Omaha/8 variant - what would you do here?
 

I watched the player next to me agonise over this decision in a pot limit Dealer's Choice game the other night. What would you do?

The game is 'Scottish'. It is a variant of Omaha High/Low. You get dealt 5 cards and on the flop you need to throw 2 of them away before the turn card is dealt. So basically it is 3 card Omaha High/Low after that.

The flop comes 6 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Both players got all their money in on the flop - the pot ended up being a few hundred pounds. I can't remember exactly how the betting went, but both players obviosuly liked their hands.

Before the dealer dealt the turn card, both players had to choose which 2 cards to throw away. The first player chose quickly which cards to discard. But the second player went into the tank and started to really ponder. I glanced at his hand as he was deciding, and understood his dilemma. This was his hand:

J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

What 3 cards would you choose to keep?

Re: Omaha/8 variant - what would you do here?
 

That game sounds like a 5 card version of Crazy Pineapple eight-or-better.

For the situation you described, JJx makes a full-house approximately 33% of the time by the river and A2x makes the nut flush about 35% of the time by the river, plus an additional 16% that will enable a low. Of course, the board may pair in the process of making the flush a certain percent of the time also, which isn't factored into that 35%.

I think the fact that the opponent is so willing to shove his chips into the pot leads me to believe he has either a huge wrap-around straight/flush draw (789xx) or a smaller set (TTx or 66x). Clearly if he has a smaller set, we want to keep JJx. Otherwise, if he has the wrap/flush draw, it doesn't matter as both the full-house/flush draws are better. Since the chances of making a full-house and the nut flush by the river are about equal, I would keep JJx.

Re: Omaha/8 variant - what would you do here?
 

My gut instinct would be to keep specifically JJK (since the K makes 2 more straights). I suspect this hand will be a nice favorite over almost anything except Q98 with 2 clubs where it will run very close. If you knew he had Q98 with 2 clubs, I think Ac 2c Ks will have a tiny equity advantage, but you would be a pretty big dog to just TT9 where you beat the heck out of this with JJK.