RULES: OMAHA HIGH-LOW
Omaha is often played high-low split. The player may use any combination of two hole cards and three board cards for the high hand and another (or the same) combination of two hole cards and three board cards for the low hand.
RULES OF OMAHA HIGH-LOW
All the rules of Omaha apply to Omaha high-low split except as below.
A qualifier of 8-or-better for low is used. This means to win the low half of the pot, a player's hand at the showdown must have five cards of different ranks that are an eight or lower in rank. (An ace is the highest card and also the lowest card.) If there is no qualifying hand for low, the best high hand wins the whole pot.
It is important to note here that your low is determined by your lowest HIGH card (that is less than 8). For example, which of the two hands below is the winner of the low pot?
A,2,3,4,8
Or
2,4,5,6,7
The answer is the second hand, the hand that is 7-high. The 7 is lower than the 8 (the ace is counted low). Although at first glance and intuitively as a beginner you might imagine that the Ace makes the hand lower, it does not as the count is from top to bottom, not bottom to top. Your low in Omaha is only as low as your lowest HIGH card that is less than 8.
