What is Omaha and how do you play it? With Hold’em tables overflowing with players, many new players are heading over to the Omaha games. So with that in mind, here is a guide for getting started at Omaha and making sense of Omaha Hi-Lo as well.

So how on earth do you play Omaha Hi-Lo?

You’ve played a lot of Hold’em, given Stud a whirl and you love Go Fish – but this Omaha thing seems like madness! 4 cards but you can only play 2 of them?! Two different pots to win every hand? And what in God’s name does Pot Limit mean?

Here is a rundown of what Omaha is and how to play it. This article pre-supposes that you have played Hold’em and have a firm grasp on what’s going on there.

  1. Four but Really Two: Omaha (we are not talking about Omaha Hi-Lo yet, which is a different animal and which we will get to after “regular” Omaha) is and is not the same thing as Texas Hold’em only played with four hole cards instead of two. The community cards are the same, the betting structure is the same and you do in fact, have four hole cards. But the difference is that in Omaha you must play two and only two of your hole cards per hand while in Hold’em, you can play both, only one or none of them. You have to keep that in mind especially if you’ve been playing a lot of Hold’em – it is all too common to see someone who thinks they’ve made a straight in Omaha with a single card when in fact they have nothing.
  2. Pot Limit: Most Omaha is Pot Limit (as opposed to No Limit or Fixed Limit.) This is represented in most poker room lobbies by the letters “PL.” Pot Limit means that the biggest bet anyone can make is the size of the pot plus the big blind. So if the blinds are 5/10 and you are first to act then the biggest bet that you can make is 5 + 10 (the money in the pot already) + 10 (the big blind) for 25. The next bettor could then make this bet: 15 (the size of the pot before you had bet) + 25 (the size of the pot bet you made) + 10 (the big blind) for 50. Omaha is usually Pot Limit because No-Limit Omaha would be insane;  odds for outright victory in Omaha are ludicrously difficult to calculate and you’d end up with more people just plain gambling rather than playing intelligent poker. Regardless, if you are going to play Omaha then you are going to find the most action at Pot Limit tables.
  3. Hand Strength Pre-flop: You’ll hear this saying over and over in Omaha – “Look to make your draws in Omaha.” This should be your mantra and you should begin heeding it before the flop: you are looking for hands with multiple ways to make monsters so you need to take that into account when identifying your hand’s pre-flop strength. Hands like 9-10-J-Q are fantastic. Double suited hands or hands that look like AH 4H KS 4S are also fantastic. Let’s look at that hand: AH 4H KS 4S and break it down into different 2 card combinations (remember, you have to play two of them at a time so that’s how you should look at them.) First, you’ve got a suited Ace in A4 of Hearts which is a nut flush draw which is great. You’ve also got K4 of Spades which is a King High flush draw which is good but not great (you’ll be stunned at how often King High flushes run into Ace high flushes in Omaha.) Then you’ve got AK which is also good. And finally you’ve got a pair of fours which is good for set and full house hunting. So instead of seeing one hand that reads AH 4H KS 4S, you should see 4 hands that read Nut flush draw, King High flush draw, AK and a pocket pair. Four solid hands is very good as you’ve got four different ways to make a monster hand (top pair doesn’t win too often in Omaha – you need big hands to win) so you should almost assuredly be looking to see the flop.
  4. Hand Strength Post-flop: “Look to make your draws in Omaha.” The first thing you should see in an Omaha flop is what monster hands are possible and whether you have a piece of those possibilities. Top pair and overpairs are the Omaha equivalent of middle and bottom pairs in Hold’em – you can bet out, but in the end they just ain’t that much. You are looking for flush draws and straight draws and sets with special attention paid for wrap around straight draws on rainbow (3 different suits) flops. A wrap-around straight draw is a unique fixture of Omaha and is comprised of a straight draw using 3 or 4 of your hole cards. Say you are holding 6 7 9 J and the flop comes 5 8 10. You could make a straight with a 4 (4 5 6 7 8 ) with a 6 or 7 (6 7 8 9 10) with a 9 ( 7 8 9 10 J) and with a Q (8 9 10 J Q) – that is 5 different cards for 5/13 of the deck to give you a straight – a HUGE draw!

