90% of the answers are wrong! A or B? - the Answer

 

Pot-Limit Omaha Rules Recap:

• You must use exactly 2 cards from your hand

• And exactly 3 cards from the board

• No more, no less — this is not Texas Hold’em

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🃏 Board:

8♠, 9♠, 10♠, 7♠, 6♠
(All spades — looks like a straight flush on board, but you can’t use all 5 in PLO!)

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🔍 Player A:

Hand: K♠, K♦, K♥, K♣

• Can only use 2 of the kings

• Best choice: K♠ and K♦

• From board, best 3: 10♠, 9♠, 8♠

➡️ Final hand: Pair of Kings with 10, 9, 8
🟩 Best Hand A: K♠ K♦ 10♠ 9♠ 8♠ → One pair, Kings

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🔍 Player B:

Hand: A♠, Q♦, Q♥, 10♥

• Best choice: Q♦ and Q♥ (Ace can't help without another)

• From board: 10♠, 9♠, 8♠

➡️ Final hand: Pair of Queens with 10, 9, 8
🟥 Best Hand B: Q♦ Q♥ 10♠ 9♠ 8♠ → One pair, Queens

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✅ Winner: Player A

• A’s one pair of Kings beats B’s one pair of Queens

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🧠 Key Trap:

The flushy board is misleading. Since you can only use 3 board cards, you cannot make a flush or straight flush here unless you have 2 spades in hand — which neither player does.

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🏁 Final Answer: ✅ Player A wins with one pair of Kings.

🎭 Layers of Deception in This PLO Hand:

1. The Board "Looks" Like a Straight Flush

• The board is: 8♠ 9♠ 10♠ 7♠ 6♠

• At a glance, many players think:

  “Oh wow, that’s a ten-high straight flush — someone must have the 5♠ or J♠ to complete a monster!”

• But in Omaha, you cannot use all 5 board cards. You must use exactly 2 cards from your hand and only 3 from the board. So, the beautiful straight flush sitting on the board is unplayable as a complete hand by itself.

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2. The Suits Are a Red Herring

• Because the board is all spades, your poker instincts scream “Flush alert!” or “Nut flush?”

• Neither player has two spades, so no one can make a flush in Omaha.

• Many people forget that in Omaha, you need two spades in hand to make a flush — unlike in Texas Hold’em where a single spade might do it.

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3. The Hands Are Loaded with "Strength" — But It's a Mirage

• Player A has four kings — but that doesn’t help in Omaha. You can still only use two cards.

• People see four kings and think: “That must be unbeatable!” — but in reality, it’s just one pair once you follow Omaha rules.

• Player B has A♠, which might suggest “nut flush” — again, not valid without a second spade.

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4. The Real Winning Hand Is Very Underwhelming

• It’s almost insulting: after seeing all those spades, straight/flush possibilities, and power hands like AAA or KKKK — the winning hand is just… a pair of Kings.

• The board looks explosive, but the actual best hand is just a simple top pair, which is rare in Omaha.

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🧠 Why It's a Great Trick Question:

• It baits you into thinking about flushes, straights, and board-based monsters

• It tests whether you truly understand Omaha hand construction

• It punishes overthinking and rewards sticking to fundamentals:
  ✅ 2 from hand + 3 from board — no exceptions.

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✅ The Right Mindset:

Whenever a board looks “too perfect” in Omaha:

Forget what the board "looks like" — ask yourself what’s actually playable under PLO rules.