Omaha Hi Lo: Basic Summary
August 30th, 2019 at 13:25
Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha 8 or better) is commonly viewed as one of the most complicated but favored poker variations. It is a variation that, even more than regular Omaha poker, invites play from every level of players. This is the main reason why a once irrelevant variation, has increased in popularity so rapidly.
Omaha/8 begins like a regular game of Omaha. 4 cards are handed out to every player. A sequence of wagering follows where players can bet, check, or fold. Three cards are given out, this is known as the flop. One more round of wagering happens. Once all the gamblers have either called or dropped out, another card is flipped on the turn. a further sequence of wagering follows at which point the river card is revealed. The players will have to make the best high and low five card hands using the board and hole cards.
This is where many entrants often get confused. Unlike Hold’em, in which the board can make up every player’s hand, in Omaha Hi-Lo the player has to use precisely three cards from the board, and precisely 2 cards from their hand. Not a single card more, no less. Contrary to normal Omaha, there are two ways a pot might be won: the "higher hand" or the "low hand."
A high hand is just what it sounds like. It is the best possible hand out of every player’s, it doesn’t matter if it is a straight, flush, full house, etc. It is the very same notion in nearly all poker games.
The low hand is more complicated, but really free’s up the action. When figuring out a low hand, straights and flushes don’t count. A low hand is the weakest hand that could be made, with the worst being A-2-3-4-5. Because straights and flushes don’t 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 wins half of the pot, as does the high hand. When there is no low hand presented, the high hand takes the complete pot.
It may seem complicated initially, after a couple of rounds you will be agile enough to get the base nuances of the game with ease. Since you have players wagering for the low and wagering for the high, and since such a large number of cards are being used at the same time, Omaha/8 provides an exciting range of wagering options and seeing that you have numerous individuals trying for the high, and a few shooting for the low hand. If you love a game with a considerable amount of outs and actions, it’s worth your time to play Omaha 8 or better.