Omaha Hi Low

[Zutroy]

Home game is an Omaha Hi Low tourney tonight. It’s all pretty social, most guys basically only know NLH, so it’s the sort of game where simply knowing the rules & betting structure of OH/L almost gives you an edge.

I don’t play much OH/L, but I know the rules/structure, how to read boards and obv how to calculate outs etc.

Just wondered if any OH/L regs would be willing to thrown down some basic level advice you’d give to someone playing against a bunch of guys with even less knowledge of how to play, the sort of guys that will always call pre because “it’s only 1 bet, and there’s so much potential in my hand” or will cap the betting pre because they’ve got 4 picture cards in their hand.

Suggested starting hand requirements against these guys would probably be the biggest help.

Even just direction to a good basic strategy web page would be appreciated.

Cheers.

[SwoopAE]

Raise any AA,lowcard,x hand, A2xx hand against these guys

Next tier of hands is low wraps (four cards from A-6) and A3xx with a suited ace type hands, these will be way ahead of their ranges too

Steer clear of JJ73 type hands they fare very badly in multi-way pots.

Basically only play if you have an ace in your hand or KK23/QQ23 and you want one a 2, 3 or 4 with your ace and ideally a suit.

Raise them when you have A2xx and AAxx and other strong combinations like say AKK3 doublesuited.

[Plow King]

Don't get to attached to a2XX type hands.

Even with the nut low on most boards if you have 3-4 people betting into it with no high or no high redraw you're at best halving the pot. Most likely quatering it.

I play/ed an absolute shitload of micro plo8 on stars/ftp simpily because it's the softest game ever and 99.5% of the players are retard spazzes.

Don't get too carried away with AA either.

[tsapy]

hi/lo has got to be one of the most boring games in the world. not because i don't understand it (and i don't), but i rarely find myself with a hand that i'm excited to have let alone one that i find playable.

what percentage of hands are actually playable (in a +EV sense) ?

[DanChile]

hi/lo has got to be one of the most boring games in the world. not because i don't understand it (and i don't), but i rarely find myself with a hand that i'm excited to have let alone one that i find playable.

what percentage of hands are actually playable (in a +EV sense) ?

You just haven't warmed to it yet. Omaha is so much trickier and yet easier to play than NL.

Very rarely do i see or get to experience a Royal Flush in NL, but in Omaha ? pffff...
so easy to achieve if the board flop is favourable by giving you two cards straight away to go with two of your hole cards and all you
need is 1 more from the turn or river to make a RF.

3kind, Straights, flushes, Full House and straight flushes predominately win as opposed to 2pair, VERY rare to win a hand with a high card or pair.

It gets even easier with hi/lo since to make a lo all you need is 3 board cards plus two from your hole cards to make the low (A-8) and you split the pot.

So in order to answer your question:
- Any hole card hands that have two high and two low cards combo's (AQ24, KK32, AA35, etc)
- Any hole card hands that have at least two same suited cards
- If you're lucky enough you may see a hole card combo with a mix of above two points. for eg: (These are super good)

IF you get dealt 4 of a kind for your hole cards (JJJJ)?? FOLD immediately. This hand is worthless basically.

Where the "tricky" comes into the equation is when you decide to finish the hand till you're facing off in a showdown and you have to
weigh up board cards vs villain betting patterns vs your hole cards and fathom who has the better hand to win the pot... (Omaha in General)
The trips? Straight? Flush? 2pair? Straight flush? Full House

In Hi/lo, THE best hand will win both the high and the low (eg: Straight's or straight flushes from A-5 to 4-8 ).

[Vman]

hi/lo has got to be one of the most boring games in the world. not because i don't understand it (and i don't), but i rarely find myself with a hand that i'm excited to have let alone one that i find playable.

what percentage of hands are actually playable (in a +EV sense) ?

hi/lo is so much fun, but it can be boring with all the split pots sometimes. So many bad players playing it there is always money to be made.

U should make the next week's game Razz, i'll clean up

[thret]

I'm pretty disgusted that there is an O8 homegame and you didn't invite me

Basic starting hand strategy below. This is ABC-O8, like ABC-NLHE it is sufficient when learning but if you actually want to get good at the game you will have to forget it later on. The Golden rule is don't draw to half the pot, even if it is to the nuts. As I write this I realise you have already played your home game, so how did you go?

Easy Point Count

For High:
Pairs:
Aces count as 30 points. Kings = 13, Queens = 12, Jacks = 11 and all other pairs equal their face values.

Flushes:
Two card flushes count 10 points with an ace. All others count 4 points . Three or four of same suit count as half.

Straights:
Two card straight with no gap or one gap count as 2 points. (Ex: 8-9 or 8-T, )

High Cards:
Unpaired Ace = 4 points, King = 2 points.

For Low:
A-2 = 20 points
A-3 = 15 points, 2-3 = 10 points
A-4 = 10, 2-4, 3-4 = 5 points
A-5, 2-5, 3-5, 4-5 = 5 points

Add up the points for your four cards for the high count and the low count. Add them together. It takes 25 points to call, 40 points to raise and 50 points to reraise. If you are in the small blind you can complete your bet with 10 points.

[Zutroy]

Thanks for all the advice guys, some very useful stuff there. Maybe I should have posted earlier in the week.... lol

For starting hands, I basically tried to play high pairs JJ or better, A23x type hands or wrapped type hands (4567 etc) for the course of the night. Making sure I was always betting or raising when I was reasonably sure I was in front.

Strategy went fairly well, but ended up losing two big pots late when I flopped top set (AAA & KKK) on boards with no straights/flushes or lows available yet. Forced the action in both, but got mown down on the river both times.

Finished 5/12 in tourney, 2 of the top 4 knew what they were doing, the other 2 were total luckboxes. Playing 3 handed, one of them called on the river on an 888xA board with the case 8 in his hand because he didn't know if he actually had quads or not because he still didn't understand the whole 3 on the board, 2 from your hand situation, and thought the A on the board somehow cancelled out the 9 kicker he'd have to play from his hand.....

Need to start reading up for the stud 8 game later in the year

[SwoopAE]

hi/lo has got to be one of the most boring games in the world. not because i don't understand it (and i don't), but i rarely find myself with a hand that i'm excited to have let alone one that i find playable.

what percentage of hands are actually playable (in a +EV sense) ?

full ring is retarded play 6max you can open a lot wider

PLO8 is actually one of my favourite games

[Linda B]

hi/lo has got to be one of the most boring games in the world. not because i don't understand it (and i don't), but i rarely find myself with a hand that i'm excited to have let alone one that i find playable.

what percentage of hands are actually playable (in a +EV sense) ?

Tsapy, depends on Cash or Tournament, Pot Limit or Limit. I have read that high hands are almost unplayable in Limit but can be playable in Pot Limit for example. Your Omaha skills should do well in PLO when there are 1 or no low cards on the flop.

Low only hands aren't much good in Cash, but in tournaments can help keep you going while you wait for the premium spots. I don't start a hand aiming for just the low, but it is amazing how often in a 4-way hand (where you expect to be quartered with the nut low) you end up with 50%.

Later in a tournament position and stack size become more important especially in PLO

Also depends on your opposition obviously. The strategies of 2 of the above posters for example are far too loose and will pay you off, even though you aren't too excited by your hand.