Omaha High/Low Guide
Dealing the Game of Omaha Hi/Lo
The object of Omaha Hi/Lo is to create a High hand using any two out off our pocket cards and three out of five community cards, and a Low hand using any two out of four pocket cards and three out of five community cards. 50% of the pot will be awarded to the best High hand and 50% of the pot will be awarded to the best Low hand. If there is no qualifying Low hand, the whole pot will be awarded to the best High hand.
To qualify as a Low hand, the hand must contain five unpaired cards ranked eight (8) or lower. Straights and flushes are not considered when evaluating low hands. The winning Low hand is the hand with the lowest high card. In case of a tie with the high card, the winning hand is the one with the next lowest high card and so on.
* Selected players will post blinds.
The dealer in Omaha Hi/Lo will start to deal each game contingent on which player has the “button”. The button is a graphical representation (“D”) of which player is the“dealer.” Although our dealer will be dealing the game, the player whohas the button placed in front of his seat gets to play his cards as ifhe were the actual dealer. When the cards are dealt to players, they are dealt in a manner as if the player was actually dealing in a live environment.
Now that we have a Button and small and big blinds, we are ready to deal. The dealer always deals from the player closest to the dealer’s left. Moving clockwise around the table, the game will“deal-in” each player. The players will be dealt four cards face down. A round of betting will occur starting with the player seated to the left of the big blind.
The player seated to the left of the big blind will always have the action on the opening deal. This player may not check, but rather can only fold, call, or raise.
The next cards to be dealt into the game will be the fifth, sixth and seventh cards in the game. These three cards will not be dealt to each player, but rather placed face up in the center of the table.
Now the flop has landed on the “board” and all players now have seven cards available to make their hand, the four “hole” cards that were dealt on the opening round and now three “community cards” which all players may use. In Omaha Hi/Lo, each poker hand must consist of exactly two face down cards and three community cards. The rule of the determination of the action is as follows.
The “turn” is the fourth card to be dealt onto the board and the eighth card available to the player. Some players call this “fourth street”. However, the most common term used for this round is the “turn”. As always, the dealer will burn a card and then deal one card face up ontothe board to the right of the last flop card.
The 9 of spades is the “turn card” At this point the players have access to the four cards on the board and their four hole cards. The game will now declare who has the action, which always begins with the player still remaining in the hand who is closest to the left of the button.
The dealer will then place the fifth and final card on the board. The Flop Cards turn River
At this point, five cards are on the board and four hole cards are in the players’ hands. The action again starts with the first player still remaining in the hand who is closest to the left of the button. All checks, bets, raises, and folds will be completed and then a showdown will begin.
The determination of which players’ cards will and must be shown first will lie with the player who initiated the action or with the person who initiated the last bet, raise or re-raise. This simply means that whoever had the last action on the river must show his/her cards first.
A player who has a winning hand does not have to show his/her cards if his/her bet was not called.
Do Players have to show their Cards if they call a bet on the River?
A player is not required to show their cards if, and only if, they are not the player who had the last action. If a player calls a bet and sees that he/she cannot win, he/she may fold his/her cards. Players who are curious about the folded hand may request a hand history to learn it.
