Omaha High Low

To make a winning combination in Omaha High Low you should create a poker combination consisting of 5 cards where the highest card in it should be not higher than 8. On order to create a low hand combination one may use an Ace as the smallest card (the Ace may be both the highest and the lowest card to help you making the corresponding combinations), Straight and Flush aren't counted as low combinations here.

According to the abovementioned, it's rather easy to guess that the best hand in Omaha High Low consists of 5-4-3-2-Ace. And again, keep that in mind, the Straight and Flush are not counted here. Or even in case all your 5 cards will wear the same suit (all hearts for instance), and if the Flush is not counted, yes, this will be the ideal combination for Omaha High Low. And you must also remember that any pair here will count as high. So in that case, 2-2-4-5-A will not make a "low" combination.

When none of the players managed to create a low hand, a player with the highest hand wins. On the contrary, when there are two players, one with the highest hand and the other with the lowest one will split the bank. In rare cases the player with both possible combinations in a single hand will take both High and Low parts of the bank. In a course of this game a player is expected to make the high hand first and only then (when it's possible) create a low hand. And the same rule acts for the showdown: the highest hand winner is determined the first.

How to play in Omaha High Low?

The game is played almost the same way as Texas Hold'em with the only one difference: By the time of showdown High and Low combinations divide the pot. If the Low combination has not been approved, then the High combination wins the entire pot.

Omaha High Low Strategies

Unlike Texas Hold'Em, the players have here more cards to play. Those who do not have at least basic strategy for Omaha High/Low, then this game may come at a high cost for them. High cost factor increases when less number of players fold their cards at the beginning of the game.

Omaha High Low Strategy - Remember 2+3

For evaluating your potential combination correctly, you must always keep in mind that only two out of your four cards are needed to form a combination with only three out of 5 cards on the table. This rule is highly important to remember in order to recognize the possible strong hand. On the other hand in case you do not pay special attention to it, in a course of the game your hand may appear higher than you expected. Always specify your combination with the 2+3 format.

Omaha High Low Strategy Nuts Low

First of all let us give the definition of the "Nuts low". To have a Nuts low hand means to have the strongest possible combination. The newbie players may not define it right away for the first time, though it's quite easy and which is more important, it's rather essential to know in order to win in Omaha High Low. Here is a small tip for you to remember for convenience of reference: «Nuts Low» is «2+3». It means in case two of your four cards in your hole cards are deuce (2) and Ace - you're holding a Nuts Low combination. But you should also keep an eye on the community (board cards, cards on the table) cards, as three of them consisting of 8 and lower and cards with no pair will be added to your deuce and Ace and form the lowest possible combination right in your hand. Another favorable outage for you will be created by Deuce and 3 and Ace on the table. As in a course of the game two more community cards will be added, like 8 or low and a couple of no-pair low cards - you'll certainly have the Nuts low. In this case we highly recommend you to raise the bets as in this situation you have some rather high chances to take at least the Low hand pot.

Omaha High Low Strategy Nuts Flush

As you must have already guessed, the best possible Nuts Flush combination is a Flush. All the players should know how to distinguish Nuts Flush at least for the purpose of getting obviously closer to the pot. Take a look at this example:

Your hole cards: 2c - Ac

The community cards: Dc - 9c - 7c.

As most of your opponents are likely to have the Flush hearts, you may keep calm as you know you've got the highest possible Flush - Nuts Flush. Being able to recognize this kind of combination may significantly improve your situation in the game and help you define your further bets volume.

Omaha High Low Strategy Your odds vs. The Odds of Your Opponent

Ideally you should know how to define the best possible combination of your opponent and if there are three cards of the same suit on the table. You must realize that in such situation at least one of your opponents may theoretically have a Flush. In this case if you are 100% sure your hand is not strong enough to beat a Flush - you must fold. On the other hand in case the community cards on the table form a light Straight as 3-4-6-8-9, it will get much better in case you are having at least Straight or a hand strong enough to beat it, on the contrary - you'd better fold.

In the mentioned example 3-4-6-8-9, there are at least 5 ways to form a Straight with two of your hole cards and 3 community cards out of 5 on the table:

• 2-3-4-5-6
• 3-4-5-6-7
• 4-5-6-7-8
• 5-6-7-8-9
• 6-7-8-9-10

Of course these examples may seem somewhere between science fiction and facts, though they clearly demonstrate the necessity of the player's high attention to the possible cards of the opponents.

