Rules of Omaha Hi-Lo Poker

There is not much difference between the Omaha Hi/Lo games and traditional Omaha. The departure lies in the strategic changes. Two winning hands come up in each game with the strongest and weakest hands splitting the pot.

As in the normal Omaha games, each player in Omaha Hi/Lo commences with four pocket cards put face down keeping five other community cards with their face up. Winning had should contain two pocket and three community cards. The highest and lowest hands split the pot.

Low hand does not mean only carrying the lowest points. According to the rules of Omaha Hi/Lo games, such hand cannot have any card above the “8”. Peculiarly, the Aces count as the highest as well as the lowest card. Therefore the best low sequences are “5-4-3-2-A”. In traditional Omaha, that is a “straight” but in Hi/Lo low hands are not affected by straights or flushes.

The result is quite interesting. The same sequence could make your hand both highest and lowest in a game and you can win the entire pot then. Because in this case your straight flush will make you the highest hand in the particular game. At the same time since flush does not affect the low hands, it will make you the lowest possible hand as well. Result? You win the whole pot.

In case none of the hands qualify as lowest hand, the highest hand takes the entire pot.

The bid and raise amounts in game rooms including online casinos are mostly pre-set. For example, if the game has betting rate of $5/$10, then the fist two rounds will have betting rate of $5 and next two rounds $10. In a pot limit game, the highest limit is the amount in the pot and bid cannot be more than that.

Of course, in the no limit games there are no betting limits.