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Starting Hand

How to Play A8o — Ace-Eight offsuit Preflop Strategy

GTO opens A8o first-in from 3 of the 5 positions in 6-max cash — from the CO onward. Earlier than that, it folds. Below is the exact strategy by position and stack depth.

6-Max Cash Opening (100bb)

How often GTO opens A8o first-in from each seat.

LJ
0%
HJ
0%
CO
73%
Button
100%
Small Blind
100%

Short-Stack Jam Frequency

How often A8o is a first-in shove at short stacks (tournament).

Stack UTG MP LJ HJ CO BTN SB
5bb 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
8bb 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Generated from the Crafty Penguin GTO solver · 6-max cash (NL500) & MTT Chip-EV · updated Jul 28, 2026

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Playing A8o preflop

A strong hand — open from most positions; the CO is the earliest seat it opens. As stacks get short it only gets stronger — at 5bb A8o is a jam from essentially every seat.

Position matters: from under-the-gun (LoJack) A8o opens 0% of the time, rising to 100% on the Button as fewer players are left to act behind you. The later you are, the wider you can open.

The common mistake with A8o is opening it from early position where the solver folds it. Respect the position threshold — it's an open from the CO onward, not before.

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