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Now that we have covered the mechanics of Pot Limit Omaha, let’s discuss the popular twist to this variant: Pot Limit Omaha High/Low; often referred as PLO H/L or PLO8 - with the 8 indicating qualifying low hands must start with 8's or lower. (Incidentally, the 8 indicator in other H/L variants has the same distinction for those as well).
How is it different from "regular" PLO?
Fundamentally, playing PLO H/L changes the opening hands you’ll want to play because now you are playing for two pots every hand: the high and the low. But the key goal to being profitable in PLO H/L is what is called "scooping the pot": winning both the high and the low hand when there is one. So let’s dive into how to do just that.
What is a low hand?
Earlier in the series we touched on the types of hands you want to play in PLO and the types of hands you want to avoid. When you play H/L the base concept remains but now you must add in other hands that can compete for the low hand when one is available. This results in a lot of suited aces with baby kickers now coming into play as they have a good chance at winning the low hand.
Example:
Playing for the High and the Low
Now let’s dive into the concept of playing two hands at once and how chopped pots and scooping matter.
Hand #1:
You hold
a hand with potential to win a pot.
The flop comes . Let's take a look at what this means for you:
If it’s not, now the turn brings the . The only thing that changes for us is our high hand is now two pair: 9’s and 2’s. We still do not have a play on the low pot even though others could.
Do we continue? If we do, and the river brings the . Amazing! Your high hand improved to a full house: – but you have no play on the low hand. This is because you must play your A2 for the low, and you can’t come up with five unique cards below 8. Now while it’s very likely you have the high pot won, you cannot win the low, so at best you are only going for half the pot which means the only way your stack increases in this hand is if someone else bet and you’ll win half of their bet.
Hand #2:
Now let’s keep the same community board – . But this time through your hand is: . This hand changes things for us drastically because now we have hit the nut low hand with 8732A and have a line to the nut flush for the high hand. And as the hand continues, we will want to build the pot in the hopes of getting our flush at the end. Which we do! In this scenario, if no one has a higher hand, we would scoop the high and low post. However, if our opponent held the same hand as example #1 above, they would river a full house, and we would chop the high pot.
Playing for the nuts
Pot Limit Omaha is very much a game of playing for the nuts – while our ace high flush looks solid in this example, the paired board will introduce a high chance that our opponent has a boat. You’ll often see that hands in PLO H/L will chop the pot, but your goal is to scoop.
Let's re-visit that hand above again but change the river card to the . What happens then? Now hand #1 has a high hand of – a Queen high flush, and still no low. Hand #2 has maintained the ace high flush but still has the nut low hand, and scoops both the high and low pots out from hand #1.
Conclusion
The decision-making process in Pot Limit Omaha changes dramatically when you play the High/Low variation, because you now need to determine the likelihood of winning the high pot and the low pot on every street and determining based on the action if you should continue or not. Consequentially, hands that have a strong possibility of winning one, or both posts need to take into consideration how to get the most chips out knowing that others are going to be drawing to the river. Chopping a pot is not ideal but it’s not the worst-case scenario either as chopping a pot will almost certainly gain you some chips. But, scooping a pot that wins both the high and the low – or hands that have no low possibilities – are going to make you a successful PLO H/L player.
Stay tuned for the last article of this series where we compare playing Hold’em to PLO, and why pros prefer PLO!
Don't miss all the parts in this and upcoming thread series! Subscribe to our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index!
This has been a part of our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series. Be sure to check out and subscribe to our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index so you don't miss a new series or chapter!
How is it different from "regular" PLO?
Fundamentally, playing PLO H/L changes the opening hands you’ll want to play because now you are playing for two pots every hand: the high and the low. But the key goal to being profitable in PLO H/L is what is called "scooping the pot": winning both the high and the low hand when there is one. So let’s dive into how to do just that.
What is a low hand?
- In PLO – and other variants – the low hand consists of five cards, with denominations of 8 or lower, with the Ace being the lowest.
- Low hands are ranked starting with your highest "low" card down; meaning that the nut low hand will be 5-4-3-2-A.
