Omaha Eight-Or-Better: Playing The High Hands Part 2

Even though they won’t hit many flops hard, good high-only hands are often playable in Omaha Eight-or-Better (O8). That’s because when they do connect there is dead money contributed by the low-oriented hands that missed, and we can often count on inferior high holdings paying off.

Strong hands such as A K Q 10, A Q J 10, K K Q J, K Q J 10, and A Q Q J are playable in virtually any situation before the flop. A ton of action often indicates that many of the aces and other low cards are busy, making the nines through kings very live.

These holdings also perform just fine heads-up against an early-position opener that often has a mostly pure low hand such as A 2 4 6. Generally speaking, they will either hit the flop hard, or we will.

Since an early-position opener frequently has a strong hand that will be able to continue on many boards, it’s usually best to just flat-call and make it easier for others to get involved with mediocre holdings. Letting additional low hands in is no threat to us, and when the board comes high our made hands or draws will often dominate.

However, a much different dynamic is in play when the cutoff opens and we are on the button with a playable high holding. The cutoff is going to have a much wider range and therefore a much lower concentration of holdings containing pocket aces, flush possibilities, or premium low cards that can be taken further into the hand.

For example, A 4 4 10 or 2 4 7 8 are a few hands that many will play from the cutoff but won’t like many flops. If we get aggressive with our holding before the flop, it’s going to be difficult for our opponent to continue on many boards. While some loose players may continue with a mediocre bare low draw, not all of them will, and even our most sticky opponents will usually muck back door draws that aren’t to the nuts. When we have the initiative, we will more often win when the flop largely misses us both.

We can also play mostly one-way low holdings such as A 2 4 7 in the same aggressive manner. Folding an A-2 holding on the button to a cutoff open is out of the question, and if we call it’s mostly an attempt to pull in the blinds and win half of a three-way affair. We would need to get very lucky to scoop, which is how to make money in this game.

Getting the pot heads-up is advantageous where the ultimate goal is to win before showdown, but should we meet resistance we have good low potential that may salvage half of the pot. There are also times where our preflop three-bet allows us to win the high with a weak flush, two small pair, or even just a pair of deuces.

Therefore, from the button against a cutoff open it’s reasonable to implement a re-raise or fold strategy with high and low hands alike. High hands play decently well heads-up because even when the board ends up with a low possible, a lone opponent may not make one. However, had you just smooth-called it would have made it easier for the blinds to come in and increase the odds that someone will make a low.

In addition, there are also future hands to consider. If we can successfully punish the cutoff when he’s opening light, this may cause him to tighten up his range. Overall, this is to our benefit as it allows us more opportunities to open our marginal, but profitable holdings from the button.

Now onto a few post-flop concepts. Suppose an early position player who is playing the top 15% of his hands opens, and we defend the big blind with K Q J 10. The flop comes down K 8 4 which isn’t great as we only have around 42% equity against a strong opening range containing aces and premium low draws. We should, therefore, check-call and see what happens on the turn.

If the turn is the 10 the power has now shifted to us as our top two pair and an open-ended straight gives us around 65% equity. If we are sure our opponent will bet again with just a naked low draw, we could go for a check-raise, but usually the safest play is to just lead out for value and to prevent a free card.

However, if the turn is the 5 we should check-fold as our equity is only 26% against a strong 15% opening range. Our opponent is often freerolling us with a made low with some possible draws to a straight or a flush. Of course, it’s possible that he already has a better high hand as well.

According to a simulation, our opponent will scoop the pot 52% of the time, there’s a 44% chance of a split, and only in 4% of the outcomes will we end up winning everything. In other words, the reverse implied odds are immense since our opponent has such a huge scooping advantage.

Finally, let’s consider a multi-way situation where we hold K K Q J on a K 5 4 board. This is a flop where many players overplay their hand and possibly even cap the action given the opportunity; but we should wait to see what the turn is before committing too many chips.

Attempting to protect our holding on the flop is typically a foolish endeavor as premium draws are going nowhere, and even various non-nut draws often stick around as well. People just don’t seem to care about money on the small betting round. If the turn is advantageous, we can then look to get aggressive for both value and possible protection. However, if it is a low spade we may need to get out if the pot gets jammed as we are only playing for half, and are an underdog to get it.

High hands can be profitable holdings in O8 if we exercise proper hand selection and get aggressive with them in the right situations to increase our chances of scooping. However, since they will often need to be folded on bad board runouts, we may have to delay our investment, sometimes with even the current nuts and see what develops. ♠

Kevin Haney is a former actuary but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker and fitness. The certified personal trainer owned a gym in New Jersey, but has since moved to Las Vegas. He started playing the game back in 2003, and particularly enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. Learn more or just say hello with an email to [email protected].