Point Count System for Omaha High-Low Poker
HUTCHISON POINT COUNT SYSTEM FOR OMAHA HIGH-LOW POKER
By Edward Hutchison
ASSUMPTIONS: A ten-handed game at the lower levels
with a mix of good and poor players.
OBJECTIVE: To identify those hands that have at
least a 50% above chance expectation of winning. That is, while
any random hand should win about 10% of the pots in a ten-handed
game, the hands identified as "playable" by this system
have at least a 15% probability of winning.
METHOD: In any split pot game the best hands are
those that have a chance to win both high and low. Most of the hands
without this potential should be discarded. However, there are a
few hands that are profitable even though they have no potential
to win low.
The first step in evaluating your hand is to see if it is one of
these HIGH-ONLY hands. To qualify, all four of your cards must be
Ten or above AND include (1) two pair, or (2) a pair and two suited
cards, or (3) two double suits. Eliminate any high hand containing
three of the same rank. If your hand does not qualify as a HIGH
hand, then...
The next step is to see if your hand can be played as a LOW or
TWO-WAY hand. This determination is made by adding the number of
points obtained in these four simple steps:
FIRST, look at your two lowest cards and award points as follows:
A-2 equals 20 pts. A-3 equals 17 pts. A-4 equals 13 pts.
A-5 equals 10 pts. 2-3 equals 15 pts. 2-4 equals 12 pts.
3-4 equals 11 pts. 4-5 equals 8 pts. Anything else = no pts.
SECOND, look at your two remaining cards ("kickers")
and award points as follows:
3 equals 9 pts. 4 equals 6 pts. 5 equals 4 pts.
Jack, Queen, or King equals 2 pts. 6 or Ten equals 1 point
Do not award any "kicker" pts. for a card that duplicates
a card used in step one and if the kicker is paired it is counted
only once under this step.
THIRD, if you have any pairs, add points as follows:
Aces equal 8 pts. Kings equal 6 pts. Queens equal 5 pts. Jacks
equal 2 pts. Tens equal one point Fours equal one point Threes equal
one point Deuces equal 3 pts.
Deduct half of the points awarded under this step if you have three
cards of the same rank.
FOURTH, if you hold two suited cards and the highest of them is
an Ace, add 4 pts. a King, add 3 pts. a Queen or Jack, add 2 pts.
an 8, 9, or Ten, one pt.
Deduct half of the points awarded under this step if your hand
contains three cards of the same suit and award no points if all
of the cards are of the same suit.
EACH HAND WILL EARN A TOTAL FROM 0 TO 45 POINTS. PLAY THOSE HANDS
WITH 20 POINTS OR MORE AND CONSIDER RAISING WITH 30 POINTS OR MORE.
EXAMPLES FOR CLARIFICATION
You are dealt AS, 3S, 5H, KD. Since not all four cards are above
Ten, the hand is evaluated as a low or two-way hand by following
the four steps outlined above. Step one awards 17 pts. for the A-3,
step two grants six pts. for the 5 and K "kickers," step
three does not apply, and step four gives four pts. for the two
suited cards (spades) headed by the Ace. The total equals 27 pts.
making this a playable hand.
You are dealt AS, AC, 2S,3C. The hand does not qualify for high.
Step one awards 20 pts. For the A-2, step two gives nine pts. For
the 3 "kicker," step three grants eight pts. For the pair
of Aces, and step four means that each double-suited combination
headed by an Ace is worth four pts. each or a total of eight pts.
For the two combinations. The grand total for this hand is 45 points.
Incidentally, this is the most powerful hand in high-low Omaha.
You are dealt AS, TS, AC, QD. This hand qualifies for high because
it satisfies the condition that 1) all four cards are Ten or above,
and 2) two of the cards are paired and two are of the same suit.
You are dealt AS, TS, KD, QD. This hand qualifies for high because
1) all four cards are Ten or above, and 2) it contains two double
suits.
NOTES
A very high correlation (but not a one-to-one correspondence) exists
between a hand's point count and its winning percentage. Thus, a
hand that earns 25 pts. is quite likely to have a higher win percentage
than a hand with 24 pts. and it is almost certain to have a higher
percentage than a hand with 23 or fewer pts.
It should be noted that initial card selection, while crucial to
success, is not the only skill necessary to maximize Omaha profits.
These other skills, however, do not lend themselves to easy quantification
and are beyond the scope of this simple mathematical approach. Recall,
too, the basic assumption that this system is being used at the
lower limits. I hope that these limitations will not detract from
the main purpose of this approach which is to provide a simple aid
to the beginner.
This system has been devised by Edward Hutchison.
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