Omaha Hi Lo Poker
- Free Omaha Hi Lo Poker
- How To Play Omaha Hi Lo Poker
- Omaha Hi Lo Poker Games
- How To Play Omaha Hi-lo Poker
- How To Play Hi Low Poker
- A version of the standard Omaha Poker game
- Sometimes called “Omaha Hi Low Eight or better”
- Most commonly played in Pot Limit format
- Winner’s Pot is split into two with one half being awarded to the highest 5 card hand and the other to the lowest 5 card hand.
Omaha Hi Lo 8 or better is a popular poker game with many poker enthusiasts.
It’s a variation from normal Omaha Poker with the difference being that two players can win on the same hand.
This is because the total pot in an Omaha Hi Low high is divided into two.
The first pot is awarded to the player with the highest ranking poker hand and the second pot is won by the player holding the lowest ranking poker hand.
This added complexity means that there is a completely different level of strategy required to play Omaha Hi Lo well with constant consideration of not only what two hands (hi and lo) you are holding but also what two hands your opponents may be holding – suddenly you have doubled the amount of thinking power needed!
So while learning the rules of Omaha Hi/Lo can take some getting used to, it is an entertaining poker variant that many players have learned to enjoy. Learn How to Play Omaha Hi/Lo for Free. If you are unfamiliar with Omaha Hi/Lo, we recommend you try that poker. The Six Stages of a Omaha Hi Lo Poker Hand. A Omaha Hi Lo poker hand is played in a identical way to a standard Omaha hand. For a more detailed explanation of the stages then read our How to Play Omaha Poker. Hi: difference in variance? Which usually have lower variance (meaning. October 27th, 2019, 10:26 AM; Anyone play omaha in Titan Poker? Hellos mates, I want to start playing omaha. Stud Hi-Lo / Eight or Better Rules Stud 8 is almost always played as a fixed limit betting game. The small bet size is used during the first two rounds of betting (third and fourth street), and the big bet size is used on fifth street and beyond. Each player antes a fraction of the small bet.
So… How do you play Omaha Hi Lo Poker?
Omaha Hi Lo 8 or better is played in the same format and betting structure as Omaha. Each Player receives four hole cards face down. The dealer will then deal out a total of five community cards face up through out the hand onto the table.
Each player must use 2 of their 4 hole cards and 3 of the 5 community cards to make both their high and low hand. They can use different cards for the high and low hands as long as it consists of 2 hole cards + 3 community cards.
How is the Pot split in Omaha Hi Lo?
The pot in each hand is split into two:
- One pot is won by the player with the highest ranking poker hand.
- The second pot is won by the player with the lowest qualifying hand from the low poker hands rankings (the worst hand).
If no player holds a qualifying low hand then the whole pot will go to the player with the highest ranking high hand.
High Ranking Poker Hands
High ranking poker hands are the normal standard hands from the poker hand rankings that are used in most poker variations and in the standard version of Omaha. The highest being a Royal Flush and lowest being just a high card.
Low Ranking Poker Hands
A low hand must contain five different cards that are all numbered eight or lower for it to qualify.
Straights and Flushes are ignored but Pairs or Three of a Kind are no good and cannot be counted. For more detailed information see our guide to low poker hand rankings.
The best low hand you can get is 5-4-3-2-A and the worst qualifying low hand is 8-7-6-5-4. The hand is always counted down from the highest card so if some one had 8-7 low against some one with 8-6 low, it does not matter how the other three cards run the 8-6 low will win.
For a low hand to qualify all the cards in a players five card hand (made up of three community cards and two cards from the players hole cards) must be numbered 8 or lower. If even one card is numbered 9 or higher a low hand is not possible.
Object Of The Game
To win a player must use two hole cards and three community cards to make their best possible high and low five card hands.
As long as there is a qualifying low hand a player can win both the high pot and low pot. So this player will use any two hole cards and three community cards for his high hand and then also use the same or different two hole cards and three community cards for his low hand.
Lets look at an example…
If your hole cards are
The five community cards are
High Hand – for your best high hand you would use A-K from your hole cards and 3-4-Q from the community cards to make your flush as follows:
Low Hand – for your low hand you would use A-2 from your hole cards and 3-4-8 from the community cards for your best qualifying low hand as follows:
This would be described as an 8-4 low.
As always in poker a hand can also be won by a player making a bet that the other players do not match. This can happen at any time during any of the betting rounds. If this happens the player who has forced everyone to fold will win all chips in the pot at that time (including both the hi and lo pots).
