Owing to its frequently large pots, Omaha Hi/Lo (also called ‘Omaha High Low’, ‘Omaha H/L’, ‘Omaha/8’ or ‘Omaha 8-or-better’) has 🛡 become a hugely popular game around the world. Each player in an Omaha Hi/Lo game is dealt four private cards 🛡 (‘hole cards’) that belong only to that player. Five community cards are dealt face-up on the ‘board’. All players use 🛡 exactly two cards from their four hole cards in conjunction with exactly three cards from the board to make the 🛡 best five-card poker hand possible. The pot is divided between the best hand for high and the best hand for 🛡 low - hence the name, Omaha Hi/Lo. You may use different combinations of two cards from your hand to make 🛡 your high hand and your low hand, but in each hand you must use precisely two from your hand and 🛡 three from the board - no more, no less. Visit the poker hands page to view the rankings of hands 🛡 in Omaha Hi/Lo.
Omaha Hi/Lo is played with an ‘8-or-better’ qualifier, which means that a low hand must consist of five 🛡 different cards - ranked eight or below - to be eligible to win the low portion of the pot. Low 🛡 hands in Omaha Hi/Lo are determined in exactly the same way they're determined in 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. If there 🛡 is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins the entire pot. Omaha Hi/Lo uses the ‘Ace to Five’ or 🛡 ‘California’ system for ranking low hands. Straights and flushes do not count against a hand, and Aces are always low 🛡 in reading the low hand, so the best possible hand is a "wheel": 5, 4, 3, 2, A. To help 🛡 understand the ranks of low hands, the following sample qualifying low hands (not a complete list) are ranked from least 🛡 powerful (#1, will rarely win the low half of the pot) to most powerful (#10, the nuts):
8, 7, 6, 5, 🛡 4 8, 7, 6, 5, 3 8, 6, 4, 2, A 8, 4, 3, 2, A 7, 6, 5, 4, 🛡 2 7, 6, 5, 2, A 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 6, 4, 3, 2, 🛡 A 5, 4, 3, 2, A
Note that a low hand is always ranked from its highest card downwards. So for 🛡 example, hand #9 is known as a ‘Six-low’ because its highest card is a Six. Hand #5 is a ‘Seven-low’, 🛡 and Hand #1 is an ‘Eight-low’. In poker slang, you distinguish between close low hands by going further down the 🛡 ranks, so hand #9 would be called a ‘Six-Four low’, which beats hand #8, a ‘Six-Five low’. Also remember that 🛡 straights and flushes do not count against your low hand, so making a qualifying low that is also a straight 🛡 or a flush is a very powerful hand, that could win both the high and low halves of the pot. 🛡 That’s called a ‘scoop’.
Types of Omaha Hi/Lo Games
