Counterfeit (poker)
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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, but makes it more likely that an opponent will beat it. This occurs primarily in Omaha hold 'em hi-lo split and sometimes in Texas hold 'em. Counterfeiting also occurs in the Badugi variant of draw poker.
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[edit] Omaha hold 'em
The more common occurrence of counterfeiting in Omaha is when a person's best possible low hand, called the "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 an 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. The turn card did not make Bob's hand worse, but it did make Alice's hand better.[1]
On the other hand, on a flop of 8-7-6, a hand containing A-2-3-4 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.
[edit] Texas hold 'em
Counterfeiting in Texas hold 'em is similar to Omaha, in that hands do not change value, but normally Texas hold 'em counterfeiting is less likely to cause a player to lose an entire pot. On a flop of Q-J-T, a player holding A-K will have flopped an ace-high Broadway straight. If the turn card comes a king, the player with A-K will still have the same straight, but now so will a player with A-7, making a tie. The A-K player's hand didn't get worse in rank, but it becomes less likely to win the entire pot. Counterfeiting in Texas hold 'em more often leads to ties, like in the example above, but in some cases it will lead to losses. For example, if the flop is J-T-9, and the turn a queen, a player who held K-Q will be counterfeited and able to lose to a player with A-K.
[edit] Badugi
If a player holds a hand such as A244 (all different suits), the hand value is really A24 as a player can only use one of the cards that is paired. This is known as a three-card hand. Similarly a hand such as A222 would only hold a final value of A2, a two-card hand, as the other 2 cards are counterfeited. A three-card hand beats any 2-card hand.[2]
