Texas Hold’em may be the “Cadillac of Poker,” but players who have ventured beyond that Hold’em bubble find that Omaha presents exciting new challenges and opportunities. Omaha may be, then, the “Range Rover of Poker” for its ability to take players off the traditional Hold’em roads and into the world of four-card poker. Of all the Omaha poker variants, Omaha Hi Lo offers the most unique challenge, as you have to play two hands at the same time. Read on to find out how to play Omaha Hi Lo and pick up some top Omaha poker tips.  

Omaha Hi Lo Rules and Key Differences to Navigate

Omaha Hi Lo, which is sometimes written as Omaha High-Low or Omaha H/L, is basically Omaha with a twist. The main difference between regular Omaha and Texas Hold’em is that your Omaha starting hand consists of four hole cards, and your final Omaha five-card hand must consist of exactly two hole cards and three community cards. 

The Omaha Hi Lo twist is that you can play to win two different hands. The high hand works the same as a regular Omaha hand, in that the highest-ranked hand wins the pot. Conversely, the best low hand is the one with the lowest score. If there’s only one winning hand (high or low), the winner gets the whole pot. If there’s a winning high and winning low hand, the pot is split. If the same player holds the winning high and low hands, they get to keep all the money. The main challenge is to figure out which opponents may be gunning for high, low, or both, and act accordingly.  

To make things even more complicated, Omaha games frequently have more complicated betting structures than most Texas Hold’em tables. For a supreme test of your poker skills, learn how to play Pot Limit Omaha, then apply the betting structure to Omaha Hi Lo. 

Omaha Hi Lo Hand Rankings: Understanding the Best and Worst Hands

When it comes to the high end of the pot, poker hand rankings are the same for Omaha Hi Lo as for Texas Hold’em, from high card at the bottom to royal flush at the top of the charts. The Lo hand is a bit different. Only the lowest five cards count. They must all be different ranks and must be eight or below to qualify. 

The lowest card is the ace. Thus, the best low hand (known as a “wheel”)  is 5-4-3-2-A, and the worst is 8-7-6-5-4. Pairs, trips, flushes, straights, and so on, are disregarded. What makes a wheel so powerful is that it also counts as a five-high straight for the high hand. Furthermore, the ace is twice as important in Omaha Hi Lo, as it’s the best card for both the low side and the high end of the pot. 

Taking all these factors into consideration, it becomes clear that the best starting hands are those with the best chance of taking both ends of the pot. The very best starting hand are the so-called “suited babies” – small suited cards with a suited ace. These hands can give you the “low nuts” plus the opportunity to take the high side with a flush or top pair.  A pair of aces suited with two small cards is a real monster. 

Omaha Hi Lo Strategy & Tips to Succeed in Split Pot Games

No amount of Omaha poker tips can substitute for experience, but here are some basic guidelines for beginners to follow. 

1. Know When to Fold

It’s important to know that Omaha Hi Lo favors the highest value hands. As a result, you have to be able to realize when you have a weak hand and fold accordingly. If the flop doesn’t put you ahead, get out of the pot. 

2. Leave Your Bluff at Home

Bluffing counts for very little at an Omaha Hi Lo table, where strong hands reign supreme. Any skilled player who bets in is likely to have a high-value combination. There are some specific situations where bluffing can be relevant, but it takes a great deal of experience to grasp them, so bet on your holdings until you’ve played enough hands. 

3. Keep Your Opponents in the Pot

Don’t fall for the temptation to raise early when dealt a strong hand such as A-A-2-3 double-suited. You will only commit money and scare off opponents before you even see the flop. Instead, try to keep as many opponents in the game as you can. That way, you stand a chance to grow a juicy multi-way pot and realize the full potential of your hand.

Is Omaha a Form of Hold’em?

Technically, yes, Omaha is a form of Hold’em. Omaha Hold’em is its official name, though most people simply refer to it as Omaha. In fact, when poker pro and poker room host Robert Turner first brought the idea for the game to the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas, Poker Room Manager Bill Boyd offered it as Nugget Hold’em. Later, renaming it Omaha Poker broadened its appeal to other card rooms.

Omaha and Texas Hold’em share the basic format of using a mixture of hole cards (hidden cards for each player’s eyes only) and community cards (five cards dealt face-up on the table) to create the best five-card poker hand. The betting rounds for both games are the same as well.

Omaha and Hold’em have several important differences.

• Each player receives four hole cards in Omaha, as compared to two in Hold’em, to start a hand.
• Players must use exactly two of their hole cards to create a five-card hand in Omaha, whereas Hold’em has no such requirement.
• The most popular betting variant of Omaha is Pot Limit – PLO (Pot Limit Omaha), while Hold’em most often uses No Limit or Limit Hold’em to define betting limits.

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