High-Only Hands in Omaha High-Lowby Michael Cappelletti | Published: Sep 27, 2002 |
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Most of the Omaha high-low games you find today are of the "loose" variety. My definition of loose is more than five players, on average, seeing the flop. One of the starting-hand types that I recommend playing in loose Omaha high-low games is the "high-only" hand, preferably when all four cards are 9 or higher.
In Omaha high-low, low cards can win high, but high cards cannot win low. A high-only hand cannot be a favorite if there are two or three low cards on the flop. And since an ace is a low card, there are eight low cards to only five high cards. Mathematically, a three-card flop contains two or three high cards slightly less than one-third of the time – but only one-fourth of the time if you are looking at four high cards.
But when there are two or three high cards on the flop, high-only hands can be very profitable if the starting pot has been fattened by a number of low-oriented hands (especially if those lows continue to compete). And, of course, these high-flop situations usually result in no low – thus, only one winner ("scoop"). So, in loose Omaha high-low games, even if you hit a high flop only one-fourth of the time, you will still show a nice profit if you scoop a few medium-size pots.
Tight-aggressive Omaha high-low games, often played for higher stakes, are dramatically different from loose Omaha high-low games. Typically, there is a raise before the flop, and zero, one, or two callers. It is much like the "hard serve and rush-the-net" mentality found in high-stakes hold'em.
When there are only a few players seeing the flop, as is the case in tight Omaha high-low games, high-only hands are usually not cost-effective. Also, in shorthanded Omaha high-low play, such as the final stages of a tournament, most high-only hands are not favorites to win a showdown. However, I have seen many otherwise good Omaha high-low players apparently misevaluate these high-only hands in tight Omaha high-low games.
In a recent Omaha high-low tournament, I was in the big blind with three players remaining (we were all "in the money"). One player raised before the flop with a K-Q-J-9 holding, and I defended my blind with an A-9-6-5.
In Omaha high, his hand would be a slight favorite over mine. Can you estimate which hand is better and by approximately how much in Omaha high-low?
When these two hands were simulated (using Mike Caro's "Poker Probe"), my hand won roughly 62 percent of the time! Thus, the ace-plus-low-cards hand was about a 24 percentage point favorite over the high-only hand!
In the actual hand, an 8 and a 7 hit on the flop, which put me in excellent position to win the whole pot. Then, a 5 turned, giving me a straight and a low. Unfortunately, he hit the miracle 10 on the river (the only card he could catch to salvage half the pot), which gave him a higher straight than mine. So, we split. Although he was lucky on that particular hand, I clearly had the best of it.
That hand reminded me of a hand I mentioned in a column in 1998. I was in a tournament at Casino San Pablo, and resisted investing my last few chips with a K-Q-J-10. Instead, I patiently waited for an ace-plus-low-cards hand. Knowing enough not to waste my last few chips to play the K-Q-J-10 turned out to be very consequential, because if I had, I wouldn't have finished in the money in that event and I wouldn't have won the best all-around player Rolex watch.
So, one of the lessons for today is that most high-only hands are actually below-average hands in shorthanded Omaha high-low games. If you simulate a K-Q-J-10 (single-suited) hand against a random hand, the random hand wins more than 55 percent of the time. And most high-only hands are more than 10 percentage points inferior to random hands. Thus, in tight Omaha high-low games, where you seldom get long odds on your investments, you usually do not want to play high-only hands (getting roughly even money).
What about high-only hands with a high pocket pair? If pocket aces are good, aren't pocket kings almost as good? The short answer is, no! One reason why pocket aces are very good is that the ace is also the best low card.
Do you know that K-K-Q-J unsuited is a slight underdog to a random hand in heads-up Omaha high-low? If one of the kings is the same suit as the queen or the jack, the hand is about a 51 percent winner vs. a random hand. But note that against three doggy-looking low cards such as 8-6-4 unsuited, the pocket kings high hand is more than a 5 percent underdog! Such is the nature of Omaha high-low.
So, before you play a high-only hand, look around and judge whether or not you will have enough company to keep the percentages on your side (I prefer four-way action or more). And remember, thou shalt fold (usually) if there are two low cards on the flop. Amen.