The Six Stages of a Omaha Hi Lo Poker Hand
A Omaha Hi Lo poker hand is played in a identical way to a standard Omaha hand.
Free Omaha Hi Lo Poker
For a more detailed explanation of the stages then read our How to Play Omaha Poker guide or see below for a summarised version.
Stage 1 – The Dealer Button and “Blind” Bets
The dealer button is a marker that goes around the table in a clock wise rotation one position per hand. The dealer button marks out who will post the blinds and who will act first in each betting round through out the hand.
The blinds are chips put into the pot before any cards are dealt so there are always chips to win with every hand. The player sat directly to the left of the dealer button will put in the small blind and the player to his left will put the big blind into the pot. The big blind is usually double the amount of the small blind. As the dealer button works its way around the table everyone takes a turn in posting the blinds.
Stage 2 – “Hole” Cards
How To Play Omaha Hi Lo Poker
Once the blinds have been put into the pot each player will receive four hole cards face down.
A round of betting then takes place with the player sat to the left of the big blind being the first to act.
Each player has three options:
- Fold – the player’s cards are thrown away and he will take no further part until the next hand.
- Call – the player puts in an equal amount of chips to the big blind amount or the a higher amount if anyone has raised acting before him.
- Raise – the player bets a higher amount than the current bet. All players who want to remain in the hand must now match this amount or raise it again themselves.
The betting will continue around the table until everyone left in the hand has put the same amount of chips into the pot.
Stage 3 – The “Flop”
After the first round of betting has finished the dealer will lay out three community cards face up onto the table, these three cards are called the Flop.
The next round of betting starts after this and from this point onwards all rounds of betting will start with the player first to the left of the dealer button.
This time the first player to act can either Check (make no bet), or Bet and everyone has those options unless some one bets. If anyone does bet then the options open to each remaining player changes to either Fold, Call, or Raise.
The betting will continue around the table until all players have put in an equal amount of chips, if all players decide to check then nobody has to put chips into the pot to continue and the next stage of the hand comes about.
Stage 4 – The “Turn”
The fourth community card is dealt face up onto the table, this card is called the Turn card.
Another round of betting will start until all players have either checked or have put in equal amount of chips into the pot.
Stage 5 – The “River”
The River card is the fifth and last community card to be dealt face up onto the table. At this point players will know what high hand they have and also if they have a qualifying low hand.
Based on this information a last round of betting will start. If all players check or have put equal amount of chips into the pot we move onto the showdown.
Stage 6 – The “Showdown”
The showdown is where all remaining players left in the hand reveal all four hole cards to determine who the winner is. The pot is then split into two, one for the high hand pot and one for the low hand pot. If there is no qualifying low hand the player with the best high hand will win both pots.
Summary
Omaha Hi Low can be a very complicated game to master for any novice as there are so many hand combinations. It is recommended that anyone who has not played this game before, practice on play money or low stakes tables for a few hands first as a simple mistake made can be very costly.
The next stage for you is to head over to our Play Poker section where you can choose a trusted and recommended online poker site that offers Omaha Hi Lo games to get started playing.
Practise is the best way to learn, so get yourself sat down at a low value stakes Omaha Hi Lo table and just follow the information outline above. Take it slow and don’t risk too much money until you are comfortable with the rules and structure of the game.
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Table Of Contents
What is Omaha Hi-Lo Split-8-or-Better Poker?
If you know how to play pot-limit Omaha (or 'Omaha high'), you are well on your way to learning how to play Omaha hi-lo.
As the name suggests, Omaha hi-lo is a 'split-pot' version of Omaha poker in which players compete for both the 'high' and 'low' halves of the pot. Omaha hi-lo is usually played with fixed-limit betting and often turns up in 'mixed game' formats like H.O.R.S.E. (in which Omaha hi-lo is the 'O') or the popular 8-game mix.
You will sometimes see the game referred to simply as 'Omaha 8' or even 'O/8' or more elaborately as 'Omaha hi-lo split-pot-8-or-better.' The name gets styled differently, too, as 'Omaha High-Low,' 'Omaha poker high-low' and so on.
Omaha Hi Lo Poker Games
Pot-limit and no-limit versions of Omaha hi-lo are also popular, especially online either as cash games or tournaments.
How to Play Omaha Hi-Lo Split-8-or-Better Poker
The basic rules for Omaha hi-lo are very similar to pot-limit Omaha. See 'How to Play Omaha Poker' for an overview of how to play Omaha poker, which is itself a variation on regular Texas hold'em.
