Short-handed Omaha

I haven't really seen much info on this subject here before, so I'd like to start a discussion. How should you adjust your omaha8 game to short-handed play? Can you play more hands, or do you have to play just as tight as a full game? I'm struggling with this issue, so I look forward to your feedback.


-MD

Shorthanded game means in every poker game more involved aggressiveness . Theorycally you have to put pressure on your opponents and aces (with some add value) become a great starting hand.


Marco

I've played under assumption that fewer cards out means fewer good hands...but, very carefully.

What do you inply by short handed? Maybe you mean OM8 games with five or six players? I play in the Los Angeles County, CA casinos, and I consider any game under seven players a short game, myself I don't like 7 handed games. Most people don't want to play limit OM8 unless there is at least seven players. With respect to the LA County casinos, I would not play in a OM8 game unless there was at least 8 or 9 players most of the time -- the reason being that the dead drop will eat you alive in short games. Most casinos in the LA area drop the full drop for seven or more players. At one time a few years ago in a 3-6 game, the biggest casino in LA lowered the drop by one-third for seven players and by two-thirds for six players. I would play in games with that drop structure any and all the time. To answer your question -- I think you have to play top cards in any game with five or more players. The only time I get to play in really short games is when I am lucky enough to get to the last table in OM8 tournaments. When this occurs, the bet structure gets relatively very high with respect to the total money on the table, and luck comes into play even with the most skilled players -- it then becomes lets make a deal time.

Please define short handed. Where I think of a 5-handed hold 'em game as being radically different from a 9-handed game, I don't think the difference between the two sizes is as great in O8. I ran some computer sims a few years ago and will look around for the results, but I think that O8 didn't become radically looser until it got down to 3 or 4 players...


Also, what kind of format, stakes and players are we discussing?

Another comment:


In OM8, my goal is to play top starting "pocket" hands with many players in the pot and to be in good, late position "i.e., near the dealer button if possible." Many players in the pot results in good pots odds, and if I have a good pocket hand in late position and two, three or four players called preflop, then I am in great position to raise. On these occasions, if I get a good flop, then "on balance" I have got an excellent chance to win some money. In my opinion, short-handed limit OM8 games don't generally result in good pot odds. Therefore I feel that I cannot slack up in my start hands in games with five or six players. That is, I would still only play top starting hands. Also pocket hands containing some hard cards probably are good starting hands , i.e., hands like: A,A,2,4 or A,K,2,5 or A,K,K,3 increase in value in short-handed games, more so if a high card is suited with another card. Hands like these are excellent at the last table in an OM8 tournament when down to four players or less (But of course they can still easily get knocked off when luck comes into play).

correction: high not hard

I agree with Phat Mack,


I will try to phrase my reason. As the OM8 games get more short handed -- say four or five players -- the pots odds are also generally reduced causing good players not to slacken up their calling with poorer started hands. It is sort of a self-correcting process. This is not true in old fashion draw poker "Jacks or better" where opening requirements can be much lower in short handed games. Remember in a HiLo split-the-pot game with four players, a player has to split almost every other pot to break even or scoop one out of four. Chasing to the river in games like this with poor hands can cause a player to lose lots of chips.