Intro to Omaha Poker
Omaha Poker closely resembles Texas Holdem except you get four hole cards instead of two hole cards. After that, the play of each hand is the same as it is in Texas Holdem. Three community cards are dealt face up, there is a round of betting, another community card is dealt face up, there is another round of betting, one last community card is dealt face up and then there is a final round of betting.
In terms of popularity, Omaha poker comes second place only to Texas Holdem. The games look strikingly similar but there are enough differences in the rules and proper strategy that it's necessary to educate yourself before jumping right in. While the two games may be similar in some respects, they are completely different in others.
One of the key differences between Omaha and Texas Holdem is that in Omaha you must use exactly two of your hole cards when making a hand. In Holdem you can use one, two or none of your hole cards to make your hand. But in Omaha, you must use exactly two of your hole cards.
This is confusing for new Omaha players, especially those that have recently switched over from Texas Holdem. If there are four spades on the board and you have a spade in your hand while playing Holdem, you'd have a flush. But in Omaha, you would still have to have two spades in your hand to have a flush.
Omaha Rules
Dealer and the Blinds
Every Omaha poker hand begins with the dealer's button. The dealer's button is a small disc that is used to represent position at the table. It moves one seat to the left after every hand to make sure every person gets to be the dealer and every person posts the blinds once per orbit.
In cases where there is a full time dealer, the dealer's button is still passed around the table but the person with it doesn't actually deal the cards. Even though that person doesn't deal, the dealer's button is still needed because it determines who pays the blinds and who acts first in each hand.
In most Omaha games, there are two "blinds" which act as antes to start each hand out with a little money in the pot. In each hand, the two players that are located just left of the dealer act as the blinds. The player to the immediate left of the dealer pays the small blind and the player immediately left of the small blind is considered the big blind.
The amount of each blind all depends on the stakes of the game being played. In limit games, the big blind is equal to the size of one small bet. In pot limit games, the big blind is usually equal to 1/100th of the maximum buyin. The small blind is always equal to half the big blind.
First Round of Betting
After each player at the table has posted their blind, they will each receive four face down cards, one at a time starting with the player to the left of the dealer and in that direction (or clockwise) around the rest of the table. After all the players have received their cards, there is a round of betting where players can either bet, check, or fold depending on the action in front of them.
In this round of preflop betting, the first player to act is the one located immediately left of the big blind. That player may pay one small bet to enter the pot, he may fold his hand or he may raise. If he raises, all the other players must at least match that amount to stay in the pot.
The action continues clockwise around the table and ends with the big blind.
The Flop and Second Round of Betting
After all the bets have been matched from the first round of betting, the dealer now deals three cards in the middle part of the table, all of which are face up. These community cards may be used by all the players at the table and is known as the "flop."
After the flop is placed or dealt on the table, a second round of betting may begin. This time, the betting action starts with the player located to the dealers immediate left.
This person may check, bet or fold. Checking is free so folding here doesn't make any sense. The betting action then continues in this direction, or clockwise, around the rest of the poker table until all players have taken their turn to bet or match a bet.
The Turn and Third Round of Betting
Next, one additional card is dealt face up in the middle of the table right next to the flop. This is known as the "turn" card and it also acts as a community card.
After the turn is dealt, there is an additional round of betting which acts the same as the last round. This round also starts with the player located immediately left of the player holding the dealer button.
The River and Fourth Round of Betting
One final community card is dealt face up on the table next what is known as the turn card. This final card being placed in the center of the table is known as the "river."
After the river is dealt, there is one last round of betting identical to the last two rounds. After all the bets are matched, the remaining players turn their cards face up and see who has the best hand, which is also called the showdown.
The Showdown
The player with the best 5 card poker hand, using exactly two cards from his hand and three from the board, wins the pot. Remember, you must use exactly two of the cards from your hand and two from the board when making your hand.
After the showdown is completed and the pot handed to the winner, the dealer's button moves on to the next player. The button always moves to the player immediately left.
Basic Omaha Poker Strategy
Although Omaha looks similar to Texas Holdem, the strategy for it is quite different. In Omaha, you have to pick your starting hands very carefully and play with extreme caution after the flop.
Omaha Starting Hands
Knowing that you have to use exactly two of your hole cards to make hands in Omaha, it pays to pick starting hands in which every possible arrangement of 2 card pairs work together. For example, in a hand like As Ks Ah Kh, every possible arrangement of the cards makes a strong poker hand.
Hands like As Kd 4h 9c might look good to new players but you'll notice that only one combination of the cards is strong: the ace and the king. Every other two card combination in the hand is junk.
Some of the better Omaha hands to look for include AAKK, AAJT, AAJJ, AAQQ, TJQK, 89TJ, KKAJ, KKQT, QQJJ and on. The pattern you'll notice here is big pairs combined with high cards and lots of consecutive cards. The best of these hands are double-suited, meaning that there are two cards of one suit and two cards of another suit in each hand.
Omaha Postflop Strategy
You have to be extremely careful after the flop in Omaha because there are a lot of hand combinations out there. Omaha is often called a "game of nuts" because it usually takes the nuts or close to it to win the pot in a game with 6 or more players in it. Each player essentially has six possible combinations of two card hands.
A part of the reason you have to be so picky in choosing your starting hands is because you need to play hands that can hit the nuts. If you get a strong hand but it's not the nuts, you can easily go broke to someone who does have the nuts.
Draws to the nuts can be a lot stronger in Omaha as well. If you have a hand like 68TJ on a 79Q flop, you would have 20 outs to hit a straight! The odds of you hitting a draw like this are actually greater than the odds of you missing it.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to preflop strategy is that you must always play for the nuts. The nuts can change drastically every time a new community card is dealt so always pay attention to where the nuts could be. If you don't have the nuts or a good draw to the nuts, you should probably get out of the hand.
Make sure to take a look at out other Omaha Hi Poker Strategy and Omaha Hi-Lo Poker Strategy to help you improve your game!