The poker world has a rich and colorful vocabulary, which is glorious for those inside the game—but maddening for anyone eavesdropping.
“So I binked my gutter on the river, checked, she bet half pot, I clicked it back, she ripped it, and obviously I snapped her off.”
Wait, what?
Anyway, thanks in part to legendary vlogger Ethan “Rampage” Yau, “punting” is now firmly cemented in the poker lexicon. It’s just what it sounds like—someone tossing chips in the air with no meaningful plan to recover them. All you have to do is catch the ball.
“I jammed with top pair, top kicker, and obviously ran into a set. Total punt.”
Or, if you’re lucky:
“He was three mai tais deep and had just won a $10K sports bet. We sat for two hours catching his punts.”
Which brings me to a 6-card PLO/8-or-better game I played on an online platform last night (hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it). I was playing one stakes level above my usual, just to gauge the competition.
I’ve said it before: split-pot games are a target-rich environment. The core strategy in split-pot poker is to win the whole pot, not just half. At worst, you want a mortal lock on half, while letting others pile in and boost your equity. Any extra share of the other half is just gravy.
So, there I was. Battling away. But to my dismay, the regulars weren’t making the mistakes I was hoping for. Preflop raises got respect. All-ins were equity-heavy. Hands that would wow a hold’em player got checked down on the river—as they should in a 6-card PLO game. I hovered near break-even. It felt like the rake was the only winner.
I was about to leave… then two new players joined.
And here’s where it got interesting.
Both bought in for 75 big blinds. That’s rarely a sign of a crusher. I sat up straighter.
Sure enough, these creatures—one a robot, the other a frog avatar—were here to not fold. They entered tons of pots, made somewhat questionable plays, and even scooped a big one on a miracle river. Suddenly, I was locked in again.
You don’t always get a shot to catch punts, even when the punt team takes the field. But this time, the cards cooperated.
I picked up a monster:
A♣ Q♦ J♦ 5♣ 3♠ 2❤️
Three Broadway cards. Four wheel cards.
Wait—what? Tricked you.
I potted it from the small blind. One of the new players had limped and called my raise. Flop came:
9♣ 4♣ 7❤️
I flopped the world:
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Nut flush draw
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Gutshot to a straight
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Uncounterfeitable nut-low draw
Any non-pairing low card would give me the nut low, letting me freeroll the high.
I bet pot—trying to get all the chips in fast. Sadly, Frog just called.
Turn: T♣
Nut flush = locked. But it also completed some straights and weaker flushes. I checked, hoping to induce.
Frog obliged—pot bet.
I jammed. Snap-call.
Now, here’s the kicker. This platform allows you to run it multiple times. But the option didn’t even appear. Why?
My opponent had zero equity.
They showed a king-high flush, no redraws, no low. A stone punt. NFL-quality.
They didn’t rebuy. I racked up.
