You're Not in Texas Anymore

Omaha has many similarities to Texas Hold'em and that includes the posting of blinds before any cards are dealt. However, you will quickly notice when you play Omaha that you are dealt four hole cards, rather than just two in Texas Hold'em.

This is a fundamental rule that makes Omaha different and the increase in hole cards affects every part of how you play this game. With four hole cards given to each player, many much stronger hands are possible, so don't expect to win without a big hand.

Expect, rather, to see a lot of folding in round one for players who have blank hands. If you have a low hand then you may want to join the folding crowd.

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The Flop

Once players have looked at their hole cards and either bet or folded, the dealer will flop over three community cards that can be used by all players to make their hands.

Take good note, though, that even though you have four hole cards, you can only use two of them to make your hand. The rule of Omaha is that you must use exactly two of your hole cards and exactly three community cards to make your best five card poker hand.

Exactly two of your hole cards plus exactly three community cards--remember that well.

An interesting part of Omaha then, once you've seen the flop, is figuring out how many combinations of good hands you either hold right now or might draw to if various cards come out on the upcoming two final community cards: the turn and the river.

For instance, let's say that your hole cards are K, K, 7,8, and the flop comes K, 9, 10. This would be a strong hand because you have multiple ways to make a stronger hand if you hit certain cards on the upcoming turn and river. You could make a full house or a decently high straight.

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Omaha Betting Rules and Style

Again similar to Texas Hold'em, the betting in Omaha proceeds from right to left with "button" (last position) rotating around the table.

Also as in Hold'em, position is very important and the later you are in the betting order, the more chances you can take with hands that aren't powerhouses yet. If anything, position is even more important in Omaha than in Hold'em.

You will notice, though, that experienced Omaha players are not fans of letting players with drawing hands see more cards, so the betting action after the flop typically escalates quickly.

With the presence of four hole cards, there are more ways to get lucky on the draw and make a strong hand, so the players with the best hands after the flop usually try to make the players who have drawing hands fold as much as possible or else pay dearly to see another card.

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The Turn and the River

After the flop and the betting round(s) that follow, the dealer turns over the turn card, another community card. Another round of betting ensues and again you may expect that the cost to stay in the game may be considerable as aggressive players vie for the building pot.

Now you have the final river card and a final round of betting.

At this point, you may see a Pot Limit Omaha player go all in, holding or representing a major strong hand, for example maybe someone who was "slowplaying" or "trapping" a weaker opponent will shove all in knowing that he or she holds the nuts hand.

Extremely aggressive betting can occur, for instance, if a scare card like an Ace hits on the river.

The river card is also an important part of Omaha because it gives players that final chance to hit their better out. To follow the example above, the better out would be, say, if you had built a 7-8-9-10-J straight as of the turn, but then a King came on the river, giving you four Kings.

You might be, in that case, the aggressive player going all in.

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Straights and Flushes

A necessary side note here is that in Omaha, much more than in Hold'em, the winning hand is often a straight or a flush. In particular, the four hole card factor gives players many options for making a straight, up to 20 different permutations.

However, be careful about betting too much if your straight or flush is susceptible to being beat by a higher straight or flush--which it often bordering on always is in that danger.

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Drawing to the Nuts

As you can probably see by now, the four hole card rule is a powerful rule Omaha. With access to four private cards, players have a plethora of ways to make really strong high hands.

This probability that there are at least a couple big hands out there after the flop makes Omaha High a game that is all about drawing to the nuts, for instance a high flush such as ace high.

If you are not in possession of or drawing directly to a hand that has a solid chance to be the best hand out there, consider folding because someone else is likely to have more nuts than you.

It can be utterly disastrous, for example, for a newcomer Omaha player to bet all the way to the river with an obviously lower straight than their opponent. Often a player who commits such a sin of "hoping" that their hand is good enough or falling in love with a low straight on the flop will see all their chips taken from them in one fell swoop in a most unceremonial fashion.

In Omaha, if you don't have the nuts or a good chance of drawing to the nuts, beware!

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