Ridiculous Bomb Pot Hand (Royals don't count as High Hands on bottom board!!?)
So, for context in general about this post / the main question in the title Edit: this is 1/3 NLHE, not PLO (for clarification)
- The casino I play at regularly has no bomb pots in 1/2, but twice every half hour they do a double board bomb pot in 1/3, as long as they have at least 4 or 5 people who want to do one. The way they do them is to collect $15 from everyone pre flop, then you flop 2 boards and play your hand on both
- I don't normally play these (I am still learning how to do those - it's a lot harder for me to read bet sizing, etc. when there are two boards and I got no pre flop information, and I've only been playing about a year, and playing every bomb pot and either missing entirely or getting scooped on means potentially a $60/hr hit to my profits from outside the bomb pots) but I decided to play one when I first got there at 1/3 yesterday, because I was coming in as the natural BB and wanted to give the table the appearance of action when I first sat down.
I ended up getting AJo and had flopped an Ace on the bottom board, so I ended up chopping with a player who got a high hand on top board, and they gave me the bomb pot button, which I've never had, because I never play them, but now I know I'm a killjoy and going to get shit from the more aggressive players if the dealer asks me to fire the bomb pot when it comes to my button, and I say no, so I play a second one.
I got dealt 23 of diamonds, and on the top board, I see A5 of diamonds - odds of the 4 coming are so slim, and I'm out of position, plus I'm stone dead on the bottom board already; there were two club face cards and another high spade on bottom board. I decide not to bet, and everyone surprisingly checks the flop so we see a free card on each board. On top I hit the 10 of diamonds, so now I have the worst possible flush, blocking the steel wheel flush, but anyone else with a 4d and any other diamond still crushes me; SB checks, I check, then the shenanigans start; people start throwing 20, then 40, a couple callers, it gets back to SB, he open shoves, and I'm like "shit, there's so much money on the table and I have a flush; if no one else has diamonds, I'm potentially good and could even end up with a better flush," so I shove as well.
Now everyone who was making probing bets fold, and it's back to the button who agonizes over the decision for like 3 minutes before folding, and it's just me and SB.
We turn them over, I miss my 4d on top, but SB he was stone dead on top, so my shitty flush held up there , (button did confirm he also had a slightly less shitty baby flush, I think 67d, and was kicking himself for folding) but SB after getting that free check to the turn had a ROYAL FLUSH with the clubs!!
I had never even seen one in real life til then , and he immediately yells "high hand!" Floor comes over, says "Sorry bud, only the top board counts for high hand," so, insanely, - He misses out on high hand with the absolute best fucking hand in poker - My shitty baby flush makes me CHOP WITH A ROYAL FLUSH!?
I have never, ever felt bad, legitimately, for winning in poker, other than at that moment - I expected to get busted with the baby flush, and had made my peace with it when I called - there was just enough money in the pot already and I felt like ripping it, but I felt like I stole the guy's thunder since some people go their whole poker playing lifetime and maybe see one royal ever. I've also never gotten a high hand (but I'm not playing for them anyway, I see them as just getting the fish in the door) so, TL;DR, high hands don't count on the bottom board.
If that was me, I'd have been pissed at the casino, because - no dealer mentioned that to me ever, before any bomb pot, in the months that I'd been there. - When I asked more about it, they said it was "to give the 1/2 players who don't get double boards a chance at the high hand," which I guess makes sense to me, but also, it sort of doesn't?
The 1/2 players can limp in shitty little pots for a $2 blind (and they often do, on purpose, when it's folded around to the blinds but one blind had JJ+, they will wink, nod, the other blind will bet $10 and get call and run it out) The argument that bomb pot players have more of a chance to hit it, is a little distorted, because they have to throw in $15, or 7.5x a 1/2 game's BB, for cards that are going to miss one or both flops entirely most of the time.
And last but most certainly not least, straight flushes and royals are so rare, they almost always last the hour for a high hand - it just seems stupid to punish the player for something that happens 1/10,000 hands or less, just because it was on the wrong half of the bomb pot.
Can anyone enlighten me as to a GOOD reason why high hands don't count on bomb bot bottom boards? Because I can't think of one.