How To Play Omaha Hi-lo Poker
Just like in pot-limit Omaha, players are dealt four cards in Omaha hi-lo and are required to use two of those four cards in combination with three community cards in order to make a five-card poker hand.
As in hold'em or pot-limit Omaha, if a player bets and everyone folds before the showdown, the player wins the pot without having to show a hand. However, if the final bet is called and there is a showdown, hands are examined to see who has the best 'high' hand and who has the best 'low' hand, with each winning one-half of the pot.
Omaha Hi-Lo Split-8-or-Better Rules
In Omaha hi-lo, the 'high' hand is determined exactly the same way as in hold'em or Omaha 'high' games (like PLO), following traditional hand rankings.
The 'low' hand requires a little more explanation, especially if you are new to split-pot games or hi-lo poker.
First of all, whatever cards you use to make your high hand, that makes no difference when making your low hand. You can use the same two cards, the other two cards, or any combination just as long as you use two cards from your four-card hand plus three of the community cards to build your five-card poker hand.
The rules of Omaha hi-lo is usually played with a 'qualifier' for the low hand, meaning all of the cards making up a low hand have to be ranked eight or lower. That's where the 'split-8-or-better' comes from, a phrase usually added to the name of the game.
How To Play Hi Low Poker
A qualifying low hand consists of five unpaired cards ranked eight or lower. For the low hand, the ace is considered a low card (the lowest), while it can also serve as the highest-ranking card in high hands.
Also worth noting — if your lowest five cards make a straight or a flush, that doesn't matter in Omaha hi-lo, you've still got a low hand (if all are ranked eight or lower). In other 'lowball' games like 2-7 no-limit triple draw, flushes and straights hurt you by making your low hand higher, but in Omaha hi-lo that is not the case.
That means a hand consisting of 5-4-3-2-A would be the lowest possible hand — that is to say, the best 'low hand' in Omaha hi-lo. This hand is sometimes called a 'wheel.' The next lowest possible hand is 6-4-3-2-A. The worst low hand that qualifies as a low in Omaha hi-lo would be 8-7-6-5-4.
A good way to figure out which low hand is best is to arrange the hand from highest card to lowest card and then to think of the hand as a five-digit number, with the lowest number being the best (or lowest) hand. Thus 5-4-3-2-A (54321) is better than 6-4-3-2-A (64321), and 6-4-3-2-A is better than 6-5-3-2-A (65321) and so on.
An Example of an Omaha Hi-Lo Split-8-or-Better Poker Hand
Let's say a hand of Omaha hi-lo goes to showdown with the final board reading 6♣3♠K♦Q♦.
You hold A♣K♠7♦4♣, and your opponent has Q♠J♦4♦2♠.
Your best possible high hand is two pair, aces and kings — using the A♣ and K♠ in your hand pairing them with the ace and king on board, with the queen being a kicker.
Your best possible low hand is 7-6-4-3-A — using the 7♦ and 4♣ in your hand along with the three low cards on the board. Note how you can't use the ace in your hand when making your low hand, since you have to use exactly two cards in your hand and three on the board (and there is an ace on the board).
Your opponent, meanwhile, has you beat both for the high and the low!
Your opponent's best possible high hand is a flush — using the two diamonds in his hand (J♦ and 4♦) and the three diamonds on the board.
Your opponent's best possible low hand is 6-4-3-2-A — using the 4♦ and the 2♠ in his hand along with the three low cards on the board. 64321 is lower than 76431, so your opponent has you beat.
Winning both halves of the pot like this is called a 'scoop' or 'scooping,' which is something you always want to try to do when playing split-pot or hi-lo poker games.
Sometimes in Omaha hi-lo there is no qualifying low hand. This is the case whenever there are less than three unpaired cards ranked eight or lower on the board.
For example, if the board is 9♣K♦A♥4♥J♠, there are only two cards ranked eight or lower on the board (the ace and four), which means it is impossible for anyone to make a low hand. When that happens, whoever has the best high hand scoops the whole pot.
Conclusion
Omaha hi-lo is not difficult to learn, especially if you already know how to play pot-limit Omaha. The strategy can be complicated, though, with a great deal of importance placed on understanding what are strong starting hands (e.g., hands containing an ace with at least one or two low cards, especially a deuce) and not making the mistake of battling for only half of the pot (just the high or low).
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