Help with Hi/Lo

[blueboles]

Hate to bother ya'll with this, but...
What makes a low hand? And more importantly what doesn't? I've been playing a lot of the pokerstars freerolls, and a lot of them are hi/lo. Be it stud 8 or better, or omaha. I seem to do okay, but always stay in with hands I think are low, and then oops! Lose chips, I could have other wise kept. Any and all help is appreciated.
Kelley

[Saborion]

I don`t know what goes for Stud, but for Omaha, you need a total of five cards below 8 (8 counts too) and two cards of the same value may only be counted once.

Say you have A K 2 9, and the board is 4 K K 3 8, then you have a low hand, A 2 + 4 3 8.

Now if the board was 4 K K A 8, then you wouldn`t have a low hand since the Ace only can be counted once.

And finally, if the board was 4 K K J 8 you wouldn`t have a low hand either, since there`s only two low cards on the board.

So at Omaha, you need two cards that qualify for low hand, and the board need to three cards below 8 out of which none may match any of your low hand cards.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Three possible answers: If str8s & flushes aren't factored in, the lowest possible hand is A2345, suits irrelevant, if str8's & flushes are factored in, then it's A2346, not all in one suit. In some games, aces are considered high only and str8s & flushes not allowed, so 75432 is the lowest hand.

Those rules aside, the lowest hand is determined by the highest card, e.g., 7654A beats 8432A, or the next-highest card, e.g., 6532A beats 6542A. In some split-pot games, there is a qualifier, i.e., "8 or better" meaning you can't have a qualifying low without all 5 cards being lower than 8.

[Louie Landale]

Almost all Hi/Lo games are "8 or better". This means that to have a qualifying low hand you must have 5 cards whose different ranks are all 8 or under.

For stud this basically means you start with 3 low cards and catch 2 more 8 or under that don't pair you. Put another way, you can only discard 2 cards that are either 9 or higher or that pair you. So if your final hand is "A45KA82" then you have a pair of Aces for high and "8542A" for low. But if your final hand is "A45K48Q" you have only a pair of 4s for high and no qualifying low (the K, Q, and extra 4 are too many "bad" cards).

For Omaha ... you do remember that you must use exactly 2 cards from your hand and exactly 3 from the board, no? There is NEVER a qualifying low unless there are at least 3 different ranks 8 or less on board. So if you start with A23K you still only have 2 low cards and need 3 low cards on the board to qualify. However, the presense of the extra "3" gives you counterfiet protection in case a A or 2 comes. So if the board is 257JJ then your "A3" qualifies, whereas if you did NOT have the 3 then you wouldn't qualify at all with your A2.

But lets not confuse "qualifying low" with "a good low" or "a winning low".

Stud is difficult to make rules since a "good low" is very much depenant on the opponents board. If the opponents all have big cards than "any" low is a "good" one. An 8542A low is pretty bad against someone showing 743A.

"good low" rules DO apply to Omaha. The "nut low" is usually out. So if you have A4KQ and the board is KJ865 then you have only a paltry pair of Ks for high and your A4 is the "4th nuts", which probably isn't going to win against other players who like there hands enough to invest on the river. You NEED to have the "nut low" to feel comfortable, but keep in mind you will often get quartered since someone else can easily have the same low as you. Generally this means you need "A2" in your hand. But if there is an A or 2 on board then you can have A3 or 23.

- Louie

[blueboles]

Thanks for all your help. This all makes sense now.
Thanks again,
Kelley