Qualifier

The rules of Omaha hi-lo is usually played with a 'qualifier' for the low hand, meaning all of the cards making up a low hand have to be ranked eight or lower. That's where the 'split-8-or-better'.
For example, if you have an Ace and a Deuce in your hand and there is a Four, a Six and a Seven on the board then you have made a qualifying Seven-low: 7-6-4-2-A. Note that there is no qualifier for the high end of the pot anything goes for high hands! In the next section we shall be explaining how the low hand works in more detail.

Poker Hand Combinations Explained. Poker hands fall into one of ten categories. The highest is a royal flush, followed by a straight flush, then four of a kind, a full house, a flush, a straight.

- A requirement that must be met in order to have a valid hand and be eligible for any share of the pot.
A qualifier is a condition that a player must meet if they are to have a valid hand. Hands that do not meet the minimum threshold that the qualifier has established are not eligible to win that part of the pot to which the qualifier applies. Qualifiers most frequently apply to low holdings in hi/lo split games, like Hi/Lo Stud (also known as Stud Eight or Better, or EO) and Omaha Hi/Lo (also known as Omaha Eight or Better, or O8). In both of these games, the “eight or better” describes the qualifier for making a valid low hand. There is no qualifier for the high side of the pot. In order for a low to be valid in either game, players must make an unpaired five card low hand with each card having a value of eight or less. If no one can complete a valid low holding, the high hand will win the entire pot.
The reason that qualifiers are used in hi/lo split games is because they balance power between the high and the low. In these games, it can be much easier to make a good low than it is to make the best high hand. Plus, if there were no qualifier, the lowest hand would be constantly freerolling on the high hands, making play unbalanced. If there were no qualifier, or any other rule that has the effect of balancing the power between the high and the low, it would leave players little incentive to ever go high. This would hamper the action, because players with high holdings would have little incentive to continue when facing action from the low. Adding the qualifier makes it much tougher on the low, and therefore easier on the high. With the qualifier in place, low hands now face the prospect of getting nothing from the pot if they do not qualify, whereas high hand now have the opportunity to scoop when the low busts.
Eight or Better is the standard qualifier for hi/lo split games. Depending upon where you play poker, you may also see a different (higher) qualifier for low used from time to time, but this is rare. An alternative to using the qualifier to balance the power between high and low could be to make the game Hi/Lo declare. In a hi/lo declare game, each player must state their intent to go either for the high side of the pot or the low. In a declare game a player may not win the side of the pot that they did not declare for, regardless of how strong their hand is.
In addition to the qualifier mandating conditions for the low in some poker games, you may also see the qualifier used for high hands in certain draw games, like Jacks or Better Draw. In Jacks or Better, the qualifier is, as the name suggests, a pair of Jacks or better. This means that a player must hold at least a pair of Jacks, or anything stronger, in order to open the pot. If the qualifier is not met, the player may not open the pot, or their hand will be dead by rule.

High To Low Poker Hands

Draw games are out of fashion, so you are unlikely to see a Jacks or Better game spread in your local poker room. High Low Stud and Omaha High Low both enjoy a certain amount of popularity, especially in certain regions of the country. These games are spread regularly in many casinos, though they are nowhere near as popular as Texas Hold’em. Non-Holdem games Like Stud Split and Omaha Split are frequently referred to as “skill games,” because they have a smaller luck component than Hold’em, and because a certain skill level is required before you can expect to have much success in them.
Usage: His Hand Didn’t Qualify, I Qualified For Low, No Low Qualified
Previous Poker Term: Quads
Next Poker Term: Race Off

The below gives explanations for the most popular examples of poker terminology. The Glossary is designed for you to use to check what all the various poker terms mean. Poker is a game that uses a lot of jargon, but you will quickly get used to the language.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Action
Making, or calling, a bet or raise. i.e. “giving action”.

All-in
When a player is all-in, they have bet all of their remaining chips, and can take no further active part in future betting rounds.

Angle/Angle Shooting
Attempting to manipulate the action or other players decisions through questionable or illegal behavior. Cheating.

Ante
Poker games like Stud are played with an ante; a forced bet that every player has to post before each round of betting. Antes are also introduced in the later levels of some No-Limit Hold’em tournaments.

Bad Beat
Losing a hand after getting action as an overwhelming favourite.

Backdoor Draw
A draw that requires two cards to complete, i.e. a flop with one heart when you hold two hearts in your hand.

Badugi
(1) Badugi is a relatively new type of poker game originally from Asia. Each player gets four cards, and there are three draws. The player with the lowest hand wins the pot.
(2) Four cards of different suits that don’t form a pair is a hand known as a Badugi.

Bankroll
Refers to the amount of money you have available solely for playing poker.

Barrel
To continue betting on future streets post flop after taking the betting lead on the current street.

Bet
The first bet made in a round of betting. If this bet is increased later in the same betting round, this is known as a raise.

Big Stack
A player who has a lot of chips.

Blind
A forced bet which has to be posted before each hand. The player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind, while the player two places left of the dealer posts the big blind. As a rule the big blind is twice the size of the small blind.

Blind Level
Describes the size of the forced blind bets in the current stage of a tournament. The size of the blinds increases with each new level.

Blind Stealing
A raise before the flop with a weak hand, with the aim of forcing all opponents to fold, and therefore winning the blinds. Works best from late position if all players have folded so far.

Bluff
When a player bets and/or raises without having a good hand, to try and make their opponent fold the better hand.

Bluff Catcher
A hand that is not strong enough to beat an opponent who is betting for value with a made hand, but only an opponent who is bluffing.

Board
The five community cards in the middle of the table in poker games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

Boat
(slang) A full house.

Break-even
To break-even means that neither a loss nor a profit has been made.

Bubble
Describes any significant threshold in a tournament. The most common tournament bubbles are the initial money bubble, and the final table bubble.

Bubbleboy
The player in a tournament eliminated directly before the paid places are reached, therefore going away empty-handed.

Burncard
The card that gets discarded by the dealer before the community cards are dealt, in order to prevent cheating.

Busted/Bust-out
When you are eliminated from a tournament after losing all your chips

Button
(1) A plastic disc which is passed clockwise each hand to determine the position of the nominal dealer.
(2) Named used to describe the nominal dealer in the current hand.

Buy-in
The amount of money players have to pay to enter a tournament. Most of this money goes

Low Hand Poker Meaning