Omaha High Low

Omaha High Low, also known as Omaha 8 (Eight), is a game derived from Omaha poker, but with a slight change in the way winning players are determined.

As the Omaha poker variation gained in popularity, Omaha Hi Lo also became a game with more and more participants. The way of determining the winning hands at the end (2 players can be paid in Omaha Hi Lo, one with the highest ranking hand, and one with the smallest ranking hand) made this game full of opportunities for many players, and in the same time little more difficult due to its many possible combinations.

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In Omaha Hi Lo each player starts with 4 hole cards (just as in Omaha Hi). At these cards are added three rounds of community cards making a total of 5, dealt face up, for every player to use. Each round of cards dealt is followed by a round of betting. As the game is called Omaha High Low, at the need of the hand we can have 2 winners: one player with the best 5 card hand formed from any 2 hole cards and 3 community cards, and the players with the lowest hand formed from 2 hole cards and 3 community cards. For the lowest hand to be paid, there are a few rules that must be accomplished, like the hand must have no pair, all the 5 cards used for the hand must be 8 or lower in value (from where the game is also called Omaha 8). Because of the qualifier restrictions, if at least 3 cards 8 or lower do not appear on the boards, a low hand is not possible.

Winning hands must be formed from exactly that combination of cards: 2 hole cards and 3 community cards; no other combinations are allowed. As many players tend to forget this they make bets on hands formed from cards they can't use. For beginners we suggest checking the poker hand rankings first to learn which are the best poker hands in order.

Each hand starts with a small blind and big blind and a round of betting (posted clock wise). The betting rules vary depending whether the game is Limit, Pot Limit or No Limit. Read the full guide for playing Omaha Hi Lo here.