Omaha

At Omaha, you play for the highest combination of a maximum of five cards from a total of nine cards. The big difference with Texas Hold'em is that when playing Omaha, you're not dealt two but four pocket cards. However, you will also have to use two of those four cards to make your hand. This is a big difference compared to Texas Hold'em, where you can make your hand with sometimes only one hole card. So you form a poker hand with two of your own cards, plus three of the five open cards.

Omaha is the favourite game of high stakes players. When playing Omaha you play almost exclusively for the absolute nuts. You throw away top pair immediately if someone re-raises you. Players have the most difficulty to throw away the second nuts, like king-high flushes, lower straights and trips.

The game progresses in four phases just like Texas Hold'em, with four betting rounds: deal, flop, turn and the river.

Round 1: the Deal

Each player receives four cards, which are faced down. These are also called pocket cards or hole cards

For instance you've received: .

The first player that's up, is the player on the left side of the dealer. He looks at his cards, and then chooses to do one of three things:

Call: place the bet equal to the big blind

Raise: raise the bet of the big blind

Fold: muck or throw your cards.

Round 2: the Flop

When the first betting round has ended, the dealer places three more cards on the middle of the table. This is called the flop. The players that are still in the game now have two closed cards, and three open cards.

The flop for instance is: .

The second round starts at the player left of the dealer. You can choose from these options:

Bet: bet an amount

Call: go along with the bet that a player before you has bet

Check: wait for someone else to place a bet

Raise: raise the bet of another player

Reraise: raise the bet after another player has raised it before you

Fold: throw or muck your cards.

Round 3: the Turn

The dealer places a fourth card next to the flop. This is called the turn card. The whole process starts all over again. Bet, call, raise, re-raise, check or fold.

The turn for instance is: .

This fourth card did not strengthen your hand. To make a winning hand, you have another chance of getting a club card on the river (the name of the fifth card). Then you make the ace high flush. Let's see:

Round 4: the River

Another open card is added to the cards already open on the table. In total, there are now five cards open on the middle of the table. This fifth card is called the river card. And again, the whole process starts again: Bet, call, raise, re-raise, check or fold.

The river for instance is: .

The river has turned your hand into a flush ( ).

Seven secrets to win at Omaha (High Only)

Below are some tips before you play Omaha:

Every player is given four cards, this means you have 6 times as many starting combations as when playing Texas Hold'em.
With all these combinations, hands are bigger in Omaha than they are in Texas Hold'em. A full house happens more often at Omaha than Texas Hold'em, because players have 6 times as many starting combinations.
Exactly two cards from your hand must be used to make a hand of five cards in total.
Don't play many hands from an early position. You'll muck a lot of hands this way, but you'll also save a lot of money. Positioning is more important in Omaha than Texas Hold'em, because you can make many combinations with your hand.
If the flop does not help your hand, or you do not have a strong draw, folding is your only option.
Only play for the absolute nuts. Throw your hand away, or don't make the pot too big, if you have the second nuts.
Don't bluff too often at Omaha, because there are so many hands that your opponents could have, that they will usually call. Play the nuts as aggressive as possible, and hope someone pays you off with second nuts.

The best starting hands at Omaha (High Only)

Find hands that work together. For instance a hand such as is perfect to draw a nut straight with. And because the hand is double suited, you can also make a flush, even though it's not the highest flush. And, because Omaha is a game of the absolute nuts, you must then keep the pot as small as possible.