Omaha hi/lo, also called Omaha-8, is a great game!

The only similarity I find between Omaha-high and Omaha-8 is that in both games you have to use exactly three cards from the five card board plus exactly two cards from your own four card hand.

Other than that, Omaha-8 is very different from Omaha-high.

I advise you to stick to full table (nine or ten players) games while you're learning. If you later switch to six max, your starting hand requirements should be looser than in full table. In general, as you have fewer and fewer opponents, you need to play more and more starting hands.

In general, for full table play, you probably should want to avoid starting hands with middle cards (especially sevens, eights, and nines). And since aces are the best low cards and also the best high cards, at least until you get familiar with the game and your opponents, you'll generally want to have one or two aces in all of your starting hands. Later you'll probably want to add some aceless starting hands to the mix. But when you're starting, it's better if you have the discipline to fold starting hands without aces.

From there, you have to do some digging on your own to find what fits you.
Have you read a book about Omaha-8? Have you read all the posts in this (newb's) thread?

Here and there in the newb's thread are some basic strategy suggestions, including starting hand suggestions for a newb while he/she is becoming familiar with this game. Much of the advice in this newb's thread will tend to be very conservative, hopefully designed to protect newbs from disaster while they're learning the game.

Good luck!

Buzz

Thank you Buzz.

Okay, im have a little under 10k hands plo8 and starting to evaluate my play. Now if I hold A3xx, what are the odds of a duece flopping? and more importantly what is the formula to get to this %/#?

Thanks in advance

Assuming neither x is a deuce, there are four missing deuces and 44 missing other cards. Easiest way to find the probability of a deuce flopping is to find the probability of no deuce flopping and subtract that from one (because all the probabilities add up to 1.000 or 100%).

The probability of no deuce in the three cards of the flop is
44*43*42/48/47/46=0.766. (Or you could write that as 76.6%).

Thus the probability of at least one deuce on the flop is 1-0.766=0.234. (Or you could write that as
100.0%-76.6%=23.4%).

The odds of a deuce flopping are usually quoted as the odds against a deuce flopping. The odds of no deuce on the flop are 0.766 to 0.234, or 3.27 to 1.
(because 0.766/0.234=3.27).
Thus the odds of a deuce flopping are 3.27 to 1 against.

Strictly speaking, the odds in favor of a deuce flopping would be 1/3.26 or 0.307 to 1, but the odds are usually not quoted this way. (Instead, the odds are quoted as "odds against").

I hope this doesn't sound like double talk to you.

The method used is shown above, along with the answer. I didn't use a "formula." There isn't a "formula" and you don't get a "%/#."

Odds are not shown as fractions or percentages. (However probabilities are shown as fractions or percentages, as shown above).

Usually you find the probability of something and then compare the probability of it not occurring to the probability of it occurring. "Compare" means "divide." We could write a formula for odds. It would be
Odds against=Pn/Po, where Pn is the probability of something not occurring and Po is the probability of something occurring. You obviously have to first find probabilities and then find odds.

Buzz

in order to flop the nut low or the nut low draw with A3, the flop needs to look something like one of the below:
2 [4-8] [2, 4-K]
2 [2, 9-K] [4-8]
[4-8] 2 [2, 4-K]
[4-8] [4-K] 2
[9-K] 2 [4-8]
[9-K] [4-8] 2

Buzz thanks for the thorough explanation. I am looking over my pt3 stats and it shows that a duece is only flopping about 4.5% over 9k hands . Is that even possible? I mean I know i 9k isnt a large sample but to 4.5% compared to 23.4% seems quite large of a gap. Now im pretty sure im filtering correctly as the only filter i have on is "any duece on the flop" with no other filters attatched. Or maybe im missing something ???

Again thanks for the explanation. If I ever find myself getting out to the casinos in LA ill buy you a beer

Buzz assumes that neither of your cards is a deuce (making it more likely that a deuce flops). your stats probably don't.

You're welcome.

It's possible, but very improbable. It's improbable enough that I think there's either something wrong with your pt3 statistics or the way you're reading those statistics.

You're telling us there has only been a deuce on 405 flops out of a total of 9000 flops. And that's not just when Hero holds A3** with neither * being a deuce.

