[Buzz]

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All that Buzz says on this one makes sense from his standpoint.

[/ QUOTE ]1MoreFish4U - In my humble opinion, it should make sense from your viewpoint too.

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From all I have heard & read, live LO8 is much looser (more players seeing the flop, chasing, calling down - than online.

[/ QUOTE ]I beleive that is generally true.

I like Hero’s hand as a starting hand. It’s not close to what I would consider a premium hand (because it lacks low possibilities), but I almost surely would see the flop with it. But then Hero has to play the hand properly after the flop. And he did not.

Overplaying aces in Omaha-8 is a common mistake. (I see it a lot). And that is what I would say Hero did here.

Hero has two opponents who see this flop and then continue after the flop. Try this: Take Hero’s cards out of a deck and then temporarily take all five of the board cards out of the deck also. Turn all of these face down so that you’re not making comparisons. Now pull two more hands out of the deck that would pay to see this flop and then continue after this flop.

Under these conditions, it’s damned hard to pull two hands out of the deck such that they both don’t have an ace. Indeed, I can do it easier for my generally somewhat looser B&M games than you can for your tighter on-line games.

Maybe one opponent has A2XY and the other A34Y. (Or maybe they both have A2XY).

Let’s go back to the flop and simulate.
Hero has AcAdQsJd.
We'll give one opponent Ah2sXY,
and the other opponent As3c4cZ.

Hero gets crushed in this simulation, ending up dead last by far, suffering greatly for lack of a low, and getting out-scooped and usually beaten for high by the hand with the clubs.

Hero does well if both opponents have A2XY. And that is a possibility here. But they both have to have A2XY and no club draw or flopped set for Hero to do well. Not impossible, but not a high enough probability to play as though they both do have A2XY with no club draw and no flopped set.

I don’t play on-line - but I’m assuming Hero’s opponents are not total idiots.

Usually plays in Omaha-8 are semi-bluffs. But here, Hero pure bluffs the flop, perhaps thinking that nobody will play a club draw without the ace. (And that’s a possibility, but somebody can easily have some sort of low draw with a couple of clubs, be playing mainly for low, but hoping that the clubs will work out - or somebody could easily have a hand with a low draw plus a pair that could make a set, perhaps a set of queens on the turn).

O.K., so Hero takes a stab at the pot after the flop. Hard to criticize that. But then these guys both hang in there. Again, I’m assuming they’re not total idiots. In fact, I think they’re probably better, tighter players than I generally encounter.

But they both call the flop bet. At this point, if you didn’t think they both had an ace before the flop, it’s very, very difficult to put them on cards without an ace such that they would have paid to see the flop and then pay to continue beyond the flop.

Thus Hero’s aces are almost surely gone! I don’t play on-line, but I’d bet that Hero’s aces were gone! In that case, Hero has to hope the board pairs and nobody makes trips or better. Ugh.

You think Hero should bet this because he's on-line and more aggressive play is called for? Yikes! What he's doing is either over-playing aces or bluffing, pure and simple! (Which of the two it is depends on what Hero thinks the pair of aces is worth).

If I bet them, since I feel they're probably not worth much here, it would be a pure bluff. There’s room in all poker games, including Omaha-8, for bluffing. But this is simply not the place for it!

That's my opinion.

Buzz