Omaha Poker and Omaha Hi-Lo: Origin, Game Play, Variations

Omaha Poker

The second most popular game of Poker in the current times is Pot Limit Omaha (PLO). Also, PLO is the second game after Texas Hold’em which beginners learn to play. Omaha Poker is quite similar to Hold’em in the way it is played. If you know the gameplay of Hold’em, it would be quite easy to understand the Omaha Poker.

The major difference between Hold’em and Omaha is in the distribution of hole cards. In Hold’em each player is dealt two hole cards, whereas in Omaha each player is dealt four hole cards.

Omaha Poker Game Play

• PLO uses blinds and five community cards plus all the betting rounds are exactly the same as Hold’em including the flop, turn, and river.
• Four hole cards are dealt in the beginning. You must use exactly TWO of your hole cards along with three community cards to make the best five-card poker hand.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• The four-hole cards add on to the action as you can make way more hands and generally, there are lots of bluffing

Cons

• The platforms offer PLO as their second most popular poker variant with far fewer tables running than Texas Hold’em

Omaha Poker Variations

Omaha has two popular versions –

• Omaha Hi (PLO)
• Omaha Hi-Lo

Omaha Hi-Lo

Omaha Hi-Lo is a “split-pot” version of Omaha poker. In this version, players compete for “best high hand” and “best low hand” of the pot. Straights and flushes are ignored for the best low hand in this game. The best low hand is A-2-3-4-5.

If there is no qualified low hand, the best high hand wins the whole pot. Similarly, the pot is split when several players have the same winning hand.

In terms of popularity, Omaha Hi-Lo is nowhere near to Omaha Hi (PLO). This variant of the game is slightly complex as you have of both the “high hands” and “low hands” combinations.

There’s one basic advantage of playing Omaha Hi-Lo i.e. as the pot is divided into two parts – the highest and lowest hands, it’s subsequently easier to win (a portion of) the pot in any given hand.