Omaha High Low High Hands Strategy – Winning Hands

As this game involves a great deal of winning combinations, be ready to the fact that the number of them will seriously exceed the number of possible combinations in Texas Hold'em. So be sure to understand that Three of a Kind or a Pair are far no those combinations that often win in Omaha, so you should make your choice here.

Common mistakes in Omaha

One of the most usual first players' mistakes is that they are messed with defining the value of the starting hand after receiving their hole cards. That happens for the reason that most of them have discovered the poker world while playing in Texas Hold'em and that makes them overestimate their high cards while playing in Omaha poker.

For example a pair of Aces would have seemed a pretty strong combination for the PF (pre-flop), while it often appears to be the no-winning one when the flop doesn't show the third Ace.

Another vivid new players' mistake is an uncontrollable raise in case of a high pair right after the deal. Such evident raises are usually easily predicted by the experienced players who tend to draw parallels between bets and raises while waiting for the strong card in the flop.

Another obvious mistake is the low skilled self-evident attempts to bluff. Moreover this is one of those mistakes that may become a pure disaster when most of the players will reveal this bluff by drawing the analogy between the previous bets and raises and so the bluff will just remain unreasonable. So here is the small tip for the new Omaha poker players: keep your fair name and try to avoid bluffing until you feel secure enough for your defined strategy.

When switching from Texas Hold'em to Omaha, some new players will obviously to notice the parallel between the usual volume of the traditional Hold'em and Omaha High-Low's pot which tend to be well above. While most of players fold just after the flop when playing in Texas Hold'em, Omaha players with 4 hole cards in hands along with a vast number of odds will unlikely fold their cards after the first deal.

Another common mistake for the new players is not folding their cards with Nuts (the highest possible hand at the moment) after the flop. For instance you happened to get Nuts after the flop, let's say it was high Straight with Ace. So what happens next? The players will raise until it's your turn to make a decision. And when the players are obvious to make a bet rather than waiting for a Flush, your best decision will be folding your cards and pick your better moment.

Common mistakes in Omaha

Pot limit is a kind of Omaha poker, which is also known as PL. This means that any bets or raises in a course of this kind of game are to match the amount in the pot. The max bet in the first betting round should be equivalent to the sum of the Small and the Big Blinds. For instance, pot limit with the amount of 1 GEL/ 2 GEL in Omaha game will start with 1 GEL Small Blind and 2 GEL Big Blind. By this time the player places a bet, except for the Blinds, pot comprises GEL 3, which is a maximum bet. Let’s say, the player makes a bet with the amount of 3 GEL. Now the other player watches 6 GEL - pot. He may match the bet or raise it up to 6 GEL.

Omaha

Omaha is a Texas Hold’em variation played almost identically with the only exception – the player is dealt 4 hole cards dealt face down instead of two as in Texas Hold’em.

These 4 cards are combined with the 5 common cards in order to compose the best 5-card combination, but a player has to use 2 out of his 4 dealt cards.

Remember, it’s highly important to keep in mind this fact, as in case you don’t, you are likely to have some troubles with cards volume definition. Take a look at this vivid example:

Your hole cards are: 5h – 10s – Jd – Ad.

The community cards are: 3d – 4d – 6c – 7c – Kh.

You may get surprised but here, neither you will make the Flush with Ace high and nor the Straight with 3-4-5-6-7. In this specific case, the only best combination to happen is a hand with Ace high.

Omaha Poker - Main Game

The game is played almost identically to Texas Hold’em, so if you are not sure in your skills, you should go back and read that part once again.

You should keep in mind 2 dealt cards at an initial stage (hole cards).

Texas Hold’em

Let’s start by defining how the Fixed Limit Texas Hold ’em is played. Here we’ll also describe the difference between Pot Limit and No-Limit poker.

Fixed Limit

In a Fixed Limit game, the bets (as the name implies) are made out of fixed amounts, and you cannot go beyond these limits. For instance, in case you are playing a GEL 2/GEL 4 table, then the first two betting rounds - The Pre-Flop as well as the Flop – will have a bet size of GEL 2, which will be doubled with the amount of GEL 4 after Flop. The table volume will be changed among 2, 6 and 10 players.

