Omaha Hi-Lo

Omaha Hi-Lo is a community card game. Every player is dealt four cards face down, followed by five community cards dealt face up in the middle of the table. The five community cards may be used by every player.
When played in casinos, Omaha Hi Lo is played with a dealer button to mark who the dealer would be if the casino weren't providing one for the table. The button rotates clockwise around the table between every hand. This is important as the "dealer" is the last to act, and thus has the greatest advantage for that hand.

To make both your best five card high hand, and your best five card low hand, using exactly two hole cards, and three board cards. You may use different hole cards in making your low hand than you used in making your high hand, so long as you use exactly two hole cards and three board cards for each. The player with the best high hand wins half the pot, and the player with the best low hand wins the other half. If there is no qualifying low hand, the player with the best high hand wins the entire pot.

A qualifying low hand is made with five cards that are all 8 or lower, an ace counting as the lowest. No pairs can exist in a low hand, but a straight and/or a flush may. The lowest possible hand is A2345. The highest possible qualifying low hand is 87654.

Blinds

Omaha Hi-Lo rules dictate that there be two forced bets every hand, called blinds. There is a small blind, which is 1/2 of the low limit bet size, and a big blind, which is equal to the low limit bet size. Before the hand begins, the player to the immediate left of the dealer button is forced to post the small blind, and the player to the left of that person is forced to post the big blind. These bets count towards that player's first round bet, and are considered live, meaning the player may choose to raise even if nobody else has.

Betting Rounds

There are four rounds of betting. In fixed limit Omaha Hi-Lo game, in the first two rounds of betting, all bets must be equal to the size of the low limit bet. In the last two rounds of betting, all bets must be equal to the high limit bet. If, for example, you're playing 1-2 Omaha Hi-Lo, all bets in the first two rounds will be in increments of 1 dollar, and all bets in the last two rounds will be in increments of 2 dollars. A maximum of 3 raises are allowed per betting round.

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