Omaha High/Low Point Count System Introducing The Hutchison Point Count System For Omaha High/Low This text has been prepared by The Eureka Kid, on behalf of TheOmahaSplit.com Point count methods offer a simple rote learning solution to card games and the following is a pre-flop guide for Omaha High/Low play. Edward Hutchison introduced point counting systems to poker in the late nineties devising point count systems for both Omaha and Omaha High/Low. Here, we will analyze the Omaha/8 system that he outlines, first presenting the guidelines he dictates and then look at it's overall strengths and weaknesses. Assumptions A full table game of ten players with a mix of lower level and middle level players. Objectives To identify pre-flop starting hands that have 50% or above chance of winning. Random hands should win about 10% of the pots in a 10 player game, the hands that qualify under the Hutchison Point Count System will have at least a 15% probability of winning. High Hand Qualification For a hand to be good enough to play only for it's high hand potential it must meet the following requirements... All four cards are of rank Ten through Ace Contains one or more of the following... Two pairs. Two suited cards and a pair Double suitedness Must not have three cards of the same rank Low Hand Qualification To figure out how many points your hand is worth on a low basis, add together the points your hand gets for the following characteristics... Edward Hutchison first recommended that you should play hands that are greater than 20 points and raise with hands greater than 30 points. Lowest two cards in your hand A-2 = 20 pts A-3 = 17 pts A-4 = 13 pts A-5 = 10 pts 2-3 = 15 pts 2-4 = 12 pts 3-4 = 11 pts 4-5 = 8 pts All others = 0 pts Two remaining cards not counted above (use each rank only one time) 3 = 9 pts 4 = 6 pts 5 = 4 pts Jack, Queen or King = 2 pts 6 or 10 = 1 pts 7, 8 or 9 = 0 pts Pairs Aces = 8 pts Kings = 6 pts Queens = 5 pts Jacks = 2 pts Tens, Fours or Threes = 1 pts Twos = 3 pts Others = 0 pts Take off half of the points from this criteria if your hand has three cards of same rank Lose all points from this criteria if your hand contains four cards of same rank Two suited cards Ace High = 4 pts King High = 3 pts Queen or Jack High = 2 pts Ten, Nine or Eight High = 1 pts All others = 0 pts Take off half of the points from this section if hand contains three cards of same suit. Lose all points from this criteria if your hand contains four cards of same suit Strengths - A simple method of hand evaluation that gets beginners thinking about the hands they are playing and teaches them the relative value of certain characteristics of Omaha/8 starting hands. - There is correlation between a hand's point count value and its winning percentage. That is, a hand that scores 22 points should win a higher percentage of the time than a hand that scores a 20. Weaknesses - The scoring for suitedness is somewhat low - A suited ace is given the same value as a hand containing 67o - Aces are underrated compared to other pairs - Opponents are assumed to be average low limit opponents - It only considers pre-flop hand evaluation techniques For more information on Omaha High/Low visit The Omaha Split - The Largest Online Resource For Omaha High/Low!