Omaha Holdem Poker

OMAHA EIGHT OR BETTER

This would be a variant of Omaha poker played for a high-low split. It would be played exactly like Omahs, only the low hand would split the pot with the high hand. To qualify for a low hand. To qualify for a low hand, you could not have a card that would be higher than an eight. If all the hands would contain at least one card higher than an eight, the high hand would take the entire pot. Aces could be played low, and often flushes and straights would not count for low.

That would mean the nut low hand would be a wheel ace, two, three, four, five, which could also be a winning high hand (or better yet, a ‘steel wheel’ ace, two, three, four, five, suited.) Obviously, the ideal in such a game would be a scoop where you would take the entire pot by having both the low and high hand. Usually, you would be allowed to form two different hands. You would use two of your pocket cards to form your high hand, and a different two pocket cards to form your low. Imagine, you were holding a king of clubs, king of hearts, five of diamonds, and four of hearts, and the board was a king of diamonds, two of clubs, three of spades, three of diamonds, and eight of hearts. For a high hand, you would have Kings-full and for a low hand, you would have the two of clubs,three of spades, four of hearts, five of diamonds, and the eight of hearts.

If you were to play this game of poker, you would be spending most of your time at the table figuring out what you have. You shouldn’t be surprised to see pots split three or more ways.

Often, two poker players would have identical low hands and would each be awarded a quarter of the pot while the winner would get half.

Pocket Cards:

The Board:

The high hand is Kings-full, the low poker hand is eight-high.

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