Omaha Hi Lo Game Guide

Omaha Hi Lo is a fun and potentially profitable poker
variation.

It offers a nice change of pace for Texas holdem players and
when you learn the best way to play can be more profitable.

This page includes sections on how to play and strategy. If
you’re sure you already know how to play you can skip to the
strategy section, but if you have any questions at all about the
exact rules it’ll only take a couple minutes to read through the
how to play section.

Did you know you have to use exactly two of your hole cards
and exactly three of the board cards to form a hand? In Texas
holdem you can use any number of hole cards and up to and
including five community cards.

If you didn’t know the difference read the rules section
before moving on.

How to Play – Omaha Hi Lo Rules

Dealer Position & Blinds

One player is designated as the dealer position, usually
shown with a white button with the word dealer on it. The player
to the immediate left of the dealer position is the small blind
and the player to the immediate left of the small blind is the
big blind.

The dealer button is passed one player to the left after each
hand is completed.

The big blind places a forced wager set by the table limits
and the small blind places a bet usually half the size of the
big blind. In limit games the small blind is half the big blind,
but in pot limit and no limit games it can be different.

In a 10 / 20 limit game, the big blind is 10 and the small
blind is 5.

Dealing a Hand

Starting with the player in the small blind, each player
receives four cards face down, dealt one at a time to the left
around the table.

Pre-Flop Betting

After each player receives four hole cards the player to the
left of the big blind may choose from one of the following
options.

• Fold (discard their cards and sit out the rest of the
  hand)
• Call (the amount of the big blind)
• Raise

Play moves to the next player to the left who either folds,
calls the largest previous wager, or raises. After each player
has the opportunity to act the play moves on to the left. When
play reaches the small blind she either calls the remaining part
of the largest bet above her blind amount, folds or raises. Then
the big blind can check if the hand hasn’t been raised, fold if
the hand has been raised, call a raise, or raise.

Play continues to the left until every player has folded or
called the highest wager.

The Flop

The next step is the three card flop. The flop is the
beginning of the community card area.

Community cards are used by all the players remaining in the
hand to form a five card high hand and a five card low hand when
possible.

After the three cards on the flop are turned face up the
first player to the left of the dealer button remaining in the
hand is the first to act. This player has the following two
options.

• Check (passing the option to bet onto the next player)
• Bet

Play continues to the left with each remaining player having
the option to check if a bet hasn’t been made, or to call a bet,
fold, or raise.

Play continues to the left until each player remaining in the
hand has called the highest bet amount.

The Turn

The fourth community card, called the turn, is then dealt and
another betting round structured the same way as the one after
the flop is conducted.

In a limit game all bets are a set amount. Using the same 10
/ 20 example from above, all bets before and on the flop would
be 10. All bets on the turn and river are 20.

The River

After betting is completed on the turn the fifth and final
community card, called the river, is dealt face up. A final
betting round, identical to the one following the turn, is
conducted. After this round of betting the remaining players
show their cards and the winner or winners are paid from the
pot.

Making a Hand

Each player must use exactly two cards from her hand and
three of the community cards to form their best five card high
hand and best five card low hand if a low is possible. You don’t
have to use the same two cards to form a high and low hand.

Here are a couple of examples.

The only time a low hand is possible is when at least three
unpaired cards eight and below are on the board.

If no low hand is possible the entire pot is awarded to the
player with the best high hand. If two or more players tie for
the best high hand they split the pot.

When a low hand qualifies, the pot is split between the best
high hand and the best low hand. If more than one person ties
for the best high or best low hand the half of the pot that is
tied is split between the players who tied.

How to Read the Board

Most players don’t struggle much when it comes to determining
their best high hand, but figuring out the best low hand can be
tricky until you get used to how to read the board.

The easiest way to read low hands and figure out which hand
is lowest is to take each players five lowest unpaired cards and
read them backwards like a number.

Here’s an example.

• A 2 3 4 5 = 54,321
• A 2 3 4 6 = 64,321
• A 4 5 6 7 = 76,541
• A 2 3 7 8 = 87,321

Once you get used to reading low hands it’s pretty easy, but
don’t hesitate to ask the dealer to wait at the end of a hand
until you clearly see the value of each hand.

Variations

The two most popular variations of Omaha Hi Lo are limit and
pot limit. It can be played for no limit stakes, but most online
poker rooms only offer pot limit and limit.

Even the few that have no limit capabilities rarely have
players at the tables.

If player interest is high enough most land based poker rooms
will spread a no limit Omaha Hi Lo game, but you’re more likely
to find a pot limit game.

