Omaha Poker Rules For Beginners
Omaha Poker is one of the most complex games in the poker world. It's more popular cousin Texas Holdem is far simpler but do not let this scare you because after reading this article you will completely understand both of the Omaha variations; Omaha Hi and Omaha Hi. These Omaha rules are being written by someone who understands how tricky it can be at first. There is a major difference between the "text book" rules most sites offer and the way an experienced teacher explains how a game is played.
Rules Of Omaha Hi
Omaha high is the easier of the two variations of Omaha Holdem to learn. It is played in the exact same format as Texas Holdem except for 1 detail, you will receive 4 whole cards instead of 2 and you must use two of them and three community cards to make your best 5 card hand. The game starts by the appropriate players placing the small and big blind and each player being dealt four cards face down. You can look at these cards and a round of betting occurs. The dealer will then deal the flop, which is 3 community cards face up in the middle of the table and another round of betting occurs.
The dealer will then deal the turn which is 1 more community card and yet another round of betting. Then the dealer will deal the 5th and last community card and one last round of betting will occur. You must use 2 of your hole cards with 3 of the community cards to make your best 5 card hand. The player with the best hand will win the pot.
Rules Of Omaha Hi-Lo
Things get a little more complicated with Omaha Hi-Lo. It is played in the exact same format as Omaha Hi (see above) but it is a split pot game. The player with the highest hand will win half of the pot and the player with the lower hand will win the other half if their hand's highest card is 8 or less (aces can be lowe or high). A player can also win the low and high pot with the same hand, example below:
Hole Cards
Player 1 - A-2-10-J
Player 2 - 2-3-K-Q
Community Cards
5-6-8-K-Q
Player 1 would win the low pot with A-2-5-6-8 and his ace high straight would beat player 2's pair. I hope you noticed that player 1 used his ace as low for his low hand and high for his high hand, this is perfectly acceptable in Omaha High Low. If a community card is an ace you can still use it as low or high or both, whichever gives you the best low and high hand. The good thing about playing online is that the software does this for you so there is no way for you to accidentally lose by calling the wrong hand. Omaha hi-lo can be very tricky because one minute you can be holding the nut low hand and then the next community card matches one of the 2 hole cards you are using and that changes the nut low. For more info on the best tactics to use check out our Omaha Poker strategy article.