Omaha Hi/Lo - Trap Hands

  How you play before the flop very often determines if you will spend the rest of the hand looking like Mohammed Ali or Pee Wee Herman. There are a number of very good starting hands that are self-evident, and the biggest challenge is to control the grin that creeps across your face when they appear in your hand. There are also a number of very bad starting hands that make the decision to fold your cards and chat up the cocktail waitress a fairly easy one. Unfortunately, the decision is not always obvious.  A hand that looks promising, but actually has about as much potential as Hillary Clinton in the swimsuit part of the Ms. America pageant is referred to as a trap hand. A hand like Ace-4-4-4 suited is a trap hand. This hand at first blush looks like it has some legs, but in reality you do not have much high potential and there exists a big chance that you make only the second-best low hand.  Your odds of winning the low part of the pot with the above mentioned hand is only 1% and, to make a flush, only 4%.  If your hand has two gaps or more, the best thing you can do is fold. The chances of making a straight are under 1% and it is rare that you will make the best low hand. An Ace-4-5-9 is an example of a two gap hand. There is a space between the Ace and the 4, as well as another gap between the 5 and the 9. This hand, and ones like it, has very little hope.  Players are also often fooled by hands like 3-4-5-6, 4-5-6-7, 5-6-7-8 and 6-7-8-9. Quite plainly you will not win enough times with the low hand and will too seldom make the solid, winning straight.  High-pairs can be tempting, but when they are combined with a couple of random cards like K-K-x-x or Q-Q-x-x, the hand is not playable. Conversely, a high-pair with two low cards that make your hand double-suited are playable in most games. For example K-K-2-4 double-suited is playable.  Play smart and don't get trapped by a hand that is all flash and no substance.