This section will cover Omaha Hi/Lo, a popular Omaha variant. In reality, in the US, Omaha Hi/Lo is far more common than the straight Hi form seen in Section 3. (although the opposite is true in Europe).
The Hi/Lo game is played identically like the Hi game, with one key distinction. The best high hand wins half the pot. The other half of the pot goes to the best low hand, if it qualifies. If no one has a qualifying low hand, the best high hand wins the pot.
Omaha Hi/Lo split, Eight or better is the entire name. Because it's a mouthful, it's just called "Omaha Hi/Lo." But what does'split, Eight or better' mean? The'split' is just a 50/50 split between the high and low hand winners. But 'Eight or better' needs explanation.
The Eight or better only applies to the low hand. To be eligible for the low half of the pot, a player must have five unpaired cards ranked Eight or better. If you have an Ace and a Deuce and the board has a Four, a Six, and a Seven, you have made a qualifying Seven-low: 7-6-4-2-A. There is no criterion for high hands, so everything goes!
In the next section, we'll go over how the low hand works. To play Omaha Hi/Lo, you must first master Omaha Hi. Please read the Omaha section before attempting this one.
POKER STRATEGY
In loose Omaha Hi-Lo, five or more people see the flop. It's a fascinating game that's unlike any other. This game's popularity has grown due to the action it contains. To put it simply, in loose Omaha Hi-Lo, the expert player has a slight edge over the intermediate player. Loose Omaha Hi-Lo is a hand-value game with little bluffing or semi-bluffing.
Remember that these methods are for beating a loose Omaha Hi-Lo game. A tight/aggressive high-limit Omaha Hi-Lo game may not function. The article presupposes knowledge of the game's rules and structure. We recommend reading the books listed at the conclusion of this article if you don't know what it means to scoop the pot, get quartered, or counterfeited. This page contains only general tips on how to play. There are always exceptions to the rules in poker.
Winning Omaha Hi-Lo
Like Omaha Hi, O8 is a nut game. That is, if you don't have the nut hand, you will likely lose the pot. As a result, you should only play hands that have "nut" potential. Remember the scooping instruction. In O8, you want to win both high and low.
In actuality, scooping (winning both the high and low) is difficult and rare. In Omaha, you want to play for the high and redraw to the low. You get half the pot if you have the nut high. Holding only the nut low puts you in danger of getting quartered.
- Raise rarely before flop.
- Remember to scoop the pot.
- Be able to fold regularly on the flop.
- Play premium ante-ups.
- Pick your table wisely. Only play in loose games with 5+ players per flop.
- Hone your skill to calculate Omaha odds fast.
This is broad advice, but it will help you if you use it wisely. But rarely raising before the flop does not entail never raising before the flop. If you don't have a premium hand, raising before the flop does little more than boost the pot size.