So yesterday during my live session of 4-8 Limit Omaha 8, I kept getting dealt a lot of great hands for an Omaha High game. My question is position the key and only key. For example, I had a AsKsQhJh dealt to me UTG. Do most of you limp in or lead or do you fold? Is this a cutoff raise hand? I am just curious how most play a strong Omaha High hand in Limit Omaha 8. Little about the table, had two LAGs who were waiting for 1-2 no limit game and the rest of the table were old guys who like to see the flop as cheap as they can. Thanks in advance!

Hands like 910JQ, KKQ10, AQJK I'm generally limping in any and all positions in a loose 4-8 game. Depends on the game though. I played at Maryland live the other night where the only time someone raised pre was when they had AA2x, so you could limp and see pots for cheap. I've also played at Commerce where, depending on who is in the game, there is a lot of action preflop so I'm generally playing the high hands in later position and folding in EP. Calling 4 bets pre with 8910J isn't ideal IMO. People don't fold at all preflop in limit, so I'm usually raising hands like A234 regardless of the action since we are getting people to put more money in pre with marginal hands. I'll often 3-b with AK2Q or similar hands since we don't have counterfeit protection if an A or a 2 flops. But, with high hands and a crazy game, I'm only playing them in late position. In a passive game, I'll play them in all positions knowing I can see a cheap flop. I never raise them in limit however.

Okay good advice. Just really tempting to see a flop with those hands UTG. But I have to remind myself you want hands that scoop. I have seen theories that sometimes when there are lots of raises, playing straight is a good strategy. I guess do some trial and error.

It's tempting, but remember in order to make money on hands like these, you're going to need to flop the nuts or effective nuts. If you play JQK10ddcc to 3 bets pre and the flop comes 1065hhs, you simply can't put any more money in the pot. This is even more so in PLO8 where often times you are going to be completely freerolled on the turn. The problem with these hands in a loose game is you never know exactly how you stand. Whereas low wraps can confidently put as much money as they want into the pot. I have tons of hours at live 4-8, 5-10, and 10-20 and these sorts of hands just aren't profitable and extremely difficult to play on a lot of flops and turns. Quite often, you are drawing to half the pot and very often, you're drawing to half the pot with no idea how many of your "outs" are clean and how many are dirty

If I see a limp or two ep followed by a raise and or rr I am going for the cap pf with those hands as long as I have position and the limpers are prone to calling. With those hands you are making an either or decision otf so you want odds to push your hand/draw or a LOT of small bets in if you hit hard as you will be losing most of your customers otf IF you hit. by those hands I mean ds A high run downs. Those are hit or run hands for the most part, so if you can get 4-5 people capping you are going to be money ahead long term. It's a gamble yes, but you might as well go for it on those hands before everyone folds. But yeah, in position the only way you can continue is ip for a single bet on a 5-6-t rainbow flop. And only cuz you got 20 sb's in pf. Plus, you get to rep anything.

Even if you only win 25-30% of those hands you are going to be ahead. Bad play in pot limit though. Strictly a limit tactic.

Occasionally you win a monster too.

how often do you raise pre-flop? raising a high run-down adds balance and make you harder to read.

what will the LAGs do? 3bet, 4 bet? what will the rest of the table do?

hands like AsKsQhJh are easy to get away from after the flop if your scoop probability drops to zero.

Nobody is "reading" you at low stakes O8 lol. Even in the loosest games I've played in, the super lags aren't capping high rundowns pre. And besides, with 5-6 players seeing the flop every hand, everyone will be playing straight forward so reads become useless. High hands work best heads up in position

I don't raise too often. Just with strong hands.. the LAGs in the table would open all the time and 3 bet with anything..which makes it harder to get a read on the older guys because they call and not re-raise. Therefore you have to assume the old guys have a strong hand. The one downside was both LAGs were to my left. But I didn't have a bad session. I just felt I may have some money on the table.

You are correct good sir

As frustrating as this is, you need to remain patient and only play premium hands. Expect to win only a few pots during the session, but they will be big ones. I've found that old guys will play a variety of hands, including nutted ones, for as cheap as they possibly can, so they play AA24 the same way they play 910JJ preflop - again, reads are pretty useless. These games force you to nut peddle and read hand strength instead of player strength.

