Rules, Tips and Strategy for playing Omaha Poker

Omaha is a game that is very much similar to Texas Hold’em. In this game players are dealt with four hole cards. When forming your best hand players have to combine two hole cards with three other cards from the board.

Omaha Poker First round betting Strategy

The game is played using big and small blind which are posted even before the cards are dealt. These are generally termed as live bets. Dealer deals four face down cards to the players and after this first round betting is placed. After all players have called for last bet or folded their cards, the dealer deals the flop – three face up cards are dealt on the board. These are termed as community cards and are shared by each player to make their best 5-card hand.

The second and third bets are placed by players. When playing this game the pot has certain limit. But in most games players also choose to play no-limit pot value.

Omaha Poker Fifth card and Shutdown

The last betting round begins after dealing fifth card on the board. If there are more than one player holding the cards, the dealer requests for shutdown. The player who places his bet last has to reveal his cards first and all other players follow him revealing their cards on the board. In case any player does not want to compete for pot then he is free to fold.

The player who is having best 5 card hand using two hole cards is declared as the winner of the pot. In case there is a tie then the pot is shared between them. Any card that is not a part of five hand cards is generally neglected by the dealer.

Omaha Poker Peculiarities

Omaha is little different as compared to Texas Hold’em as this game has four hole cards and player can make six possible combinations using them. If a player is having A, K, Q, J then he is free to form six distinct hands – AK, AQ, AJ, KJ, KQ and QJ. This is one point where your chance of winning increases. When playing Omaha, you need to keep in mind that your opponents also have equivalent chances of winning.

In case you are having a broken hole card that does not match with any other board cards, then you are holding a weak hand. If you are having A, K, Q and 6 then only three strong hands – AK, AQ and KQ.