The low down.
The card game omaha 8 is a variant of the immensely popular texas hold em poker game. Omaha 8 is less of a game for the strategists unlike texas holdem and is more of a game for those of us who are more mathematically minded and Omaha 8 is considered to be an easier game than traditional hold em. This game is a “Split-Pot” game meaning that the pot is divided amongst winners rather than just being awarded to one player. The players with the best “High Hand” and the best “Low Hand” will be awarded the pot.
What’s the deal?
In Omaha 8, players are each dealt four “hole cards” and two of these cards must be used in combination with three of the community cards on the table in order to make their hand. Players are required to use two of their hole cards no matter what, if a player has 3 kings and a queen as their hole cards and there is another single queen card and no pairs on the table the player does not have a full house because they are permitted to use only two of their hole cards and combine them with three of the cards on the table unlike texas hold em where the player has much more flexibility when it comes to the play of cards.
A Low Blow.
Five of a players lowest value cards that are not paired are marked as the players Low hand. When it comes to a low hand, flushes and straights are not included and ace is low. The highest value of a card permitted to be used in a low hand is an 8 which is why the game is called omaha 8. If at the time for the river, there are not three cards on the table that are 8 or under then no players are able to make a low hand as three of the community cards must be used. The winner of the low hand is determined by examing the cards from left to right and the player with the first lower value card wins. In example if the blue player has a hand of 63472 and the green player has a hand of 62834 then the green player would be declared the winner of the low hand because both players first cards starting from the left are a 6, in which case the second cards are compared, the blue players second card is a three and the green players second card is a two which is lower than a three so they win. High and Low hands and also strategic game play can often be the topics of very long online discussions both in general forums and in online poker game forums. Omaha 8, once you have gotten used to it, is not as difficult to play as it may seem. The best way to learn and get used to playing is to go to some online poker sites on the internet and participate in some practice games either against other people in the online poker rooms or against the computer.