Omaha poker can be one of the most entertaining, and most frustrating forms of poker. To the simplest, it looks very much like holdem, except players are dealt 4 hole cards instead of 2. Realistically, there are two major differences. First, because players must use 2 hole cards, it is much more likely to be counterfeited, where one the cards you are using turns up on the table. This is especially true in Omaha 8 when drawing to the low. The second difference is that there are times where you have the nut hand and are either 50% or even less to win against several opponents. Players with wrap straight and flush draws could have 30+ cards that will make their hand a winner! It is often frustrating to see your hand go from the nuts to 3rd best by the river!
Don't let this scare you, as Omaha is a very important game to understand and learn. It can be one of the most exciting games, as pots are often much larger then holdem games, with many more players seeing a flop, turn, and river. The basics of Omaha are very similar to holdem, with blinds, position and betting. Pot Limit Omaha is probbly the most popular version, where players can bet a maximum of the size of the pot, but limit and no limit Omaha are availabe to play at most Online poker rooms.
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Pre-flop:
Before cards are dealt the forced bets must be paid, which are called the big blind and the little blind. The little blind is sometimes called the small blind as well. A bet is when money is put into the pot for the first time in a round. The amounts of the bets and blinds are predetermined, and the little blind is always half the big blind. The little blind position is always the seat to the left of the dealer, and the big blind is the seat to the left of the little blind.
The dealer will then deal two cards (referred to as pocket cards or hole cards) face down to each player, one at a time, starting with the player on his left. Once the cards are dealt, each player looks at their cards; on their action they must then decide if they wish to call the current bet (the big blind, which is the highest amount bet at this point) which means to match it, fold their hand with out betting if they don't like their cards, or raise the bet by putting in more money. Each player, starting with the seat to the left of the big blind, makes their choice and acts. If a player raises the bet, each player must now call the new amount, including those who may have already acted. At any time a player may re-raise, meaning that they raise it again beyond the amount it was raised previously. If no player raises the big blind, then the player in that position may check, meaning they do not want to put more money in, or raise. It is important to note that if a players raises he may not raise again unless he was re-raised, as opposed to called. The round of betting stops when all players have either folded or called the last raise.
Flop:
The dealer burns a card, which means they deal it to one side and it is not used in play, and then deals three cards face down. The dealer then turns the thee cards face up simultaneously; this is called the Flop. These are the first of five community cards that all players can use, along with their pocket cards, to make the best possible poker hand. The standard poker hand ranks are used. The player in the little blind position (once again, the first seat to the left of the dealer) is now UTG, or Under The Gun, meaning they are first to act now and on every subsequent round of betting. They must make a decision as in pre-flop play, with one change: they can choose to check if they don't want to bet or fold. Once again, the betting round ends only when all players have folded or called the last bet or raise.
Turn:
The dealer burns another card and then deals a fourth community card, called the Turn, face up. There is another round of betting, exactly as after the flop, with the small blind seat being UTG.
River:
After a final burn card, the dealer turns over the fifth and last community card, called the River. There is one final round of betting. At this point (or before) if all but one player folds, the last player who didn't fold wins the pot. This player may muck his hand, which means to toss it into the discard pile by the dealer without showing anyone what it was.
Showdown:
A showdown occurs when a player is called after the River, and could involve anywhere from two players to the entire table, depending on how many stayed in to this point. All players still in the hand show their cards, starting with the last person to bet. At any point after this player showed his cards other players in the showdown may muck their hand, essentially conceding the pot; just think of mucking as folding. They are admitting they have been beat without having to show their cards. This strategy (mucking) helps keep the other players from learning your playing style, such as if you bet heavy on two pairs or like to chase a flush.
The best five-card poker hand wins, using exactly two of the players hole cards..
That is the essence of Omaha, but there are a number of other important points to understand.
Nut hands:
Any time you are playing Omaha, especially at a full handed game, you should always be playing nut hands. A good rule of thumb is this: The nuts are almost always out there. Avoid drawing to small flushes, small straights, or even small two pairs. You can easily be drawing dead, and it is easy to get stuck between aggressive players and have to pay a lot of money with a hand that has no value.
A few more Omaha Strategy points:
- High pocket pairs are good. This is because they have the chance at building a big full house. If you do not hit a set with a big pair, the pair is essentially worthless.
- Connecting cards are helpful. A hand like JT98 is a very good Omaha hand because it affords the player with so many straight opportunities. Holding JT98 is far superior to holding QJ56 because you can build many multi-way straight possibilities with JT98. However, you cannot with QJ56.
- Suited cards should be treated with caution. One can call and draw to an ace high flush. However, drawing to any non-nut flush can be very foolish. Having non-ace high suited cards is only helpful for redraws, multiple draws (i.e. also having a straight draw), or back-door flush draws. One should never draw to just a flush that is not a nut flush.
- Low and mid pocket pairs are close to worthless. A hand like 5588 belongs in the muck. Even if you hit a set, you can easily lose to a higher set, straight, or flush.
Another central concept to Omaha is position. Omaha is all about position. There are several reasons for this. First, free cards are death in Omaha. If you are in early position, you will almost always have to bet your hand, even if you hold the nuts. For example, if the board is 567 and you hold 899A, you definitely have to bet. Someone could too easily draw to a full house, flush, or perhaps even a higher straight. Because of this, people in early positions tend to give away their hands. People in late position can much more easily bluff at pots because they can be fairly certain that people in early positions do not have a hand, and people in late position can sometimes earn themselves extremely valuable free cards.
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