Omaha Poker - How to Play Omaha Poker

Omaha poker is a very popular game resembling Texas Hold’em. Each player receives four cards called “hole”, “pocket”, or “down” cards, while five “community cards” are dealt face up on the table. The fundamental Omaha poker rule is that a player must use two of their hole cards and three community cards to form their hand. Because Omaha poker gives each player nine cards from which to build a winning hand, a weak opening hand has a greater win potential than in other games. This can make for many dramatic turns.

Learning how to play Omaha poker is easy as long as you remember a few catchy terms: small blind, big blind, the flop, the turn, the river, and showdown. These operate in every hand of Omaha poker and follow a ten-step sequence, including four betting rounds, described below.

Before dealing, the small and big blinds are placed in the pot. The player to the left of the dealer places the small blind, which is equal to half the lower stake. The player to the left of the small blind places the big blind. The big blind is equal to the lower stake limit. Once these blind bets are placed, the dealer distributes four “hole” cards to every player. The player to the left of the big blind may at this point fold, call, or raise. Each player then chooses to fold, call, or raise in clockwise order. 

After the first round of betting the dealer places the first three community cards face-up in the middle of the table. This is “the flop”. After the flop the player to the left of the dealer initiates the remaining betting rounds. If no bets are present, a player may check or bet. If there are bets or raises the player must call, raise, or fold. 

With the second betting round complete, a fourth community card, “the turn”, is dealt face-up. The third betting round now commences.

The dealer then turns over the last community card, called “the river". There is a final round of betting after which comes the “showdown” where the best hand wins the pot. With the hand finished the dealer position rotates one player to the left.

It is important to note that in Omaha poker the last two betting rounds are always double the stake limit of the first two rounds. Say the table’s stake limit is $1 for the first two betting rounds. The stake limit will then be $2 for the last two. These are usually referred to as the lower and higher stake limit.                     

Omaha poker is sometimes played high/low, where the highest and lowest hands split the pot. In such cases, the goal is to win all the pot. This means hands that can win both high and low (such as a straight with low numbers) are better than those that can win only high or low. 

You can practice Omaha poker and Omaha Hi Lo Poker for fun at IGotPoker.COM. They have high stakes action which will help you develop your Omaha skills!

Have a question, general feedback or want to find out more about various online poker tournaments?  Email me at 911poker@1800-sports.com   I would love to hear from you.

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Bones McCoy, www.gambling911.com