Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha 8 or better) is often times viewed as one of the most complex but favored poker games. It’s a game that, even more than normal Omaha poker, invites action from all levels of players. This is the chief reason why a once invisible game, has grown in acceptance so quickly.
Omaha hi/low starts like a regular game of Omaha. Four cards are dealt to each player. A sequence of betting ensues where gamblers can bet, check, or drop out. Three cards are given out, this is known as the flop. One more round of wagering happens. Once all the gamblers have either called or dropped out, an additional card is revealed on the turn. Another round of wagering ensues and then the river card is flipped. The gamblers must attempt to make the best high and low 5 card hands based on the board and hole cards.
This is where a few entrants can get confused. Unlike Texas Holdem, in which the board can make up everyone’s hand, in Omaha hi/lo the player must utilize precisely 3 cards on the board, and precisely two hole cards. Not a single card more, no less. Unlike normal Omaha, there are two ways a pot can be won: the "higher hand" or the "lower hand."
A high hand is exactly how it sounds. It’s the strongest hand out of everyone’s, regardless if it is a straight, flush, full house. It’s the very same approach in nearly all poker games.
The low hand is more complex, but certainly opens up the action. When determining a low hand, straights and flushes do not count. A low hand is the weakest hand that could be put together, with the worst being made up of A-2-3-4-5. Seeing as straights and flushes don’t count, A-2-3-4-5 is the smallest value hand possible. The lower hand is any five card hand (unpaired) with an eight and below. The lower hand wins half of the pot, as just like the higher hand. When there’s no low hand available, the high hand wins the whole pot.
Although it seems complex at the start, following a few rounds you will be able to get the basic nuances of play with ease. Since you have people betting for the low and betting for the high, and seeing as so many cards are in play, Omaha/8 provides an exciting range of wagering options and seeing that you have many players shooting for the high hand, and a few trying for the low hand. If you like a game with all kinds of outs and actions, it is not a waste of your time to participate in Omaha High-Low.