How to Play Omaha Hi Lo

High Ranking Poker Hands

High ranking poker hands are the normal standard hands from the poker hand rankings that are used in most poker variations and in the standard version of Omaha.  The highest being a Royal Flush and lowest being just a high card.

Low Ranking Poker Hands

A low hand must contain five different cards that are all numbered eight or lower for it to qualify.

Straights and Flushes are ignored but Pairs or Three of a Kind are no good and cannot be counted. For more detailed information see our guide to low poker hand rankings.

The best low hand you can get is 5-4-3-2-A and the worst qualifying low hand is 8-7-6-5-4.  The hand is always counted down from the highest card so if some one had 8-7 low against some one with 8-6 low, it does not matter how the other three cards run the 8-6 low will win.

For a low hand to qualify all the cards in a players five card hand (made up of three community cards and two cards from the players hole cards) must be numbered 8 or lower.  If even one card is numbered 9 or higher a low hand is not possible.

The Six Stages of a Omaha Hi Lo Poker Hand

A Omaha Hi Lo poker hand is played in a identical way to a standard Omaha hand.

For a more detailed explanation of the stages then read our How to Play Omaha Poker guide or see below for a summarised version.

Stage 1 – The Dealer Button and “Blind” Bets

The dealer button is a marker that goes around the table in a clock wise rotation one position per hand.  The dealer button marks out who will post the blinds and who will act first in each betting round through out the hand.

The blinds are chips put into the pot before any cards are dealt so there are always chips to win with every hand.  The player sat directly to the left of the dealer button will put in the small blind and the player to his left will put the big blind into the pot.  The big blind is usually double the amount of the small blind.  As the dealer button works its way around the table everyone takes a turn in posting the blinds.

Stage 2 – “Hole” Cards

Once the blinds have been put into the pot each player will receive four hole cards face down.

A round of betting then takes place with the player sat to the left of the big blind being the first to act.

Each player has three options:

1. Fold – the player’s cards are thrown away and he will take no further part until the next hand.
2. Call – the player puts in an equal amount of chips to the big blind amount or the a higher amount if anyone has raised acting before him.
3. Raise – the player bets a higher amount than the current bet. All players who want to remain in the hand must now match this amount or raise it again themselves.

The betting will continue around the table until everyone left in the hand has put the same amount of chips into the pot.

Stage 3 – The “Flop”

After the first round of betting has finished the dealer will lay out three community cards face up onto the table,  these three cards are called the Flop.

The next round of betting starts after this and from this point onwards all rounds of betting will start with the player first to the left of the dealer button.

This time the first player to act can either Check (make no bet), or Bet and everyone has those options unless some one bets. If anyone does bet then the options open to each remaining player changes to either Fold, Call, or Raise.

The betting will continue around the table until all players have put in an equal amount of chips, if all players decide to check then nobody has to put chips into the pot to continue and the next stage of the hand comes about.

Stage 4 – The “Turn”

The fourth community card is dealt face up onto the table, this card is called the Turn card.

Another round of betting will start until all players have either checked or have put in equal amount of chips into the pot.

Stage 5 – The “River”

The River card is the fifth and last community card to be dealt face up onto the table.  At this point players will know what high hand they have and also if they have a qualifying low hand.

Based on this information a last round of betting will start.  If all players check or have put equal amount of chips into the pot we move onto the showdown.

Stage 6 – The “Showdown”

The showdown is where all remaining players left in the hand reveal all four hole cards to determine who the winner is.  The pot is then split into two, one for the high hand pot and one for the low hand pot.  If there is no qualifying low hand the player with the best high hand will win both pots.