Omaha High Low Strategy

 Poker Strategy
Feb 172026
 

A popular poker casino and online game is Omaha Hi-lo, or, as it may be more commonly known as Omaha 8s or better. It’s a mixed game which means that you have two ways to win a pot – either by having the best or the worst hand.

In game of Omaha Hi-Lo you get 4 hole/pocket cards. There are 5 community cards on the table. The first 3 make up the flop, the 4th is called the ‘turn’ and the 5th is the ‘river’ as in standard Holdem games. You are required to use 2 pocket cards and 3 from the board to make either the nut high or the nut low hand.

A ‘wheel’ is the nut low. That’s the A, 2, 3, 4, 5. Suits don’t matter in the low; but they do in the high. The low hand doesn't want to make hands like three of a kind or other big poker hands. In order to win the low portion of the pot the low hand can't contain a card that is higher then a 8, hence why the game is sometimes called Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or better.

To win a ‘high‘ hand, you will need 3 of a kind, a straight, a flush or a full house most of the time. On a rare occasion 2 pairs will win. This is not a game for bluffing; but rather, skill. The best hands, not the biggest bet, (unless of course it's accompanied by the nuts) win. So you want to know what the nuts is on different board textures and be drawing to the best hand or close to it.

A 'low' hand can only be made if there are 3 low-cards on the board. For example, if you’re holding an A, 2, 3, 5, 7 and the board has a J, 6, 4, 9, 10, you don’t have a lo-hand. If no other player has a low hand or there aren’t 3 low cards on the board, the high hand wins it all; otherwise, the low and the high split the pot fairly evenly.

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Make sense?

OK. Here’s another example of low hand. If you’re holding an A, J, 2, 8, 10 and the board has 4, 3, 6, 10, J on it, well you have an A, 2, 3, 4, 6 for the low and can be pretty sure that you will win the low portion of the pot.

A high hand is what you’d play in Omaha Hi and suits count. If you have a hand that makes a good winning hand in blackjack, then you’ve got a shot at the nut high. Pocket pairs are okay, but pocket trips are not. Full houses will often win it all; but you can lose to a higher full house, which can be quite frustrating, let me tell you. Calculate your "outs" and remember it’s only 2 pocket cards and 3 from the board you can use but all other Holdem rules apply.

Omaha hi-lo is great fun and exciting to play in large part because so many people dabble in it and it provides a good change up to Texas Holdem. The good news is most Omaha players aren't experts. If you get in on the ground floor and learn to play it well now, then you can consistently profit big in Omaha hi-lo games.

Try Omaha at Carbon Poker today

Online Poker Bankroll Management

 Build Your Bankroll
Jan 042026
 

One of the biggest mistakes many online poker players make is not managing a bankroll properly.  They play games that are too high for the amount of money in their account, and often try moving up levels to chase losses.  If you find yourself constantly reloading your account, then this article is for you.

What is a Bankroll?

To understand the basic fundamentals of bankroll management, you should first understand what a bankroll is.  A bankroll is money that you keep separate from your other money for the sole purpose of playing poker with.  You can either leave this all in one site in the poker site's online cashier, or you can keep this money stored in an e-wallet such as Moneybookers if you plan to use this money at various different poker rooms.

Common Bankroll Management Guidelines

Depending on what type of game you play, you will need to have a bankroll that is a certain number of buy-ins or big-blinds at the level you are playing.  Here is an easy to follow reference for managing your bankroll:

No Limit Cash Games – The common rule for no limit cash games is you should have at least 20 MAX buy-ins for the level you want to play.  So, for example if you were playing $2/$4 NL Holdem, you should have 20x the $400 max buy-in, or $8000.

Limit Cash Games – Limit games require a much smaller bankroll than no limit.  The basic rule of thumb for limit games is you should have 300 times the big blind.  If you wanted to play $2/$4 Limit Holdem, you should have 300x the big blind of $4, or $1200.

Sit and Go's – If you prefer playing Sit and Go's (SNGs) then you should have at least 40-buyins for the level that you plan on playing.  For example, if you want to play $10 SNGs, you should have at least $400 in your account.
Multi-Table Tournaments – Since Multi-table tournaments have much larger fields and there is a lot more variance involved, you will need to have a lot more buy-ins than playing SNGs.  On the other side a single win in a multi-table tournament could mean a huge boost to your bankroll.  A safe amount would be to have 100 buyins for the level of tournament that you want to play.  For example, if you want to play $5 MTTs, you should have at least $500 in your account.

Moving Up and Down Levels

As you grow your bankroll, or as it starts to shrink you will need to move up and down levels.  After all, if you are not winning consistently playing $5 tournaments, then you should probably drop down a $2 equivalent to focus on improving your skills first.  On the other hand, if you are consistently winning at your current level and you now have enough of a bankroll to move up a level, don't be afraid to try the games at the next level to continue growing your bankroll over time.  Typically there is not much of a difference in opponents moving from 1 level to the next, but if you try jumping multiple levels you may be faced with a much different game.

Conclusion

Bankroll Management takes a lot of discipline to practice properly.  More often then not players will play games beyond their bankroll due to things like tilt, stress, or boredom.  Always be sure to play with money that you can afford to lose so that the actual dollar amount you are playing for doesn't distract you from playing your best poker game.  Getting things like rakeback or a free bankroll are also great ways to get your bankroll started, so look into these also.  Study up as much as you can about the game, and in no time you should be making decent money playing poker online.