Look around any poker room today, especially in the higher limit section, and you’ll definitely find a game of Omaha Hi-Lo. The game is vastly different from Seven-Card Stud or Texas Hold’em as far as strategy is concerned, as it caters to a more conservative, mathematical approach, which allows less room for bluffing.
The rules are as follows.
The game is dealt just like Hold’em: a button, a small blind, and a big blind to initiate action. In Omaha Hi-Lo, however, each player is dealt four cards unlike the two cards that are dealt in Hold’em. From there, the play looks identical to Hold’em. There’s a three-card flop, followed by a round of betting, the turn, more betting, and finally the river and one last round of betting.
Now, this is important.
You must use exactly two cards from your hand plus any three of the community board to make your hand. So, even if four hearts are on the board, if you hold the Ah, you won’t actually have the flush unless you have a second heart in your hand.
The other important wrinkle to Omaha Hi-Lo is that it’s a split pot game. Half of the pot goes to the best high hand, and the best low hand wins the other half. In order for a low hand to qualify, it must consist of five unpaired cards that are eight or lower.
Remember, you must use two cards from your hand and three from the board.
So, for example, if your hand is A-2-K-J (a very powerful starting hand), and the final board reads 3-K-6-8-10, you’ll have a pair of kings as your high hand and will use your A-2 for the absolute best possible low hand.
It’s important to note that you can use any two cards for high, two different cards for low, or the same two cards for both high and low.
It is very possible and very common to scoop the whole pot by winning both the low and the high. Let’s say you have a hand like A-4-10-J and the final board reads 2-3-7-8-9. Well, in this case, you’d have what is known as the nut nut with the A-4 the best possible low hand (A-2-3-4-7), and J-10 the best possible high hand (7-8-9-10-J).
Omaha Hi-Lo may seem a little confusing at first, but you’ll soon get the hang of it.
I’m betting that you’ll get a kick out of this game too. When I play $4000-$8000 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, we play a variety of games, but Omaha Hi-Lo is always in the mix as it’s very popular with professional players.
Before I send you out there to play this game, let me give you a few pointers on what types of hands to play.
Obviously, with an ace being good for both high and low, it becomes an even more powerful poker card. In fact, some players live by the following rule — never leave the gate without one. For a beginning player, that’s not terrible advice.
You’ll want to start with premium hands since they’ll be much easier to play after the flop. A premium hand is one with low features that also has the potential to make high hands and scoop the pot. Hands that do extremely well in Omaha Hi-Lo include:
•As-Ah-2s-3h (the best possible starting hand)
• As-2s-Jc-10c
• Ah-2s-3h-4d
• Ac-Kc-2h-3d
These four are absolute monster starting hands.
What is it that they all have in common? For starters, they all contain an ace. Not only that, they also contain a deuce. The A-2 combination is particularly strong because anytime three low cards hit the board, you’ll lock up the low side of the pot, provided you don’t pair the ace or deuce. 3-6-7, 4-6-8, 3-5-7, 3-4-6, or 6-7-8 will all give you the nut low.
Now, mind you, those aren’t the only hands you should play. A-3-4-K, A-3-10-J, A-K-Q-J, and other combinations, are worth diving in with as well.
The hands you want to avoid, though, are the middle card combinations. 4-5-7-8, 5-5-7-9, 6-7-8-10 and the like all make for second best hands that will cost you lots of money. In Omaha Hi-Lo, stick with the premium hands and let your foolish opponents play the rags.
By Daniel Negreanu - Casino Buzz
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