Mastering Omaha Hi-Lo Poker: A Casino Player’s Guide

Omaha Hi-Lo Poker

Although No Limit Texas Hold’em dominates as the classic poker variant because of its association with the World Series of Poker’s main event and popular culture popularity through movies like Rounders.

NL Texas Hold’em (as do most forms of poker) has just one way to win.

What if I told you there’s a game where the table has two opportunities to win with every hand?

And so, what exactly is Omaha Hi-Lo Poker?

Omaha hi-lo is a split-pot variant of Omaha poker. In this game players compete for the “high” and “low” halves of the pot of money on the table. It is equally important to know the rules of Omaha Poker before you play Omaha Hi/Lo.

Omaha Poker is quite similar to Texas Hold’em with one exception that the player is dealt with four cards rather than two. These are the ‘hole cards,’ which are owned only by that player. Five community cards are then dealt face-up on the board.

A round of betting occurs for every community card turned. This is where Omaha Poker is different from Texas Hold’em — the potential hands for each player exponentially escalate with each card turned over.

This means that to form a hand, each player must combine three of the community cards with two of their hole cards to create the strongest five-card hand.

A complete list of qualifying low hands would be too long and unwieldy to show here, but one thing that can help with low hand ranks is the following sample of possible winning low (listed in weakest at the top down to strongest)).

• 8, 7, 6, 5, 4

• 8, 7, 6, 5, 3

• 8, 6, 4, 2, A

• 8, 4, 3, 2, A

• 7, 6, 5, 4, 2

• 7, 6, 5, 2, A

• 7, 5, 4, 3, 2

• 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

• 6, 4, 3, 2, A

• 5, 4, 3, 2, A

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Omaha Hi-Lo Poker: Now, How to play Omaha Hi-Lo Poker?

Pre-Flop:

A player may play their hand by either calling or raising the big blind, provided they have seen their hole cards. The action begins to the left of the big blind. The action proceeds clockwise around the table until they have decided whether to call, raise or fold.

The Flop:

After the first round of betting, the flop is dealt face-up on the board. The flop consists of the first three community cards. The first player to act on the flop is the player immediately clockwise to the button.

The Turn:

The ‘turn’ is then dealt face up on the board, following the conclusion of post-flop betting. The turn is the fourth community card. Play resumes with the active player immediately clockwise from the button.

The River:

After the turn, it is time for the ‘river’ — the final card dealt face-up on the board. It is the fifth and final community card in Omaha poker. The first player to be dealt in from the button on the final round of betting is the one immediately clockwise from the button.

The Showdown:

All remaining players turn up their cards after the final betting round. If multiple players are still active, the last player to bet or raise must show their complete hand.

In the case of no bets in the last round, the player closest to the dealer must normally reveal their cards first.

After all of the cards are revealed, the player with the best five card hand is the winner.

If a pot contains two players with the same hand, the players with identical hands split the pot evenly between them (except in the case of Omaha Hi-Lo, where the player with the best high hand split the pot with the player with the best low hand).

Variations of the Game:

Omaha Hi: In this version of Omaha poker, the pot is won by the highest five-card hand.

Omaha Hi-Lo: Similar to Omaha Hi until the showdown, where it is then referred to as either Omaha Eight or Omaha 8/B. At the showdown, both the highest and lowest hands at the table are able to win.

At the showdown, the best high hand and best low hand share the pot, half to each. In order to qualify as a low hand, though, the player needs to have five unpaired cards ranked from 8 downwards.

The best scenario to happen is when the same player can have the highest AND lowest hand at once and thus win the entire pot.

Although the vast majority of dealers have no issues with pot limit games, they are significantly more complex and slower than no-limit games. Poker rooms hate anything that slows down the games; the fewer hands they run per hour, the less they make per table.