Omaha High-Low Strategy

For many people, playing Omaha Hi/Low is simply a 'no go'. You constantly split pots and therefore go broke on rake, you have to deal with sick suckouts and the luck factor is huge. If you already have problems with tilt control, then hi/low is the game where you can just go nuts.

But is all this cynicism really deserved? You can also see it from a different perspective and then you'll find many positive aspects about the game. For example, you'll hardly ever be behind more than 60% before the flop, 3/4 of players can be labeled 'dead money' and you will rarely find yourself in situations where you have to make really hard decisions. Tight = right is the key to success in this game.

This article will briefly introduce you to this poker variation, you get an insight about how to play profitable as a result of good hand selection and some important concepts will be explained. The goal of this article is to convince the skeptical players that hi/low can easily be a lucrative game, as long as you stick to certain rules.

A short Introduction
In every hand, every player gets dealt four cards, which he/she needs to combine with the 5 community cards on the board. Just as in hold'em, these community cards are called flop, turn and river, and there are betting rounds after every street. In this respect, the game doesn't differ that much from the most popular poker variation - the difference is in the showdown.

The philosophy behind hi/low is to make sure that starting hands can turn into two-way hands. That is: hands that can make the best low, as well as the best high hand. If you are the only player with the best high and the best low, you take down the whole pot. This is called 'scooping'. For those of you who aren't familiar with low hands in poker: every combination of 5 cards, of which two are in your hand, with the lowest card being an Ace and the highest card being an eight. If, for example, you are holding and the board shows X-X-3-4-5, you can make the nut-low with a wheel (A)-(2)-3-4-5. This is obviously better than holding on a 4-X-6-X-8 board. Your combination for the low is now (3)-4-6-(7)-8, which is often beat by a better low hand. One thing you need to remember is that you always have to combine two of your hole cards with 3 community cards. This is a concept that many beginners often forget. Therefore, there have to be at least three cards on the board with a value of 8 or less for a low hand to be made. If this is not the case, then there is no low hand and the player with the best high hand wins the whole pot.

Hand selection
The only way to play hi/low profitably is to stick to a very solid hand selection before the flop. An Ace-Deuce is probably the most valuable combination and you can almost always play this. A couple of hands that are definitely seen as playable hands are:



As you can notice, it is very important to play a suited Ace, or hands with the potential for the double-nuts. In pots with numerous players, you will almost always have at least one opponent who is also holding an Ace. This would lessen the value of your off-suit Ace if you only have low cards to go with it. The chance of your hand being void (no low hand) or you only playing for half the pot, is definitely present. With more players in the pot you can assume that your flush with two low cards will be beat by a higher flush. Drawing to hands that can't even make a nut-high is therefore a big waste of your money.

The four combinations of hands you see above (and hands that fall into the same category) should be raised before the flop. This is because you don't want players to see a flop with hands that should really be mucked preflop. These are hands like:



If you get action from these sorts of hands, you could be up against a better straight. This means that the low straight you might have made with your Ace-Deuce is beat. You make the low, your opponent makes the high, the pot is split and nobody really wins anything. Marginal hands like the ones pictured above can practically never make a nut hand if they hit their draw. Many players tend to see a flop with these hands, but the chance of scooping a pot with them is so low that they aren't worth playing. Make sure not to give your opponent the right odds to see a flop with those hands. Let them make the mistakes, and keep the pot small if you put your opponent on that sort of range.

Also, you should never forget that starting hands consisting only of high cards have very little showdown value in big pots, and you definitely don't want to play these hands after a raise. (For example or ). Even wired Aces with two other mediocre cards (for example or ) should probably be folded in early and even in middle position after the pot is jammed.

Anticipation and Reads
One profitable trait of an experienced hi/low player is to understand how his opponents play. If you can master this as well, you create a great edge over your opponents. You will be able to outplay them, you know when your hand is good and when you need to fold. Beginners will often play a hand with which they are only going for the low, because that is 'safe'. There are 32 low cards in the deck, so if they're holding two of them, more than half the cards in the deck are outs for them. The greatest misconception that exists amongst beginners is that every hand is playable. They want to be in every pot and drawing for the fourth nuts. Therefore it can be difficult for other, less experienced players, to put them on a hand. On the other hand, the way these players react to your bets will tell you all you need to know. The more you play, the better your reads on your opponents will become, and decisions will get easier. Something you need to pick up on is that players will keep on investing money in the pot while holding (top) two pair or better. An overpair, or two low pairs on the board, will hardly ever be enough to win a multiway pot. There are a couple of brilliant techniques available to get a read on your opponents, but most of this information you will receive by observing their checks, bets and raises. The psychology behind this game at the lower limits is not very advanced. Level-thinking and sticking to different lines can be found, but don't expect too much from your opponents. The advantage of hi/low is that a low hand is hard to disguise, and by paying attention to betting patterns, you can quickly find out if this is what you're up against. At these limits you play pretty straight forward, you never slowplay and you try to exploit your hands by betting the right amount. And of course folding when you need to.

