How to Play Omaha High Low

The Rules of Omaha High-Low

Unless you are familiar with the rules and set ups for both Limit Texas Hold 'Em and for Omaha, then please read the rules for those games before you continue reading. Otherwise, carry on.

At their base points, Omaha and Limit Texas Hold 'Em are basically the same game, at least in terms of the procedures used during the game.

This article focuses on Omaha High-Low, a game which is known as a split pot. What that basically means is that it is possible to get the best high hand and the best low hand.

To put it simply, one half of the pot will be given to whichever player has the best high hand, while the other half goes to the player who has the best low hand. If there is no best low hand, then the player with the high hand gets all the money in the pot.

Thus, the player's main goal should be to get both the best high hand and the best low hand. This is known as scooping the pot.

Getting the High Hand

In Omaha High-Low, the high hand is identical to what is found in standard Omaha. That is, the best standard hand in poker wins, beginning at the top of the hierarchy – the royal flush – and going down from there.

As well, a player has to use two – no more and no less – of his or her hole cards and no more or less than three of the community cards to make up his or her winning hand.

Getting the Low Hand

In this game, it is decidedly more difficult to understand how the low hand works. Again, the player has to use precisely two hole cards and precisely three community cards in order to make his or her winning low hand. The trick here is that low hands have to be an eight or below. In this case, you want to shoot for lower.

In an Eight low, you will have an eight, of course, plus four more lower cards. Predictably, a Seven low will contain a seven and four other lower cards, and so it continues down the line. In this case, the best low you can hope for is a Five high – 5 4 3 2 A, also known as a Five high straight. This type of hand is also known as a wheel.

Naturally, the worst of the low hands begins with an Eight, as in the case of 8 7 6 5 4 – also known as an Eight high straight. So, to quality for a low hand, there has to be three or more cards on the board which amount to an Eight or below.

Quartered

You can also get one quarter of the pot in this particular game. This occurs when two players have an identical hand, whether it is a high hand or a low hand. However, one of the players has to clearly have the better hand between them.

For example, say Player 1 get the best high hand and his or her low hand is identical to the one held by Player 2. In this instance, Player 2 wins a quarter of the total pot, while Player 1 wins the remaining three quarters.

Another example consists of Player 1 having the winning high hand – but he or she does not have a low hand. Instead, Player 2 and Player 3 have identical low hands. So, in this case, Player 1 gets half of the pot for his or her high hand, while Player 2 and Player 3 each get a quarter of the half which remains.