Omaha Hi-Lo question

Registered for a omaha hi/lo sng accidentally but thought i knew enough of the basics to make a fist of it.

My understanding was that to qualify for a low hand, one must have two cards below an 8 combined with 3 board cards (also below an 8) to make a 5-card-hand, but the ranking of CARDS is reversed.......i.e. 5 < 3 < A etc.

Therefore,

a lo hand of A 2 4 6 8 beats A 3 4 6 8 (is this right?) and the worst possible starting hand would contain a lot of 8's, 9's and middle cards (aside from the likes of AAAA or 4444)

I also thought that the ranking of HANDS stayed the same though. i.e. flush > run > trips etc.,

however, i just split a hand where i had 5c 5s 6c 4s versus As 7s 2d Qd and the board was something like 5d 6d 2s 4s 8s.

My hi hand = full house
his hi hand = nut flush........I win

My lo hand = full house
his lo hand = nut flush........I win again......but....the pot is split?????

It definitely said "player x wins the lo with As 2s 4s 7s 8s" i.e. 5 flushing cards below an 8.

Where am i going wrong?

BTW: came 3rd though i've no idea how.

pappa

is his lo not A2456??
and yours24568..
either way he wins lo if i am reading correct..

pappa

also how did u manage to make a full house on an unpaired board??
on what you have wrote he scoops the lot..ie..his nut flush V your lower flush and the low as i explained..also unless you in big blind and see an unraised flop with your hand u dont play it,dont even make up from small blind really...

ps is 4s in play twice???

carlop

i'm no expert but for a lo hand flushes and straights dont matter. The nuts for the lo hand is a2345, it is simply the lowest 5 cards and their suit connectedness doesnt matter.

Ste05

carlop wrote:

i'm no expert but for a lo hand flushes and straights dont matter. The nuts for the lo hand is a2345, it is simply the lowest 5 cards and their suit connectedness doesnt matter.

Yep, the nut low is A2345.

In the hand above Board: 5d 6d 2s 4s 8s; Him: 5c 5s 6c 4s; You: As 7s 2d Qd gives the following Lo Hands:

Him: 24568
You: A2457

Your 7 Lo beats his 8 Lo

For the Hi, you have Nut flush and he has an 8 high flush so you win that hand too.

I assume you have some of the cards wrong, if the board was paired his house would beat your flush Hi and the pot would be split.

pappa

Ste05 wrote:

Yep, the nut low is A2345.

In the hand above Board: 5d 6d 2s 4s 8s; Him: 5c 5s 6c 4s; You: As 7s 2d Qd gives the following Lo Hands:

Him: 24568
You: A2457

Your 7 Lo beats his 8 Lo

For the Hi, you have Nut flush and he has an 8 high flush so you win that hand too.

I assume you have some of the cards wrong, if the board was paired his house would beat your flush Hi and the pot would be split.

think u got the hands reversed..also with a hand of A72Q on a board of 56248 the low is A2456

Ste05

pappa wrote:

think u got the hands reversed..also with a hand of A72Q on a board of 56248 the low is A2456

True the 6 Lo beats the 8 Lo. Either way as outlined above the Pot is scooped by the A72Q hand (as posted).

Sorry, I'm a sap......Knew trying to recall them from memory was a bad idea

The cards were:

Me: 4c 5c 6h 4h
Him: 3c As 7s 6d


Board: 6s 5s 6c Kc 3s.

I gather from the above replies that it's your 5 lowest INDIVIDUAL cards that count? (i.e. no paired cards)

so i've no low hand, he has A3567?

pappa

Deleted User wrote:

Sorry, I'm a sap......Knew trying to recall them from memory was a bad idea

The cards were:

Me: 4c 5c 6h 4h
Him: 3c As 7s 6d


Board: 6s 5s 6c Kc 3s.

I gather from the above replies that it's your 5 lowest INDIVIDUAL cards that count? (i.e. no paired cards)

so i've no low hand, he has A3567?

that makes a bit more sense

Ste05

Well you have to use 3 from the board i.e. any low hand on that board must use the 65 and 3) and 2 from your hand, you can only use the 4, because your 6 and 5 would not make a lo hand. (they would pair the card on board and so not make it a qualifying Lo)

So you the Hi win with your 6,5 house against his 6,3 house and he wins the Lo with his A and 7

pappa

best thing to do would be to muck a hand like that next time so u dont have this problem again:p

I potted every street thinking i was on to a winner.

