I was nauseous after this Omaha8 hand

[Xamzax]

What you have to understand about Om/8 is that when you factor in pot limit, the game becomes a huge crap shoot.

I've never and I NEVER will play in a pot limit om/8 game. The key to winning at poker is simply to play with worse opponents. But in this game, you are going to be making correct decisions and playing well and still lose. The fact that it's pot limit makes the money you lose when that happens very destructive.

The volatility of pot limit in a game engineered to encourage loose play is astounding. Just think, here is a game where you can go broke in one hand. Even the magnificent A2A3 double suited will take part of the money less than half the time -- and part of a winning strategy in OM/8 is to be able to muck on the flop.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is this - I cannot even fathom what my bankroll would turn into day to day playing this game on a regular basis. The fluctations would cause me to have an ulcer pretty darn fast.

Besides, I believe that I'd make more money on a consistant basis playing om/8 limit over ANY game of poker.

[BeerWench13]

I cannot even fathom what my bankroll would turn into day to day playing this game on a regular basis. The fluctations would cause me to have an ulcer pretty darn fast

I have another rotational game tonight. Something tells me I should take a few Alka-Seltzer with me. I would love to play FL, but I can't get these guys to go for it. There's really only one really good O8 player in the group. The rest are gamblers who love the big pots and hope they can suck out on you. I usually go out for a smoke when the omaha round starts so I can miss a hand or two. I'd prefer not to play it at all (well, PL anyway), but it's the only game in town with decent stakes at the moment so I can't get my live hold'em fix any other way.

[BeerWench13]

I played O8 again last night. I'm playing mostly the same group of guys, but the big gambler who is usually throwing $$ all over the place and gets everyone else to loosen up considerably is not present. I got a few hands that were questionable starting hands and a few where I thought I had great odds, but I'm not positive. Let me know what you think (I'll be brief, so if you need more info, let me know).

First, the starting hands:
I'm on the button and everyone limps to me. I have A K 7 2 Would it be proper to raise or just to limp? I have a decent high hand and outs for the nut low. I wasn't sure what to do here.

Another hand, I'm on the button again, and a LAG raises it from $2 to $8 from MP. I have A Q J 9 . Fold or see a flop?


Calculating my odds:
All limp but 2 and I'm BB and check it in.
I have A 3 3 4 . Firstly, should I have raised this preflop? Flop is A 2 T . Now, obviously I have no outs for my flush, but I do have a wheel and nut low draw and, though I'm really not that lucky, the backdoor straight flush draw. LAG in MP bets pot ($16). Both players before me fold. Should I see the turn?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Apparently, this rotation seems to have fallen into being the regular routine. I need to get better at this game or smoke a lot of cigarettes to miss the O8 rounds.

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

Hand 1: Your hand is good enough to raise, but I would just limp with it. The reason? Pot control. You're either going to hit that flop beautifully, miss completely, or end up with a big draw. How much do you want to pay to see that draw if a few players want to go to war on the flop? Although raising pre-flop is probably +EV somewhat in the long run, I doubt any of us really have the BR to go all-in every time we get A2 with a suited Ace. If the game is loose, and you hit your hand, you should be able to get most of your money in after the flop anyway, when you'll be sure you have the best hand. Why risk it blind when you could not have to really "risk" at all?

Hand 2: Lay it down. I'm not calling raises without a good chance to scoop, and you have no low and no pair.

Hand 3: I definitely do not raise out of the BB with your hand. On the flop, the move I would prefer to make is check-raising, because it gives you the optimal chance to scoop. If this guy is as LAG as you say, then we might even have the best hand right now. Even if we don't, we have a LOT of outs to improve our hand. I'd bet that any A, 3, or 5 will give us the best high, and any card 5-8 will give us the nut low. I'd pop him for the size of the pot right here and hope for the best on the turn, but I'm sure as hell not laying this down against a guy who seems so loose.

In any case, on hand 3, we likely have 2 aces, 2 threes, 4 fives, 4 sixes, 4 sevens, and 4 eights that will all give us at LEAST half of the pot, and any diamond on the turn gives us a re-draw to a flush as well. With 20 outs to some kind of hand, I'm going to raise this baby for value.

[BeerWench13]

Hand 1: Your hand is good enough to raise, but I would just limp with it.

Okay, that's what I did. A guy beside me told me I should've raised preflop with that hand. I had the same thought you did. The pot is big enough at this point to see if I hit the flop. If I whiff it, then I've only lost $2.

Hand 2: Lay it down. I'm not calling raises without a good chance to scoop, and you have no low and no pair.

Also what I did. I know I'm not supposed to be results-oriented, but I would've flopped broadway and caught a royal on the turn with two players paying me the whole way. I still think the fold was the best move though.

Hand 3: I definitely do not raise out of the BB with your hand. On the flop, the move I would prefer to make is check-raising, because it gives you the optimal chance to scoop. If this guy is as LAG as you say, then we might even have the best hand right now. Even if we don't, we have a LOT of outs to improve our hand. I'd bet that any A, 3, or 5 will give us the best high, and any card 5-8 will give us the nut low. I'd pop him for the size of the pot right here and hope for the best on the turn, but I'm sure as hell not laying this down against a guy who seems so loose.

Well, I didn't check/raise, I fired out a pot-sized bet on the flop. He called, and the turn and river didn't help for a high hand, but I caught the nut low. The only problem was I actually lost money on the hand because he had 34 also and caught trips. So I ended up splitting half the pot. I didn't think the odds were very good for him to have a 3 and a 4 also, but he did. Just bad luck there, I think.

Thanks for the help.