Omaha Poker: Best Strategy for Hi-Lo Games

Omaha Poker has become increasingly popular due to the excitement and action this game engenders. However, watching this game played in the World Series Of Poker, it becomes obvious that there is a lack of understanding of the strategic knowledge needed to win this game. I have seen people with two kings unsuited go into the pot as if this were a good hand. Likewise I have seen 2, 4, 7, 7 go in with the thought that they could go either high or low. This is just a poor choice and I will show you why.

Omaha Poker Basic Play and Rules

Omaha Poker tables generally seat nine or ten players. For a spit game with two winners you do not want to get into a game with fewer than nine players. Like Texas Hold'em the first round pocket cards are distributed to each player followed by a three card flop, a turn card and the river card. Like Texas Hold'em the five board cards are common to all players with just your hold cards giving you individuality. Unlike Texas Hold'em four cards are distributed to each player at the start of each game instead of just two.

The object is to make the best possible hand using two of your hold cards of the four you were given to make the best hand. Usually you must use two from your hold cards as a requirement. You cannot use one hold card with four from the board, nor can you use the board alone to make your hand as you can in Texas Hold'em Poker. It is very hard to get used to this difference. For example if the board has three Jacks and you have one Jack in your pocket (hold cards) you do not have quad Jacks. You're pocket Jack is virtually useless. If your hold cards are 8,8, J, A the best hand you can make is to use the three Jacks on the board and combine it with your pair of eights to make a full house. If another player has pocket aces they will easily beat your lower full house.

Strategy To Win A Omaha Poker Session

The lowest hand and the highest hand split the pot. The best low is a 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (also called a wheel) which cannot be beaten but can be tied by two or more players. The best high hand as usual is a royal flush. Sometimes a wheel being a small straight will win both low and high hands. However the winning high hands tend to run significantly higher than in Texas Hold'em. This is why I said pocket Kings which are unsuited is not a great starting hand. Two or even three kings are not likely to win the high hand. The fact is that in Omaha Poker a nut flush or a full house is usually the average winning hand as opposed to a high three of a kind in Texas Hold'em.

To win an Omaha Hi-Lo Poker game, always aim to get the high hand part of the split. This is because there is often no low hand winner and therefore you will get the whole pot. A low consists of two cards from your hold cards and three board cards all of which cannot be paired with your hold cards in order for there to be a low hand winner. No card higher than an eight can be used to make a low hand. If you hold an ace and three in your hand and there is an 8, 7, 6 on the board your low hand will be 1, 3, 6, 7, 8 which is a valid low hand. You can be beaten if another player is holding an ace and two since 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 is a lower hand than yours. No low hand winner situation is so common that it just doesn't make sense to shoot for a low hand.

The exception is when you have an ace or two in your hand suited with another low card. That way you can go for a low but end up with a nut flush if the low doesn't work out.

If I can get on a table with nine other players who shoot for low hands on a regular basis I could easily make a living playing this game and quitting my day job. So can you.