What Is Omaha Hi-Lo
A couple of weeks ago, we discussed the basics of Omaha Hi and why it was an interesting variation of other Hold ‘Em games. Omaha Hi itself, however, has a number of variations and rule changes depending on where and with who you play. One of the most common variations of this game, and other poker games, is Omaha Hi-Lo.
Now before we talk about what Omaha Hi-Lo is exactly, you should know that all the rules from Omaha Hi still apply. Every player gets a four-card hand that he can use with table cards to make a five-card poker hand. And every player can only use exactly two cards from his own hand and three from the community cards. After all betting is done, the player left or with the best poker hand wins.
In Omaha Hi, the winner with the above rules is guaranteed the entire pot. In Hi-Lo, however, there are two ways to win and thus two players can split the pot on any hand. Without getting too complicated, Omaha Hi-Lo rewards both the best Hi hand and the best Lo hand. The Lo hand refers to, as you may imagine, holding the lowest cards. This means that you need to have five cards that are lower than eight. If you can’t make a hand with five cards lower than eight, you cannot make a Lo hand.
If that sounds confusing, think of it this way. One player makes the hand of ace, three, five, six, seven. The other makes a hand of two, three, four, five, six. Because the first hand has the highest card, it loses. This is a very simple explanation and rest assured an entire post will be devoted to what the best, and worst, Lo hands are. Hopefully this post helps with the basics of Omaha Hi Lo even if the Lo rules are a little hard to understand.
