Rules for Omaha

Omaha is a derivation of Texas Hold’em and invites more betting action than you’d normally see in a hold’em game. This is because each player is dealt four pocket cards prior to the community cards coming out. More pocket cards make for more possible strong hands being made, so in turn more players are likely to stay in to try to catch the right card and win the pot. It’s starting to really catch on in the U.S., but has a great following in Europe. Like hold’em, it is widely available on line in single table format. Other than single table sit and go Omaha games, there aren’t many places to find a multi-table Omaha tournament online, but check PokerSchedule.com for in person tournaments, as their number is growing daily.

The Button and Blinds

It’s the same format as in Texas Hold’em. If you don’t know how to play that, don’t play Omaha, you’ll get eaten alive! But if you feel you must, we won’t stop you! The player acting as the dealer is identified by a white disk, which often says “Button”. To the left are two forced bets known as the small and big blinds. You’ve got to put them in prior to the deal to play the hand. The first position left of the button is the small blind and the player in the next seat to the left forks over the big blind. The small blind is usually half the value of the big one. The amount of the big blind is usually the same as the low limit bet. In a $1/$2 game this would be $1. The button moves one spot to the left after each hand, changing the order of play. In ring games the blinds and bet limits remain constant. In sit and go and tournament formats, they rise after either a predetermined amount of time or number of hands. Once the blinds are in place, the hand begins with:

The Deal

Ah, here’s the rub, or at least half of it. Every player is dealt 4 down cards, unlike in Hold’em, where they only get 2. The rest of the rub is that you MUST use 2 of your cards and 3 of the community cards to make the best possible 5-card hand. Hold’em allows any combination of hole and community cards to make a hand.

The Pre-Flop Betting

Same as in hold’em, you can fold, call, or raise. To call, just match the big blind. A raise in a limit game is the restricted to the amount of the big blind, thereby doubling the big blind. So if the big blind is 10, the raise is 20. In a pot limit game, you can bet the amount of the pot at that moment, which is the combined total of both blinds plus any bets made prior to your bet. In a no limit game, the sky (or your chip stack) is the limit. Betting continues around the table until all players have folded, called, or raised, and any raises have been called. Only 3 raises are allowed each round. Once the pot is right, we come to:

The Flop: Three Community Cards

Once again, it’s the same as in Texas Hold’em. The dealer burns the top card on the deck, removing it and placing it face down, and turns 3, placing them face down in the center of the poker table. Starting to notice any similarities? We would hope so. Now it’s time for another round of betting, with the player who is first to the left of the dealer (button) the first to act. Once the betting is completed it’s time for:

The Turn: The Fourth Community Card AKA 4th Street

Dealer burns 1 and turns 1 followed by another round of betting in the same order as the previous round.

The River: The Fifth Community Card AKA 5th Street

Another card is burned and the final community card is dealt face up on the table. Followed by the final round of betting in standard order. No more cards are coming in the hand, and the winner is now to be determined in:

The Showdown

The winner of the hand is determined by standard poker hand rankings. How to make your hand is where Omaha is quite different from Hold’em. In the latter, you can use any combination of the 7 cards available to you, which are your 2 hole cards plus the 5 community cards. In Omaha, you MUST use any 2 of your 4 hole cards in concert with any 3 of the community cards. So be careful! Many mistakes are made through the course of a hand when an inexperienced player is using an extra hole card to determine their best hand. The winner takes the pot, the button moves one position to the left, and it’s time for the next hand. Hopefully you have a big stack of chips left to play it!