Omaha HL, worth it to draw to low?

Hey guys,
I'm new to omaha hi/lo

Is it worth it to draw to low if you are certain you don't have the hi? I mean, if you get scooped, you'll get only 1/4 of pot.

What about if you for sure have the low, should you always bet/call on the river?

Thanks,
-Dave

Im not too much of an omaha player, but if you are heads up and know u only have the low, betting seems like a really bad choice unless you think there is fold equity. check/calling or just calling would depend on a lot of factors such as the size of the bet in relation to the pot and your read on your opp. hope that helps.

Also, if you have a hand that is more or less a lo hand, and the flop shows only one low card, will you continue? I don't think I would but is this incorrect?

I've been mostly only going for lo if I have the nut low, and playing my hi hand more. It seems like some people play the low hand like it's gold even though the best you'll get is half the pot.
-Dave

that's one of the most important part of the game to master. Here's some things to think about, assuming it's a pot limit game.

one low on the board with a low hand

you have A234, and the board is 55J. check and fold the shit
you have A23K with a suited ace, and the board is K94 with 2 of your suit. Now u have a hand. The backdoor low draw just adds some equity to make your hand playable.

what's your low?

if u have some crap like A29Q all offsuit on a 56J board then fold it. But if you have 24 on an A3T, your hand is more playable. Less chance of getting quartered

what's the pot?

if it's reraised preflop by what seems like an AA and there's 4 callers, and you've got a 234K and it comes A8J then the guy who reraised in SB pots it and there's one caller and it folds to u on the button, then you'd be more inclined to call. Than if it was limped pot 5 way, then SB bets, UTG calls and MP1 raises pot to u on the button, and you have no idea what SB or UTG is going to do, then fold it

do u have counterfeit protection?

an A23 low draw is MUCH better than an A2 low draw. if you always called a small bet with a draw with counterfeit protection, you won't ever be making a huge mistake. a small mistake maybe. remember you have 6 more outs if u have counterfeit protection. you an also go apeshit on a multi-way pot on the turn.

any high potential AT ALL!?

remember you don't need a lot of high strength if you have a good low draw. if you have a pair, or a flush draw, or even a gutshot straight draw or a backdoor flush draw it all counts. in my A29Q hand u really have nothing. but if you have A238 and the flop is 24T that's generally a fine hand. An 8 makes a 2 pair to go with your nut low. u also have a pair (u'd be amazed how often that's enough to get 3 quarters). and a 5 makes a wheel straight.

that's some pointers to get you started. good luck

So in a multiway pot, say 4 or 5 people, if you have the nut low and someone else also has the nut low (but just that one other person), you'll still make a bit of money if you get quatered and everybody calls to the end correct?

I see that you'll saying that if you have the nut low and then some nice draws, it makes sense to stay in because you'll likely win the low as well as possibly win the high if your draw hits.

This game is very interesting! I played for two hours last night on the .25/.50 limit tables on FTP and more or less broke even but had a lot of fun and found it very educational.

Would you say that there is a good amount of money to be made playing omaha h/l?

Originally Posted by swoop_ds

Would you say that there is a good amount of money to be made playing omaha h/l?

IMO (and this is mere opinion) in terms of skill and complexity, PLO8 is the richest of all the popular games now. Matched by Stud8. followed by PLOmaha. Then NL/PL draw (either triple low or conventional high). Followed by NL holdem close after that. Then limit PLO8. A significant drop down to Stud high. Very low on the list would be limit holdem, limit omaha high, and razz. Bottom of the barrel is 5 card stud. But all games are profitable if you play them well.

However, if I had to pick one game to master, it would be PLO high because that's a more popular game, played in more places for higher stakes (especially in europe) and the players are worse.

Originally Posted by salsa4ever

Then limit PLO8.

So, LO8?

Interesting list anyway.

When you say PLO8 I assume you mean pot limit omaha hi/lo 8 ??

Sorry I just get confused by acronyms around here sometimes.

Thanks for all the help so far.

Originally Posted by salsa4ever

IMO (and this is mere opinion) in terms of skill and complexity, PLO8 is the richest of all the popular games now. Matched by Stud8. followed by PLOmaha. Then NL/PL draw (either triple low or conventional high). Followed by NL holdem close after that. Then limit PLO8. A significant drop down to Stud high. Very low on the list would be limit holdem, limit omaha high, and razz. Bottom of the barrel is 5 card stud. But all games are profitable if you play them well.

How much experience do you have playing Stud High? The analysis that goes into making decisions in this game is probably more subtle and complex than you appreciate.

Of the Stud players I play against regularly on Pokerstars, I have a sense of the relative skill level of each, which is a decent intuitive proxy for the amount of skill required to play the game (as opposed to other games where the "good" players play roughly the same way).

The extra betting rounds tend to bloat stud pots and the face down river card makes it very difficult to crush somone on the river.

http://www.geocities.com/mississippi_seven/

Originally Posted by swoop_ds

When you say PLO8 I assume you mean pot limit omaha hi/lo 8 ??

Yes

as long as the betting is low its always good to play the low. if u do decide to bet on a low make sure its small bets just enough 2 accumulate a good pot. but beware if someone just starts donk betting pot size u can also run into having 2 split the low. so as long as it stays small ur good. usually i pick starting hands where im playing both ways the high & the low.

Very hard to answer such a generic question since there are tons of variables that go into consideration, post some hands.

Salsa has made some good points, some random things to consider (some of them already mentioned in this thread)

I will refer to a case of after the flop with 2 low cards on the board

1. How good is your hand, usually drawing to non nut low is a mistake
2. Do you have good counterfeight protection in case you make your hand on the turn
3. Do you have anything at all going for high, even if it is just mid pair or backdoor draw
4. How many people are in the hand and what is their reasonable hand range
5. Your position, are you closing the action or is it likely you will be raised/jammed
6. Your chance to pick up the pot by bluffing.

Unless you have a good understanding of those factors chasing lows can cost you a lot of money, since you have to be very selective on those spots.


Post hands, you will get a much better grasp of the situation when some of the veterans here will analyze it