Starting to see Drawmaha

[garrett]

interesting game with Drawing cards along with Omaha

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/pokerorg/status/1762706522230993399

(SealsWithClubs been running Drawmaha a while now..)

[Dan Druff]

This game makes my head hurt. I've been reticent to introduce it at a home game I sometimes play in, because the people will hate me for it.

Basically it plays kind of like 5-card PLO and 5-card stud combined. It's only a high game.

Everyone gets dealt 5 cards, and there's betting preflop as usual in PLO. Then there's flop betting, as usual in PLO.

After the flop betting, players can draw 0 to 5 cards to replace unwanted ones in their hand. However, if they draw exactly 1 card, then it is shown face up, and the player has the option to either take it, or throw it away and instead get the next card face down.

Then the turn and river play out the same way in PLO.

However, showdown is vastly different. The best Omaha hand (2 from the hand, 3 from the board) wins half the pot, and the best 5-card stud hand (5 from the hand, 0 from the board) wins the other half.

In general you're looking to play hands that have a decent chance of scooping the whole thing (2 big pair with a coordinated card, or straights), Hands which are highly likely to win at least half the pot are also decent (such as any very strong 5-card stud hand).


For example, if you end up with 89TJQ in your hand, that's very strong, as it's almost certain to win the 5-card half, and it can easily make the nuts in the PLO portion, provided there's no flush possible or board paired.

The problem with Drawmaha is there's a lot of variance, and it can be maddening trying to decide which way to take your hand (going for the best Omaha or stud portion), only to see it fall the other way.