Omaha

Omaha is a poker game derived from Texas Hold’em. Each player is dealt four cards ('hole cards'), which belong only to that player. Five community cards are dealt face-up on the 'board'. All players use three of the five community cards together with two of their hole cards to make the best five-card poker hand.

 

Two Cards in Use

 

The big difference between Hold'em and Omaha is the two-hole cards restriction that constitutes the following: even though you have four pocket cards, two cards - and only two cards - must always be 'in play'.

You cannot, for example, 'play the board', as such a hand would not contain two of your hole cards. Neither can you use two communal spades and add three spade cards from your hole cards to complete a flush, as that would also break the rule – three cards being more than two.

In Omaha two – no more and no less – of your 4 hole cards must always be in play. Which cards you use often changes throughout the hand. This is what makes Omaha so exciting, and also explains why it is to a greater degree than Hold'em is a game of mathematics. There is virtually no end to the possibilities!

 

Dealer

 

The "dealer button" indicates the dealer of each hand. A hand starts when the first card is dealt and ends when a winner is declared. A new betting round begins each time the cards are dealt clockwise from the dealer button. Once a hand is completed, the button moves clockwise to the next active player. This ensures each player has the chance of playing early or late and has a chance to post the "blind bets".

 

The Blinds

 

The player to the left of the button is required to post a "small blind" which is equal to the lower limit bet ($2 in a $4/$8 game). The next player to the left must then post the "big blind" equal to the lower stake limit ($3 in a $3/$6 game). Both blinds are considered live bets and have the option of checking, calling, raising or folding when the betting action returns to their position.

A new player is required to post the equivalent of the big blind or wait for his turn in the big blind. This prevents players from jumping in and out of games and gaining an advantage by avoiding blinds. If you have missed one or both blinds, you will be prompted to put in the correct amount, or you can wait for the blind to get to your position - known as "coming into the blind".

 

First Round (Pre-Flop)

 

The dealer deals out four cards called "hole cards" to each player. The player to the left of the big blind has the first option to call, raise or fold. All the remaining players can then call (to wager the same as the previous player), raise or fold. The amount required to call in this round is the size of the big blind (in a $5/$10 Limit Omaha game the value of a bet is $5 while the raise is $10).

 

Second Round (Flop)

 

This round begins after the three community cards know as the "flop" is dealt face-up on the board. The player to the left of the dealer button is the first to check, bet or fold. Until there is a bet, all other players have the same choices. Once a bet has been made, remaining players will only have the option to call, raise or fold. The bets and raises in this round occur in lower limit increments (in a $5/$10 game the minimum bet is $5).

 

Third Round (Turn)

 

The "turn" dealt face up on the board is the fourth community card and begins the third betting round. The player to the left of the dealer button begins the betting (check, bet or fold). However, this time betting doubles from the lower limit bet to the higher limit bet (in a $5/$10 game, betting is done in $10 increments). Each subsequent player can then check (only if no bet has been made), call, bet, raise or fold.

 

Fourth Round (River)

 

The final betting round begins after the fifth community card called the "river" has been dealt face up on the board. The player to the left of the dealer button can check, bet, raise or fold. Bets and raises are limited to the upper limit of the stakes structure. Remaining players can then check (only if no bet has been made), call, bet, raise or fold.

 

Showdown

 

The remaining players must use two of their four hole cards and three community cards to make their hand. The last player to open with a bet or raise will show their cards first and anyone else can fold. The player with the best five-card hand wins the pot. If two or more players have the same hand, the pot is split equally between them.

 

Pot Limit

 

Omaha is a game ideally suited for the pot limit structure. Most players believe it works far better than playing the game in the no limit format, so in order to learn Omaha properly you must grasp the basics of pot limit.

In pot limit the maximum a player can bet at any given time is an amount equivalent to the current pot size. In other words, the larger the pot gets the higher the maximum bet is. This makes for some very interesting game play.

How to actually calculate the size of a 'pot bet' is something you will pick up along the way, but the following is the basic formula:

The amount in pot from earlier betting rounds plus three times the last bet made this particular round plus all other bets this round equals the pot bet.

Example: We are in the middle of the turn betting round. After the flop there was $100 in the pot.

Player A bets $10, Player B raises to $30, player C’s maximum pot bet is now: $100 + 3 x $30 + $10 (= $200).

 

Limit Omaha

 

There is a specified betting limit in each game and on each round of betting. The betting amount is equal to the big blind for the first two rounds of betting and doubles up for the last two rounds of betting. A maximum of four bets is allowed per round including one bet and three raises.

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