Omaha High Low

This is absolutely the best poker game on the planet bar none. This is a game where you can have the nuts and still lose money. How much fun is that? Seriously – Omaha high low is the ultimate poker game.

Main lesson to learn when playing this game is – Aces are key. “Don’t leave home without one,” was the main lesson I learned playing Omaha H/l.  With another low card. Much like Omaha, you must use two hole cards to make a hand. This applies to both low and high hands, so with no ace in your hand, you have a much lower chance of making the nuts.  A good starting hand would be something like A2KK double suited. This will give you a crack at both the low and the high hands, and winning both is vital to making serious money playing Omaha high low.

Each player is dealt four cards, and there is a flop, turn and river in the same way as with Texas Holdem and standard Omaha. But the pot is split between the highest and the lowest hands. Lowest hand is a “wheel,” A2345, highest hands are the same as any other poker game.  Clearly, this could also be played as a high hand or flush,  and it is usually agreed that the best possible starting hand is AA23. If you are dealt this, - raise ‘er up pre flop as much as possible. It obviously helps here to have raised a lot more hands if you are looking to get paid. If you have been playing tight for the last two hours everyone will know exactly what cards you have.

Omaha high low is almost always played pot limit or limit. My personal preference is to play pot limit as the opportunity to check raise makes for some substantial pots and helps  trap poorer players into over committing. As with Omaha – if you are on a draw it is important to be drawing to the nuts, preferably high and low.

Unless there are three low cards on the table 8 or below, there will be no low hand and the highest hand will tale the entire pot. Really, the key to winning at Omaha hilo is to make sure you can “scoop” both pots.  Quite often there are only two players at the showdown, and it is quite likely that if you win just one hand, you are not much better off than before the hand.  It is also quite likely that with 8 players ate the table, with four cards each – you could well win the low hand with A2345 yet still lose money if you end up splitting the low pot with another player who has made the same hand. Gotta love Omaha hilo just for that aspect. It is more a gambler’s game than many other forms of poker for just this reason.