Rules of the Game
Limit Big O Eight or Better is simply Omaha Eight or Better (O8b) played with five cards. It is often played in a rotation with Super Stud Eight or Better or chosen in lieu of regular O8b in mixed games.
In games filled with loose players it is much better to play the five card variant as your opponents will often be taking the worst of it if they play essentially the same way that they would in regular O8b. However, if they are on the “nittier” side it is preferable to play the game with four cards if you feel that you have the edge on the field in Omaha.
Basic Strategy
As one may expect hand values run much stronger than the four card version, so they following adjustments must be made:
- Marginal low hands in O8b are usually unplayable in Big O8b. A dry ace deuce holding such as A♠ 2♥ 7♣ 9♥ J♦ should be folded facing a raise and can really only be played as blind steal or defending against your big blind against a button open. Even the latter case is not so great as your opponent will often have A2 themselves and when they don’t they will have many more possibilities on the high side.
- Calling post flop with a bare nut low draw with no counterfeit protection is much more dubious as it is more likely someone shares the same low draw but with other low cards that will take the low should an ace or deuce arrive on the turn or river.
- Folding a made low with no counterfeit protection is more mandatory in the five card game. For example if the flop is 5♥ 6♣ 7♥ and there is a bet, a call, and a raise a holding with A2 with nothing else should quickly hit the muck. This fold is correct in the four card game but even more so with five.
- Drawing to a flush on a paired board is a lot more dubious. With five cards someone is more likely to have a full house and when they don’t they have up to four kickers (12 outs) to hit one. Therefore it is quite a parlay to both hit your flush and hope they do not fill up. Certainly you can bet or even raise your draw to put pressure on a single opponent who may not have trips but in situations where it’s highly likely someone has trips your hand needs to hit the muck.
Further Learning
There are none either online or written that we know of so be on the lookout for more material in future on countingouts.com.