Hi/Low simply means that half of the total pot goes to the winner but now the other half goes to the player with the Low hand. This worst hand is called "LOW". However it's not just that easy. The "low" can only be specific cards and has no poker hand rules except that it must be five cards total. The low is ONLY NUMBERS (1-8). This means the Ace is counted as a (1) and is the best low card, and the (8) is the worst low. So the best low hand possible also happens to be a straight which is A, 2, 3, 4, 5. So your high and your low hand could be the same sometimes as we will see in the following examples. Now the Ace becomes even more powerful than before since it's high AND low. How do you know which low is better than which? Well it's counted from the 8 downwards. Whoever has the highest low card has the WORST low hand. I know you need examples at this point so here they are.

The hand marked in BLUE is lower and is the best low hand of the two.

(A6384) vs. (25634). Here the 2-5-6-3-4 which is also a straight is lower than the other hand even though the other hand has an ACE because the Highest Low Card in the 2nd hand is a 6 but in the first hand it's an 8. So in poker terms it would be an 8-6 low against a 6-5 low, so 6-5 is the winner. Here are some more examples.

[(24678) vs. (A2468)] , [(34567) vs.(A2348)] , [(A2347) vs.(23456)]

What if there is more than one low and it's the same?
If there are 3 people in a hand and one has the high like (AA774) and the other two have the SAME low of (A2347) then the high still get half of the pot but the low players split the other half and receive only 1/4th of the pot and therefore actually lose money if there were only three people in to begin with . Now there could even be three or FOUR people with the low in the same hand or even two or three of the same HIGH hand or even a MIXTURE! So as you see this is much more difficult than straight forward poker so you must be very careful and know exactly what you are doing. Since the most widely played Hi/Low game is Omaha Hi/Low I will focus mainly on that. In fact Omaha Hi/Low is much more played than Omaha Hi. In Omaha Hi/Low you still must use two cards of the four to make your hi hand but you can also use the two others, the same two, or a mixture to make your low hand. After Omaha Hi/Low the most common Hi/Low game is 7 Card Stud Hi/Low and after that is Pineapple Hi/Low. The others are very rarely played in a Hi/Low form but I will still provide examples of each type.

Below are examples of some winning low's and high's and how much of the pot they would each receive.

* EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE PROVIDED IS FROM A REAL MONEY GAME FROM EITHER
* A CALIFORNIA CASINO, LAS VEGAS CASINO, OR INTERNET GAME.
The most common and easiest to read is just One High hand and One Low hand.

Here the player with the high had two pair right on the flop, (or the 1st three up cards). However, the other player didn't throw his hand down on the flop because he used the ace and the five on the flop with his 3 and his 4 to have four good lows, plus he had a pair of aces with his king (called a king kicker). Also if the low player got a 2 on the fourth or fifth card he would have a straight (A, 2, 3 ,4 ,5) and take the whole pot. The full analysis of what happened is as follows: Each player must use two cards AND OR two other cards in their hand for high AND OR low. The player on the left didn't have a low hand because the two low cards in his hand (A, 3) plus all the DIFFERENT low cards on the board are (A, 3, 5, 7) and you need five different low cards to have low. ALWAYS two low cards in your hand and three on the table. However, he did have two pair of aces and jacks with the ten on the table NOT the one in his hand because that force him to use three cards in his hand for the same purpose A,3,10. Remember you have to use TWO cards for high and TWO for low but they CAN overlap, so it's possible to use three cards just not for the same purpose. The player to right ended up with a great low, the 3 and 4 in his hand and the Ace, five and seven on the table. (A, 3, 4, 5, 7). His high was the Ace and the king in his hand and the Ace, Jack and Ten on the table for (A, A, J, 10). So the high was won by the player on the left with (A, A, J, J, 10), and the other player takes the 2nd half of the pot with (A, 3, 4, 5, 7). Notice that the low player could have hand ANY low to win half the pot since the other player didn't have one. If the low player had an 8 in his hand instead of a 3 his low would have been much worse...(A, 4, 5, 7, 8) but it would have still given him half the pot.



It's not always a fair split when just two people are in with their lows.

Here the player on the left started out with better low cards before the flop came, but since a 2 hit the table with two other low cards he couldn't use his (A, 2), instead he switched to using his (A, 4). The poker term for this is called "counterfeited", his 2 got counterfeited just like both players above got their Aces counterfeited. So the player on the left still has a good low with the Ace and 4 in his hand and the 2, 6, and 7 on the table. (A, 2, 4, 6, 7). But now strangely enough he has to use his Ace and his two for his high which becomes two pair of 2's and 7's with his Ace. (A, 2, 2, 7, 7). The player on the right ties the low of (A, 2, 4, 6, 7) by using his own Ace and 4 but he can also beat the others player's high by using both his Aces, the two 7's on the table and the 9 on the table. (A, A, 7, 7, 9). So first the way pot is divided up is as follows: First the whole pot is split in half with the player on the right taking one half for having the high but the remaining half which represents the low is ALSO split in half because their are two low's, so 1/4 of the total goes to each low. So the right player receives 1/4 for his low PLUS he already took half the pot for his high making his total win was 75% of the pot. The other player with only a low which tied and a losing high receives 25% appropriately.



