Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha/8 or better) is frequently seen as one of the most complicated but favored poker games. It’s a variation that, even more than normal Omaha poker, invites action from every level of players. This is the chief reason why a once invisible variation, has increased in acceptance so quickly.
Omaha/8 begins just like a regular game of Omaha. 4 cards are dealt to every player. A sequence of wagering follows where gamblers can wager, check, or fold. 3 cards are handed out, this is referred to as the flop. A further round of wagering ensues. After all the players have either called or folded, another card is revealed on the turn. Another sequence of wagering ensues at which point the river card is revealed. The entrants will have to make the best high and low five card hands based on the board and hole cards.
This is the point where a few entrants often get confused. Contrasted to Texas Hold ‘Em, in which the board can be everyone’s hand, in Omaha hi lo the player must utilize exactly 3 cards from the board, and precisely 2 hole cards. Not a single card more, not a single card less. Unlike normal Omaha, there are 2 ways a pot might be won: the "high hand" or the "lower hand."
A high hand is just what it sounds like. It is the best possible hand out of everyone’s, it doesn’t matter if it is a straight, flush, full house. It is the very same approach in just about all poker games.
The lower hand is more complicated, but really opens up the action. When figuring out a low hand, straights and flushes do not count. A low hand is the weakest hand that could be made, with the lowest value being A-2-3-4-5. Because straights and flushes don’t count, A-2-3-4-5 is the smallest value hand possible. The low hand is any five card hand (unpaired) with an 8 and below. The low hand takes half of the pot, as just like the higher hand. When there’s no low hand available, the higher hand wins the whole pot.
Although it seems complicated at first, after a couple of rounds you will be able to pick up on the fundamental subtleties of the game with ease. Since you have people wagering for the low and betting for the high, and seeing as such a large number of cards are being used at the same time, Omaha Hi-Lo offers an amazing range of betting possibilities and owing to the fact that you have several players trying for the high, and several shooting for the low hand. If you like a game with a lot of outs and actions, it’s not a waste of your time to play Omaha 8 or better.