OK Sooner or Later Tips

PLAYING TIPS for OK SOONER or LATER POKER

HOW TO PLAY OKLAHOMA SOONER OR LATER
(aka Hot & Cold Oklahoma)
Played like Oklahoma with this twist: Deal 4 cards down to each player. Before any betting each player must discard one hole card face down in the middle of the table. These cards are shuffled or mixed together. The 3 flop cards are drawn from these discarded cards. The turn and river cards are dealt from the remaining deck. Players must use exactly 2 hole cards and 3 cards from the board to make their hand.
May be played high, high-low split or high-low eight or better.

SUMMARY of ACTION
Deal 4 hole cards to each player.
Each player selects 1 card from their hand and discards it face down.
Gather and mix/shuffle all discarded cards.
Bet
Deal 3 cards from discards as flop.
Bet
Deal 1 card from deck as turn.
Bet
Deal 1 card from deck as river.
Bet
High only: Showdown
High-low split: Declare
Bet
Showdown

OK Sooner or Later Poker is a hybrid game combining features of Oklahoma and Hot Okie. The flop consists of cards that have been seen and selected by the players. As a result, they are not random and there is some degree of predictability in what cards might appear in the flop. However, since the turn and river cards are dealt from the remaining unseen deck, they are random and not predictable. Combining these features results in an interesting game where even the best pre-flop and post-flop decisions can be negated once the remaining cards are revealed.

PLAYING TIPS FOR OK SOONER or LATER
The main consideration and decision in OK Sooner or Later involve trying to strike a balance between competing factors:
1. The card you discard pre-flop should be of some value to your hand if it re-appears in the flop.
2. The card you discard pre-flop should be of minimal value to your opponents if it re-appears in the flop.
3. The 3 cards you keep should be the ones your opponents are most likely to discard to the flop cards.

STARTING HAND SELECTION
Starting hands like trips, 3-suited, 3-connected cards are the most desirable OK Sooner or Later starting hands. That is because those hands will be improved should the discarded card reappear on the flop.

Trips as hole cards improve your chances of making a set on the flop, by discarding one of those cards and hope it reappears in the flop. But when that does not occur (which is more often than not) that advantage vanishes since one desired card is completely removed from further play. Your chances of making a set on the turn or river are cut in half. Even if you hit, be cautious, as low sets or low full houses can be vulnerable and could cost you a lot of money before you find out if they are a winner or merely second best.

Three hole cards of the same suit improve your chances of making a flush. Your play would be to discard the lowest ranked of those cards and hope it reappears on the board. But, the value, or lack of value, of flush draws greatly depends on the ranks. With an ace as high card it's great. Suited to a king is OK. Anything less could be problematic. Drawing to something like a ten-high flush with T♥ 6♥ 2♥ would be a poor starting hand decision.

As you can see, for most hands the strategy for selecting a starting hand in OK Sooner or Later is essentially the same as is used in the Oklahoma versions of Omaha. Reasonable strategy is to favor starting hands that are paired, suited aces, other suited and/or connected cards or multiple Broadway cards. A pair, especially a low one, may be split to be kept with a suited ace. The best strategy is to play starting hands that can make 3 of a kind or better.

SOME HIGH HAND PROBABILITIES
Approximate chances of being dealt the following as your 4 hole cards.

4 Card Hand
3 of a Kind
1 Pair
3 Suited Cards

Probability/Odds
0.92% (107:1)
30.5% (2:1)
17% (5:1)

THE FLOP CARDS ARE DIFFERENT
In standard Oklahoma the flop, turn and river consist of random cards that come from the unseen deck. There is a equal chance that any card may appear. In contrast, the majority (3 out of 5 cards) of the board cards in OK Sooner or Later poker are not random. The flop consists of cards that have been seen and selected by the players, so it is more likely to contain cards players have judged to be least valuable and less likely to contain cards that are judged to be more valuable. Predicting what those cards might be is a useful skill. But it only goes so far, since each board will contain both predictable and unpredictable cards.

PREDICTING OTHERS' PLAY
It is important to think about what the other players will do. What cards will they most likely keep? What cards will they most likely contribute to the flop cards? These two decisions are very important for they may influence what you will do.

Unless they have given it some prior thought the average player is likely to keep what they view as their 3 most favorable cards and discard what they think is the card that least coordinates with their other cards. They may not consider if the card they discard will be helpful to another player. That can lead to mistakes. Granted, it is not always easy to accomplish these goals. There are often contradictory pros and cons about what to keep and what to discard, but it is still the objective.

