Omaha Hi Lo Poker Strategy
In Omaha multitable tournaments, it’s important to use an Omaha Hi-Lo poker tournament strategy. This can help you to go deep into the tournament, and to successfully reach many more final tables. You’ve essentially got to balance premium starting hands with a solid understanding of how low hands work in this game. Omaha Hi Lo 8b Strategy Omaha Hi Lo (also known as Omaha 8 or Omaha Eight or Better) is a “split pot” version of the popular Omaha poker game. In this version of the game, there are two winning hands in each round: the high winner and the low winner. Omaha Hi-Lo is a poker game that uses community cards – These are cards that all players at the table can use in conjunction with their own hole cards, which in the case of Omaha Hi-Lo Poker is 4. The aim of the game, as with any poker game, is to make the best possible 5 card poker hand. An Example of an Omaha Hi-Lo Split-8-or-Better Poker Hand Let's say a hand of Omaha hi-lo goes to showdown with the final board reading A ♦ 6 ♣ 3 ♠ K ♦ Q ♦. You hold A ♣ K ♠ 7 ♦ 4.
Getting Ahead at Omaha Hi Lo Poker
Getting ahead in Omaha Hi Lo is not difficult because, in spite of the popularity of the game, not many people play it that well. There is very little strategy to learn in Omaha Hi Lo Poker because the game is more odds-focused than Texas Hold´em and the cards that players are dealt will determine what their betting action should be.
As with every other form of poker, Omaha Hi Lo strategy takes third place behind understanding the betting actions of the other players on the table in relation to the position in the betting action that a player is in (you can read more about being the last player to act on our ‘Blinds, Dealing and Betting’ page).
Identifying that an opponent makes a certain size raise when they have a particularly strong hand – or limps into a pot when they have a speculative hand – will give a player in ‘position’ an edge on that opponent when it comes to make a betting decision.
The DO of Omaha Hi Lo Poker
The ‘DO’ of Omaha Hi Lo poker is ‘D’ for Discipline and ‘O’ for Outs. Profitable Omaha Hi Lo poker is a very boring game, as players should only get involved in pots that they have a very strong likelihood of winning. Whereas in Texas Hold´em poker players can justifiably limp into a hand with suited connectors and small pairs, that sort of speculative hand in Omaha Hi Lo will cost players a lot of money!
Being aware of the number of outs a hand has is also essential. If a player knows that his or her hand has 22 outs after the flop, and there are 45 ‘unseen’ cards which could be dealt on the Turn or River, he or she has an almost even money chance of improving their hand. The decision to continue in the hand or not can then be made depending on how much money that player has to pay to remain in the hand in relation to their chances of winning it (also known as ‘pot odds’).
Playing only the strongest hands and acting on them with the knowledge of how likely they are to be successful is not ‘sexy poker’ or very much fun, but it is the only way to consistently win money playing Omaha Hi Lo.
The Dont of Omaha Hi Lo Poker
The big ‘don´t’ of Omaha Hi Lo poker is don´t get sucked into to playing badly on a loose table just because everybody else is. There are times when it is appropriate to bet on a hand which does not have a good chance of winning (see our page on ‘Winning Omaha Hi Lo Secrets’) or when it is established that the next players to act are likely to fold under pressure.
However, as we mentioned at the top of this page, Omaha Hi Lo Poker is a game that not a lot of players play well. By getting too involved in a loose game of Omaha Hi Lo (which is admittedly more fun) players are likely to enjoy fewer winning sessions and even see the standard of their game deteriorate to a point where they are relying on luck, rather than skill and Omaha Hi Lo strategy, to win pots.
The final piece of advice on this strategy and tactics page is don´t go crazy with A2xx. A2 on its own is no better than a viable starting hand (more about this on our page about ‘Omaha Hi Lo Starting Hands’) and the ‘xx’ cards in A2xx should have some chance of winning the hand by themselves before a player commits themselves to a pot.
Posted by Evans Clinchy, February 10, 2015
If you’ve spent some time dabbling in various poker games, you’ve no doubt learned the basics of Omaha – you get four hole cards, share five community cards, and form the best five-card hand possible using two from your hand and three from the board. But Omaha Hi Lo is a much trickier game. You’re playing for a split pot, with half the money going to the best hand and the other half to the lowest five cards (with 8 being the highest possible value of those 5 cards).
It’s a complex game to be sure, but if you spend some time brushing up on Omaha Hi Lo advanced strategy, you might find that playing the game at the top level is a lot of fun – and mighty profitable, too! Professional poker player Sammy Farha has won two Omaha Hi Lo bracelets at the World Series of Poker, earning almost $900,000. You could follow in his footsteps.
Strategy For Omaha Hi Lo Poker
Here are a few tips on playing Omaha Hi Lo like the pros.
Play for the Nuts
The golden rule of high-level Omaha Hi Lo is this: if you’re in the pot, you want to have the best possible hand. If you flopped a draw to the lowest possible straight, don’t bother sticking around. Your hand might get there, but you still could lose to the higher straight, wasting a whole lot of money in the process. Since everyone’s holding four cards, there’s that much more of a chance that everyone’s got something decent, so you shouldn’t mess around with suboptimal holdings. Even if you’re holding A-3 and thinking you’ve got a good shot at winning the low half of the pot, someone else is likely to have A-2, especially at a full table. Countless players have gone broke in Omaha Hi Lo with the second-best hand.
Embrace Drawing Hands
By the showdown you want to have the best hand, but on earlier streets you should learn to love playing with a draw. If you have K-5-4-3 and the flop comes A-2-J, you don’t have anything yet, as you can only use two cards from your hand, so you haven’t made a straight or a low. However, if the turn brings any three, four, five, six, seven, or eight, then, all of a sudden you’re in business. You might even actually be a favorite post-flop against an opponent with a made hand, even though all you currently have is king high! Bet with confidence.
Even Made Hands Are Risky
Omaha Hi Lo Poker Strategy
Keep in mind, though, that even if you’ve made your hand, you’re still not bulletproof. You might hit your straight, but your opponent could still have outs for a flush. Maybe you turned the flush, but the guy to your left with trips still has redraws to hit a full house. You could have the nut low with A-2, but if the river brings a deuce, then your low is “counterfeited” and your opponents with A-3 will “suddenly” have you beat. Perhaps your low will indeed be the nuts but someone else at the table also has the same hand, so instead of winning half the pot, you just get a quarter. Bottom line: Even with a great hand, you might be in trouble.
Be Ready to Gamble
Omaha Hi-lo Poker Strategy
The beauty – and at the same time, terror – of Omaha Hi Lo is that it’s a game of variance. When you’re risking a lot of money on drawing hands and your opponents are doing the same, you’re going to see some crazy swings in luck. You might find yourself winning and losing more in a single session than you ever did playing Texas Hold’em. But hey, that’s part of the game’s appeal. If you’re ready to get in there and gamble, Omaha Hi Lo might be the right game for you.
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