Brief tips: Omaha High-Low Strategy

In this variation the high hand winner splits the pot with the player who has the best qualifying low hand.

There is always a high hand winner but not always a low. For a hand to qualify for low, it must have five denominations no higher than an eight. Any two of the four down cards are played for high and any two are played for low.

Players must play exactly two out of their hands for each direction. Aces are played both high and low. Straights and flushes do not disqualify a hand for low, so a player ending with 5 4 3 2 A would have an unbeatable low hand and a 5 high straight to play for high.

A player with this hand would have a good chance of winning both ways. He or she could also have another high hand better than the straight.

The thing to keep in mind in split pot games is the big difference between winning half the pot and "scooping" it all. It is a lot more than just twice as much, scooping the pot usually builds a healthy addition to your stack of chips. Getting half often puts you barely ahead of where you were before you started playing the hand. Expert Omaha Hi Lo players only play starting hands, that have a good chance of winning both ways.

As explained previously Omaha is a game of "nuts". With so many players with so many cards, a final hand with a fairly good high and a fairly good low can easily be beaten by better hands both ways. So after the flop or maybe the turn, if it looks like you don't have an almost certain winner for one end and a decent shot at the other, or the best high hand with no qualifying low probable, you should fold and wait for the next hand.

More coming soon.

Cheers

Gary