[Buzz]

[ QUOTE ]
I guess my problem is that I feel I play those hands too much, like almostevery time I get them.

[/ QUOTE ]hezster - There is a big variation in 40 point hands. I'm not sure why some authors seem to lump them together.

For example, KKQQ-double-suited is quite a nice starting hand while KQJT-rainbow is a hand I don’t like it much. It’s mostly a high straight hand and straights get beaten a lot by flushes and boats at full, loose Omaha-8 tables.

KQJT-rainbow is nice when the flop has two or more cards the same rank or ranks as the cards in the hand. In that case, at the very least it has a straight draw plus two pairs. Lots of outs, especially if the flop is a rainbow too. But that doesn't happen much. (220/17296 for three cards of those same ranks and 2376/17296 for two cards of those same ranks for a grand total of about 15%). You can also play flops having one card of those ranks plus an ace and/or plus a nine, expanding the range of playable flops by more than double to about one third, but those are skimpier fits.

KQJT is better with a suited king, and more improved when double suited. You can make a very strong case for folding most ace-less high only rainbow hands in a tight game.

Still, I want to see the flop with KQJT-rainbow for a single bet, even though I don't like the hand much. I don't know what the solution is. I at least try to see the flop as cheaply as possible with most of these high-only hands.

But the result is often unpleasant. When you do make your high straight draw, you can expect to be quartered almost one third of the time in a full, loose game, and with one or two low cards on the flop, you’ll often have to split with low. Thus these 40 point hands are simply not the big scoopers they're cracked up to be.

Buzz