Omaha 8 beginner - help please!!

[nickyw]

Hi,

Just started playing Omaha 8 after playing hold em for a while.

Can u help on 2 things

1) Making a low (counterfitting) - sorry this is so basic

If my hand is A 2 9 J

and the board is A 4 5 6 Q

can i use my A 2 to make a low (A2456) or not?

2) Is there a good source of basic O8 odds (eg chances of making a low with one low on flop etc anywhere (internet or books)

Thanks a lot guys

[QuickLearner]

1) Yes, you can use your A2, but remember that anyone with a 3 plus either a 4, 5 or 6 will beat you (since they have the benefit of the A2 on the board).

2) There is a general odds discussion in the Tenner/Kreiger book, which is a good book for a starting player. It is holdem, though, so you can do the math yourself after you get used to the game. Remember to take into account the splitting of the pot. For instance, while you are calculating the odds of drawing that nut flush, cut the pot in half if there is (or could be) a low in play. You'll only win one half with your high hand. Of course, if there is no low you'll scoop the whole thing.

[CheckFold]

Yes you can still use A2 to make the low, it just isn't the nut low, 23 is. So, if the board is 678Q and a 2 drops on the river, you could say your A2 is counterfeited because your nut low just became the worst low possible, even though it's still a low.

I don't know of any sources for the odds you're looking for, but you should be able to figure them out yourself without too much trouble. If you've got A2KK on a 7JQ board, you need runner runner for a 20 outer followed by a 16 outer, which is 20/45*16/44 which is about 1/6. Those odds change a little if you were holding A234 but should remain in that vicinity.

[blingice]

[ QUOTE ]
1) Making a low (counterfitting) - sorry this is so basic

If my hand is A 2 9 J

and the board is A 4 5 6 Q

can i use my A 2 to make a low (A2456) or not?



[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah.


Bling.

[bodie]

In the example you cited, your 2 would still be considered "live", because there isn't a 2 on the board. In order to use your Ace, once it's been counterfeited, there needs to be a total of four low cards on the board, if there are only three low cards on the board then your Ace is unusable, and you wouldn't have a low (because you have to use two cards from your hand, and your Ace would be counterfeited and unusable). When there are four low cards on the board you are allowed to use one of your counterfeited cards as long as anothe one is "live".
As someone mentioned, 2, 3 would be the nut low in the hand that you cited. That's why your particular hand would be a difficult one because you have no protection for your low if one of them gets counterfeited. So, even though you have an Ace, 2 - with no other low cards it is very vulnerable.
Hope that makes sense.

[Nak]

Just remember that you need to use exactly two cards form your hand and three cards from the board. When I started, I would deal myself lots of hands and practice spotting nut lows, etc.

Nak