Though most dealers don’t have any problems with pot limit
games, it’s more difficult than no limit games and it can be
slower. Poker rooms don’t like anything that slows down the
games because the fewer hands per hour they run the lower the
rake they make from each table.

Why Omaha Hi Lo Can Be More Profitable

Most poker players started playing Texas holdem. In holdem,
you receive a two card starting hand so at the beginning of the
first round of betting you don’t know where any of the other 50
cards are located.

As players make bets, calls, and raises you can get an idea
of a range of starting hands they may hold. When the flop is
dealt you know the value of the two cards in your hand and the
three cards on the flop, for a total of 5 known cards and 47
unknown cards.

You know one more card value on the turn and another on the
river. After the river card is dealt you know the value of 7
cards and you don’t know the value of 45 cards.

In Omaha Hi Lo you know the value of two more cards on each
round of betting. While this may not seem like much, it’s
actually a considerable advantage.

Here’s a chart comparing the percentage of known cards at
each level of a hand in Texas holdem and Omaha.

	Texas Holdem	Omaha Hi Lo
Before the flop	3.8%	7.7%
After the flop	9.6%	13.5%
After the turn	11.5%	15.4%
After the river	13.5%	15.4%

Notice that in Omaha you have twice as much information
before the flop as you do in Texas holdem and after the river
you know almost 5% more. These higher percentages make Omaha Hi
Lo a more predictable and mathematical straight forward game.

Smart players use this extra information to make better
decisions and make more money than average players.

If you’re asking why this makes a difference, because
everyone has the same amount of information, you need to
consider this a different way.

Because you have more information by knowing a higher
percentage of card values than in holdem, you can determine the
mathematically correct play more often playing Omaha Hi Lo.

Omaha Hi Lo Strategy

The same basic strategies used in most forms of poker are the
ones you should use while playing Omaha Hi Lo.

The Omaha Hi Lo specific strategies that you need to combine
with common poker tactics are covered in the sections below.

Scooping

The most important thing to remember when deciding what to do
in Omaha Hi Lo is that you need to put yourself into position to
scoop pots. While you can make a little money winning half the
pot, the real money is in scooping and winning three quarters of
the pot.

You have two ways to scoop pots. You can win both the high
and low part of a split pot or have the best high hand in a pot
that doesn’t have a low possibility.

Every decision you make needs to be made with an eye on
scooping possibilities.

Of course most hands don’t play out in a way where you have a
choice, but if you had to pick having a best high hand or a best
low hand you want the best high hand. High hands are rarely
split while low hands are split often.

To give yourself the best chance to scoop a pot you need to
play high only hands and two way hands.

A high only hand has high pairs, face cards, large suited
cards, and other combinations that give you a strong chance to
have the nut high hand on a high only board.

Two way hands almost always have an ace in combination with
one or two low cards and one or two high cards. If the ace is
suited to one of the other cards it makes the hand stronger.

Examples of high only hands include:

• 
• 
• 

Examples of two way hands include:

• 
• 
• 
• 

Getting Quartered or Worse

Most Omaha Hi Lo players enter any pot where they hold an ace
and a two, so low hands that don’t have an ace and two on the
board are often split between two or more players. In this case
the player with the best high hand gets half the pot and the two
players with the tied low hand each receive a quarter of the
pot.

Sometimes a player will tie for low and have the best high
hand, receiving three quarters of the pot.

You want to avoid only winning a quarter of the pot, called
being quartered, as often as possible. Unless a great deal of
money is in the pot from early in the hand from players who
don’t win part of the pot, it’s difficult to come out ahead in a
hand where you’ve been quartered.

If three players tie for the best low hand it’s even worse.

This is the main reason when you consider starting hands it’s
important to have some chance at a high hand when you have a
strong low starting hand. You need to win the high half of the
pot in combination with the low half, or part of the low half,
in order to turn a consistent profit in the long run.

The Nuts and Second Best Hands

Texas holdem players often see top pair top kicker hands hold
up and usually win with a flush, even if it’s only jack or ten
high or when the board pairs.

In Omaha Hi Lo you rarely win with hands like these.

While the nuts aren’t always required to win a hand, the
average value of winning hands is higher than in Texas holdem.

Anything below a set is unlikely to win a high hand.
Straights and flushes are closer to the average high hands and
if a full house is possible try not to bank on winning the
high half unless being the one with the full house.

A full house is only possible when the board pairs because
you have to use two hole cards to form a hand.

The rule of thumb is if you’re drawing you need to be drawing
to either the nuts or a strong enough hand that you’re a huge
favorite to win when you hit.

When the board is paired the nuts is four of a kind, but the
top possible full house is good enough to draw to if the pot is
offering the correct odds.