Yeah that is what I have been discovering. I am super tempted to play 1/3 Pot Limit Omaha OE. Put I need to work on my leaks first. I figured this would be the best to work on hand reading and my leaks. Plus the 1/3 game plays huge!

Matt_PBA is - where are you playing that has 6 players routinely seeing the flop?

Parx and Maryland Live mostly. Commerce was the same way. In a full 9 handed game, pots are always 4-6 to the flop. At Maryland live it was closer to 6-7 and people were literally only folding trips pre lol. In essence, these games are a test of your patience. Nobody will care that you haven't played a pot in an hour when you start capping, they will mostly be playing their relative hand strentgh. Now, when pots are heads up/3 ways on the flop and turn, this is where "reads" can be more helpful and provide bluff opportunities. However, keep in mind that when someone is getting 20-1 on a call, they aren't folding AAxx on a KJ44Q by the river. Can't tell you how many times they "just want to see it." So the only bluff opps are when you are pushing the action on a HLL flop and the turn and river come HH and the other players look unhappy/disinterested on the river. But even still, be prepared to get called down light based on the massive size of the pot relative to the size of one bet. Have I been guilty of putting in money on the river in a spot I knew I had to get extremely lucky to get half (I.E. 23xx on a 456xx runout where the last x completes a flush or boat)? OF COURSE! But the key is just to play tight - you are there to make money, not gamble. Remember that when you look down at 88910 in middle position...

Funny how one person's trash is another person's treasure. When 6 or 7 people are willing to see the flop for 2 bets, that is MD Live action at it's best. Half the time, the regs only play A2 with either a second A or another wheel card (345). Lot of sub-$40 pots those days. Those games can go multiple dealers without a half kill pot. I like the multiway action. Runner runner suckouts is just part of limit poker.

It's always a single bet before the flop at MD live unless one of the nits wakes up w AA23. And even then they only raise 50% of the time haha. Played for like 5 hours in the 5-10 and only one pot was above 200 total I think. Was pretty boring tbh

I play at Jumers in Rock Island, Il..or the Quad Cities..and yeah lots of people see the flop.

Used to play with a guy that called every bet pf BLIND. Usually called 4th with literally any draw no matter how bad the board was. Being the luckiest man in the world every one of my freerolls missed vs him. I swear I could flop 345hhh with a2hh and he would call with 68hh and hit the 7h otr. Of course I would get quartered for my effort. Always lose the minimum on your losing hands they tell me. Sometimes stupid people inherit the world. Or get elected.

Getting back to playing high hands in 08, I struggle with the opposite theory of when to play the lower part of the deck when playing high only. you always know you are behind going to the flop. I like at least being 45% going to a flop. The wheel draw is hardly ever a nut draw unless you have a flush draw to go with it. A bit much to ask usually.

Yeah having the wheel is never a sure thing for the whole pot. It is always nice to have the the six high straight to go with it or flush. But I have found in lower limit games if someone is in the pot with three low cards on the board, someone has a low hand made.

However, the rare time when the opponents both have the high hand but no low is always a gift from the poker gods!

Sorry to be off topic, but what 08 games run at Maryland live?

I live like 20 miles away but I usually head up to Delaware park for the PLO instead. Is it just fixed limit or is there any PLO8?

A real cue to playing high hands in 08 is you are a suck to do it but if you arent the biggest sucker you can exploit those bigger fish, do anything that puts you in control and them doing what you want....

Live used to have a 4-8 limit game, a 6-12 mix, and more recently a 5-10 O8. But I haven't seen in run in a while.

General thought ...

If you can scoop nut/nut (ie two cards to broadway plus two wheel cards plus suited ace) raise. If you can only nut up one end (A234 ace not suited, AKQJ and similar decent hands that don't necessarily go both ways very well) limp-call pre.

If you want to get funky with rough aces, or mid run-downs or other marginals, just remember what you called with and don't feel an obligation to call down. If your post-flop decisions are solid, seeing lots of flops for cheap can work out, especially if the table is relatively passive, like PLOGrinder mentioned as one of the places he plays.

Folding marginal draws is the hardest part of O-8 for me. Flopping 3 pair just seems like it is has so much equity, but then you pair your lowest card and lose to a bigger full house. Or you make your 2nd nut straight and lose to the nut straight. I am slowly learning to get away from these situations- it is a pretty expensive lesson to learn