Basics of Omaha Poker

Omaha poker is an exciting game derived from Texas Hold'em Poker. Each player is dealt four cards ("hole cards") which belong only to that poker 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.

Types of Omaha Poker Games:

Limit Omaha Poker - There is a specific betting limit applied in each game and on each round of betting.

Pot Limit Omaha Poker - A player can bet what is in the pot (ie, R100 into a R100 pot).

A beginners guide to omaha

To be a great poker player you need to be able to play all variations of poker and Omaha is an easy game to learn. Even if you just play poker now and then, it is worth playing other forms of poker apart from hold'em. It will most probably even help to improve your hold'em game. One such variation of poker is omaha.

There are similarities between omaha and hold'em, but omaha is nearly always played as pot-limit. To make things easier the hand rankings in omaha are the same as in hold'em. Omaha is also similar to hold'em in that it has five community cards, dealer button, blinds and betting.

1. Your hand is dealt to you face down, you get four hole cards and must use two of them.
2. A round of betting follows and then you get the flop followed by a round of betting.
3. The turn is dealt and then another round of betting.
4. Finally the river is dealt and a final round of betting.
5. The remaining players then go to a showdown with the best hand winning the pot.

The most important thing for new players to remember is that In omaha, unlike hold'em, you are dealt 4 hole cards, but in omaha you must use exactly only 2 cards from your hand. To form a five card hand you must use 3 community cards and 2 hole cards. This means that in omaha you can't play the board as you can in hold'em. The 2 from your hand and 3 from the board sounds easy to remember but sometimes an inexperienced player can get confused.

Useful omaha tips:

No one can have a flush unless there are at least 3 cards of the same suit on the board.

No one can have a full house unless there is a pair on the board.

Useful Poker Terms:

Ante - A small portion of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the beginning of a poker hand. Most hold'em games do not have an ante; they use "blinds" to get initial money into the pot.

Board - All the community cards in a hold'em game - the flop, turn, and river cards together.

Post - To put in a blind bet, generally required when you first sit down in a card room game. You may also be required to post a blind if you change seats at the table in a way that moves you away from the blinds.

Pocket - Your unique cards that only you can see. For instance, "He had pocket sixes" (a pair of sixes), or "I had ace-king in the pocket."

Hole Cards - Cards dealt face-down to a player - most commonly used when describing the first two player cards in Hold'em and the first four player cards in Omaha.

Call - To put into the pot an amount of money equal to the most recent bet or raise.

Community Cards - Cards that are presented face-up in the middle of the poker table and shared among players in games like Hold'em and Omaha. These are also referred to as board cards or "the board".

Flop - The first three community cards, put out face up, altogether.

Fold - To forfeit any chance of winning the current pot in poker. To lay down your hand or throw your hand in instead of calling or raising a bet.

Raise - To increase the amount of the current bet

Burn - To discard the top card from the deck, face down. This is done between each betting round before putting out the next community card(s). It is security against any player recognizing or glimpsing the next card to be used on the board.

Turn - The fourth community card. Put out face up, by itself. Also known as "fourth street."

River - The fifth and final community card, put out face up, by itself. Also known as "fifth street."

Showdown - The point at which all players remaining in the hand turn their cards over and determine who has the best hand - i.e. after the fourth round of betting is completed. Of course, if a final bet or raise is not called, there is no showdown.

Split Pot - A pot that is shared by two or more players because they have equivalent hands.

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