High Versus Low in Three-Handed Pots
Suppose you are in a three-handed holdem pot and there are one or two cards to come.
You have a high hand that is not going to be easily beat, and it appears that both of your opponents have made good low hands or have good low draws that are either the nuts or close to the nuts.
In this situation, you should not raise if one of the low hands bets, you are next, and the third player still remains to act behind you.
By not raising, your half of the pot will be a little larger.
Notice that you are in a situation where you are going to split the pot, and by just calling, you will be able to chop up the player behind you.
If you raise, he probably will go out if he does not have the nuts or a draw to the nuts, and he may even fold a cinch if he realizes that he will be quartered.
However, if you think neither of your opponents will fold, you should start jamming.
On the other hand, if your high is weak and there is some chance that you can be beat, then it may be correct to try to drive out the third player.
But if he has draws to a quality high to go along with his low, you might not succeed in getting the pot heads up.
On the river in a three-way pot, suppose a player who obviously has a high hand bets out first, the second player who appears to have a low just calls, and you have made the nut low.
Automatically raising with your nut low hands is not correct. You have to consider how the person in the middle plays.
If he is a weak player who would raise with the nut low but just call with a different low, then you can go ahead and jam the pot with the high player.
But if the person in the middle is a fairly good player, then you probably should just call with the nut low, because he will be aware that you may have made the nut low with him and will be afraid that he ( and you )will be quartered.
In addition, if the person in the middle figures that you are a decent player, he might not want to raise with the nut low, since he may think you can throw away a weaker low.
Consequently, automatically raising in this spot with a cinch is wrong, as it is easy for you to be quartered.
However, to not raise, you have to think there is more than a two-thirds chance you will be quartered, since a raise will win an extra half-bet when it works but will cost only a quarter of a bet ( in a three-way pot ) when it backfires.
Introduction / Automatic Play / High Versus Low in Three-Handed Pots / Loose Games / Multiway pot Versus Short-Handed Play / Scare Cards / Getting Counterfeited / Getting Quartered / Playing Against Steamers / Playing Against Tight, Solid Players / Your Playing Style / Fluctuations / Pot-Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better / Afterthought
