Omaha Hi/Lo Starting Hands...

[laceratedsky]

Could someone give me a rundown of good starting hands for Party $.50/$1? Or a good link of some kind.

Your help is appreciated /images/graemlins/smile.gif

laceratedsky

[tiltboy]

If you are too cheap to buy a good book then this is a decent guide: http://ehutchison.homestead.com/omahasystem.html.

[laceratedsky]

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If you are too cheap to buy a good book then this is a decent guide: http://ehutchison.homestead.com/omahasystem.html.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hrmm that's certainly not the case, I just have NO idea which one would be a good purchase. I imagine Hi/Lo Split Poker For Advanced Players would be a bit above my head.

So, that being said, any suggestions on a good book?

laceratedsky

[Runner Runner]

Michael Cappeletti's book is good, but he's too loose on starting hands. For starting hands in a normal loosey goosey 0.50/1 game I would play:
any A2
A3 with suited ace
A34, A35, AA3, AA4, 234,
AA double suited
4 connected cards ten or above single or double suited.
KK with other potential (double suited, 23,34,etc..)

Raise preflop with A23 or A2 in late position after limpers.

[paland]

http://www.lowlimitomaha.com/starting_hands.htm

http://www.pokersyte.com/omaha_hilo.htm

[vulturesrow]

I just bought winning Omaha 8 Poker by Tenner and Krieger. It is a very solid starting out book for O8/b. I think it is a great starter book. Then move on to Ray Zee's book.

Chris

[MasterShakes]

The first portion of Zee's "Advanced Players" book would not be over any beginning player's head. It is where I started and it worked out well for me as far as my O8 play has gone. This book does a good job of emphasizing that at the lower limits, O8 is not a very dynamic game at all, but only requires tight, relatively smart play. If you don't want to spend too much on it, go to www.overstock.com (http://www.overstock.com) or buy it used elsewhere like on ebay or something. That first portion of that book is worth reading.

Secondly, if you want to get in-depth on O8 starting hands, the Bill Boston book, "Omaha High-Low - Play to Win With the Odds" is a good resource. He ran every hand against thousands of simulations to come up with the results he published. However, you should account for the fact that he ran these simulations against a tight group of players at the $10/$20 level. Party .50/1 is far from tight most of the time. Also in this book, he has some good essays on strategy beyond starting hands.

Annie Duke has some good O8 essays over the Ultimate Bet site that might still be there. Last I read them was months ago. She does a good job of emphasizing that you need to play well-coordinated hands in order to scoop the pot. Little profit comes from constantly playing for low alone.

www.winningonlinepoker.com (http://www.winningonlinepoker.com) is a site run by Crockpot and there are some good essays there on O8.

I can't account for any other Omaha books. If you're interested in Omaha high, check out Ciaffone's book on the game - I think it's called "The Action Game" or something like that.

[paland]

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www.winningonlinepoker.com is a site run by Crockpot and there are some good essays there on O8.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow, that site has some good essays on MTT's (Multi Table Tournaments). I consider myself good at tourneys and this covered what I know and then some. Thanks for the link.

[tiltboy]

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http://www.lowlimitomaha.com/starting_hands.htm

http://www.pokersyte.com/omaha_hilo.htm

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LOL, the second link says 222A(DS) is a playable starting hand.

[paland]

[ QUOTE ]
LOL, the second link says 222A(DS) is a playable starting hand.

[/ QUOTE ]
One thing I have found is the large discrepancy found in Omaha/8 starting hands between different sites. I have several other sites and there are several differences. In HE most all sites have the same starting hands.

[tiltboy]

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[ QUOTE ]
LOL, the second link says 222A(DS) is a playable starting hand.

[/ QUOTE ]
One thing I have found is the large discrepancy found in Omaha/8 starting hands between different sites. I have several other sites and there are several differences. In HE most all sites have the same starting hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

Picture in your mind A222(DS) - think of a real example. That is what I thought was funny.

[Land Shark]

/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[MKR]

[ QUOTE ]

www.winningonlinepoker.com (http://www.winningonlinepoker.com ) is a site run by Crockpot and there are some good essays there on O8.


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes Crockpot's site is very intelligent and very helpful. Thanks Crockpot.

