Omaha hi low is a variation of texas holdem
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Omaha hi lo - is a Flop game like Texas Holdem, except four cards are dealt to you. The betting proceeds in the same manner as does the rest of this form of poker.
However, this is a split game with an 8 qualifier. This means to have a low, you must have a board of at least three cards 8 or lower without a pair on board.
It also means you must have two cards in your hand that don't pair any of the boards low cards and be under and 8.
The game is played by being dealt 4 cards. Two of these cards must be used with three cards of the board to form a hand. In answer to your question, yes, you can mix and match any two from your four hole cards and any three of the five community cards.
This enables you to use two different cards (from your hand) to make a low and two different cards to make a high. You're also allowed to use any three cards off the board to make either hand.
A complete hand must contain 2 cards from your hand and three cards from the board.
Since it is a split game. The middle cards are realistically useless in the game. Sevens, eight, nines, tens, are basically bad cards to hold. Even the face cards are bad cards as well.
The game is to be approached from the low end with starting hands such as A234, A345, A245, A246 and such. AA23 double suited is the best starting hand in the game.
Things to remember in this game is low gets you your money back in heads-up pots. With multiple players in the pot, nut hands are usually needed, especially for low.
The game should be played in an extremely conservative manner, especially when just having a low draw. Having a 'nut low' hand without any kind of high hand should be approached with caution.
The reason being you set yourself up for winning a quarter of the pot with three people, even two. Outside of the structure, the game bares little resemblance to it's brother Omaha High.
Poker Unchecked contains some great information on this game as well as most games.
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