Omaha

Omaha poker is played just like Texas Holdem game, except that the player gets 4 hole cards in place of only 2. As opposed to Holdem, when a player puts together a 5-card hand in showdown, they need to make use of exactly 2 of their hole-cards with 3 cards from board.

First Betting Round

Omaha poker is often played with a big and small blind, which are placed even before the cards are actually dealt, and referred to as ‘live bets’. The dealer in first round deals 4 cards to every player. When all participants have either called the ‘last bet’ or folded, the Flop is dealt; 3 cards face-up on the board. Such cards are ‘community cards’ which implies that they can be used by all players to make best possible five card poker hand.

Then, the 2^nd and 3^rd rounds of betting take place like in ‘holdem’. Mostly, this poker variation is played with pot limit or fixed limit, no-limit poker may also take place.

The River and showdown

When the 5^th board-card has been shown (river), last round of betting occurs. If more than one participant remains in play when betting is ended, there is a ‘showdown’. The participant who raises or puts in last bet, and was ‘called’ shows his card first. Then, other participants show their cards in some order. If they do not wish to compete for pot, they are free to fold hands devoid of showing.

The participant who can create best possible 5 card hands using 3 board cards and 2 hole cards wins the pot at last. If many players have same hand, the pot is split equally. Make a note that cards which are excluded from 5 card hands are ignored. They have no role in deciding which hands win. Similarly, dissimilar ‘suits’ do not have dissimilar value.

Some Omaha peculiarities

With 4 hole cards in place of 2, the players may believe there would be double as many 2-card combination as in Texas Holdem, however, there is actually 6 times as many. That is what makes ‘Omaha’ different from Texas Holdem. With the hand like ‘A, K, Q, J’, the players can build six 2-card hands like AK-AQ-AJ-KQ-KJ and QJ. This will improve the odds of hitting flop. However, the opponent’s chances will also improve side by side.  In Omaha poker, the hands that player showdown are often better than in Texas Hold’em on average.

The player also needs to comprehend that if one of the hole cards does not connect with others (hanger), their starting-hand is weaker. The hand like A, K, Q, 7 has just 3 decent 2-card hands, AK, AQ, KQ, therefore in a sense, it is half as solid as A, K, Q, J.

Since the opponents will usually have several types of hands on flop, if the player hits it good, they usually need to safeguard their hands. Playing slow is considered to be more hazardous in Omaha poker than in Texas Holdem.