But although I don't know what the standard deviation would be, I believe there has been at least one deuce on somewhere in the neighborhood of 1956 of those 9000 flops.
(from 9000-9000*48*47*46/52/51/50 =1956).

I'd be surprised if the actual number of times 9000 flops had at least one deuce was more than about a hundred away from 1956, plus or minus.

Although some would argue 9000 isn't a large enough sample, I think it is.

I agree.

I don't know what you're missing. But the 4.5% you're getting is even too low for one particular deuce.

Buzz

Thanks to both of u for ur input....I will go over my stats again once I get home from work. Its gotta be me filtering wrong. Again thanks!

Okay so this is what i have come up with...

i have 9152 hands logged in.
I have received A3xx 433 times. (neither x was a 2 or 3)
Out of those 433 times I held A3xx, a 2 flopped 67 times...

Funny thing is when I check "any A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,j,q,k, on flop" the total number comes out to 1949 which is quite close to the number you have above. This number should be 9,152 (or close to it) since the flop had to contain one of these cards A-K (even if we didnt see a flop a % of the time).

So there has got to be something wrong with how im interpreting this or some sort of filter i am not aware of...

67/433=15.5%. 433 times is not very many, but you should have flopped a deuce closer to a hundred times. 67 times thus seems low to me, but in only 433 times nothing to get concerned about.

Are you sure that one of the x cards in your hand was not a deuce? (That might account for the discrepancy).

Interesting.

My guess is you're not doing something correctly, but I don't know what it is. Could also be a glitch in the software. Maybe someone in the software forum could help you.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/45/software/

Good luck.

Buzz

Thanks for all the responses buzz...
Is there a hh converter for merge?

You're welcome.

I don't know if there's one specifically for merge or not.

Click on the following link:
http://www.thehandconverter.com/
See if that works for you.

If that converter doesn't work for you, try the following link:
Hand Converter
This converter is for Omaha-high-only, not Omaha-8 but we can do some editing to make your hand history look right when low is involved.

Buzz

Is Stars the only site that spreads Fixed Limit Omaha/8 that actually runs?

I'm not the best person to answer this question for you. But I don't believe so.

For example, I think "Merge" is another on-line site that offers fixed-limit Omaha/8.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

And various brick and mortar casinos offer fixed-limit Omaha-8. For example currently in Los Angeles California county, The Bike, Commerce, Hawaiian Gardens and Hollywood Park are all big casinos that offer fixed-limit Omaha-8 pretty much every day and evening.

Buzz

I am not on if it is available for all levels, but yes Merge does have fixed limit on top of NL and PL.

a practice in reading the low:

1) board is A2345
1a - write down all the 2-card combos that make the nut low (wheel) with 3 cards from the board.
1b - write down those who make the 2nd nut low.
1c - what about 3rd nut low?
1d - 4th?
1e - 5th?

2) same thing, only now the board is 2345K...

hint:

enjoy!

Just starting out in o8.

What is good literature to read on the game before I play cash/tournaments?

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/44...thread-737104/

Can a weak full ring 4/8 O8 with a half kill in a casino with a $5 rake (and $2 jackpot) be profitable?

Do you mean $7.00 total is taken out of each pot?

If so, that's very high, higher than usual, higher than I've ever paid.

I want to say yes, you can beat that rake if you're good enough relative to your opponents, but truthfully that's an extraordinarily high rake for a $4/$8 game.

Buzz

What's a normal rake for a small stakes casino O8 game? For hold'em it's 10% up to $4 and having a $2 jackpot isn't that unusual. The Omaha jackpot is a separate pool but they still drop it.

Venetian:
the rake in 4/8 is 1 on 10, 2 on 20, 3 on 40 and 4 on 70 (4$ max), no jackpot/high hands drop.
the rake in 8/16 is 1 on 20, 2 on 35, 3 on 65, 4 on 95 (4$ max), no jackpot/high hands drop.
the rake in 15/30 is 3$ max, not sure about the levels...

Thanks for the stats. Yes in my game it's $4 or $5 (i'm not sure), and a $2 drop for jackpot/high hand. It's 4/8 with half kill as I said. And by the way everyone plays super slowly because they're 96 years old. I can't see making more than $10/hr here.

Make the 10 and be proud (dead serious!)
Now, read this:
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-blog...s-higher-costs