Omaha Hi-Lo

It’s like Omaha, except the pot gets cut in half

You know Omaha: four hole cards, five board cards, and you must use exactly two from your hand and exactly three from the board. O8 keeps all of that and adds a second way to win. Half the pot goes to the best high hand. The other half goes to the best low hand, if anyone has one.

30-second cheat sheet

• Everyone gets four hole cards. Blinds, flop, turn, river, just like Hold’em.
• Every hand has two jobs: make the best high, and make the best low.
• A low only counts if it’s five different ranks, all 8 or lower. Aces are low. Straights and flushes don’t hurt you.
• Best possible low: A-2-3-4-5, the “wheel”.
• Nobody has a qualifying low? The high hand takes the whole pot.
• Usually played Limit. It’s a staple of every mixed rotation (HORSE, 8-Game).

Full rules

The deal

Dealer button, small blind, big blind. Four cards each, face down. Betting starts left of the big blind. Flop (three cards), turn, river, with a betting round after each. In limit play the first two streets use the small bet and the last two use the big bet.

Building your hands

You build two separate hands, and each one uses exactly two cards from your hand and exactly three from the board. They can use the same cards or different ones.

• High: the usual poker ranking. Best five-card hand wins.
• Low: five cards of different ranks, none higher than 8. Aces count as low. A-2-3-4-5 is the best, and then you compare from the top card down, so 8-6-4-2-A beats 8-7-3-2-A. Straights and flushes don’t matter for low.

Qualifying

A low that isn’t 8-or-better doesn’t exist. If the board has three or more cards above 8, or it’s paired up so there aren’t three separate low ranks, nobody can make a low and the high winner scoops the whole pot.

Ties and quartering

Ties split their half. If two players tie for low, they each get a quarter of the pot. That’s called getting quartered, and it’s why people say A-2 isn’t always the nuts.

Worked examples

One player takes both halves

One hand, two different two-card combos, whole pot

Board

Alice

• High:Three Kings✓ wins
• Low (8-or-better):7-5-3-2-A low✓ wins

Bob

• High:Ace high
• Low (8-or-better):7-5-4-2-A low

Alice scoops the whole pot.

Alice has a pair of kings in her hand with a king on the board, so three kings for high, and she uses A-3 with 2-5-7 for the low. She wins both halves. Bob’s A-4 makes a worse low than Alice’s A-3, and he has no pair.

No low on board

Three high cards on board means no low, so high takes it all

Board

Alice

• High:Pair of Nines
• Low (8-or-better):No qualifying low (8-or-better)

Bob

• High:Full house, Kings full of Nines✓ wins
• Low (8-or-better):No qualifying low (8-or-better)

Bob scoops the whole pot.

The K-9-T-9-4 board only has one card of 8 or lower, so nobody can make a five-card low. Alice’s A-2-3-5 looks great but is worthless here. High takes everything.

Counterfeited

Alice's A-2 gets counterfeited

Board

Alice

• High:Two pair, Aces and Deuces✓ wins
• Low (8-or-better):No qualifying low (8-or-better)

Bob

• High:Ace high
• Low (8-or-better):6-4-3-2-A low✓ wins

Alice takes half · Bob takes half

Alice has A-2 and thinks she has the nut low, but the board already has a 2 and an ace. Her two low cards are duplicated by the board, so she can’t make a good low. Bob’s 3-4 with the board’s 2-6-7 wins low instead. Alice still takes high with her pair of nines and ace on the board.

Quartered

Two A-2s tie for low and get a quarter each

Board

Alice

• High:Pair of Kings
• Low (8-or-better):8-5-3-2-A low✓ wins

Bob

• High:Pair of Queens
• Low (8-or-better):8-5-3-2-A low✓ wins

Carol

• High:Three Jacks✓ wins
• Low (8-or-better):No qualifying low (8-or-better)

Alice takes a quarter · Bob takes a quarter · Carol takes half

Alice and Bob both have A-2 for the same low, and they split it. Carol made the best high with three jacks, so she gets half. Alice and Bob each get a quarter.

How you’ll embarrass yourself

• Using three hole cards or one. Exactly two from your hand. Always.
• Playing a lone A-2 hand with nothing else. It’s a good start but it’s the nuts only until someone else holds A-2 too, and then you’re getting quartered.
• Forgetting the qualifier. Calling it a low when there’s a nine in it. It’s not a low.
• Chasing the low when you can only half the pot and missing that a single strong high can win the whole thing when there’s no low.

Lore and reputation

Omaha Hi-Lo, “Omaha eight-or-better” or just O8, is the great equalizer of the mixed game table. It rewards the player who can think about two hands at once. Weaker players go home with a fraction of the pot, called “scooped” by a patient regular who only plays hands that can make both halves.

Sources

See below. Rules follow the WSOP Live-Action Rules.