Pot Limit Omaha 8 Or Better

• How To Win At Pot Limit Omaha
• Who Is The Best Pot Limit Omaha Player
• Omaha 8 Or Better Rules

Omaha has 100x more starting hand combinations than Texas Hold'em, and, therefore, starting hand charts like the top 30 below can't be used as a strict guide. It is here merely to illustrate the principles of good hand selection in Omaha. Pot Limit Omaha Best Starting Hands Chart – Ranked from #1 to #30. Omaha Hi/Lo is played with an ‘8-or-better’ qualifier, which means that a low hand must consist of five different cards - ranked eight or below - to be eligible to win the low portion of the pot. Low hands in Omaha Hi/Lo are determined in exactly the same way they're determined in 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo.

For those of you thinking about taking a shot at pot-limit Omaha/8 poker, here are a few strategies and points that must be considered. Everything discussed here is with the assumption you are a good limit Omaha/8 poker player.

If you are not a good limit player, immediately abandon the idea of playing pot-limit unless the money you are using is purely discretionary. In my experience, this is the most brutal and unforgiving poker game available at high stakes today.

Even if you are a good limit player, I recommend starting at a much lower buy-in than you are used to playing until you can handle the differences between limit and pot-limit Omaha/8 poker.

By now you know that most of the profit you make in Omaha/8 is from the mistakes of your opponents and playing hands that offer good scoop potential. This is magnified to a great degree when playing pot-limit, and when you add having a made hand with a redraw to a better hand you have covered just about everything of importance.

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Because of the nature of pot-limit poker, the pot can quickly become very large and you can lose a great deal of money on drawing hands. Here are the three biggest mistakes, other than poor starting hand selection, I see players make.

The first is calling large bets with only a draw to half the pot, the second is raising with only three players in the pot with only a low hand and the third is calling bets with second and third best hands with no real chance to improve to the best hand.

Because of the great possibility of being quartered with a low hand, when less than four players are contesting the pot, every dollar you put in the pot may only return seventy-five cents.

How To Win At Pot Limit Omaha

I have put together a short list of rules to live by when playing pot-limit Omaha/8 poker. If you don't live by these rules, you surely will die by them.

Only play starting hands that offer scoop potential, including high only hands.

This is a game of scoops and redraws.

Don't draw to a low only hand against a made high hand.

Be careful to not trade a dollar for seventy-five cents very often.

Be patient and let your opponents make mistakes.

Don't lose much money with second best hands. Wait for the best possible hand to get most of your money into the pot.

Omaha hi-lo can be a dizzying game if you are not used to it. With two opposing, possible winning options and trying to build a hand from four hole cards and five community cards, you have to keep your wits about you at all times.

Here we endeavour to make life that little bit easier, providing some helpful hints at what Omaha hi-lo hands are worth playing, and which hands are absolute poison that should be avoided like the plague. The greatest weapon in a game of poker is knowledge and once we’ve broken down what’s what you will confidently be able to traverse the seemingly daunting and sinister world that is Omaha hi-lo split.

The Best Hand

While every thoroughbred Omaha player may have their own personal favorite hand, A, A, 2, 3 (double suited), is the best hand to be armed with in Omaha hi-lo.

Now let us just have a look at what makes this such an effective hand, baring in mind that in Omaha hi-lo, each player must use exactly two of their hole cards and three community cards to construct either a winning hi hand or a winning lo hand, Aces are high and low, and a lo hand can only quality with an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower.

• You are sporting a pair of Aces, which is primo no matter which poker derivative you are playing.
• Double suited gives you two possible flush draws.
• A-2 or 2-3 gives you two possible straight draws which can result in a hi win and a lo win.
• Having the baby cards of A-2-3 has you in a very good position to also take the Lo pot.

Other strong hands

Generally speaking, Aces are premium, considering they are high and low and can help you win either side or both sides of a possible hi-lo pot.

Double suited low cards such as an Ace and Three of Hearts and a Deuce and Five of Clubs has you primed for two possible flush draws, a low straight flush, a low straight and a look at splitting the pot and taking the lo hand.

A combination of low cards and high cards can be advantageous too, because then you are covering both ends of the spectrum. A hand like A-K-4-2 with two of those cards suited would have you sitting pretty with a plethora of possible hands.

Bad Hands

Unsuited middle hands can be an absolute grenade in Omaha hi-lo. J,9,8,6 unsuited is a train wreck. Sure you might be able to struggle a straight out of it, but there is nothing really on here. No flush. No high pair. No real lo winning hand. You should fold mid-range hands like this with extreme prejudice.

As odd and unlikely as it might sound, having quads (four of a kind) is the worst possible hand in Omaha hi-lo (the lower the four same ranked cards the worse, with four Deuces being the absolute worst). The best you can do with four of a kind is create a pair, so it is impossible to make the hand low. It is also not possible to make three or four of a kind, you have no chance for a flush, and any player with any matching card to the board automatically makes a higher pair than you.

So as special as it may look to be clutching a quad, give it a miss, even four Aces. Also, four suited cards (each card with the same suit), makes it less likely to create a flush.

Obviously, notes pointed here are not written in stone. A win can sometimes be manufactured outside of the cards you are concealing from the rest of the table. Can you bluff you way to a win? Can you be bluffed out of a win? What are the community cards? Who are you playing against? These are just some of the things you must take into account when playing Omaha hi-lo split.

Who Is The Best Pot Limit Omaha Player

Where to play Omaha hi-lo split online

Omaha hi-lo is available to play at cash tables, sit ‘n go tables or in tournaments with the following trusted poker sites. Each site’s sign up or welcome bonus is included for your convenience.

Omaha 8 Or Better Rules

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