Important concepts
Now that we have discussed which hands to play and which not to play, we can continue with some more advanced game theory: counterfeiting and quartering. These are two terms that you will often come across in hi/low.

Coun-ter-feit-ing
- your hand losing value when one of your cards appears on the board.

This might sound slightly complicated, but the following example might clarify things a little:

Hole cards:

Board:

Your Ace-Deuce can't use 5 cards here to make a low, as the is on the board. You are now playing A-2-3-7 for your low, but the fifth card is missing. Your hand is now counterfeited.

This concept is something you will need to live with in hi/low. You need to realize that, when playing marginal hands (with only two low cards in the hole) there is a big chance that one of your cards will appear on the board. Try and learn to distance yourself from these hands.

Quar-ter-ing

- dividing up half the pot between two players with the same hand in a split pot.

Getting quartered is probably the worst thing that can happen to you in Omaha hi/low, especially because this is not something you expect to happen. You expect to win half the pot, but when it gets to the showdown, you are hit with an unpleasant surprise. Sometimes you might be able to put your opponent on the same hand as you. For example: You hit the nut low with your A-2, but you assume that one of your opponents is holding the same hand. He is playing passive and doesn't really seem to think much about his actions. You don't have a high and you don't give this opponent much credit for a high hand either. A third player in the pot is very aggressive after the flush card appeared on the board, so it seems like he hit a high hand. What happens now if the three of you see a showdown? The player with the high hand gets half the pot, and you and your opponent with the same hand have to split the other half of the pot. This means you only win 25% of the pot and have actually lost money. Playing for 25% of the pot is anything but profitable and should definitely be avoided.

At the lower limits (everything up to 100NL/PL or 3/6 Limit) it is difficult to get a player with the same low hand as you out of the pot by raising. My advice is to fold to a bet if you don't think you can get this player isolated, as it won't be easy to get a player to muck the nut low. These hands often get cold-called blind as they feel they are committed and have a 'good' hand. Experienced players are able to fold their nut low to a bet or a raise. Invest little -> lose little.

Here is an example to clarify this concept:

You are sitting at a 50NL 6-max table with a full stack and decide to raise it to $2 UTG+1 with:



It gets folded to the button ($25 stack) who calls your opening raise. The small blind folds and the big blind ($75 stack) also wants to see a flop. The pot is now $6.25 and the flop shows:



The big blind checks, you check (as you only have a low draw) and the button checks as well. The turn shows:



The big blind checks and you see that, apart from your low draw, you now also hit a flush draw and a gut shot draw. That's 3 draws, two of which are drawing to the nuts. In my opinion you should bet around 75% of the pot here, so $4. If you get called, you are probably up against a player who also has a draw, most likely a low draw. And if you get raised, this is usually an indication that someone is trying to protect his high-hand (two pair or better). Both players call and the pot is now $18.25. Then comes the river:



You hit both your draws: () for the flush and () for the low. The big blind bets $10 and all you have to do is raise, but to an amount that the big blind and the button would call. You make it $25. The button folds and the big blind calls with for two pair and the same low. But since you have the Ace-high flush that beats his two-pair, you quartered your opponent. You win roughly $51 and your opponent wins about $17.

The concept of quartering is something you will see happening often in hi/low games and something you should definitely watch out for. Especially in NL games the pots get big very quickly and seeing a flop heads-up is a luxury that won't often occur. Players are tempted to, at least, limp before the flop, which then results in other players limping as well. Everyone sees the massive odds and in their minds they're already scooping huge pots, without really having to invest anything. Every player starts the hand with four cards, and since hi/low is a game that predominantly consists of redraws, playing any starting hand can be justified. It's true that you have a lot of backdoor potential in hi/low, but that doesn't mean you should always invest to see the river. Try not to think like them and try everything, apart from just being 'a limper'.

One thing you should remember: if there are 4 or more players in the pot and you think that you will split your low with one of your opponents, you will break even if all of your opponents see the showdown.

Games on offer
It is often assumed that Omaha hi/low is only played in the form of limit and pot limit, but you can also find no-limit games of this poker variation. The player traffic is largest on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. While the traffic on PokerStars might be bigger, Full Tilt offers the most variety, like for example 6-max NL tables or even deepstacked, which cannot be found on PokerStars. But be aware that most of the players are shortstacking at the no-limit (or pot limit) tables, so chose the game that you feel most comfortable with.

Conclusion
Your main goal in Omaha hi/low is to play hands that can turn into a high, as well as a low hand. The percentage of players seeing showdowns is huge compared to other poker variations. Your mission should be to scoop pots, which is accomplished by playing tight, but aggressive. If, for example, you play one of the good starting hands listed above but don't hit the flop, don't just keep on betting and calling. Fold as soon as you get the option to do so and just wait for a better hand to come along. You will be amazed as too how often you will get nice starting hands, so boredom will rarely be a problem.

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