OMAHA 8 Poker Hi-lo Hands
Omaha High-Low Eight Better and Omaha High only are the two versions of Omaha. This is a game where the pot is split by the high hand and the low hand. There is no particular betting structure like the No Limit, Pot Limit or Limit. You will find more of the Hi-Lo games than the Omaha high in the card rooms because of the popularity of Hi Lo. Due to the chance of the split pot Low limit Hi-Lo is becoming more and more popular among the card players. Many of the pots are becoming very big in the River card game because the pot is being split by the high and the low.
If your hand needs to be qualified as low then no cards out of your five card hand should be higher than 8. Also if you have a low hand, then even a straight or a flush is ignored. So A 2 3 4 5 is the lowest hand. The board must have three cards of 8 points or lower as you must use only two cards from the hand. The person with the highest hand will win the whole pot, if there is no qualifying low hand. Having found an A-2 on hand does not mean that you have found pre-flop.
Now, a low can be scored only if the board contains three more low cards. However, big trouble will brew if three high cards come on the flop. Your hand could be counterfeited for raising pre-flop only on A-2 if the board reveals an ace or deuce and an A or 2 can be used only if a fourth low card shows up on the board by the river. An important reason to be clear as to whether to raise your hand with A-2, is that, you will have in hand every other player with A-2.
Half of the low pot, which is a quarter, will be yours instead of making your low. It will cost you money being quartered. A raising war on the river in a multi-way pot with low only should be avoided as you may have for company another player who is also low. Example: - Visualize three players at hand of which one of them is you. One of them starts to raise and add a further $20 in the pot and the other two players follow suit. Thus $60 falls in the pot. The player who scores a high collects $30.
The other player ties you with a low. $15 is what you get even though you have put in $20. You lost money by raising. Scooping the Pot is the ultimate goal in Hi-Lo. A combination of two cards constructing a high hand and low hand of the four cards is the ideal situation in Omaha. The only other way of course is to have the highest hand and win the whole pot. You must co-ordinate all four starting cards in your hand - hopefully straight, flush or full house. Have more than one pair. A sure loosing sign is to think of any four cards win.