The game of poker, High/Low mode, denotes a style of play where the pot is split in half between the lowest hand and the highest hand.
We say, for example, to specify the game (like Omaha) to which we will play High Low mode: Omaha High/Low
When the game is announced without specifying which mode is going to be played, it is agreed that it is in High mode, to play high/low it is necessary that the donor states that this mode that will be activated before the start of the game.
Skilled hands
In this mode, the low hand is not always qualified. For it to be valid and take half the pot, it must not contain any combination (or pair or thre of a kind, or four of a kind) and the highest card in it should not exceed eight.
In high/low mode the low hand uses ace to five variant (suites, colors and flush do not count) without which a hand in deuce to seven with a maximum of eight would become very difficult to obtain.
Pot sharing
When the betting rounds are over, the remaining players have a hand for high and, if he has a skilled hand, a hand for low.
The player with the highest hand wins half the pot, and the player with the lowest hand (if qualified) wins the other half of the pot. (In case of odd number of chips it is agreed to give the remaining chip to the strong hand).
In poker variants with more than five cards, it is possible that the two winning hands are held by the same player for each player arranges as he wishes to present the two five-card hands.
Example Hold’em high/low
- The community cards
- A player’s cards
- B player’s cards
Hands formed by players:
- The A player’s high hand (three of a kind Aces)
- The A player’s low hand
- The B player’s high hand (double pair Ace and King)
- The B player’s low hand (unqualified because the upper eight)
In this case, player A wins the entire pot.
Example of sharing at Omaha High/Low:
- The community cards
- A player’s cards
- B player’s cards
Hands formed by players
- The A player’s high hand (suit to 6)
- The A player’s low hand (wheel)
- The B player’s high hand (suit to 5)
- The B player’s low hand (wheel)
Player A has a better hand than the hand of the player B for high, and each has an equivalent low hand
In this case, player A wins half the pot for his best high hand and half of half he shares with Player B for a low hand of same “weakness”
Playability
Although in theory this mode can be played with any poker variation, there are cases where this mode is not played because it is not of great interest.
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