Now let’s add the Hi-Lo part and really, we’re only adding the Lo part. The Hi part is the exact same as “regular” Omaha – best hand wins. The Lo hand works as follows: any time five unpaired cards of any suit and each representing an 8 or less can be played together – a Lo hand is created. So this could be a hand like 8 7 5 4 2 or a hand like 7 6 3 2 A but not a hand like 9 7 5 3 2. The nut low is the wheel, A 2 3 4 5 as neither straights nor flushes count against the Lo. Whoever has the lowest Lo hand then gets half of the pot should the hand reach a showdown. The ranking of Lo hands goes as follows: first, the lowest big card wins (so A 2 3 4 5 beats A 2 3 4 6.) If multiple players have the same high card then the second lowest card wins (so A 2 3 4 6 beats A 2 3 5 6) and then it goes down to the third highest and so on. In the event of a tie for the Lo, then the Lo half of the pot is split in two (meaning that each winner of the Lo will be receiving ¼ of the original pot or half of half.) If there is no Lo hand possible (like on a board that reads K K Q 9 2 no one can make a Lo hand as no one can play five cards all 8 or lower simultaneously) then the whole pot goes to the winner of the Hi hand. You can win both the Lo and Hi hands as you are allowed to play in both at the same time with 2 different combinations of your hole cards ,so for example if you are holding A 2 K K and the board reads K K 3 4 5 you would have both quad Kings and the nut Lo at A 2 3 4 5 – you would win both halves of the pot, which is called “scooping the pot.” Let’s take a look at hand strength:

  1. Hand Strength Pre-Flop: “Look to make your draws in Omaha.” The same thing holds true for Hi-Lo – you are just looking to have a good Lo draw as well. The best possible pre-flop hand in Omaha Hi-Lo is something like AS 2S AH 3H. This gives you: a pair of Aces for sets/full houses, 2 different nut flush draws and the A2, A3 and 23 Lo and straight draws! So you can make the nut Lo on any board with 2 or 3 and 45 as well as pickup a nifty straight to play in the Hi hand as well. Remember that the idea is to scoop pots in Omaha Hi-Lo not just to split them. Hands that would be very strong in “regular” Omaha like 9 10 J Q are not as strong in HI-Lo because they do not have a Lo draw as well.
  2. Hand Strength Post-Flop: The most common mistake that people make in Omaha Hi-Lo is in combining a mediocre Hi hand and a mediocre Lo hand into a good hand. This is incorrect – you have two mediocre hands and should get out – they do not represent one decent shot at either half of the pot when combined. Furthermore, Lo hand draws are not worth as much as Hi hand draws. Why? Two reasons: First, Lo draws are double-edged. For example, say you are holding A2 and the flop is 4 5 K, if a 2 comes on the turn then you are screwed. Second, the Lo pot is often split. 4 different players can all be holding A2 and 1 guy can be holding 67 of Hearts. Say the board reads 3 4 5 K J with a Heart flush possibility. That would leave 4 players with the nut Lo and 1 guy with the Hi. That would leave 4 players to split half of the pot and 1 player to take the other half all to himself – not a very good deal with the 4 guys who each had the nuts. So you want to be really careful with Lo draws.

I know that Omaha can seem intimidating,– especially Hi-Lo. Think about it like a legal document – most people don’t really understand what’s going on because there are so many intricacies and possible interpretations. But those few who spend the time to identify all of the important aspects of Omaha gain infinite advantages over those who get overwhelmed and make uninformed decisions. Take the time to work out the nuts and bolts of Omaha – you’ll be glad that you did.

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