Omaha High/Low: Starting Hands

Question
Can you give me some pointers on what starting hands to play in Omaha high-low? I'm just learning the game, and ranking the starting hands seems tougher than it is in Texas hold em. I looked for information on this on your site but couldn't find any.

Answer
We'll be writing more about Omaha high low (or, as we call it, Omaha 8) in future articles. I know what you mean re: evaluating starting hands, since I had the same problem when I first picked up the game. However, once you really get into the game you realize that evaluating starting hands in O8 is actually far, far easier than it is in Texas hold em, since fewer hands are sensitive to the number of players in the pot and your position.

In hold em a hand like J9s can be a bear to play. It's not profitable for average players in early or middle position, and only marginally profitable in the hands of an intermediate player in late position. It's also a tough hand to play well, since you frequently catch a little of the flop, but not enough to allow you to procede with any confidence. But O8 doesn't have these problems. In O8 you're really looking to do one thing: i.e., hit the flop with a 2 x 4. And there are only a few hands in O8 which give you a reasonable chance of really connecting with a flop. Four cards above a nine (preferably suited up) A2xx, AA2x, AA23, AA (preferably with a suited low card), A3xx (again, with the ace suited)… there are a few others, but in all honesty not very many more. In O8 you want to either a) hit a huge flop for high with no low draw possible, or b) flop either the nut low or a nut low draw-- preferably with something working for high. When one of these two things happen you bet your hand to the gong—when they don't you almost always fold (there are exceptions, and we'll deal with those in a later article).

So—If you play only hands that are ‘straight high' hands (Ks Kh Js Td, for instance), or hands that have a nut or second nut low working, your starting hand strategy won't be far off from optimal. The cardinal rule in O8 is to NOT play hands that can usually only play for half the pot—hands that contain middle cards (8874, for example) or hands where the cards are not working together (As Js 8d 4c is an example of this hand pattern). Stick to co-ordinated hands, and hands that have scooping power, and you'll be leagues ahead of most of your competition.

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