Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha/8 or better) is frequently viewed as one of the most difficult but favored poker variations. It’s a variation that, even more than normal Omaha poker, invites action from every level of players. This is the chief reason why a once irrelevant game, has grown in popularity so rapidly.
Omaha/8 starts exactly like a regular game of Omaha. Four cards are given out to each player. A round of betting follows in which gamblers can wager, check, or drop out. 3 cards are given out, this is referred to as the flop. A further round of wagering happens. Once all the players have in turn called or dropped out, another card is revealed on the turn. Another sequence of wagering ensues and then the river card is revealed. The players must attempt to put together the best high and low 5 card hands using the board and hole cards.
This is where some players get confused. Unlike Texas Holdem, in which the board can make up everyone’s hand, in Omaha hi/low the player must utilize precisely 3 cards from the board, and precisely two cards from their hand. Not a single card more, no less. Unlike regular Omaha, there are 2 ways a pot might be won: the "high hand" or the "lower hand."
A high hand is just what it sounds like. It is the strongest possible hand out of everyone’s, whether that is a straight, flush, full house, etc. It is the identical notion in nearly every poker game.
The lower hand is more complicated, but really opens up the action. When figuring out a low hand, straights and flushes don’t count. A low hand is the worst hand that might be made, with the lowest being made up of A-2-3-4-5. Because straights and flushes don’t count, A-2-3-4-5 is the worst possible hand. The lower hand is any 5 card hand (unpaired) with an eight and lower. The low hand takes half of the pot, as does the higher hand. When there’s no low hand available, the higher hand takes the entire pot.
While it seems complicated at first, following a couple of hands you will be agile enough to pick up on the basic nuances of the game easily enough. Since you have individuals wagering for the low and wagering for the high, and since so many cards are in play, Omaha hi-low offers an overwhelming array of wagering choices and seeing that you have numerous players battling for the high hand, along with many battling for the low hand. If you like a game with all kinds of outs and actions, it is not a waste of your time to participate in Omaha High-Low.
