Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha/8 or better) is often times seen as one of the most complex but favored poker games. It is a game that, even more than regular Omaha poker, invites action from all levels of players. This is the chief reason why a once invisible game, has grown in popularity so amazingly.
Omaha/8 starts like a regular game of Omaha. 4 cards are dealt to each player. A round of wagering follows in which players can bet, check, or fold. Three cards are dealt out, this is known as the flop. One more round of betting happens. After all the gamblers have in turn called or dropped out, an additional card is revealed on the turn. an additional sequence of wagering happens and then the river card is flipped. The gamblers will have to make the best high and low five card hands based on the board and hole cards.
This is where a number of players get baffled. Contrasted to Hold’em, where the board can be every player’s hand, in Omaha hi-low the player has to utilize exactly 3 cards on the board, and exactly 2 hole cards. Not a single card more, not a single card less. Unlike normal Omaha, there are 2 ways a pot could be won: the "higher hand" or the "lower hand."
A high hand is just how it sounds. It’s the strongest possible hand out of everyone’s, it doesn’t matter if it is a straight, flush, full house, etc. It is the same notion in just about every poker game.
A low hand is more complicated, but certainly opens up the action. When figuring out a low hand, straights and flushes don’t count. A low hand is the worst hand that can be made, with the lowest being A-2-3-4-5. Seeing as 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 8 and below. The lower hand takes half of the pot, as just like the higher hand. When there is no low hand available, the high hand takes the entire pot.
While it seems difficult at first, following a couple of rounds you will be agile enough to get the basic nuances of the game easily enough. Seeing as you have people betting for the low and betting for the high, and seeing as so many cards are being used at the same time, Omaha 8 or better provides an overwhelming array of betting possibilities and because you have many players shooting for the high, as well as many trying for the low. If you like a game with a considerable amount of outs and actions, it is not a waste of your time to play Omaha 8 or better.
