Flop Top Set in Omaha Hi Lo - Flush & Low Draw on Board

[TexasFight73]

I am new to Omaha Hi Lo and started playing some $10 tournaments on Party Poker. I am not schooled in the game but I've finished in 2nd in my past couple of tournaments.

I recently played a hand where I flopped the top set -- Jacks. I have no flush or low draw and there was a flush draw and low draw on the board. Five Callers. I am wondering how people think I should play the hand. Should I . . .

a) Play aggressively and look to bet because I have the top hand.
b) Play conservatively because I am probably playing for a split pot at best.

I'm not sure how to approach the problem. If three callers are on a flush draw, then I'm probably sitting pretty good for the high. If everyone is on low draw, then I'm probably screwed.

How do people play this type of situation? What about if there is only a low draw on the table?

Thanks in advance.

[adanthar]

Unless you were in the blinds, you should be folding JJxx preflop for this exact reason.

On the flop, you have to play conservatively. Your hand will not be the high nuts by the river, you will be playing for half the pot something like 70% of the time, and if you don't have any other draws, you like exactly 1 turn card (the other jack.)

It also makes a difference whether you have QJJT on a J62 board or JJ96 on a J32 board. The former is probably pretty good; you'll probably want to *fold* the latter to any significant action if the turn is, say, an A or even a 4.

Disclaimer: I'm not an Omaha expert and you should really be posting this in the Omaha forum.

[TexasFight73]

Thank you for your feedback. I agree with your assessment.

FYI, I had QJJ10 single suited in middle position with 2 callers in front of me. Virtually no pre-flop raises up until this point. Flop Came J 8 5.

I agree that I have should have played the hand more conservatively. Lost too much of my stack when flush hit on river. Ultimately busted out in 4th. I needed those chips.

If you haven't played those $10 tournaments, they are a lot of fun and they challenge your poker thinking. Not too difficult if you play good hands pre-flop and get away from bad flops.

[Irieguy]

If you are interested in pursuing Omaha h/l, I recommend you read all of Cappelletti's stuff on the topic. As an example, high-only omaha hands are only marginally profitable as a group, and only so because of the value of those hands which are ace-containing. If you have a high-only hand that doesn't have an ace, you need a pair and double-suitedness to show a marginal profit multi-way. For this reason, I don't play high-only hands in tournaments unless they have a suited ace.

To answer your question, if you played that hand a million times, you would show a loss. The more you bet, the more you lose, so folding would usually be correct on the flop if there's a bet and raise. It's a good rule of thumb in omaha h/l that if you have bare trips with no redraw and two babies on board, you are likely a dog in the hand even against a single opponent. If you think folding top set is absurd, then you will struggle with this game until that becomes a naturally viable option. It's not correct very often, but you site a perfect example for that uniquely omaha-licious situation when the flopped nuts is drawing very thin to a profit.