The next rule of thumb is never draw to a low that isn’t the
nut low. You end up getting quartered with low hands too often
to take the chance to draw to a second or third best low hand.

If you have a two way hand it can be profitable to draw to a
second or third best low, but only if the high half of your hand
is strong.

Drawing to a second best low and a second best high can be
marginally profitable in some games, but it can cost you a great
deal of money at times.

In other words, we lost a big pot but will play the hand the
same way in the future.

If the board had paired on the river instead of completing
the low we’d have scooped a big pot. The board will pair enough
times for the play to be profitable. We’ll also win either the
low or high enough times for the play to be profitable in the
game we was playing.

The secret is to know the best way to play a hand and then
play it that way no matter what the outcome. We lost a big hand
but won’t let that change how we play in the future.

Starting Hands

Starting hands need to have four cards that work together in
some way.

Hands with three strong cards and an unrelated fourth card
can sometimes be played, but overall they’re much weaker than
cards with four cards that support each other.

The hands listed above in the scooping section are all good
starting hands. If you skipped that section go back to see
examples of strong high only hands and good two way hands.

The player entering the hand with the best Omaha 8 starting
hand is going to win more often than the players with the weaker
hand. This means that you need to start concentrating on playing
better hands than your opponents. The only way to do this is to
play fewer hands.

You need to play fewer hands than most Texas holdem players
play, not more. Just because you have twice as many starting
cards doesn’t mean you can play twice as many hands.

We’ve played in many pot limit games profitably while seeing
close to 15% of the flops. 20% is a good percentage to shoot for
in a full ring game, but at the lower levels you should be able
to play profitably as long as you stay at 25% or lower. As you
start facing better competition you’ll probably need to get
tighter unless your post flop play is very strong.

Some players can play more starting hands profitably, but as
you’re learning to play you’re not one of them. Until you get
really good at making the correct plays almost every time after
the flop you need to concentrate on entering pots with better
hands than your opponents.

Here are some examples of starting hands that work together.

Here are some examples of starting hands that have a small
problem but can still be played from late position.

You don’t want to play the second set of hands from early
position unless you’re able to play a strong game after the flop
and get paid off when you hit. If you have any questions about
whether or not to play a hand you should fold.

Position

If you’re an above average Texas holdem player you probably
understand how important position is when playing poker.

Position is not as important in Omaha as it is while playing
Texas holdem, but it’s still important.

The simple fact is if your opponents have to act before you
have to act you have more information than they do when you have
to make a decision.

Omaha is a game of information. The player with the most
information has the best chance to win in the long run.

When you consider your position at the table in every
decision you make your Omaha profits will start climbing.

Combining proper starting hands with positions awareness
creates the first steps in profitable Omaha Hi Lo play.

Beginning Strategy

As a player trying to learn beginning strategy, you’ve
already learned about most of the important things to
concentrate on.

At the lower limits if you play 20% of your starting hands,
learn how important position is, and concentrate on finding
opportunities to scoop pots you can quickly become a break even
or winning player.

In most low limit games you can break even by just playing
fewer hands and playing straight forward poker. Much of the low
level competition is so bad that you just need to follow the
directions on this page and pay attention.

Track every hand you play and pay attention to the other
players. Know exactly how many flops you see and which opponents
have poor playing habits.

If you learn an opponent always calls down with second and
third best hands you know he’ll pay you off in scooping
situations. If you learn an opponent only plays ace two hands in
low pots from early position you’ll know to avoid second best
low hands when facing her.

You can find a million things about your opponents that are
helpful if you just start paying attention.

Intermediate Strategy

Intermediate Omaha Hi Lo play is when you’re able to break
even or start playing for a small profit. You understand
position, have a solid starting hand understanding, and can
recognize scoop situations and when you need to get out of a
hand most of the time.

At this point you’re starting to understand Omaha Hi Lo
better and feel like you can beat most of the games filled with
poor players.

We’ve listed four different areas intermediate players need
to understand to advance to the next level. They aren’t the only
intermediate strategy ideas in the world, but each of them is
important if you want to win in the long run.

Knowing When to Fold

One of the big turning points for most Omaha Hi Lo players is
when they realize how much it’s worth to know when to fold after
the flop instead of chasing long shots and second and third best
hands. In many pot limit games you can win a few big pots that
can make a session profitable even if you don’t win any small
pots.

Just because you have a pair of aces before the flop doesn’t
mean the pair of kings on the flop didn’t give your opponent a
set. The less money you put in the pot after a bad flop the more
you’ll have to play pots that have scoop possibilities later.