BTW, does this mean that hands with 3 identical low cards are/can be good?
Would the likes of AAA2 be somewhat close to the nuts? I presume AA23ds is the nuts but AAA2 would be decent because you've the AA for the hi hand and the A2 for the low hand?

gosplan

Loads of people have toruble with this and to be honest if you keep playing you'll see the odd mistake at games of all levels.

Easiest way I found is to remember two things.

1: You need five unpaired cards lower then 8 to qualify, you have to use 2 so there must be three low cards on the board that you're not repeating.

2: After that, highest card loses and if they're tied, next highest if and so on.

Now time to introduce it to your home games. Explain it very briefly to your firends and clean up.

gosplan

gosplan wrote:

1: You need five unpaired cards lower then 8 to qualify, you have to use 2 so there must be three low cards on the board that you're not repeating.

That's exactly the info i was looking to find out. Good man yourself, and thanks to the rest for their input as well.

pappa

Deleted User wrote:

I potted every street thinking i was on to a winner.

BTW, does this mean that hands with 3 identical low cards are/can be good?
Would the likes of AAA2 be somewhat close to the nuts? I presume AA23ds is the nuts but AAA2 would be decent because you've the AA for the hi hand and the A2 for the low hand?

AA23ds yes has lots running for it as your main aim is to scoop the pot(win both hi and lo)
AAA2 your third ace like in omaha hi takes away from your hand as the same ace can be used in both high and low hands.

lower levels online ie 25/50c 50c/$1 i find players have lost or never found the whole concept of this game,so if u concentrate on playing low hands and let the highs fall into place wen they can u will do ok,at this level pot building with strong lows like A234 or A235 is very profiyable,i never agreed with min raising but find myself doin this alot pre flop at these levels as players can not realise a hand of high cards,so let as many as you can battle out the highs and u aim for the lows and u will make profit although little but then on the occasion u scoop it evens itself out..it really is amazing how week the play is at the levels i just described...

Bandana boy

pappa wrote:

AA23ds yes has lots running for it as your main aim is to scoop the pot(win both hi and lo)
AAA2 your third ace like in omaha hi takes away from your hand as the same ace can be used in both high and low hands.

lower levels online ie 25/50c 50c/$1 i find players have lost or never found the whole concept of this game,so if u concentrate on playing low hands and let the highs fall into place wen they can u will do ok,at this level pot building with strong lows like A234 or A235 is very profiyable,i never agreed with min raising but find myself doin this alot pre flop at these levels as players can not realise a hand of high cards,so let as many as you can battle out the highs and u aim for the lows and u will make profit although little but then on the occasion u scoop it evens itself out..it really is amazing how week the play is at the levels i just described...

I think this would be as sure a way to lose money long term in hi-lo as i have ever heard

If the hand plays multi a lot this is just bad if you get isolated it is awful

pappa

Bandana boy wrote:

I think this would be as sure a way to lose money long term in hi-lo as i have ever heard

If the hand plays multi a lot this is just bad if you get isolated it is awful

at higher levels i totally agree,it would be suicide and as i said i dont agree with this play in general,but have been plying it at these levels successfully which is strange as it contridicts alot about the game but as i said alot of players i find at these levels have no concept on the game..

also interested in how u define it as bad to play strong end low hands multi way????

Bandana boy

pappa wrote:

at higher levels i totally agree,it would be suicide and as i said i dont agree with this play in general,but have been plying it at these levels successfully which is strange as it contridicts alot about the game but as i said alot of players i find at these levels have no concept on the game..

also interested in how u define it as bad to play strong end low hands multi way????

Strong low end hands especially if you have a nut flush draw in there are great pre flop and i would probably proper raise with it

Good low end draws are good post flop for bluffing medium strength hands of the pot but playing for the low only (even in a multi way pot) is a losing strategy
Too often you will be splitting the low or the low will not hit you will have the following scenarios happening a lot

No low hits and you lose the whole pot
The low hits and the river it goes heads up and you get 3/4ed
The low hits and you dont have the nut low you are now calling a large bet hoping to get your money back
The low hits and your good and you win half the pot


now i agree you can play a lot loser at the smaller levels but this is not the strategy to go in with

And i am not suggesting that you fold every low draw in a multi way pot either but I would prefer to be calling a bet with the Nut high draw than the nut low draw
and here is why i think this is profitable
at these levels you have lots of players in there playing for a low draw and i will a portion of the time win 100% of the pot

kebabfest

Is there any good reading material on this game ?
I registered for a game by mistake as well and I must confess I was concentrating more on the high hands than the low hands which is an obvious weakness.

Scouser in Dub

There is a section in SS2 though that deals with Limit which is a different beast but does give a general introduction that is valuable

kebabfest

fcuk must have skipped through it first time I read it. Will look it up again.