MKR

[MilesDavis]

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Yes Crockpot's site is very intelligent and very helpful. Thanks Crockpot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree, great site. But white text on blue background makes it very hard to read.

[paland]

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Picture in your mind A222(DS) - think of a real example. That is what I thought was funny.

[/ QUOTE ]
I see what you mean.

[ChipWrecked]

www.playwinningpoker.com (http://www.playwinningpoker.com)

Steve Badger's site.

[donkeyradish]

The 'Hutchison' counting method referred to in an earlier reply is what I started with. It's simple, effective and not hard to memorize.

But by and large I'm hoping for A2xx (which is a never-fold preflop hand). A23x is my favourite thing to start with.

Playing A3 is a marginal decision, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

Don't much like high-only hands. I need them to be very well co-ordinated, eg. I don't like KKxx and KKQJ is only mediochre. I don't even get excited over AAxx, because most of the time someone will get a low.

So deciding on a starting hand is the simplest part of this game in my view.

[tiltboy]

"But by and large I'm hoping for A2xx (which is a never-fold preflop hand)."

I think this view is shortsighted. You would call a bet and raise from solid players while holding A297 rainbow? I muck that hand in a heartbeat if certain players raise in front of me because at best I know I'll be going for half the pot.

[donkeyradish]

Fair point but I never would fold A2 pre-flop. I'm playing on-line at low-limit tables against strangers.

Many people habitually raise with AAxx at these tables. sometimes even with any 2 pair!

[Buzz]

[ QUOTE ]
I never would fold A2 pre-flop.

[/ QUOTE ]

Donkeyradish - That's not unreasonable. But from your general tenor, I think you may be overestimating the value of A-2 as a two-card combination.

I think
A/images/graemlins/heart.gif A/images/graemlins/club.gif 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif T/images/graemlins/club.gif is a better starting hand than

A/images/graemlins/heart.gif 4/images/graemlins/club.gif 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif T/images/graemlins/club.gif, which is a better starting hand than

A/images/graemlins/heart.gif 3/images/graemlins/club.gif 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif T/images/graemlins/spade.gif, which is a better starting hand than

A/images/graemlins/heart.gif 2/images/graemlins/club.gif 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif T/images/graemlins/spade.gif

While A/images/graemlins/heart.gif 2/images/graemlins/club.gif 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif T/images/graemlins/spade.gif, the lowest rated hand listed here seems playable in your game (low limit, on line, against strangers), or indeed in any game, the other starting hands listed here are even better.

And there are a multitude of starting hands that are more playable than A/images/graemlins/heart.gif 2/images/graemlins/club.gif 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif, a combination of cards I'm not sure I'd generally want to play, even though it includes an acey-deucey.

Thus while most hands with an ace and a deuce are nice, there's a good deal more to starting hand selection than just waiting for acey-deucey hands.

Just my opinion.

Buzz

(Donkeyradish?? How interesting! How did you come up with _that moniker?)

[donkeyradish]

Yes, true

Actually I wrote little program in VB once, you punch in your 4 cards and it gives you the "Hutchison Value" of your starting hand. A2 unsuited is enough to give you the minimum score to call a bet with (20 pts) which is why I always play it. If you had say, a pair of eights with it and no suited combinations it would still only be the minimum. A 30 point hand is often worth a preflop raise (depends what position I'm in though). A4 needs a lot of help to make me play it. (Of course, when the table is shorthanded I play a lot of hands I wouldn't otherwise.)

I used to keep this little program running in the corner but I don't bother now, I usually just "know" if I'm going to play a hand or not.

My moniker comes from my first ever visit to a Japanese restaurant, someone said "try this green stuff, it tastes like horseradish". "More like donkeyradish", I said. For some reason people still remind me of this. I guess you had to be there /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[Buzz]

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"try this green stuff, it tastes like horseradish"

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Donkeyradish - I think sometimes the green stuff *is* horseradish (mostly). That's the milder variety of the stuff - and you can probably eat it straight if it's just horseradish (not that you'd want to). When I get sushi or sashimi at Gelson's market here in the Palisades, the green stuff is actually horseradish (mostly).

However sometimes in a classy Japanese restaurant or sushi bar the green stuff is genuine wasabi. (I think that's what it's called, but I'm not sure about the spelling). At any rate you probably don't want to try eating genuine wasabi straight. It's mean stuff.

Buzz