Dealer Button & Blinds

The game starts with a single card being dealt to each player. The player with the highest card shown is appointed as the Dealer Button. Each subsequent hand starts with a player receiving the dealer button which is passed clockwise round the table after each play. The cards are dealt clockwise starting with the person sitting next to the dealer.

Prior to The Flop, two Blind Bets are made in order to create an initial pot. The blind bets are made by two players sitting to the dealer's left. The player sitting next to the Button, posts (bets) the amount of the Small Blind. This is set as a half of the lower table limit. The player sitting next to small blind posts the Big Blind. If you bet GEL 2/GEL 4, then Small Blind posts GEL 1 and Big Blind posts GEL 2 in the pot.

Pre-Flop

Each player receives two face-down cards (also called Hole Cards, Pocket Cards). The person sitting to the left of the Big Blind position is the first one to act. In this round, he has three options. He can Call, Raise or Muck. If he mucks, as already mentioned, he throws his hand away, and the action passes to the next player on the left. If the player posts the bet or raises it, then the rest of the players must match or raise the bet in order to continue playing in the next round. If you plat at GEL 2/GEL 4 table, then the players must have posted a bet with the amount of GEL 2 and raised it up to GEL 4.

The action continues clockwise around the table, until it reaches the Blinds position. The blinds should raise or match the bet, but after they have already bet an amount into the pot, they don’t have to always add any money to the pot. Small Blind must necessarily bet an amount equal to the half of the lower limit in order to continue playing, when the big blind may declare check until anyone has already raised the bet (since the player has already posted a bet to the pot).

If pot was increased as a result of posting or raising the initial bet, then the player, who places or raises the first bet, must match it by adding the raised amount. If a player bets GEL 2 and another player raises it up to GEL 4, then the first player matches the bet and posts the bet with the amount of GEL 2 in order to continue the game. In a fixed limit one may raise 4 bets maximum inn each round when placing the bet (Raise, Re-raise, Cap). In case you play at a GEL2/GEL4 table, the bet for the first two rounds is GEL 8, the further two rounds - GEL16.

If anyone raises the bet and no other player matches it, then the player wins the pot and the current hand is over.

After finishing Pre-flop round the bets made by the players are gathered in the middle of the table.

The Flop

The dealer deals three face-up cards on the table. These cards are traditionally called the Community Cards or the Board Cards and, as the name implies, these cards are shared by all players at the table to help complete their poker hands. When the community cards are dealt, the first person required to make a decision is the player to the left of the Dealer Button. Usually this is the person in the Small Blind position, but in case the latter has mucked, then the next player is the first one to start the action. This player can either check or bet. The action then continues until each player has had a chance to check, call (if there has been a bet or raise), raise or muck. Once there is a bet or raise, each player must match the made bet, re-raise or muck for the action to continue. It is usual for all players to check during a round. In this case, no money would be added into the pot, and the round would be over.

The end of the round comes once all the players have called (or mucked), and have bet an equal amount.

The Turn

The dealer places a fourth face up community card right to the first three cards on the table. Third round of betting gets started and is played with the format similar to Flop. Now the bets are doubled. Then the action is carried on around the table until the players are given a chance to act.

The River

The final community card on the table. Each player now has seven cards in total: (their two hole cards and five community cards on the table). The final round of betting gets started. Since everyone has fold the cards and two or more players are left, the players disclose their combination (“Showdown”). The player, who has posted the final bet, shows his hand the first and then, the remained players show their combination by turn. The player may fold in case the combination shown by the other player is better than his one. The high-rank cards take a win over the game.

Limitless

Limitless is played in a similar way as Fixed Limit, but the volume and amount of raise is limitless. You may post the bet by your entire amount (even prior to viewing the community cards).

Pot Limit:

Pot limit is played in the same way as “Limitless”, but maximum amount of the bet equals to the current pot.

Note:

The best hand in Poker is formed via combination of the hole and community cards. Sometimes the community cards form the best combination by themselves.

The betting round is considered to be over when the all the players have already acted and posted the equal amount into the pot.

None can drop you out of a hand by means of placing a bet in Texas Hold’em. If you have started playing and you are run out the wagering amount you will always be able to reach the “Showdown”.

In the fixed limit the bet is doubled after the round of posting first two bets.

In “Limitless, you may place amount as much as you want.

In “Pot Limit”, you cannot enter the amount which is bigger than your pot.