by Mary Ashton
Thursday ,7 Jan 2010
A common mistake in Omaha Hi/Lo is to neglect the low and only win half the pot, here you can learn how to avoid this and earn double the money.
There are many forms of split-pot poker games but the one that has really taken off is Omaha Hi/Lo. Like every split pot game, the idea is to win both sides of the pot in one hand; however, to do this, players need to understand how the low side of the hand is won.
In Omaha Hi/Lo the low hand is not affected by straights and flushes, this means that the best low hand is 5432A (called the wheel). It is important to remember that a low hand is counted from the highest card down, this means that a player with 7432A would lose to 6432A.
Let’s look at an example to better understand:
• Player 1 has A2Q8
• Player 2 has J632
• The board has JA457
• Thanks to the flop player 1 has the nut-low (the lowest possible hand)
• However, the turn produced and Ace which means that every player could have a low.
• This means that Player 2 has 5432A low, beating player 1 and hence he wins the entire pot.
The trick to winning is to have a good starting hand. Your hand needs to be flexible enough to win the entire pot. Generally in Omaha Hi/Lo a player who is prepared to wait patiently for a good starting hand will win the most overall.
The strongest starting hand is double suited or similar such as AA23. Be cautious if your hand consists of an Ace and a 3 as you stand to lose a considerable amount if one of your opponents makes a nut-low. The Ace is undoubtedly the strongest card as it can work in two ways – to construct both a high hand and a low hand.
During the flop be careful about drawing to complete a low hand. If the flop produces something like A5K then it is not a good idea to draw unless you have 23xx. It is possible to win a lot of money from players who draw to a non nut-low hand. It is also not wise to draw for a running low. If you’re hand contains A2xx then you will hoping to make the nut-low. However, if 8KQ appears on the flop then you are reliant upon drawing to finish the hand and only win half the pot. In these circumstances it is always best to fold.