Omaha Hi/Low: General Overview
Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha/8 or better) is commonly viewed as one of the most difficult but well-loved poker games. It’s a game that, even more than regular Omaha poker, invites action from all levels of players. This is the chief reason why a once irrelevant game, has grown in popularity so rapidly.
Omaha/8 begins just like a normal game of Omaha. Four cards are handed out to every player. A round of betting ensues where players can wager, check, or fold. Three cards are dealt out, this is called the flop. Another round of betting ensues. After all the gamblers have in turn called or dropped out, another card is flipped on the turn. an additional sequence of wagering happens at which point the river card is revealed. The players will have to put together the best high and low 5 card hands using the board and hole cards.
This is where some entrants can get flustered. Unlike Texas Holdem, in which the board can make up everyone’s hand, in Omaha Hi-Lo the player has to use precisely 3 cards from the board, and exactly two hole cards. Not a single card more, no less. Unlike normal Omaha, there are 2 ways a pot might be won: the "high hand" or the "low hand."
A high hand is just how it sounds. It’s the strongest possible hand out of everyone’s, whether that is a straight, flush, full house. It is the same notion in nearly every poker game.
A lower hand is more difficult, but certainly opens up the play. When deciding on a low hand, straights and flushes do not count. A low hand is the worst hand that could be put together, with the lowest being A-2-3-4-5. Seeing as straights and flushes do not count, A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest possible hand. The lower hand is any five card hand (unpaired) with an eight and smaller. The low hand wins half of the pot, as just like the high hand. When there is no low hand available, the high hand takes the whole pot.
While it seems complex at the start, after a few hands you will be agile enough to get the fundamental nuances of play easily enough. Since you have players wagering for the low and betting for the high, and seeing as so many cards are in play, Omaha/8 offers an overwhelming assortment of betting possibilities and owing to the fact that you have several players battling for the high, as well as many shooting for the low hand. If you enjoy a game with all kinds of outs and actions, it is not a waste of your time to play Omaha/8.