How To Avoid Being Quartered In Omaha Hi Lo

Being quartered in Omaha hi lo involves sharing one half of the pot with another player at showdown. This is usually the low side of the pot – with an opponent taking the high side leaving you with just ¼ of the chips. Being quartered can be an expensive error in Omaha poker. This article looks at how to avoid being quartered – starting with hand selection before the flop and following the betting to the river.

Premium Hands

Premium starting hands in Omaha Hi Lo are those with the potential to scoop both the high and low sides of the pot. Suited and connected small cards are the key factor here. Selecting the wrong starting cards to play can easily lead to being quartered later in the hand.

The danger hands contain only 2 small cards and 2 big ones. A-2-K-10 unsuited is an example of a hand that can get into trouble. Since Ace-2 is a desirable combination many opponents will play this hand. If the board then comes with several low cards which miss your other holdings then there is a strong likelihood of being quartered.

For example, a board of 4-5-7-Q-K may look good for both the high and low pots. However the low straight possibilities and 2 pair combinations means you are unlikely to win the high here. Since A-2 is usually played you may not be the only one with this holding – leading to a return of only 25c for every $1 you put into the pot.

Avoiding Quarter Pots

A good way to avoid being quartered is to select starting hands with some backup for the low. For example an A-2-4-K hand will give you a strong holding on a low board, the additional straight possibilities give your hand some backup for the high side of the pot too. Suited cards provide additional backup and may allow you to win the high side of the pot even when the low side is shared – now you have ¾ of the pot instead of ¼!

Draws to the low only are another common error that can lead to being quartered. The danger here is that opponents may be betting heavily with a combination of high and low draws. What commonly happens is that you invest chips in the pot only to find out that you are sharing the low side of the pot.

This scenario can be avoided by folding your low-only draw on an early street when you feel there may be a raising war. Sometimes this will be a small error – you may have taken the low side at showdown. However, the times when you invest half of your stack for a quarter-pot return will make up for the relatively small early street bets that you give up correctly.

Opponents

Finally, the tendencies of your opponents should be taken into account when trying to avoid being quartered. If low cards come on the flop and a tight opponent starts raising you can be sure that they hold the ace-2. If you have no high draw at this point then you have an easy fold – your opponent is likely to charge you for each street.

The same scenario is less clear with a loose-aggressive opponent who may be betting without the nut low or high. Here check-calling may be optimal if you have a chance of making a reasonable high hand in addition to your low – keep the pot small to protect you those times your opponent is really strong.

To summarize, getting quartered in Omaha hi lo is a common and unprofitable situation. Avoiding this starts before the flop by ensuring that you select hands with potential to scoop both sides of the pot.

Folding early in the hand when you have the low only and a ‘raising war’ breaks out around you will often save chips over time. The small pots you give up more than balancing the big ones you are quartered in. Your opponents betting and raising tendencies can also give important clues when considering the danger of getting quartered.

LAST: Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo Strategy