Table Selection

We almost included this in the beginning section, but almost
every beginner ignores advice about table selection so we’ve
included it here where we hope you’ll learn from it. Take a few
minutes to consider the competition at the table before you
start playing. If most of the players at the table are worse
players than you it’s bound to increase your chances to win.

We’d rather play with eight players who weren’t as good as us
than eight players who’re better than us. Even if it takes extra
time, find games that offer the best chance to win.

Watching out for Counterfeiting

When you have a low hand and one of the low cards in your
hand lands on the board it’s called getting counterfeited.

Here’s an example.

You have and the board is so you have
the nut low. The turn is the so you still have a low but it’s no longer the nut low.

If you had a 5 instead of the jack it would have offered
counterfeit protection.

You don’t have to only play hands with counterfeit
protection, but if you get involved in a big pot with only a low
possibility you need protection. Beginning players don’t tend to
think ahead too far in the hand, but at this level you need to
start seeing things like this and planning for the possibility
of getting counterfeited.

Adjusting for Heads Up Play

Heads up hands are closer in value than in Texas holdem. In
holdem a pair of aces is dominant over a hand with a 9 and a 5.
The pair of aces will win a high percentage of the time.

In Omaha Hi Lo, the best hand isn’t nearly as dominant
against the weaker hands in heads up play. This is especially
true if the weaker hands have any possibility of low. Even a
hand with 5 and 8 or 6 and 7 can make a low if the opponents
hand doesn’t have a low possibility or gets counterfeited.

As three or more players enter most hands at low and medium
levels, you can’t play your poor hands, but you need to
understand the possibilities when hands get heads up.

If the hand gets heads up on the turn or river, your fourth
best low with your second best high is probably enough to call a
bet.

Advanced Strategy

When poker players get to an advanced strategy stage the game
has gone beyond simple steps and discussions. In order to get to
an advanced level of Omaha Hi Lo play you have to move to a
state of mental awareness about the game and your opponents.

Advanced players enter every hand with a plan for every
possibility. You need to consider what you’re going to do if an
opponent raises and what you’ll do when you miss the flop, when
you hit the flop, or when you flop a good draw.

You want to get to a point where everything you do at the
Omaha Hi Lo table is because it’s the best play in the long run.
You won’t always know exactly what your opponent holds but
you’ll be able to narrow her possible holdings down to a few
possible hands.

Every decision has a most profitable or least costly way to
play. Some decisions lose money in the long run, so in these
situations you need to find the least costly way to play.

Here’s an example of a situation that loses money in the long
run.

Any time you’re in the small blind with a terrible hand
you’ll lose money no matter what you do over the long run. In
order to lose as little money as possible, the correct play is
to fold in the small blind with poor hands.

Amateur players look at the money in the small blind as a
commitment to the pot. They think it’s only a half bet to see
the flop and anything can happen on the flop, especially since
they have four cards instead of two.

As players advance beyond the beginning stage and start
learning more about the game they often still end up playing
hands from the small blind that cost them money in the long run.
They play hands that aren’t terrible, but because they have to
play the rest of the hand out of position are unprofitable

Once you understand that you should fold almost any hand from
the small blind that you would fold from early position you’ve
started moving into advanced play. The money you put in the pot
in the blinds is just a small fee required to have the
opportunity to scoop huge pots at other times. Once the money is
in the pot it’s no longer yours.

The same thought process is needed in the big blind. If an
opponent raises and you have a poor hand simply fold. Don’t
defend your blinds with weak hands unless you’re a top player
and know your opponents very well.

When you’re in the big blind and the pre flop play is checked
to you with a weak hand you’ll see the flop, but don’t invest
another dollar in the pot without a monster flop for you.

The blinds are just two examples of how your thought process
needs to be in order to play Omaha Hi Lo at an advanced level.

As you advance from the low limits to the medium limits your
opponents get a little better, but the game and correct
strategies are much the same.

But when you start playing at the highest limits the game
changes quite a bit.

Before going on, you should know that plenty of really good
players stay at the medium levels and make good money. You don’t
have to play at the highest levels to be a pro and be
profitable.

At the highest levels most pots are contested heads up or at
the most with three players seeing the flop. Almost all hands
are played with at least one raise pre flop.

Think about some of the ways this changes the game. When
you’re playing heads up the second best high and the second best
low will almost always win at least half the pot and will have a
good shot at a scoop.

It’s difficult to cover advanced Omaha Hi Lo strategy in
print because you either have enough experience to understand it
or you don’t.

The good news is if you’re a beginning or intermediate player
you can work toward advanced play. Concentrate on the other
things covered on this page including starting hand selection,
position; always trying to make the best possible play in every
situation, and develop a plan in your mind for every decision
and you’ll be well on your way toward winning play.