Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or Better)
Omaha Hi-Lo (short for high & low) is a very entertaining game to play and can generate some truly sizeable pots because of the number of drawing possibilities. The same Omaha rules apply to Omaha Hi-Lo with the exception that the pot may be shared between a player holding the high (Hi) hand and a player holding the qualifying low (Lo) hand.
The Hi-Lo Factor
A low hand must have a high card "8 or better" to qualify to be the low hand. That is, to be eligible to win the low, the highest card must be an 8 or lower. Furthermore, the five-card low hand can not contain any pairs. As an aside, the ace counts as the lowest card for the purposes of determining a low hand. Upon a tie with the high card, the hand goes to the player with the next lowest high card. Any hand that is high card 9 or higher cannot qualify as a low hand. In Omaha Hi-Lo, if there is no qualifying low hand, the entire pot goes to the player with the best high hand. Note that a player can win both the high and low halves of a pot using different cards from his hand.. The ace-to-five straight (“wheel”) is the best possible low hand; the straight eight-to-four is the worse possible qualifying low hand (although technically neither of these hands actually counts as a straight but are simply low qualifying hands without pairs). The ace can be used as a high and low card in Omaha Hi-Lo. Straights and flushes are not considered when evaluating a low hand.
Types of Omaha Hi-Lo
As with Omaha and Texas Holdem, there are three betting variations that can be played out in ring or tournament game play.
- No Limit: Players may bet all of their chips at any time.
- Pot Limit: Players may bet an amount equal to the pot size.
- Limit: Players may bet a fixed amount for each round.
How to play Omaha Hi-Lo
The mechanics of Omaha Hi-Lo are, again, identical to those of Texas Holdem and Omaha High. If you are not sure how those work, please review the section on “How to play Texas Holdem”.
