Omaha Hi Low: Basic Overview
Posted in Omaha on 02/03/2020 08:25 pm by Fernanda
Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha 8 or better) is often times seen as one of the most difficult but popular poker games. It is a game that, even more than regular Omaha poker, aims for play from all levels of players. This is the primary reason why a once irrelevant game, has increased in acceptance so rapidly.
Omaha/8 begins exactly like a normal game of Omaha. Four cards are given out to every player. A sequence of wagering ensues in which gamblers can wager, check, or fold. Three cards are handed out, this is referred to as the flop. Another round of wagering ensues. After all the gamblers have in turn called or folded, another card is flipped on the turn. Another sequence of wagering follows at which point the river card is revealed. The players must attempt to make the strongest high and low five card hands using the board and hole cards.
This is the point where a few entrants often get flustered. Unlike Texas Hold ‘Em, in which the board can make up every player’s hand, in Omaha hi lo the player must use exactly 3 cards on the board, and exactly 2 cards from their hand. Not a single card more, no less. Unlike normal Omaha, there are 2 ways a pot can be won: the "higher hand" or the "low hand."
A high hand is just what it sounds like. It’s the strongest possible hand out of everyone’s, it doesn’t matter if it is a straight, flush, full house, etc. It’s the identical concept in nearly every poker game.
A low hand is more difficult, but certainly opens up the action. When deciding on a low hand, straights and flushes don’t count. A low hand is the weakest hand that could be made, with the lowest value being made up of A-2-3-4-5. Considering that straights and flushes do not count, A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest possible hand. The lower hand is any 5 card hand (unpaired) with an eight and smaller. The low hand wins half of the pot, as just like the high hand. When there’s no low hand available, the higher hand takes the whole pot.
Although it seems complicated at the outset, following a few hands you will be able to get the fundamental subtleties of the game easily enough. Seeing as you have individuals 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 exciting range of betting choices and owing to the fact that you have several players battling for the high hand, and several trying for the low hand. If you like a game with all kinds of outs and actions, it’s worth your time to compete in Omaha/8.