Omaha High-Low: the Bottom Line

Most of the Omaha high-low games spread in casinos are of the loose variety, especially those at the lower limits, $10-$20 and lower. There are very few tight-aggressive Omaha high-low games, and they're usually at the higher limits. In tight-aggressive Omaha high-low games, there is usually one raise or more before the flop and only one or two callers (often the big blind). My definition of a loose game is any in which more than five players on average are seeing the flop ("Cappelletti's Rule"). In a loose Omaha high-low game, there is extra money in most pots, which means that the better hands will show extra profit in the long run.

Do loose lower-limit Omaha high-low games require a lot of skill to beat? It doesn't seem so. Loose players love Omaha high-low because unlike hold'em, they can play almost any hand and have some chance of winning half the pot. And since there are often huge pots and cruel last-card swings, on a lucky night, even the worst players will find themselves scooping up large stacks of chips.

Many poker experts turn up their noses at Omaha high-low because it seems to have such a high luck factor. In loose lower-limit games, an Omaha high-low expert's edge over a good medium-skilled player is rather thin. However, both experts and decent players have a considerable edge over very weak players.

It is widely accepted that the average hourly win rate by a good player in a typical hold'em game is about one big bet per hour. That is, a good player should win, on average, about $20 per hour in an average $10-$20 hold'em game. It has been my experience that in a typically loose lower-limit Omaha high-low game, the good players can average significantly more than that. Can this be true?

Note that a substantial part of your hourly winnings in Omaha high-low comes from playing hands with an A-2 or an A-3, although there are many other hands that can be played with a positive expectation. You pick up an A-2 or A-3 (in your four hand cards) more than once a round, roughly once in eight hands. How often does an A-2 or A-3 win? According to computer simulations (for example, Caro's Poker Probe), both A-2 and A-3 hands win more than one-fifth of the total pot money when playing against seven random opponents. But in the simulation, all eight hands are played to showdown. In real life, some of the simulated hands would fold because of the betting (and sometimes fold what might have been the winning high or low hand). Because your A-2 or A-3 often keeps you in the pot, your hand will actually win considerably more often than it will in the simulations, probably about 30 percent of the total pot money (it depends somewhat on the game, but it's more likely to be greater than 30 percent than less).

The average Omaha high-low pot size varies greatly, depending mainly on the looseness of the game. Although five or six players might see the flop, the number of players at showdown usually averages fewer than four. The average pot size in hands in which a tight player (who usually folds) participates will probably exceed 21 bets (unit bets, or "small" bets). Note that even without any raises, three and a half callers to showdown would put 6+6+6+3 unit bets into a pot. Thus, with other callers before the flop and possible raises, 21 bets is certainly not an excessive estimate. And if extremely large pots are occurring more frequently than occasionally, the average pot size might be closer to 30 bets.

If there are roughly 24 hands played per hour at your table (typical of a loose lower-limit brick-and-mortar game), on the three A-2 or A-3 hands that you play in a hour, you should gross about 30 percent of the 63 total unit bets in the three pots (3 × 21), or about 19 unit bets per hour. Subtracting about 11 unit bets invested or lost (typically, something like 6+4+1; if you have invested more, you probably have won more than 19), and 4.5 unit bets for three sets of blinds in one hour, leaves a net profit of about 3.5 unit bets per hour, which is nearly two big bets per hour. And, again, this is playing only your A-2 and A-3 hands.

If you can manage to show a profit on the other hands that you play, so much the better. If you sit back and play high-percentage hands, your chances of winning in the long run are much better than the house's vig (winning edge) in the various casino games (such as blackjack, craps, roulette). Your bottom line is in your own hands.

What else do you need to know to get started? Most simply stated, the basic strategy (or "formula") for winning at Omaha high-low is essentially this: Play only good starting hands, continue after the flop only with high-percentage holdings, and don't get caught with losing cards in big betting on the last two (double bet) rounds. If you are pleasantly surprised with your results, remember, "Almost Anyone Can Win at Omaha High-Low" (which just happens to be the title of a chapter in our new book, Poker at the Millennium, by Caro and Cappelletti).

So, the next time you're looking for some interesting poker action, give Omaha high-low a try. You too could become an Omaholic.