Split pot poker explained: scoops, quarters and counterfeited lows in Omaha 8 and Stud 8

At showdown the pot is divided into a high half and a low half. The best high hand (normal poker rankings) takes the high half, and the best qualifying low hand takes the low half.

One player can win both halves. That is a scoop, and it is the goal in every hi-lo game: a scoop wins 100% of the pot, while a one-way hand usually wins at most half (unless no low qualifies).

If two players tie for a half, they split that half between them. Ties happen far more often on the low side than the high side, because two players holding A-2 make the identical low on the same board. Tying the low while someone else wins the high is called getting quartered, and it is worked out in Example 2 below.

The high and low halves are judged separately. Your high hand can use completely different cards from your low hand, and in Omaha it usually does.

A qualifying low in Omaha 8 and Stud 8 is five cards of five different ranks, all 8 or lower, with aces counting low. Pairs do not count toward a low; straights and flushes do not hurt it. The best possible low is 5-4-3-2-A (the wheel), which is also a straight for high.

When no player has a qualifying low, there is no low half. The best high hand wins the whole pot.

For how one low beats another, and how 8-or-better compares with ace-to-five and deuce-to-seven, see poker low hand rankings.

In Omaha, one rule governs both halves and decides most split-pot confusion: every hand, high or low, uses exactly two of your four hole cards and exactly three of the five board cards. You choose the two-plus-three combination for the high and the two-plus-three combination for the low independently. A direct consequence: if fewer than three board cards are 8 or lower, no low is possible for anyone, however good your hole cards are.

When the pot does not divide evenly, the odd chip is commonly awarded to the high half. When a half itself has to be split between tied players and does not divide evenly, that odd chip is commonly given by seat position or, in stud games, by suit. House rules vary, so ask before you play if it matters to you.

The examples below use a 48-chip pot so that every split divides cleanly.

Each example shows every player's four hole cards and the full board, then a table of who gets what. The basics of dealing and betting in Omaha 8 are on how to play Omaha; this page covers only the showdown.

Example 1: a scoop (one player wins high and low)

Hero holds a suited A-2 with a king, which is the kind of hand that can win in both directions.

Hero

A♥ 2♥ 5♣ K♦

Opponent

Q♠ Q♦ J♣ 9♥

Board

3♥ 7♥ 8♦ 10♥ 4♣

Hero's high: A♥ 2♥ from the hand plus 3♥ 7♥ T♥ from the board is an ace-high flush.

Hero's low: A♥ 2♥ plus 3♥ 4♣ 7♥ is 7-4-3-2-A. With A-2 in hand and 3-4-7 on the board, that is the best low possible on this board.

Opponent's high: J♣ 9♥ plus 7♥ 8♦ T♥ is a jack-high straight. A good hand, but it loses to the flush. The opponent has no card below 9, so no low.

Note what Hero cannot do. A♥ 2♥ 5♣ in hand plus 3♥ 4♣ on the board looks like a wheel (5-4-3-2-A), but that uses three hole cards and two board cards. Under the two-plus-three rule it does not exist. Hero does not need it here, but the same habit of counting cards decides many close pots.

Hero scoops: all 48 chips.

Example 2: getting quartered (worked example)

Two players share the low, and one of them also wins the high. This is the most common way a "winning" low hand loses chips.

Hero

A♣ 2♦ J♥ 9♣

Opponent

A♦ 2♠ 6♠ 6♥

Board

4♥ 5♠ 8♣ K♦ 6♣

Hero's low: A♣ 2♦ plus 4♥ 5♠ 6♣ is 6-5-4-2-A, the best low this board allows.

Opponent's low: A♦ 2♠ plus 4♥ 5♠ 6♣ is also 6-5-4-2-A. Identical low. The suits do not matter for a low, so the two hands tie and the low half is shared.

Opponent's high: 6♠ 6♥ plus 6♣ K♦ 8♣ is three sixes.

Hero's high: The best Hero can do is A♣ J♥ plus K♦ 8♣ 6♣, ace high. No pair, no straight (A-2 with 4-5-6 is missing the 3), no flush.

Now the arithmetic. The 48-chip pot splits into a 24-chip high half and a 24-chip low half.

• High half: 24 to the Opponent.
• Low half: tied, so 12 to Hero and 12 to the Opponent.

Hero held the best possible low and still walked away with a quarter of the pot. Heads-up, that is a loss: if each player put in 24 chips, Hero gets 12 back and is down 12. The Opponent's hand was better in a way the low alone cannot show, because the pair of sixes gave it a second way to win.

Example 3: a counterfeited low (before and after the river)

A low is counterfeited when the board pairs one of your low cards. Often your own low stays the same, but the board now offers that rank to everyone, so lows that used to lose to yours can pass you.

Hero

A♥ 2♣ K♦ Q♠

Opponent

4♦ 7♥ Q♣ J♠

After the turn:

Board after the turn

3♠ 5♥ 8♦ K♣

Hero's low is A♥ 2♣ plus 3♠ 5♥ 8♦, an 8-5-3-2-A, and nothing can beat it on this board. Hero's high is K♦ plus any hole card with K♣ 8♦ 5♥, a pair of kings. The Opponent's low is 4♦ 7♥ plus 3♠ 5♥ 8♦, an 8-7-5-4-3, which loses to Hero's. The Opponent's best high is queen-jack with K♣ 8♦ 5♥, king high. If the hand ended here, Hero would scoop.

