How does omaha hi lo work

If you have not done so already, please read the Omaha section before tackling this one. What's the low nuts? First Flag. The Poker Show. Our website uses cookies to make your experience on our website better. If you continue to use this website then we will assume you are ok with that. Then, a total of five community cards are dealt face up in the center of the table in three betting segments After all the cards are dealt the players make the best hand that they can by combining any two of their two hole cards with any three of the five community cards.

Using the illustration above, a player holding a jack and a four would end up with a full house, jacks over fours. If he is also holding a six and an ace, he would have a qualifying low hand of 8, 6, 5, 4, A.

Each player is then dealt a four card hand. Continuing in turn clockwise, all the players around the table either call, raise or fold. The big blind is then the last to act before any cards are turned up in the middle. The blinds are played in the first round only. The dealer turns three cards up in the center of the table.

This is the "Flop". As always, after the flop, the player at the left of the button is first to act. There are no more forced bets and the players can all check around if they want to. Finally the last, or "River" card is turned up. The players still in the contest reveal their hole cards and the highest hand wins the pot or splits with the lowest qualifying low hand. Of course, the ideal result is to win the high end with no split or have the cards to win both ways.

In Omaha High-Low the high hand winner must split the pot with the player with the best qualifying low hand. It only takes a minute to sign up. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. I have never really understood how the lo hand works. I understand that you have to have a qualifying lo hand but what does it take to qualify?

Is it the best low hand or the worst? Omaha Hi-Lo is also referred to as Omaha Eight-or-better. The nut best low hand is The Wheel. This is A Suits don't matter - a flushing hand is the same as a rainbow.

The worst qualifying low hand is The highest card in the hand counts 'first'. By that I mean that a hand such as A is worse than e. If the highest card is the same, we want the second highest to be lower, and so forth, e.

A will win over A Edit: I forgot to mention; a low hand can only have one card of each rank. A hand such as AA cannot play - only hands with 5 distinct ranks up to 8. If there is a tie for one or the other, those tying hands must split that half of the pot - e. In split pot games, the low hand generally has a qualifier 8 or better. This means that the low hand has to be at least as low as the qualifier. For 8 or better, the hand must be 5 different ranked cards less than or equal to 8.

In Omaha, the 5 cards can comprise a straight or flush and still count as a low - this is in contrast to games such as deuce to seven. As with the high hand in Omaha, the low hand must include 2 cards from the player's hand and 3 from the board. When there are more than 3 low cards on the board, "live" cards are often read out to clarify the winner.

In Omaha Hi-Lo , the best hand the Hi takes half the pot, and the worst hand the Lo takes half the pot assuming that there is a qualifying lo. A qualifying hand is one that is 8-high or worse if you cannot make a 5-card hand that is no better than 8 high, you cannot win the lo; in case of no qualifying lo, the high wins the entire pot.

High hand is as we all know according to the regular hand ranking. Low hand is considered 5 cards 8 or lower including the Ace with no pairs. Flushes and straights are not counted.