Omaha Hi Lo: Fundamental Overview
Posted in Omaha on 11/09/2016 05:25 pm by Luna
Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha 8 or better) is commonly viewed as one of the most complicated but favored poker games. It’s a variation that, even more than normal Omaha poker, invites action from every level of players. This is the chief reason why a once obscure variation, has grown in acceptance so rapidly.
Omaha 8 or better begins exactly like a regular game of Omaha. Four cards are dealt to every player. A sequence of betting ensues in which players can wager, check, or fold. 3 cards are handed out, this is known as the flop. A further sequence of betting ensues. After all the gamblers have in turn called or dropped out, a further card is revealed on the turn. an additional round of wagering happens and then the river card is flipped. The players will have to make the best high and low 5 card hands using the board and hole cards.
This is where a few players can get confused. Contrasted to Texas Hold ‘Em, where the board can be every player’s hand, in Omaha hi lo the player has to use exactly three cards from the board, and exactly two cards from their hand. Not a single card more, not a single card less. Contrary to regular Omaha, there are 2 ways a pot can be won: the "high hand" or the "lower hand."
A high hand is exactly how it sounds. It’s the strongest 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.
The lower hand is more difficult, but certainly opens up the action. When figuring out a low hand, straights and flushes don’t count. the lowest hand is the worst hand that might be put together, with the lowest being made up of A-2-3-4-5. Since straights and flushes don’t count, A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest possible hand. The lower hand is any 5 card hand (unpaired) with an 8 and smaller. The low hand takes half of the pot, as does the high hand. When there’s no lower hand available, the higher hand takes the entire pot.
While it seems complex at first, following a few rounds you will be agile enough to pick up on the basic nuances of the game easily enough. Since you have players betting for the low and betting for the high, and since so many cards are in play, Omaha 8 or better provides an amazing array of betting choices and seeing that you have several individuals battling for the high hand, as well as several shooting for the low hand. If you like a game with all kinds of outs and actions, it’s not a waste of your time to play Omaha/8.