- Straights and flushes do not count against you in PLO8 (PLO H/L).
- The low hand wins half the pot, and the high hand takes the other half, but there will be hands where it is not possible to make a low hand
- A player holding both the low and high hand wins the entire pot (a.k.a. "scooping" the pot)
- Just like for the high-hand, you must use 2-hole cards and 3 community cards - they can be different than the hole cards you use for your high-hand
- If there are not three community cards 8 or lower, a low hand is not possible.
Earlier in the series we touched on the types of hands you want to play in PLO and the types of hands you want to avoid. When you play H/L the base concept remains but now you must add in other hands that can compete for the low hand when one is available. This results in a lot of suited aces with baby kickers now coming into play as they have a good chance at winning the low hand.
Example:
- In PLO you probably aren’t playing a hand like AJ22 rainbow, however playing this in a high/low game could be playable as the 22 can hit a set; the A2 can play for the nut low, and AJ suited has post flop potential.
- Likewise, a hand like T987 double suited becomes trickier to play in a high/low game because you have a path to winning the low hand with 87, but it is the worst low hand that you could have. On a board of A23, 87 is almost unplayable (short handed or heads-up is a different conversation) as you have the worst possible low hand (8-7-3-2-A), and no real opportunity to make a high hand that will hold.
Playing for the High and the Low
Now let’s dive into the concept of playing two hands at once and how chopped pots and scooping matter.
Hand #1:
You hold
a hand with potential to win a pot.The flop comes
. Let's take a look at what this means for you:- You have a ten-high flush draw for the high pot, but your high hand uses for bottom pair at this point, and a path to winning the low hand with
- But we do not have a made hand for either pot that would hold at showdown.
If it’s not, now the turn brings the
. The only thing that changes for us is our high hand is now two pair: 9’s and 2’s. We still do not have a play on the low pot even though others could.Do we continue? If we do, and the river brings the
. Amazing! Your high hand improved to a full house: – but you have no play on the low hand. This is because you must play your A2 for the low, and you can’t come up with five unique cards below 8. Now while it’s very likely you have the high pot won, you cannot win the low, so at best you are only going for half the pot which means the only way your stack increases in this hand is if someone else bet and you’ll win half of their bet.Hand #2:
Now let’s keep the same community board –
. But this time through your hand is: . This hand changes things for us drastically because now we have hit the nut low hand with 8732A and have a line to the nut flush for the high hand. And as the hand continues, we will want to build the pot in the hopes of getting our flush at the end. Which we do! In this scenario, if no one has a higher hand, we would scoop the high and low post. However, if our opponent held the same hand as example #1 above, they would river a full house, and we would chop the high pot.Playing for the nuts
Pot Limit Omaha is very much a game of playing for the nuts – while our ace high flush looks solid in this example, the paired board will introduce a high chance that our opponent has a boat. You’ll often see that hands in PLO H/L will chop the pot, but your goal is to scoop.
Let's re-visit that hand above again but change the river card to the
. What happens then? Now hand #1 has a high hand of – a Queen high flush, and still no low. Hand #2 has maintained the ace high flush but still has the nut low hand, and scoops both the high and low pots out from hand #1.Conclusion
The decision-making process in Pot Limit Omaha changes dramatically when you play the High/Low variation, because you now need to determine the likelihood of winning the high pot and the low pot on every street and determining based on the action if you should continue or not. Consequentially, hands that have a strong possibility of winning one, or both posts need to take into consideration how to get the most chips out knowing that others are going to be drawing to the river. Chopping a pot is not ideal but it’s not the worst-case scenario either as chopping a pot will almost certainly gain you some chips. But, scooping a pot that wins both the high and the low – or hands that have no low possibilities – are going to make you a successful PLO H/L player.
Stay tuned for the last article of this series where we compare playing Hold’em to PLO, and why pros prefer PLO!
Don't miss all the parts in this and upcoming thread series! Subscribe to our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index!
This has been a part of our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series. Be sure to check out and subscribe to our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index so you don't miss a new series or chapter!
