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Getting Quartered

Because of the nature of Omaha Hi Lo, one strategic concept that applies only to it is a situation called “getting quartered”.

This typically occurs when you’re playing for the low half of the pot, often with a hand like Ac 2c Kd Qd, and a board of 3h 6h 8h Jd 10c. You’re guaranteed to win the low half, since you have A2, but you have to keep in mind the possibility that other opponents might also have A2. This isn’t that uncommon, as many players will play any hand with A2 in it, because it gives them a good shot at winning the low half of the split pot. When multiple players split one half of the pot, this is called “getting quartered”.

What you have to be aware of is that while you’re guaranteed to get a portion of the low half of the split pot, you may have to share it with other opponents. Think of it like a pie, divided in half. If three of you have A2 in the above hand, you have to split half of the pot between the three of you, while the high hand gets half the pot to themselves.

It’s possible to get quartered and to actually lose money on the hand, despite the fact that you get a piece of the pot. More common, though, is that you’ll end up close to break-even for the hand.

As far as strategy, well, there’s little you can do to change the cards your opponents have, to prevent getting quartered. Some authors suggest that you might fold your low hand, if you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’ll be splitting with multiple opponents, but this is almost never correct in most games.

The best strategy correction is to be aware of getting quartered, and to control the pot size if you think it may happen. Don’t necessarily raise with a nut low hand, assuming that you’re guaranteed to get half the pot, as that half may in fact be split two or three ways when it’s all said and done. It’s perfectly fine in some spots to simply call with the nut low hand if you have strong evidence that it’s going to be split multiple ways.

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