Poker Strategies

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha/8 or better) is often times viewed as one of the most complex but well-loved poker variations. It’s a game that, even more than normal Omaha poker, aims for play from every level of players. This is the primary reason why a once invisible game, has grown in popularity so amazingly.

Omaha hi-low starts exactly like a regular game of Omaha. Four cards are handed out to each player. A sequence of betting follows where players can wager, check, or drop out. Three cards are dealt out, this is known as the flop. A further sequence of wagering ensues. Once all the gamblers have either called or folded, an additional card is flipped on the turn. an additional round of wagering happens at which point the river card is flipped. The players must attempt to make the best high and low 5 card hands based on the board and hole cards.

This is where some entrants get flustered. Contrasted to Texas Hold ‘Em, in which the board can make up everyone’s hand, in Omaha hi-low the player has to use precisely three cards from the board, and exactly two cards from their hand. Not a single card more, not a single card less. Unlike normal Omaha, there are two ways a pot can be won: the "high hand" or the "low hand."

A high hand is just what it sounds like. It’s the best possible hand out of everyone’s, it doesn’t matter if it is a straight, flush, full house. It is the same concept in nearly all poker games.

A lower hand is more complex, but certainly free’s up the play. When determining a low hand, straights and flushes don’t count. the lowest hand is the worst hand that can be made, with the lowest value being A-2-3-4-5. Because straights and flushes do not count, A-2-3-4-5 is the smallest value hand possible. The low hand is any 5 card hand (unpaired) with an eight and below. The lower hand takes half of the pot, as does the higher hand. When there is no lower hand presented, the high hand wins the entire pot.

While it seems complicated at the start, following a couple of hands you will be agile enough to get the basic subtleties of play with ease. Since you have people betting for the low and betting for the high, and seeing as such a large number of cards are being used at once, Omaha 8 or better provides an overwhelming range of betting options and because you have numerous individuals battling for the high, along with a few shooting for the low hand. If you enjoy a game with a lot of outs and actions, it is not a waste of your time to participate in Omaha 8 or better.