The river is the 2♦:

Board after the river

3♠ 5♥ 8♦ K♣ 2♦

Hero's low is still A♥ 2♣ plus 3♠ 5♥ 8♦, the same 8-5-3-2-A. Hero cannot improve it: using the board's 2♦ alongside the hole 2♣ would be a pair, and using 3♠ 5♥ 2♦ with A♥ 2♣ still pairs the 2. The 2 in Hero's hand is now doing nothing the board does not already do for every opponent. In effect, Hero is playing a lone ace for low.

The Opponent's low is now 4♦ 7♥ plus 2♦ 3♠ 5♥, a 7-5-4-3-2. A seven-low beats an eight-low, so the Opponent wins the low half with a hand that was second best one card earlier.

Hero's high actually improved: 2♣ K♦ plus K♣ 8♦ 2♦ is two pair, kings and twos, and it beats the Opponent's king high. So Hero still wins the high half.

Hero goes from scooping 48 chips to splitting 24-24 on one river card. Had Hero held a third low card, say A♥ 2♣ 4♣ Q♠, the river would have made A♥ 4♣ plus 2♦ 3♠ 5♥, a wheel, for both the best low and a straight for high. That is why experienced Omaha Hi-Lo players value A-2-3 and A-2-4 so far above a bare A-2: the extra low card is counterfeit protection.

Alternative Hero hand

A♥ 2♣ 4♣ Q♠

Example 4: no qualifying low (high takes everything)

When there are fewer than three different board ranks of 8 or lower, there is no low half and the whole pot goes to the high hand.

Hero

A♣ 2♣ 3♦ 5♥

Opponent

K♥ Q♣ 9♠ 8♠

Board

K♠ Q♦ 7♥ J♣ 4♠

Hero holds four of the five lowest ranks in the deck, and it does not matter. Only two board cards (7♥ and 4♠) are 8 or lower, and the two-plus-three rule requires three board cards in every hand. A low cannot be made, by Hero or by anyone.

Opponent's high: K♥ Q♣ plus K♠ Q♦ J♣ is two pair, kings and queens.

Hero's high: The best Hero can make is ace high (A♣ 5♥ with K♠ Q♦ J♣). Hero's 2-3 or 3-5 with the 4♠ and 7♥ never reach five in a row.

The Opponent takes all 48 chips. In Omaha Hi-Lo a pot like this is settled on the flop more often than at the river: a flop of K-Q-7 has only one low card, so a low needs both the turn and the river to be 8 or lower, and Hero should usually be gone.

Example 5: a three-way pot

With three players, one hand can win the high, another the low, and the third can finish second in both directions and get nothing.

Player A

J♣ J♦ 9♠ 10♠

Player B

A♣ 3♣ K♦ Q♠

Player C

A♦ 5♦ 9♥ 9♣

Board

2♥ 6♦ 7♣ J♥ 4♠

High: Player A's J♣ J♦ plus J♥ 7♣ 6♦ is three jacks. Player C's best is 9♥ 9♣ plus J♥ 7♣ 6♦, a pair of nines. Player B has ace high. Player A wins the high half.

Low: The board has four low cards, 2-4-6-7, so the best possible low is A-3 with 2-4-6. Player B's A♣ 3♣ plus 2♥ 6♦ 4♠ is exactly that, 6-4-3-2-A. Player C's A♦ 5♦ plus 2♥ 6♦ 4♠ is 6-5-4-2-A, which loses on the second card (5 against 4). Player A has no low. Player B wins the low half.

If each player put in 16 chips, A and B each gain 8 and C loses 16. Player C made a low and a pair, but second-best low and second-best high collect nothing. Multiway pots are where the gap between "a low" and "the nut low" costs the most.

Stud 8 splits the pot the same way, half high and half low with the same 8-or-better qualifier, but there is no two-plus-three rule. Each player has seven cards and picks any five of them for the high and any five, which may be the same five, for the low. The rules of dealing and betting are on how to play Stud Hi-Lo.

Here is a scoop. The notation is the stud order: two down cards, four up cards, then the final down card.

Player X

A♠ 2♦ 3♥ 5♣ J♦ 4♠ 9♥

Player Y

Q♥ Q♦ 8♠ 6♥ 10♦ 7♣ Q♠

Player X's low: A-2-3-4-5, the wheel, the best low there is. The jack and the nine are simply not used.

Player X's high: The same five cards, A-2-3-4-5, are a five-high straight. A straight does not hurt the low, and the low cards do not stop it from being a straight.

Player Y's high: Three queens with a ten and an eight. Y was drawing to a straight on sixth street with 6-7-8-T, but the one rank that completes it, the 9, never came. Three queens is a strong high in Stud 8, and here it loses to the wheel.

Player Y's low: Y's ranks are Q-Q-Q-T-8-7-6. Only three of them are 8 or lower, so Y has no qualifying low.

X scoops all 48 chips. This is the shape of the best Stud 8 starting hands: three low cards that can also make a straight (or three suited low cards that can make a flush), so that one hand is drawing at both halves. Y's buried queens are a fine Seven Card Stud hand but a one-way hand in Stud 8, which usually limits them to half the pot whenever a low is made. For more on choosing hands, see Stud 8 starting hands.

Both split-pot games are in Mix Poker, on their own or inside the HORSE, TORSE and THORSE rotations, and the Beginner band of the bot ladder is free. Every opponent is a computer opponent, so you can play as many hi-lo hands as you like until the split arithmetic is automatic.