Deuce-four in HORSE

My results in the occasional HORSE single-table tournament have been absolutely dismal lately. I needed a boost. And I got it tonight, in the form of my old friend, the deuce-four.

First there was this very pretty hand:




Then came the most critical moment. I was the short stack, found a decent hand, and pushed it as hard as I could. I was all in on the turn, with really my only prayer being a third low card so that my ace-deuce could take the low. As it turned out, I would have been quartered if that had happened, so it's a good thing it didn't. When the river double-paired the board, with no low, I figured I was screwed. I was stunned when the next thing that happened was that all the chips were put into my stack.



When one opponent missed his flush draw and the other his low draw, the four was all it took to win a three-way pot!

That hand put me into second chip position, miraculously. By the time we hit the bubble, I had nearly half the chips in play, and still held a slim lead when going into heads-up. I caught a couple of sneaky hands against the last remaining player, and this was the result:





My exploration of the power of the deuce-four in poker games other than hold'em is still extremely preliminary, so I'm not yet sure how it fits into the pantheon of starting hands for the various games. But, to quote Ed McMahon, "a child of four can plainly see" that there is considerable potential here.