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Omaha Hi Lo rules and tips
Omaha is a form of Hold 'Em. First you'll receive four cards face down prior to the flop and you must use two cards from your hand combined with three cards from the board to form your best five-card poker hand. Omaha is a nine-card poker game that uses a dealer button and blinds as in Texas Hold 'Em. The play begins with four cards dealt face down to each player. Action starts with the first player to the left of the blinds beginning the betting. Players may bet, check, raise, or fold in turn.
Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better) is very similar to Omaha, except the pot is split 50-50 between the best High Hand and the best qualifying Low Hand. Each player receives 4 cards dealt face down (pocket cards), while 5 cards (known as the board cards) are dealt face up on the table. All players play with their best 5 cards but must use 2 out of 4 pocket cards in combination with exactly 3 out of 5 common board cards for the High Hand, and may use a different combination of 2 out of 4 pocket cards and 3 out of 5 common board cards for their best Low Hand.
A Low Hand must be high card "8 or better" to qualify. To be eligible to win the Low, the highest card must be a 5, 6, 7, or 8. The winning Low Hand (8 or better) is determined firstly by the player with the lowest High card. Upon a tie with the High card, the hand goes to the player with the next lowest High card. Any hand that is high card 9 or higher cannot qualify as a Low Hand. If there is no qualifying Low Hand then the High Hand wins 100% of the pot.
Quick summary.
Omaha is similar to hold’em in using a three-card flop on the board, a fourth boardcard, and then a fifth boardcard. Each player is dealt four holecards (instead of two) at the start. In order to make a hand, a player must use precisely two holecards with three boardcards. The betting is the same as in hold'em. At the showdown, the entire four-card hand should be shown to receive the pot.Remember !! two and only two of the hole cards can be used in making the final hand.
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Omaha Rules
Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better) can be played with as few as 2 players, and with as many as 10 players. Card rooms throughout the world generally set 8, 9 or 10 players as a maximum per table.
Small Blind Big Blind: The small and big blinds are forced bets used to create action from the first two players sitting to the left of the dealer button (also known as "the button"). These 2 players put chips into the pot before the cards are dealt. The small blind is one-half of the big blind and the big blind is always the value of a small bet.For example in a game with stakes of $2/£2-$4/£2, the player to the immediate left of the button (the "small blind") puts $1/£1 into the pot. The player to the left of the small blind (the "big blind") puts $2/£2 into the pot. The one exception occurs when there are only 2 players playing. In this scenario the player who is the button is the small blind and the other player is the big blind.
Start of the Game.Betting Round 1
The small and big blinds are posted by the 2 players to the immediate left of the button. Each player is then dealt four cards that only he can see. These 4 cards are called the pocket cards. Starting with the player to the immediate left of the big blind, and moving clockwise, each player has the option of either folding (mucking his hand), calling (keeping his hand and matching the current bet) or raising (increasing the bet by an amount of at least as much as the previous bet). If no one has raised by the time the action gets back to the big blind, the player in the big blind has the option to raise or check.
The Flop.Betting Round 2
After the first betting round, the dealer turns three cards face up on the board. This is the flop. Players may check or bet. Checking means that play passes on to the next player. If a bet is made, the next player must either call the bet, raise, or fold and discontinue playing in that specific hand. Checking is no longer an option once a bet is made.
The Turn.Betting Round 3
The dealer turns the fourth card, called the turn card, face up on the table. A round of betting follows, only this time players must bet the higher tier in a structured game. For example in a $2/£2-$4/£4 game you must bet or raise in $4/£4 increments.
The River.Betting Round 4 A fifth, and final card called the river is turned face up on the table. There is a final round of betting, which is conducted under the same betting guidelines as the turn.
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The Showdown After all the above action is complete, there is a showdown. All the active players (those who still have cards) show their hands. The last player to bet/raise shows his cards first; the next player clockwise will show his cards second (unless it's a losing hand - he then has a choice to show or muck his cards). This will continue until the last player's cards are shown or mucked. If all the active players check on the river, then the first player to the left of the button will show his cards first and the showdown will continue in a clockwise direction. If there is a side pot, the players involved in the side pot will show their hands first under the same guidelines as above. The hand belonging to the winner of the side pot is then compared in a clockwise direction to all the hands involved in the main pot. High hand wins 50% and low hand wins 50%. If there is no qualifying low hand, then the high hand wins 100% (all of the pot). There are no wild cards. The final poker hand is made up of the best five cards, using exactly 2 out of 4 pocket cards and exactly 3 out of 5 board cards for high as well as low. After the showdown, the button is moved one player to the left, marking the new dealer's position. The blinds are now posted by the 2 players to the immediate left of the dealer button, and a new game begins.
When players first sit down to play, they will be required to post the equivalent of the big blind only once or they have the option to "sit out" until it is their natural turn to post the big blind. This rule is in place to ensure game fairness to all players, as it prevents the possiblility of players entering games in late position and then leaving before they are required to post the big blind.
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Omaha Strategy
The strategy guidelines for Omaha run into the dozens because of the number of cards in play and the two from four rule. To make a long story short, it's generally advised that you stay in, if your hole cards integrate well that is, they form the beginnings of several good hands and get rid of them if they don't. Remember, four to a flush in the hole is useless because you only get to keep two of them.This is the same with the community cards. There is no point to betting on cards you can't keep so remember: two hole cards, three community cards, no exceptions. Watch out for busted hands in the initial deal: two cards might start a straight and the others a flush, but there's no crossover in that you can't recombine the cards to form yet another hand, like a straight flush for instance. If you begin with an Ace and 2 in your hand, you have an unbeatable low unless an Ace or 2 comes up on the board. When going for low, beware of having your cards pair on the board! This can turn a huge favorite into an underdog. If you have the two lowest cards that are not on the board, you have an unbeatable low (unless four cards 5 or lower are on the board, which is very rare). Be careful of raising with the best low hand: if another player also has the best low, you have to split the low end of the pot with him, which often means you lose money by putting more bets into the pot. Your high hands will usually have to be better to win the pot than in Texas Hold Em, with three suited cards on the board, you will usually need a flush to win, and with a pair on board, a full house is usually needed. If your opponents are raising, try to figure out whether they’ve been representing a low hand or high hand up to this point. You can often salvage half a pot with a mediocre hand if your opponent is betting a hand that can only go one way.Finally, don't stay in hoping things will get better. If the flop goes against you, muck out because if those three cards haven't helped you the chances are that nothing else will. The smart money says keep your chips for the next hand.
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