O8 short handed starting reqs

Been playing a lot of shorthanded (3-6 players) O8 of late and am often tempted by hands like QJ34 double suited. How few players do you need to be against for this to be a playable hand? Three handed I give it a go. More than that I'm happy to play get it in the blinds, but worry about putting in a full bet.


Also tempting is any suited ace with any other card 8 or lower. How few players for a hand like AT86, suited ace.


I realize short-handed is often more about making moves with nothing, but still you can't bluff every hand, unless they let you.

AXXX without 8 or lower is fine (A9TJ). Suited ace is not important short handed. You want high hands that can back into lows. High pairs are stronger than high cards. If it's 5-way very loose, then I have no idea what to say, other than the fluctuations might be high. Turbo Omaha HiLo or other software might give you info what a good starting hand would be. Hands with only two high card can be folded 1/3 or 2/4, except if open-raise can usually get it heads up, then the ranking of the hands are very close.

the more they call to the end the better hand you need to start. very shorthanded a big pair often takes high, but if you are still playing with a few that call far into the hand you need close to normal starting hands to play on. you can certainly now includ many extra high type starting hands as these can hog the whole pot more often. having the nut low draw isnt as important as havig a decent low draw with apossible current high hand. still most will tend to play too loose with more than three players in the game.