Omaha Hi/Lo: Basic Overview

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Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha/8 or better) is often times viewed as one of the most complex but popular poker games. It’s a game that, even more than regular Omaha poker, aims for play from all levels of players. This is the primary reason why a once irrelevant variation, has grown in popularity so quickly.

Omaha/8 starts exactly like a regular game of Omaha. 4 cards are given out to every player. A sequence of wagering follows where players can wager, check, or fold. 3 cards are dealt out, this is called the flop. A further sequence of wagering happens. Once all the gamblers have in turn called or dropped out, another card is revealed on the turn. Another round of wagering ensues at which point the river card is flipped. The entrants must attempt to put together the strongest high and low 5 card hands based on the board and hole cards.

This is the point where a number of players get baffled. Contrasted to Texas Holdem, where the board can make up everyone’s hand, in Omaha hi low the player must use precisely 3 cards on the board, and precisely 2 hole cards. Not a single card more, not a single card less. Unlike normal Omaha, there are 2 ways a pot might be won: the "higher hand" or the "lower hand."

A high hand is just how it sounds. It is the best possible hand out of everyone’s, whether that is a straight, flush, full house. It’s the identical concept in nearly all poker games.

A low hand is more difficult, but certainly opens up the action. When deciding on a low hand, straights and flushes don’t count. the lowest hand is the weakest hand that could be made, with the worst being A-2-3-4-5. Seeing as straights and flushes do not 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 lower. The low hand wins half of the pot, as just like the higher hand. When there is no low hand available, the high hand wins the complete pot.

It may seem complicated at first, after a couple of hands you will be agile enough to pick up on the base subtleties of play with ease. Seeing as you have individuals betting for the low and betting for the high, and seeing as such a large number of cards are being used at the same time, Omaha/8 provides an overwhelming array of wagering choices and owing to the fact that you have many individuals shooting for the high hand, along with many shooting for the low hand. If you love a game with all kinds of outs and actions, it’s worth your time to compete in Omaha/8.

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