Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha/8 or better) is commonly viewed as one of the most difficult but favored poker variations. It’s a game that, even more than normal Omaha poker, invites action from every level of players. This is the main reason why a once obscure variation, has increased in popularity so amazingly.
Omaha hi/lo begins exactly like a regular game of Omaha. 4 cards are handed out to each player. A sequence of wagering ensues in which gamblers can bet, check, or fold. Three cards are handed out, this is known as the flop. Another round of wagering ensues. Once all the players have either called or dropped out, another card is flipped on the turn. a further sequence of wagering follows and then the river card is revealed. The gamblers will need to make the strongest high and low 5 card hands using the board and hole cards.
This is the point where a number of entrants often get confused. Unlike Hold’em, in which the board can be every player’s hand, in Omaha hi low the player must use precisely 3 cards on the board, and precisely 2 hole cards. Not a single card more, not a single card less. Contrary to regular Omaha, there are two ways a pot can be won: the "higher hand" or the "low hand."
A high hand is just how it sounds. It’s the strongest hand out of everyone’s, it doesn’t matter if it is a straight, flush, full house. It is the same concept in nearly every poker game.
The low hand is more difficult, but certainly opens up the action. When determining a low hand, straights and flushes do not count. A low hand is the worst hand that could be made, with the lowest being made up of A-2-3-4-5. Seeing as straights and flushes don’t count, A-2-3-4-5 is the smallest value hand possible. The lower hand is any five card hand (unpaired) with an eight and smaller. The low hand wins half of the pot, as just like the high hand. When there’s no lower hand presented, the high hand takes the entire pot.
Although it seems complex at the outset, after a few hands you will be agile enough to get the basic subtleties of the game simply enough. Seeing as you have people wagering for the low and betting for the high, and seeing as so many cards are being used at the same time, Omaha/8 offers an overwhelming assortment of wagering possibilities and seeing that you have many individuals trying for the high, and a few shooting for the low hand. If you love a game with a lot of outs and actions, it is not a waste of your time to participate in Omaha/8.