Counterfeit

Online Poker

Counterfeit

In community card poker, a player or hand is said to be counterfeited when a community card does not change the value of his hand or does so very slightly, but makes it more likely that an opponent will beat it. This occurs primarily in Omaha hold 'em hi-lo split and Texas hold 'em.

Counterfeiting in Texas Hold 'Em

Say Alice and Bob are playing Texas hold 'em. Alice has A♠ 2♣ while Bob has A♥ K♦, and the flop (poker) comes A♣ 7♠ 2♦. Alice holds two pair, aces and twos, while Bob holds just a pair of aces, and thus Alice is ahead.

If the turn card is 7♥, however, each player now has two pair, aces and sevens. Since a hand is five cards, the kicker (poker) comes into play. Alice can only play a 2 kicker, while Bob has a K kicker. Thus the tables have turned, and Bob is far ahead. In fact, only if the river is a 2 can Alice win the pot (the two players would tie if the river were an A or a 7, as each would make a full house).

What has happened is that the board paired, counterfeiting Alice's second pair, as her pair of deuces is now essentially irrelevant to the hand, and further, it gives her a terrible kicker. In this sense, the 7 may also be referred to as a duplicate.

Counterfeiting in Omaha Hold 'Em

While similar situations can occur in Omaha high or Omaha hi/lo, the more common occurrence of counterfeiting in Omaha is when a person's nut low is counterfeited. As an example, say Alice has A♠ 3♣ J♦ Q♦ while Bob holds A♣ 2♦ 9♦ J♠ and Carol holds 9♥ T♥ K♥ A♥. If the flop comes 6♥ 7♥ 8♥, Carol has a lock on the high hand with her 10-high straight flush, but Alice and Bob are still competing for the low half of the pot. Bob holds a 8-7-6-2-A, ahead of Alice's 8-7-6-3-A. In fact, Bob currently holds the nut low hand; no one can have a better low hand.

However, if the turn card is 2♣, Alice and Bob's fortunes have changed. Alice now has the nut-low of 7-6-3-2-A, while Bob must still play the A-2 from his hand for a low of 8-7-6-2-A. Bob's only hope of getting any money back is for a 3 on the river, in which case Alice and Bob would tie with a 7-6-3-2-A low and be quartered (winning just one quarter of a pot, which in this case is less than the third of the pot they bet).

On the other hand, on a flop of 8-7-6, a hand containing A-2-3 is considered counterfeit-proof, because it currently is the nut low (8-7-6-2-A), and even if an A or a 2 arrives on the turn, it will remain the nut low (7-6-3-2-A). A player with this type of protection can be bolder in betting, knowing that it would take two bad cards to remove his lock on the low hand. An A-2-3-4 is even better, as the player is guaranteed the low hand (though he may tie).