Omaha Hi/Lo is gaining more and more prestige and popularity. Surely, it still can’t set the record and bet everybody’s favorite game, the yet unrivaled
Texas Hold’em poker. Still give it time, Omaha Hi/Lo with its potential and growing popularity may soon become another attention winner of all times.
As the game progresses, each player is dealt 4 cards face down (called hole cards), and 5 community cards are placed in the middle of the board to be used by any of the players when they create their hands.
The aim of the game is to create the best possible 5-card high or low hand. It is important, however, that to do this you may use no more than 2 of your private cards and 3 of the community cards.
Omaha Hi/Lo uses the standard 52 card deck, just as in the usual poker game. Standard hand rankings also apply here. However, the game has a slightly different system of winning hands. Let’s say you will not get too far with a pair of something. Therefore, before you actually get seated at an Omaha Hi/Lo table, make sure you’ve at least read the article concerning starting hands in Omaha Hi/Lo.
Another peculiarity of Omaha Hi/Lo is that the pot splits between the best high hand and the best low hand. It is not always that a player qualifies for the best low hand. If no one does, the person with the best high hand gets the whole pot. Note that there is always a player to win the best high hand. As it all concerns money matters and you do not want to lose your money, it does make sense to try and qualify for the high and the low hands at the same time and ‘scoop’ the whole pot.
To make it a little bit clearer, you are only allowed to make one hand during the game. Therefore, you should try to create a hand that could qualify for both ends at the same time. For example if your hole cards are A, K, 2, 5, while the following cards lie on the board: 3, 4, K, 5, 8. In this case you have the nut low hand, which is A, 2, 3, 4, 5. You also have a straight here and, thus, have good chances for both hands.
The low hand may only consist of 5 cards no higher than 8, straights and flushes being ignored. Aces may be used in both, high and low hands. Thus, the nut low hand would be A, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the second best is A, 2, 3, 4, 6. If we take into account how a hand is created in Omaha Hi/Lo, to make the low hand, you need 3 cards on the board to be no higher than 8, which is not always the case. Therefore, a low hand in the game could only occur with the board being K, 6, Q, 8, 4, and not on the board with KK, Q, A, 2.
Just as Texas Hold’em poker, Omaha Hi/Lo may be low limit, pot limit and no limit. In the case with the limit variation, there is a fixed limit, and you cannot bet more than that. The pot limit variation allows you to bet no more than the size of the pot. When you play no limit Omaha Hi/Lo, however, you may bet as much as you like, or as much as you can afford, to be more precise.
