Strategy for Omaha hi lo - Strong Flops vs Weak Flops

Omaha Hi/Lo involves a great deal of thinking. You really have to play straight forward poker when playing Omaha Hi/Lo. If you do not know the difference between Omaha Hi/Lo and regular Omaha, there really is only one, and that is that the pot is split in two. Half of it goes to the highest hand and half of it goes to the lowest hand. The rest of this article is written so that it can be assumed you know the rules in how to get the low hand.

Unlike regular Omaha, where the best starting hand is AA KK double suited, the best starting hand for Omaha Hi/Lo is AA 23 double suited. Why? Because this is the hand that gives you the best opportunity to take down both sides of the pot – the highest hand part and the lowest hand part. Let’s say you had this hand and let’s go through some examples for some strong flops and some weak flops.

Let’s say the flop comes 2 / 7 / 8 – all off suit. This is a decent flop. First of all you should never be too excited to hit a pair of 2’s on the flop, even in regular Texas Hold’em. Now you say to yourself – “but there is the possibility that I could get the low hand”. You would need runner runner low cards to make your low hand or an Ace to make POSSIBLY the best hand. Although you shouldn’t really count on that winning you the hand if there are a lot of people still in the hand at this stage in the game and you don’t really want to raise or try any sort of semi-bluffing because there will probably be a few people who are going to call you down. Remember, Omaha Hi/Lo is usually based on waiting on the nuts and playing the nuts so that you can maximize your profits. However, you can be more lenient in your hands in Omaha Hi/Lo than in regular Omaha because there is always usually going to be 2 people winning a split pot which means your chances of winning money are better however the money is split in two so keep that in mind.

Let’s say the flop comes 4 / 5 / 10 of which the 4 and 5 are both spades (your ace/ 2 are spades). You have just hit a tremendous flop and you don’t even have anything yet. You only need a six, a seven, an eight, a 2, or an ace or three to win the low hand (the two and three and ace will also give you a straight). And you only need a spade to make the nut flush. Hands that you have to keep on the look out for in this case are full houses or quads, but if you have a beautiful hand like this with a beautiful flop like this, on that only comes around once in a great while, than it would be safe to get as much money in the pot as possible on the flop. Even if you don’t win the high hand, there is still a great possibility that you are going to win the low hand. With a hand like this, there is the chance that you can win both pots, which is usually pretty rare in this game, and you should seize the opportunity every single time it comes your way. AA 23 double suited is a gold mine and that is how you should look at it every time you get it. There really aren’t too many flops that you don’t like with that hand.