Next most common is Two Low's and One High.

This happens all the time when you play Omaha Hi/Low because players often play hands with an Ace and a two in order to get the perfect low hand. When I watched this hand a in $4-$8 limit game the pot was over $400 easily since all three players had great hands. The player on the left started out with the high on the Flop with two pair Kings and Sevens, then on the Turn card the player on the right had three Jacks. From here all the players made the maximum raises and re-raises allowed for that round and this is why. The player on the left was one heart away from a and Ace High Flush with his Ace and King of hearts and the 8 and Jack of hearts on the table plus he was one low card away from the best possible low with a 7 and an 8 on the table (A, 2, 7, 8), AND he STILL had two pair! The right player had the three Jacks but also had the same exact low. The center player was trying to get a straight and also had a low but it was notch lower with his (A, 3). The center player was a HUGE under dog since he need a 2 on the river to counterfeit the other better lows or a five which wasn't a heart to get his straight and take the high. A non-heart 5 WAS the river in this case and the center player took half the pot while the others split the other half. This player was extremely lucky.



At times you will also see Two High's and One Low.

This occurs much less than two low's and one high, however you may be involved in a hand like this now and again. By examining this board you should notice that the best cards you could be holding on the flop would be a Jack and a Ten for a top straight of A, K, Q, J, 10. Since by the River there was no pair on the board or three cards of the same suite the possibility of a full house or a flush had been ruled out. Now we are just left with ANYONE holding a Jack and a 10 has the Maximum possible high. The center player did not fold because he had top two pair, Aces and Kings AND four spades. On the Turn the other two players hands did not improve however the center player now also had four good low cards plus he could get a straight of (A, 2, 3, 4, 5). His small straight could not win of course but he had no way of knowing what the other players had and so he continued through the betting and the raising. Plus if the center player got and Ace, King, or spade on the river he would have won the whole pot since the others players had either a counterfeited low or no low. As it turned out the center player got another low but no spade for half the pot to make (A, 3, 4, 5, 6) with the 3 and 4 in his hand. The players to the left and right split the other half with their Jack 10's for 25%.



You may see this once and hour or two. Three Low's and One High from three hands.

Sometimes in omaha Hi/Low every player involved will have the same low then the sole player who also has the high receives a much larger portion of the pot. In this hand ALL three players had an Ace and a Deuce. The left player also flopped two pair with his Ace-7, the center player also had four to a perfect flush while the right player had what's called an Un-counterfeit-able Low. This means that ANY low card that comes next makes him the perfect low. On the Turn the center player becomes the leader with his two pair of queens and sixes. By the River the center player remained ahead with his two pair even though he misses his flush. From here the deal must split the pot giving half to the center player and split the remaining half into 3 equal block, one for each player's low. These 3 blocks are 1/6 of the Total pot each so the center player ended up with 1/2 plus 1/6 for a total of 4/6 or 2/3.

A different version of the above also occurs sometimes. Three Low's and One High from four hands.

When three out of four players have the same low they still each receive a sixth of the pot just like the above example, however this time the player with the high didn't also have a perfect low so he received the 50% instead of 50% plus 1/6. The player on the bottom right has a Full House by the fourth card none of the other players could get ANY card on the River to win the high. Notice that even of the player with the Queen in his hand got a 3rd Queen on the River he would only have 3 queens NOT a full house. He would have the Ace and Queen in his hand with the other two queens on the table and the 8 on the flop for a hand of (Q, Q, Q, A, 8). In fact if the Queen had hit on the last card the player that took 50% of the pot would have taken 100% with his Full House of (8, 8, 8, 7, 7,). The two 8's in his hand and the 8 and 7,7 on the table.



Believe it or not this happens more than once a day when you play Hi/Low. Four low's and One High.

Here the player on the bottom right was dealt the best possible perfect low hand, (A, 2, 3, 4). I was hoping this hand would pay off bid when I was watching the players so I could write about it positively. As you may have deduced the best two low cards you could have in this scenario after the River card hit the table was a 2 & a 4. Since an Ace and 3 hit the flop and and 8 hit the river, the best low becomes (A, 2, 3, 4, 8). Notice everyone has a 2 & a 4 but the bottom right player ALSO used his Ace and his 3 to have a Full House with the table, (A, A, 3, 3, 3). The left player DOESN'T have a Full House but instead has three 3's and an Ace and a five, (the 5 & 3 in his hand and the two 3's and the Ace on the table). The bottom left player only had two pair Aces and Kings with the 8 on the River while the right player had Aces and 3's with the Jack in his hand. So the bottom left player received 50% of the pot for his high and the remaining half was split into 4 sections. One for each person with a 2 & a 4, which was all 4 players. So one half into four parts is one eighth and accordingly everyone gets 1/8. So the Full House and the perfect low receives 1/8 plus 50% or 1/8 + 4/8 =5/8, and everyone else just squeeze by with only 1/8.