How to Play Omaha Hi-Lo

Kick your poker action into high gear with Ignition Casino's Omaha Hi-Lo – a game with big pots and two ways to win. Once seated, the dealer will send four cards your way; these are your hole cards. Five community cards come next and will be laid face up on the board. Your mission is to create the best possible poker hand using two hole cards and three community cards. Simple enough? It gets better.

 

Two is Better Than One

With Omaha Hi-Lo, you have two chances to win the hand: the pot is divided between the player with the highest hand and the player with the lowest hand. You can use different combinations of hole cards for each category, or use the same two hole cards for both; as long as you are using two hole cards and three community cards to make up your five-card hand, you're ready to get in on the action. The high hand rankings are the same standard rankings as in Texas Hold'em, but the lowest hand rankings differ.

 

Get Low

To go for the low hand prize, your hand must consist of five cards ranked eight and below, and each card must be a different rank. Eight is the cut-off to qualify for the low hand. If you have a nine in your five-card hand, no dice. If no one has a qualifying low hand, the entire pot goes to the winner of the high hand.

Straights and flushes don't count against you for the low hand. However, if your low hand happens to also be a straight or a flush, you'll be in the running for the strongest high hand too.

The strongest low hand in Omaha Hi-Lo is 5-4-3-2-A (known as a Five-low), and the weakest is 8-7-6-5-4 (known as an Eight-low). As you can see, each card rank is different. There are no paired cards in low hands.

 

Check out this theoretical hand.

Let's say you're dealt a hand of Ks-Jc-Ac-3c. The community cards are 2s-Kc-4s-As-7h.

Your low hand would be: Ac-2s-3c-4s-7h.

Your high hand would be: Aces and Kings with a 7 kicker.

 

The Stakes

When you're ready to hit the felt, take a look at the stakes to get an idea of how much you'll be betting and how much is in the pot.

 

Fixed Limit: The amount wagered for each round is pre-determined in fixed limit Omaha. For example, $2/$4 Fixed Omaha Hi-Lo would entail $2 bets on the pre-flop and on the flop, and $4 bets on the turn and river.

Pot Limit: The most you can bet with pot limit stakes is the total pot amount, which includes the amount in the pot as well as the amount being bet on the table.

 

Pre-Flop Action

Assume we're playing $2/$4 Fixed Omaha Hi-Low. The game starts with each player being dealt four cards and posting the blinds. The blinds are mandatory contributions to the pot to get things rolling. The small blind is $2 and is paid by the player sitting left to the dealer, and the big blind is $4 and paid by the second player.

 

Post-Flop

After the first round of betting is finished, the dealer will reveal the flop, which contains three community cards. The player to the left of the dealer starts the action followed by the remaining players. The action consists of players electing to check, raise, call or fold.

The fourth card, called the turn, is revealed next, and this begins another round of betting. In fixed limit games, the amount that players can bet increases at the turn. The action goes around the table until all bets are complete.

The fifth and final card revealed by the dealer is the river, and this prompts the final round of betting.

 

Showdown

After all the betting rounds are complete, a showdown takes place between the remaining players. The last player to raise or call in the final round is the first one to reveal their hand. If the following contenders see that they have a losing hand, they can choose to show their cards or fold without showing, called a muck.

The player with the highest five-card hand takes half the pot, and the player with the lowest five-card hand takes the other half. Keep in mind, all hands must contain two hole cards and three community cards. If no player qualifies for the low hand, the winner of the highest hand wins the entire pot.

 

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