips)
Seat5:pokerchickx1($2,137inchips)
Seat6:nicetell($625inchips)
Seat7:labratter($1,690inchips)
Seat8:Otto93($3,230inchips) [ 9D,JD,JC,KH ]

Seat10:AgentGRO($2,925inchips)

ANTES/BLINDS
labratter posts blind ($15), Otto93 posts blind ($30).

PRE-FLOP
AgentGRO calls $30, DJCrazyD calls $30, glynch28 calls $30, krp6 calls $30, pokerchickx1 folds, nicetell folds, labratter calls $15, Otto93 checks.

FLOP [board cards JH,3C,5H ]
labratter checks, Otto93 bets $60, AgentGRO folds, DJCrazyD bets $360, glynch28 folds, krp6 folds, labratter folds, Otto93 bets $1,200, DJCrazyD calls $900.

TURN [board cards JH,3C,5H,4C ]
Otto93 bets $1,940 and is all-in, DJCrazyD calls $508 and is all-in.

RIVER [board cards JH,3C,5H,4C,AS ]

SHOWDOWN
Otto93 shows [ 9D,JD,JC,KH ]
DJCrazyD shows [ QH,5C,2S,5S ]
Otto93 wins $1,432, DJCrazyD wins low $1,858, DJCrazyD wins $1,858.

I later crippled DJCrazyD and needled him about how I knew I had him because I was holding the spade A and that was the only card he could ever bust me with.

So how bad exactly do I suck?

2

Omaha Hi/Lo isn’t my game, but I do know a few things about big bet games in general, so I’ll offer my two cents.

In hand one, I think you must bet more on the turn. There’s 180 in the pot, stacks are pretty deep. You have the nut high and low, and there are five other players in the pot. There are also plenty of cards that wreck your high and/or low hand. You say you weren’t too worried about the flush draw, but it’s probable that at least one of your opponents has two clubs in his hand. Because you bet only 1/3 the pot, DJCrazy was getting 5-1 on his call (8-1 after the remaining players called). Granted, he would have called no matter what with the second nut low, but it would have been a bigger mistake for him had you bet the pot.

So, that’s my advice: bet the pot on the turn, or close to it (at least 150, say).
For hand two, obviously you’re right to jam the pot with the nut high (and no low hand yet on the board), and on the turn you’re pot committed. Again, though, I think you just have to open for more than 60 on the flop. You’ve got the nuts, but there are flush draws, straight draws, low hand draws, and five other players. You have a fair chance (if you dodge low cards and hearts) to scoop a huge pot, but only if you make all those draws pay heavily. Start building the pot on the flop, therefore, as it can exponentially increase the size of the pot by the river.

3

Omaha hold’em is confusing enough, but I’ve played it enough to where I know the basic rules.

High-low is something that I’ve never been able to wrap my brain around, though.

4

Oh come on, OH8 is easy! Just throw all your money in the pot and then prepare to be outdrawn.

In general I would agree with you and consider this to be good advice (after having been bitten on the ass by flush draws more times than I care to remember) but specific to this table my feeling was that had there been a flush draw out there on the flop it would have been bet.