THE Omaha H/L Starting Hand?

[KuQuAT]

[ QUOTE ]
Now which hand loses more money 8899ds or 2222?

[/ QUOTE ]

I started this mess, thinking it would get somewhat interesting. My comment was merely meant to state that trap hands are worse in O8 than in HE. I still believe that.

Anyhow, I'll take a stab at clarifying for BradleyT.

You're in the big blind. You hold 2222. The flop comes - any flop. Someone bets. You fold. Hand over. Your loss -- nothing (except the forced blind bet, which is a given).

You're in the big blind. You hold 8899d. The flop comes. Someone bets. Now you no longer necessarily have an auto-fold. Instead, you may well have a trap hand. For example, the flop could be 876r. Do you like that? Do you call? I'd guess that you shouldn't (in general - certainly it depends on game texture), but I'd also guess that many would. I mean, gee, you have top set, (crummy) OESD, and maybe a backdoor flush draw. But if you win, you may only win half. And you may have to pay a fair amount to see that win (which may not hold up). That was the point. 8899 can lose you many more bets on the following rounds than 2222. So can KQ42. But when they win, they seldom win much.

Also aggravating is that if you fold, you may well be shown that your hand "would have won", had you stayed in. It's very hard to know. With 2222, you know. With 8899, you don't.

It's somewhat like T5 in Hold 'Em - the holding where you can actually make every possible hand (using at least one of your cards - obviously the board in HE can make any hand on its own). Ultra-trap for new players, because the flop is almost guaranteed to catch part of it and could develop a modest, but non-nut hand.

[BradleyT]

Ok so only continue to play 8899 when you flop quads.

Which hand is more profitable?

[Kasumeat]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok so only continue to play 8899 when you flop quads.

Which hand is more profitable?

[/ QUOTE ]

Comment of the year. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]