OMAHA HOLD’EM

Omaha Hold’em poker is a fun, high-energy game. It is so high energy that many Omaha writers suggest that you never play a no-limit game because of the frenzy that often takes place with this very popular variant of poker. In many ways it is very similar to Texas Hold’em poker. All players get 4 cards dealt to them (faced down) and following that, 5 cards (faced up) are dealt and placed in the centre of the table. These latter cards are known as “community cards” and can be used by the players in an attempt to form a winning hand. Once all the cards have been dealt the players have to try and make the best hand possible with a combination of their personal cards and the community ones (if they want). The aim of the game is to make a high straight that is a combination of the 6 and 7 of Hearts and is better than a full house comprising Jacks over 8s.

Omaha Hold’em Betting Rules

To form a solid foundation for understanding how to play Omaha Hold’em, as with a lot of betting games (especially poker based ones) one must fully comprehend the betting procedure. Betting in Omaha Hold’em is the same for betting in Texas Hold’em. The game begins when players place their respective blinds. Blinds is the term that is used to describe some of the forced bets posted by players to the left of the dealer button and there are usually 2 of these, but there can be one or three. (Note: the dealer button is the marker that is used to show the player who is dealing).

• After the first round of betting, the dealer turns over 3 community cards (known as the flop). The flop refers to three face up cards being dealt to the board.
• The second round of betting begins and the dealer turns over 1 more community card (known as the turn or fourth street). The turn is the fourth of 5 cards, which is dealt to the board. This comprises 1 community card (face up) that the players can use to make up their potentially winning hand.
• The third betting round begins and the dealer turns over 1 community board card (known as the river which is the final card dealt, following which the last round of betting occurs, and if necessary, a showdown; whereby there is more than one player remaining in the game after the last betting round). In this case, they both (or all) have to show and compare their hands to determine who has won (sometimes this can mean more than 1 winner). Two personal cards and 3 board cards must be used with the showdown.

It should be noted that only up to 4 wagers are allowed to be placed during any betting round in Omaha Hold’em poker. These are the bet, raise, re-raise and cap. The bet is self-explanatory. The raise is when the bet is increased so that you can stay in the pot and this forces all other players to call the new amount. The re-raise is when a player makes the second or next raise of a betting round. The cap is the highest amount of money that is set for a bet.