What this Omaha Hi/Lo odds calculator does
Omaha eight-or-better splits the pot between the best high hand and the best qualifying low, and a calculator that only reports "equity" hides the thing that matters: how you got it. This one reports your total share of the pot and then breaks it down. Hi is your share of the high half, Lo your share of the low half, Scoop is how often you take the whole pot, and Low made is how often your hand qualified for low at all. The last column is the one to watch: a hand that only ever wins half the pot needs twice the price.
The rules are applied exactly as the game is dealt. Two cards from the hand and three from the board for both halves, chosen separately, so your A-2 can make the low while your K-K makes the high. A low needs five different ranks of eight or lower; if nobody has one, the high hand scoops. Ties for low are quartered, ties for high are halved, and a three-way tie for low is split in thirds. Flop, turn and river spots are enumerated exactly; preflop runs Monte Carlo and shows the margin of error.
Entering hands
Four cards per player, spaces between hands, the same notation as everywhere else on the site: Ah2h3dKd AsAd9c9h. The variant switch selects five-card Omaha Hi/Lo, where each hand has five cards and ten two-card combinations are checked for both halves. Board and dead cards are optional. The Hand distribution button shows what high hand each player ends with; the low side is summarised by the Low made column.
Worked examples, computed by this engine
| Match-up | Equity | Scoop | Method | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A23K single-suited vs AA99Ah2h3dKd vs AsAd9c9h | 52.16% / 47.84% | 36.3% / 32.0% | Exact · 1.1M deals | Load → |
| A2 nut-low draw vs set, flopAh2hKdQd vs 7c7d9s9c on Qc7h4s | 39.39% / 60.61% | 9.9% / 31.1% | Exact · 820 deals | Load → |
| AAKK vs A234, preflopAhAsKhKs vs Ad2d3c4c | 51.87% / 48.13% | 36.5% / 32.8% | Exact · 1.1M deals | Load → |
| Nut low made vs nut flush, turnAc2dKhQh vs AhThJs9s on 3h5h8h9c | 50.00% / 50.00% | 0.0% / 0.0% | Exact · 40 deals | Load → |
The first row is the match-up the game is built around: a nut-low draw with a flush draw and a king, against aces up with a second pair. Total equity is nearly even, but the breakdown is not. A-2-3-K scoops 36% of the time and the aces scoop 32%; the rest of the pots are split, and that is where the money changes hands quietly. The flop example shows the trap: a nut-low draw with nothing for high against a set is a 39% hand, because on the 40% or so of boards with no qualifying low it has nothing at all, and when the low does come in it only collects half.
The turn example is the quartering lesson in one line. A made nut low against a made nut flush is exactly 50-50 with zero scoops for either side; neither player can win more than half, and the hand is already over.
How to read a split-pot result
Equity is still the number to compare against pot odds, because it is already the expected share of the whole pot. But two hands with the same equity can be very different investments. A hand that gets its 50% by scooping half the time and losing half the time is a volatile hand that wants a big pot; a hand that gets its 50% by winning the low every time is a low-variance hand that would rather keep the pot small and the opponents in. The Scoop and Low made columns tell them apart. As a rule of thumb, if your low is made or nearly made and your high is weak, the scoop percentage is the number that decides whether to raise.
Why A-2 is not as strong as it looks
Ace-deuce is the best low holding, and the calculator still gives A-2-3-K less than 53% against bare aces preflop. Three things hold it back. The board has to bring three low cards of different ranks, and it does so under 60% of the time. When one of those is an ace or a deuce the low is counterfeited, which is why having the three alongside matters so much. And even a nut low that gets there wins only half the pot unless the high side comes along. Omaha Hi/Lo rewards hands that can scoop, and the calculator is the fastest way to find out which of yours can.
The high-only version of the game has its own Omaha odds calculator; the stud equivalent is the Stud Hi/Lo calculator, where the low does not have to use two from the hand.
Frequently asked questions
Your expected share of the whole pot. If you win the high half and split the low half three ways, that showdown is worth 50% plus one third of 50%, or 66.7% of the pot, and that is what gets averaged over all the boards. The Hi and Lo columns show the two halves separately; Scoop is how often you take everything.
Because A-2 needs the board to deliver three different low cards, 8 or below, that do not pair its A and 2, and when that happens it only wins half the pot unless it also makes the best high. Roughly 40% of boards have no qualifying low at all, and on those the high hand scoops. The Low made column shows exactly how often a low qualified.
Exactly. If two players tie for low, the low half is split between them, so each gets a quarter of the pot and the high winner gets half. Three-way ties for low split it in thirds. The calculator does the same bookkeeping on every board rather than approximating.
Yes, the same as high: exactly two from the hand and three from the board, and the five cards must be five different ranks of 8 or lower. The calculator tests every two-card combination from your hand for low separately from the one it uses for high, as the rules allow.
Five-card Omaha Hi/Lo, dealt five hole cards with the same two-and-three rule. It is spreading on the US club apps and some European sites. The calculator checks all ten two-card combinations for both high and low.
