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.
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