Playing high only is simple: Players are far more likely to keep their highest cards. The cards they are most likely to discard are low to middle ranked cards and any other card that is not well coordinated with their other three. Here is a summary of what other players are likely to do with each card. (Playing high-low split favors low card combinations and is covered later.)

Ace: As the highest card an ace will almost always be kept. May consider discarding only if not paired, not suited, not connected with other high cards (KQJT), they hold another pair. Should you choose to discard an ace it will almost certainly help another player if it reappears on the board.
A pocket pair of aces stands less of a chance of becoming trips than any other pocket pair. Other players are very unlikely to discard an ace, so it will hardly ever occur on the flop. In all likelihood, you will have only the turn and river to make it happen, so you have cut your chances of making a set of aces by over half. (2 chances rather than 5.)

Broadway cards (Ten through King): Will typically be kept if suited, connected (including gapped) or paired. The higher the rank, the more likely it will be kept.

Medium ranked cards (9 through 6): Will often be discarded unless suited to ace or another high card, is paired or suited-connected. The lower the rank, the more likely it will be discarded.

Low ranked cards (5 through 2): Will discard unless suited to ace or another high card or paired. The lower the rank, the more likely it will be discarded.

DETERMINING YOUR PLAY
Three of the cards that are discarded come back into play as the 3 flop cards. In an 8 handed game there is a 37.5% chance that the card a player discards will come into play. It is 43% for a 7 handed game. The first objective is that a player should try to discard a card that will help his hand if it re-appears on the flop. A second objective is to keep cards that the other players are most likely to discard, especially pairs or the higher ranks of those cards. Granted, that is not always easy to do and there are often contradictory pros and cons about what to keep and what to discard, but it is still the goal.

THE TURN or RIVER MAY BAIL YOU OUT (or NOT)
Of course, since the turn and river cards are dealt from the unseen deck those cards are entirely random. There is always the hope that either (or both) of those cards will help you even if the flop does not.

Since players are more likely to discard similar ranked cards expect to see the board pair more often. As a result, expect more frequent full houses and quads occurring and fewer straights or flushes being winners.

PLAYING OK SOONER OR LATER AS HIGH-LOW SPLIT
Playing High-Low Split will result in players adding the very lowest combinations like A2 and A3 to their starting hands. When suited these add a possible nut flush draw and so are very strong starting hands that have the potential of scooping the entire pot.

The perfect low starting hand is A23X (X = any card 4 to king). Pre-flop you would discard the odd (X) card, leaving you with A23. Now you have "insurance" in case an ace, deuce or trey appears on the board.

A2XX is the nuts from the start. You just have to hope it is not counterfeited by the board. Other players rarely discard aces, so A2 is not likely to be counterfeited on the flop unless someone throws away a deuce. There is no such protection with the turn and river cards. In an eight handed game if you are not dealt A2 there is a better than even chance someone else was.

With any low card holdings other than A2 you need two things to happen to end up with the nut low. You must catch the exact card you need, and you must also dodge being counterfeited by the board.

The second best low, A3XX, is only one board card from making the nut low. There is a chance that a deuce may be discarded so it's a starting hand worth playing. You also have a chance to catch a deuce on the turn or river. A3 might win by itself, though it can be very tough to play it when it does not improve. A3 is one of those classic hands that either wins a small pot or loses a big one. It also has about an equal chance of being counterfeited if someone dumps a 3 for the flop or an ace or 3 appears on the turn or river.

23XX is also only a single card away from making the nut low. It needs to see an ace on the board to do so, but that posses a problem: aces are rarely discarded, so 23 stands little chance to make the best low hand unless an ace appears from the deck on the turn or river. The same goes for any low hands that are 2 cards (one of which must be an ace) from the nut low, like 24 or 34. A4 suited is worth playing primarily for the nut flush possibility, although there is some slim additional hope it might make the nut low.

Playing high-low split tends to polarize the cards players are most likely to retain. That is, they tend to keep the highest and very lowest ranks of cards. As a result, the cards more likely to be discarded are middle (4 - 9) ranked cards.

LOW CARD PROBABILITIES
Approximate chances of being dealt these cards as your 4 hole cards.

4 Card Hand
A2XX
A3XX or 23XX

A23X
A24X or A34X or 234X

Probability/Odds
7.2% (13:1)
14.4% (6:1)

1.2% (82:1)
3.6% (27:1)

Approximate chances of an ace or deuce appearing on the board.
Ace: 17% This calculation assumes that an ace will never appear in the flop.
Deuce: 37% This calculation assumes that a deuce has an equal chance of appearing in the flop, turn or river.