Fixed Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Basic Strategy

Fixed Limit Omaha Hi Lo is a game of opposites – you are trying to make the best poker hand at the same time as making the worst poker hand possible! This affects your playing strategy in many ways, and also causes your opponents to make many errors that can be turned into your profits.

Scooping the Pot

The most important strategy concept in Fixed Limit Omaha Hi Lo is that each hand you play should be an attempt to ‘scoop’ the pot. Since the pot is split between the best and the lowest poker hand at showdown you will not make a good profit by winning only one half of this. Winning both sides – for example with an ace-high flush for the high and the smallest low – can be very profitable indeed.

In order scoop the pot you need to be very selective with your starting hands. The premium hands in Omaha Hi-Lo contain ‘suited babies’ – that is hands with low potential that can also make the straights or flushes that will win you the high side of the pot. High-only hands are playable from the right position when it is cheap to see a flop – however 70% of hands result in a possible low (3 board cards 8 and under) so you will need to be cautious with high hands after the flop.

Being Quartered

While scooping the pot is the ideal scenario in fixed limit Omaha hi lo, being ‘quartered’ is the worst. This involves sharing one side of the pot with another opponent while someone else wins the high side – you get ¼ of the pot. If your single opponent has a high hand and the same low as you then you will lose 75c of every dollar you bet.

This can be an expensive mistake and should be avoided where the ‘nut low’ is obviously shared. The most common example is where Ace-2 in a players hole cards would make this low and there is betting and raising ahead of you.

Since you will often have the pot-odds to call bets on later streets due to the large pot in comparison with the bet size, it is important to play good starting hands from good position only. Absolute position at the table gives you the advantage of seeing how your opponents react to the flop before you act.

Position

Position to the right of any pre-flop raiser is also valuable – this will allow you to see how the other players in the pot react to the raisers flop bet before you have to act. You’ll also close often close the betting in this situation (by flat calling) which can enable you to see the turn card relatively cheaply.

Draw to the Nuts

Finally, the golden rule of fixed Limit Omaha Hi Lo Poker is to make sure that you draw only to the nuts. This can be the best possible high or the lowest possible low (or ideally both at the same time using different combinations of your hole cards and the board). Making sure that at least one of your draws is to the nuts reduces the chances that an opponent ‘chasing’ will in fact outdraw or scoop the pot from you.

To summarize, the key strategy concept in Omaha Hi Lo is to try and scoop both the high and low sides of the pot with the same hand. The best hands to do this with contain small suited cards. Being quartered is always a danger and exiting a pot early when you feel this is a danger can save several bets. Draws should be to the nuts on at least one side and preferably close to the nuts for both. 

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