Poker Tips

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha/8 or better) is often times seen as one of the most difficult but popular poker games. It’s a game that, even more than regular Omaha poker, aims for play from every level of players. This is the main reason why a once irrelevant game, has expanded in acceptance so quickly.

Omaha/8 starts exactly like a regular game of Omaha. 4 cards are given out to each player. A round of betting follows where players can wager, check, or drop out. Three cards are dealt out, this is referred to as the flop. One more sequence of betting ensues. Once all the gamblers have in turn called or folded, an additional card is revealed on the turn. a further sequence of wagering ensues and then the river card is flipped. The players will have to make the strongest high and low five card hands using the board and hole cards.

This is the point where a few players can get flustered. Unlike Hold’em, in which the board can be everyone’s hand, in Omaha Hi-Lo the player has to utilize precisely 3 cards on the board, and exactly 2 hole cards. No more, not a single card less. Unlike regular Omaha, there are 2 ways a pot might be won: the "high hand" or the "lower hand."

A high hand is just what it sounds like. It is the strongest hand out of every player’s, it doesn’t matter if it is a straight, flush, full house. It’s the same approach in nearly all poker games.

The low hand is more difficult, but certainly opens up the play. When determining a low hand, straights and flushes do not count. the lowest hand is the worst hand that can be made, with the lowest value being A-2-3-4-5. Since straights and flushes do not count, A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest value hand possible. The lower hand is any 5 card hand (unpaired) with an eight and smaller. The lower hand wins half of the pot, as does the higher hand. When there’s no lower hand presented, the higher hand takes the entire pot.

While it seems difficult at first, following a few rounds you will be agile enough to pick up on the basic subtleties of play easily enough. Since you have individuals wagering for the low and wagering for the high, and since such a large number of cards are being used at once, Omaha 8 or better provides an exciting collection of betting choices and owing to the fact that you have many individuals battling for the high hand, and several battling for the low hand. If you love a game with a considerable amount of outs and actions, it’s not a waste of your time to participate in Omaha 8 or better.