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Omaha Hi/Lo (Omaha 8) Rules

Structurally, Omaha Hi-Lo is similar to Texas Hold'em, so if you know the rules of Hold'em, you have a head start on knowing the rules of Omaha Hi-Lo, whose full name is "Omaha Hold'em, 8-or-Better High-Low Split Poker."

As the name implies, the rules for Omaha 8 are more complex than for Hold'em, but that shouldn't dissuade you from learning this exciting and challenging game.

You just have to take some time to learn the rules.

Similarities Between Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hi-Lo

You are dealt hole cards, which are your own and nobody else's.

There is a flop, a turn, and a river, totaling five community cards.

Betting takes place before the flop, on the turn, and on the river.

There is a button which determines position and moves from left to right.

There are blinds that must be posted before a hand begins, which promote action.

And there is a showdown to determine the winner or winners.

There will always be a winning high hand at showdown.

There may be a winning low hand, but only if someone has made a five card hand that has an 8 high or lower as its highest card--if your five card hand includes any card higher than an 8, you cannot qualify to win the low side of this particular hand.

Note well, too, that an Ace in Omaha Hi-Lo can serve as both the highest and the lowest card in the deck. For example, A-2-3-4-5 is the best low hand.

Four Hole Cards Changes Everything

Despite the overall structural similarities between Omaha Hi-Lo and Hold'em, there are a few other critical rule differences that make Omaha Hi-Lo different and exciting.

For starters, in Omaha Hi-Lo you are dealt four hole cards instead of two. This obviously increases the potential strength of all players' hands. This also causes many people, especially people who like to gamble, to think they can win with any hand.

Thus a major appeal of Omaha Hi-Lo is that the games can have a lot of action and there are some giant pots to be had, especially if you are playing with loose gambler types.

Two Hole Cards Plus Three Community Cards = Your Hand

Another key rule of playing Omaha Hi-Lo is that you must use exactly two of your hole cards, combined with exactly three of the community cards, to win any portion of the hand. Exactly two hole cards plus exactly three community cards--there's your hand.

So when you are evaluating your hand, you have to exclude two of your hole cards from consideration, because you cannot use all four to make your hand. In other words, if you have four Kings as hole cards, you really only have two Kings at showdown.

Winning High, Winning Low

It's called Hi-Lo because you can win high and you can win low, and you can even win both high and low, this is called "scooping the pot" and is the best outcome of all.

There will always be a winning high hand at showdown, and the hand rankings are the same as for any other poker game. If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins the entire pot.

Winning the low hand in Omaha Hi-Lo requires at least three low cards on the board. Low cards consist of A-8 (remember: the A can be both high and low). Without three low cards on the board, it is impossible to make a qualifying low hand.

Therefore, there will not always be a winning low.

When playing for a low, straights and flushes are ignored.

The worst possible low hand is 8-7-6-5-4. The second worst possible low hand is 8-7-6-5-3. You start from the highest of the low cards and continue down in rank to determine the winning hand.

Again, you must use exactly two of your hole cards, combined with exactly three of the community cards, to qualify for any portion of the hand.

Omaha Hi-Lo Best Outcome: Scoopage

The most desirable of all end-results in this game is something called a "scoop."

A scoop happens when you can combine any two of your starting cards with any three of the board cards to make both the winning high hand and the winning low hand.

A good example of this would be an A-2-3-4-5 straight, where you are holding 2-5-K-K and the board shows a rainbow A-3-4-9-K. The best possible low also happens to be the best possible high (the nut straight) and you win the entire pot for yourself.

One more example of a scoop hand in Omaha Hi-Low or Omaha 8 would be a board of K-K-3-4-5 (rainbow; that is, not suited), where you hold K-K-A-2 as your hole cards. In this case, you would win the high with four-of-a-kind and the low with an A-2-3-4-5.

As the texture of the board changes, with the addition of the turn and the river cards, the two hole cards that you choose to use will also change. Perhaps you flopped a straight, but when the turn paired the board, you made a full house. Then, a third low came on the river, also giving you a good low hand and additional ways to win.

It's important to be able to recognize the many possibilities in this game; recognizing these possibilities is challenging at first and your brain may strain as you strive to figure out what your best hand is now and what it could be if you hit a card or two.

However, the pain can be worth the gain in this game, because as noted the pots can be tremendously large as more and more money comes into the pot, some players going for the high side, others for the low, and some for both the high and the low side.

Just make sure that you understand the rules of Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better well before you start betting significant dollars, because this game is complex enough for experienced players to handily exploit the ignorance of beginners.