Poker Guides - Omaha Hi Lo

How to Play Omaha Hi Lo

When Omaha was introduced to Las Vegas in the early 1970s it didn’t take long for Omaha Hi-Lo to be devised and that variation quickly became a firm favourite with poker players all over the world. In fact, Omaha Hi-Lo (also sometimes referred to as Omaha/8) is believed to be the second most widely played online poker game in the world today.

In all respects Omaha Hi-Lo is exactly the same as Omaha, except for one key difference. The whole sequence of the game is identical to Texas Hold’em and Omaha but the permutations are multiplied many times over as a result of this one distinct difference.

Omaha Hi-Lo offers a unique challenge because the total pot is divided in two, with half going to the player who makes the highest hand and the other half going to the player who makes the lowest. That makes for a very exciting and unpredictable game, where you’re never quite sure which hand your opponents may be aiming for, or even both of them.

All of the tactics and strategies you have learned playing other games of poker have to be adapted to fit into the way in which Omaha Hi-Lo pays out two different winning hands whenever there is a qualifying low hand.

If you are after an exciting challenge that will really test your mental dexterity and poker skills, then bet365′s Omaha Hi-Lo tables may well be what you’re looking for.

Playing Omaha Hi Lo

To play Omaha Hi-Lo Poker you must have enough credits to place a blind bet and a bet.

Omaha Hi-Lo plays as follows:

1. The Players to the left of the Dealer begin the game by posting blind bets. The Player on the Dealer’s left posts a small blind bet, and the Player on the Small Blind’s left posts a big blind bet. The Dealer’s position at the table changes after every game. The dealer-button shows the Dealer’s position at the table.
2. Four pocket cards are dealt to each Player.
3. In the first round, the Player to the Big Blind’s left plays first and can either: Raise, Call or Fold.
4. In the second round, three community cards are dealt. This is called the Flop. A round of betting follows and Players can either: Check, Call, Raise or Fold.
5. In the third round, a fourth community card is dealt. This is called the Turn. Another round of betting follows.
6. In the fourth round a fifth and final community card is dealt. This is called the River. The final round of betting follows. The remaining Players then use two of their pocket cards and three of the community cards to create the best five-card low and five-card high hand possible. The two Players with the best high and low hands split the pot.

When a Player wins a hand, the cards that make up the win are highlighted, and the remaining cards are grayed out.

Important:

• Winning hands must consist of two pocket cards and three community cards. No other combination is permissible!
• Low hands can only win if all the cards in the hand have a value of eight or less. If the five community cards do not include at least three cards with a value of eight or less, there is no possibility of making a low hand. In this case, the high hand wins the whole pot.
• It is not always possible to create both a low hand and a high hand. Sometimes you can only play for either the high hand or the low hand.
• It is possible to win the entire pot by having both the highest and lowest hands.
• If you and another Player tie on a low hand, you both win a quarter of the pot. This is known as the pot being quartered.

Example:

• Player A wins the high hand and Players B and C tie for the low hand.
• The pot is $100.
• Player A receives $50 and Players B and C receive $25 each.

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