Hello I'm looking for some advice about o8. I've been playing holdem for years, and I'm not too bad, but lately I've been playing o8 exclusively with good results so far, but I'm still fairly new to the game. There's a specific situation I keep running into and I wanna make sure I'm handling it properly.

So to give an example say I limp in on the button with a2xx in multiway pot, and stacks are all 50bb+.
Flop comes out 885 with 2 hearts.
First to act pots everyone else folds to me.
I've got the nut low draw but absolutely no way to win the high except maybe a miracle runner runner, but could be drawing dead to the high already.
I've only got 1bb invested and bc we're heads up the most I can win is half of the blinds from the players that folded.
Am I right in thinking this is an insta-fold despite having the nut low draw?

What if the flop was 876 and I already have the low but can't win the high and could get counterfeited?

Does the strategy change tournament vs cash?

What if we're 20bb deep?

In general I've been folding unless a 3rd player stays in the hand, but I need to know if I should playing this differently. Really fallen in love with o8 the last few months and I'm having great results, but I know I have holes in my game that need to be plugged before I try to move up in limits so any advice from experienced players would greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any input.

Folding costs you 1bb. Calling headup in a limped pot where you do win half can win can get you, what, 2bb? Don't call up to 50bb with a max reward of 2bb.

You seem to be moving to the right thinking: if you don't have a high, or a draw to a high, or a third or fourth player, you've got a folding hand, as long your preflop investment is tiny compared to your stack. Same goes for KsKcTs9c on a 8h7h6d flop headup.

People who don't have the discipline to sometimes fold the nuts in PLO and especially PLO8 are doomed.

Thanks for posting I really appreciate it. I've been folding in those situations and I thought I was doing the right thing I just needed someone to confirm that for me. The biggest hole in my game is folding big hands too often. I do this mainly bc at the limits I play 99% of the players are beyond terrible and it makes putting them on hands extremely difficult. They could literally have anything. I figure better to lay down the 2nd or 3rd nut when I'm not sure bc I know the chances are high that I'll get a better opportunity eventually. Can't tell you how many times I've laid down the 2nd nuts bc 3 people went all in before me and they all turn over 2 pair with no low or some other trash hand. Sometimes I think it would easier if the competition was stronger as crazy as that sounds. Any other advice for dealing with players that bad? Other than the standard play premium starting hands, value bet heavier when you're good, only draw to the nuts type stuff? Thanks again for the help.

Yes, stronger opposition is easier to put on a range. Mediocre players can often be put on exact hands, because in certain spots they have only the nuts. While it's harder to guess what weaker players have, it doesn't matter that much. They put in a lot of money with nonsensical hands which you will auto-exploit by getting it in with a reasonable range. What this means is that sometimes you will get it in really bad. Try to understand that it doesn't matter, in the long run.

If you play against really bad players, a principal concern should be when they quit. If you play against somebody betting in the dark, you can't just wait for the nuts because he'll give all his chips to someone else before you get a shot at them. But on the other hand, even horrible players play better than someone playing in the dark, so normally just be patient and show them the nuts... as long as your preflop investment is tiny.

When you get a better feel for this though, the main thing when playing with very bad players isn't playing for the nuts. It's making bets that have a positive expected value. bets that have a positive value when you are drawing, or have a positive value when you have the current leading hand, whatever. To maximize your win you can't just wait for them to commit suicide on the river when you have the nuts.

Wow it's like you read my thoughts over the last few months learning o8. I started by only playing the nuts. Then realized I needed to get the free chips from the terrible players before someone else did. Lately I've been focusing more on extracting max value from strong non-nutted hands/strongest draws. Just like the first guy said sometimes I'll get it in with the worst of it but overall my game has improved massively by opening up my range a bit and value betting thinner when I'm ahead of my opponents range. I'm consistently building a larger stack more often which obviously makes things alot easier although I do get sucked out on quite often but that's just how it is with omaha. Thanks to everyone that replied I really appreciate the advice!