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Omaha Hi-Lo Intermediate Strategy

April 27, 2009

This Omaha Hi-Lo Intermediate Strategy is intended for moderately experienced Omaha Hi-Lo players who have already applied a basic poker strategy to their game. We have published a complete Omaha Hi-Lo Strategy Guide that ranges from Beginner tactics to Advanced levels of strategic play.

In our previous Omaha Hi-Lo Beginner Strategy, we discussed the importance of the ‘High Hand’ in Omaha Hi-Lo, as well as the value of starting at the lowest stakes and the quintessential need for patience and discipline.

In this segment, we’ll further your knowledge with an Intermediate Omaha Hi-Lo Strategy that covers knowing the ‘Nuts’ – both High and Low – Sequence Betting and knowing when to raise the bar (moving up to higher level stakes).

Omaha Hi-Lo Intermediate Strategy – Knowing the Nuts

A good poker player should always know the Nut – that being the best possible hand a player could be holding, according to the Community Cards on the table. In Omaha Hi-Lo, establishing the Nuts is a double effort, as you’ll need to find both the High Hand Nuts and the Low Hand Nuts.

High Hand Nuts: Finding the Nuts isn’t nearly as hard as it may sound. Simply observe the cards on the board and determine what 2 Hole Cards would make the best possible hand. For example, with Ah-Jd-Kd on the Flop, the Nuts would be an Ace High Straight. If 5d fell on the Turn, the Nuts would become an Flush in diamonds, Ace-high being best.

Let’s try something more difficult – the Flop: 3h-8d-Kc
There are no suited cards and no connectors. What are the Nuts? A set of Kings would be the best possible hand. Next would come Top and Middle Pair (Pair of Kings + Pair of 8s).

One last example – the Flop: 4h-9d-9s
the Nuts would be a Full House, 9s over 4s. Remember that anytime there is a Pair on the board, a Flush becomes a possibility.

Low Hand: In Omaha Hi-Lo, the Low Hand Nuts are pretty simple to find, since there are only so many possibilities for a Qualifying Low Hand. If the board does not offer three cards (no pairs) of 8 or below, there simply cannot be a Qualifying Low Hand.

Example – the Flop: 4-9-2
the Nuts would require an Ace-3 in the Hole, but the hand cannot be complete unless another low card falls. If a 5 comes on the Turn, the Nuts remain the same, A-2-3-4-5. This is the best possible hand in the Low Hand development of Omaha Hi-Lo.

Another example – the Flop: A-4-7
the Nuts would be 2-3 in the hole for A-2-3-4-7.

Why are the Nuts so important, you may ask? Because too many inexperienced poker players do not even realize they are holding the best possible hand, resulting in a guaranteed win. Without this information in mind, you could end up folding an amazing hand to a threatening Raise, or under-betting the pot when you could have drawn in a lot more chips before the Showdown. Like we said, a good poker player always knows the Nuts!

Omaha Hi-Lo Intermediate Strategy – Sequence Betting

Knowing the best move at each betting round will decrease your rate of chip loss and increase your overall profits substantially. We covered Pre-Flop play in the Omaha Hi-Lo Starting Hands guide and Omaha Hi-Lo Beginner Strategy. At the Intermediate level, we will cover Post-Flop, Turn and River betting.

As a quick refresher, we should already know that without a good High Starting Hand, you should not even be attempting to see the Flop. A Low Starting Hand, without a High Hand to back it up, holds little or no value.

Post-Flop: this is a relatively easy decision to make. Either the Flop improved your hand, and you should move on; or the Flop did not improve your hand, and you should Fold. An improvement is considered a Made Hand (one that needs no further improvement, such as a Straight, Flush, Full House, etc.), or a one-away Draw Hand (needs only one card for a Made Hand). If you would require two cards for a Made Hand, it’s rarely worth the extra chips to find out if your Outs going to fall.

Another way to look at Draw Hands is how many Outs you have. If you have only one Out, as in the case of an Inside Straight, don’t bother. However, if you’re one card away from a Full House, Flush or Outside Straight, there are as many as 21 Outs that could give you the monster finish. The more Outs you have, the higher the recommendation of moving forward.

So far, we’ve been talking about High Hands. To move on with a good Low Hand (without a High Hand to back it up), you must have an amazing hand. This means at least 4 very low cards with no pairs. If the board offered only 2 low cards, you still have a chance at two more, but if you are holding something like 6-8 in the Hole, it’s not worth it. Someone is going to have you beaten if the board gives a third low card. If you’re holding A-2, you should only move on if it’s fairly cheap (or free) to do so.

Turn: On the turn is when you really need to strap down a decisive nature. If you were working on a Draw, and the turn didn’t bring it, it’s time to bluff your way to victory, or get off the wagon. Bluffing will only work if a strong scare card hit on the turn, like an Ace or a third same-suit card. Also consider someone else may have hit the hand your bluffing, so be warned. It’s usually best to fold at this point unless it’s still very cheap to move on.

With a strong hand, place a valiant bet/raise and eliminate any other Draw Hands in the mix. If you have a Made Hand, or the Nuts, slow play it and draw as many chips as you can into the pot.

River: It’s all or nothing at this point – you have it or you don’t. Unless you bluffed on the Turn, you should already have a strong enough hand to move on with. If it’s a sure winner, make your strong move here. If not, stay conservative and hope for the best. If you were bluffing and no one fell for it, you have two options – perpetuate the bluff and risk everything with an all-in push (NOT recommended) or Fold out, saving what you have for a better hand (and stop bluffing for awhile ;)

Omaha Hi-Lo Intermediate Strategy – Raising the Bar (Stakes)

Knowing when it is time to raise your stakes level is very important in Omaha Hi-Lo, or any poker variant for that matter, and is generally a tough lesson learned by trial and error. Instead of making this costly mistake too early, heed our advice here!

A poker player should never increase the stakes level until he or she is winning ‘consistently’. The consistency part is extremely important. When this is achieved, only move up one stake level. Do not jump from $0.25/$0.50 up to $10/$20. The competition is entirely different at these levels. Working your way up one level at a time until you’ve reached consistent profits per level is the only way to maintain the exponential growth of your bankroll. If you move up a level and find that you are not ready for this skill level, don’t be afraid to drop back down to your previous level of success. A good poker player always knows his limits!

Omaha Hi-Lo Intermediate Strategy – Upgrading Strategies

With out Beginner and Intermediate Omaha Hi-Lo Strategies applied successfully, revealing a consistent winning record, only then is it time to move on to a Omaha Hi-Lo Advanced Strategy. You’ll find the necessary links to our other Omaha Hi-Lo Strategy Guides below:

Omaha Hi-Lo Rules & Starting Hands
Omaha Hi-Lo Beginner Strategy
Omaha Hi-Lo Advanced Strategy

Written by Rob · Filed Under HORSE Poker Strategy 

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