Hold’em and Omaha
The same two hole cards played in Hold’em and high Omaha can give you substantially different win expectations with the same board. Determine the two-card hand (we will ignore the other two cards in the Omaha hand for purposes of this puzzle) that meets the following conditions:
On the flop this hand is the second nuts and has a positive dollar win potential more than 95 percent of the time in Omaha and even higher in Hold’em.
On the turn the hand in Omaha is the nuts with a 100 percent win potential. In Hold’em the hand still has an excellent, but diminished, dollar win potential of around 90 percent.
On the end the Omaha hand still has the highest win potential while the Hold’em hand has 0 percent win potential.
Note: Both games are three handed with all players staying in the pot till the end.
Give the two-card hand, flop, turn, and river cards.
Lock hand puzzle
What is the lowest lock hand that you can have when all the cards are out in Hold’em? In Omaha? What would the board be in each case.
Hold’em versus Omaha puzzle Solution
The two cards are 8/9 suited. The flop is the 10/J/Q of the same suit. The turn is the King of the same suit. The river is the Ace of the same suit.
Lock hand puzzle solution
In both games the lowest lock hand is QQQ87. The board would be Q8732.
