Omaha Eight-or-Better: Playable Low Hands From Late Position

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Equities run close in Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better (O8), thus when the action folds to us in late position we can raise the blinds with a relatively wide range. However, we shouldn’t get too out of line since in O8 it’s somewhat rare to steal the blinds outright and with our weaker holdings it’s far too likely to run into a dominating hand. In this issue, we are going to focus on the low-oriented holdings that have at least two wheel cards.

In an unopened pot, we should play around 30% of our hands from the cutoff and approximately 40-50% from the button, coming in for a raise with any hand that we choose to play. These percentages should fluctuate as table conditions, your image, and the rake structure should always be taken into account.

We should, however, have at least a general idea what hands are playable from each position and ProPokerTools (PPT) rankings are useful when compiling a set of default openings. The PPT rankings are more useful than others you may find in that they are based upon performance against good starting hands and not just a table full of random hands.

However, they still have the drawback of assuming that all hands contesting the pot go to showdown. Therefore, with all holdings under consideration, we must also consider playability factors such as the ability to effectively realize your equity and reverse/implied odds. The PPT rankings will be shown in parentheses throughout our discussion below.

A-2

When the action is folded to us in the cutoff, essentially all holdings containing an A-2 are playable. A very weak version such as A 2 2 9 [r 38] can be folded as it provides very little high value. In Omaha High it is a bottom 2% holding, thus, all you really have working is your potential nut low.

If the remaining players left to act are all on the tight side, any A-2 may be a profitable open due to the blocker effects and the playability advantage of being able to bet the nut low or a draw to one. It’s possible that folding A 2 2 9 from the cutoff is too tight, but it’s certainly not printing money. However, any A-2 is certainly worth playing from the button.

A-3

Most A-3 hands are also worthy of an open from late position. Any unpaired holding containing either a flush draw (A 3 6 9 [r 21]) or any Broadway card (A 3 9 10 [r 26]) is playable from the cutoff. Hands that can possibly be folded from the cutoff would be the unsuited holdings with two middling cards between a six and a nine (A 3 7 9 [r 32]) or those with a pair of threes and not much else of value (A 3 3 7 [r 40]). From the button we can open any A-3 holding with the possible exception of a true dreg hand such as A 3 3 9 [r 52].

A-4 and A-5

There’s a relatively big difference in one’s low potential when holding an A-4 as opposed to A-3. If we have an A-3 in the cutoff, there’s an approximate 16% chance of running into an A-2 or A-2-3 amongst the three players left to act. With an A-4, there’s a 40% chance of being dominated on the low side and that makes quite a big difference.

This means that we need to be a little more selective in the A-4/A-5 hands we choose to play. From the cutoff, having a suited ace or any two Broadway cards is certainly more than enough to play; however, if we hold two middling cards with just a low suit (A 4 8 9 [r 28]) our hand should probably hit the muck.

Even though the PPT rankings have this ranked as a hand within the top 30%, we may not fully realize our equity and/or potentially have some reverse implied odds. For example, we can’t call a bet simply to draw to an A-4 low if that’s all we really have going for us and we can easily lose to a higher flush.

From the button, we can mostly play any A-4 holding with the exception of an unsuited holding with a pair of fours (A 4 4 8 [r 54]). Small pairs are a handicap, this hand has very little high value, and the lack of action usually indicates several key cards are more likely to be held by the blinds.

While there isn’t a huge difference between A-4 and A-5, we must be slightly more selective when A-5 is our best low combination. From the cutoff this means that A 5 10 Q [r 26] is probably a fold but A 5 K Q [r 21] can be played since it has a valuable A-K combination.

Low Hands Without An Ace

Since we lack the most important card in the deck, these hands need to have some high potential working for them. It’s important to have some flush potential and there is also certainly quite a big difference between having 2-3 or 2-4 versus more mediocre low draws such as 2-5 and 3-4.

Any holding containing 2-3, two Broadway cards, and suited at least once is usually playable from the cutoff. For example, we should open 2 3 10 Q [r 33] even though according to PPT it is outside the cutoff open target percentage of 30% and actually ranked lower than a holding such as A 4 8 9 [r 28] earlier stated as a hand that we can fold.

It’s important to consider playability; because when an ace flops the 2-3 holdings with two Broadway cards (notated as 23 BB) often contain many possibilities. For example, on an A K 5 flop the 2 3 10 Q has eight outs to a nut straight, 12 more outs for the nut low, a backdoor flush draw, and implied odds. On that same flop, the A 4 8 9 has top pair with a bad low draw and reverse implied odds.

Certainly it would be an easy matter to come up with flops where A 4 8 9 fares better than 2 3 10 Q but the latter hand only requires an ace to have a nut low draw while the former requires both a two and a three. And whenever an ace appears the 2-3 BB holdings will often in a sense have all four cards working together which is important in any form of Omaha. In general, it’s likely that these holdings outperform their PPT rankings while a holding such as A 4 8 9 will probably underperform.

Another class of hands that will probably underperform relative to their PPT rankings are big pairs with two wheel cards. The 2 4 Q Q [r 17] is a hand that we can play from the cut-off but 4 5 J J [r 23] should be folded. If an ace falls, the value of the big pair is greatly diminished so it’s very important to have a very good low draw to fall back upon. In addition, a pair of jacks is more easily beaten than a pair of queens.

Finally, there are the holdings containing a bunch of low cards, often referred to as “low bag” hands. The 2 3 4 6 [r 19] is a decent hand that can be opened from the cutoff because when an ace and another low card flops we can have a plethora of possibilities. However, 2 4 6 7 [r 44] is a much less valuable hand and would only be a button open.

It’s not easy to set guidelines for late position openings with marginal hands as it’s difficult to determine what hands may be profitable and which aren’t and impossible to prove one way or another. Also, your decision is often highly dependent on the opponents left to act, particularly the player residing on the button when you are in the cutoff.

Generally, if the remaining players are relatively passive and not overly sticky you can afford to push the envelope. However, if they are aggressive and fight hard for every pot it’s in your best interest to be more selective in the hands you play. ♠

Kevin Haney is a former actuary of MetLife but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker and fitness. He is co-owner of Elite Fitness Club in Oceanport, NJ and is a certified personal trainer. With regards to poker he got his start way back in 2003 and particularly enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. If interested in learning more, playing mixed games online, or just saying hello he can be reached at [email protected].