Poker News: Omaha Hi Lo

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Omaha Hi Lo

Omaha Hi-Lo is a variation of Omaha and is a split-pot game. Half the pot is awarded to the best high hand and half the pot is awarded to the best low hand. As in Omaha, an exact combination of two hole cards and three community cards must be used when making up your final hand. However, you can use different hole cards to make a low hand and a high hand.

Omaha Hi-Lo is sometimes referred to as Omaha Eight or Better because it is played with a qualifying requirement of 8 or better for the low half of the pot. This means that a low hand must be made up of 5 different cards, 8 or lower. And because of this requirement it is not always possible (about half the time in fact) to make a low hand depending on the community cards. For example, when the community cards are all above an 8 or contain pairs. When a low hand is not possible, the whole pot is awarded to the best high hand.

The best low hand is A-2-3-4-5 and is known as the 'wheel'. Note that this is also a straight and may be used for the high hand aswell. When a player wins both the high and the low he is said to have 'scooped'.

Where the game becomes a little complicated is that it is possible for two or more players to have the same low hand (or high hand occasionally) and when this occurs the half of the pot where players are tied is split between them. So if two players tie for the best low hand, they will, in effect, only win a quarter of the pot each.

The skilled Omaha Hi-Lo player will try and make both a low and a high hand to scoop or win three quarters of the pot. Visit Bet Royal Poker!

posted by Poker Player at Omaha Hi Lo

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