Omaha Poker - How To Play

Omaha Poker is similar to Texas Hold'em, it is high hand poker game. There are several differences. The player must always play two cards from the four they are dealt face down. There is no rule like this in Texas Hold'em as the player can play the board to make up their hand. In Omaha the player must play three from the common board of five cards and two from their hand. The other difference is the player is dealt four cards and the flop is still the three deals of three cards and then one card twice. Like Hold'em - these five face up cards in the center of the table are common to all players.

The betting is just like in Texas Hold'em Poker, a round following the four cards dealt to each player and then rounds of betting after the three card center deal and the two subsequent one card deals. At the end of the betting the player with the best poker hand from two of the four they have been dealt and three from the common Flop is the winner of the pot.

Winning hands in Omaha are skewed to the higher hands because each player has nine cards to make their hand. Three of a kind is common. Straights and flushes show up with far greater frequency than you see in Texas Hold'em.

If a pair shows on the board, there is a good likely hood that three of a kind or better is the likely winning hand. If there are three cards of the same suit, then it is very likely there will be a flush hand If another player is calling bets when three suited cards are present it can be assumed that they have a flush or at least three of a kind. If a paid show in the flop by the river, then it is likely in this scenario that the player has a full house. Be very careful about raising on hands that can be beat this easily.

Experienced Omaha players have a decided advantage over new players in this game as they know what is likely to be the winner based on the flop and will not gamble that the other players missed their hands when these flop combinations show up. Omaha rewards experience far more than any other form of poker other than Omaha Hi & Lo. A newcomer will do far better playing poker Hold'em than they will in playing Omaha. If a player is willing to read and play free games to learn then Omaha can be a playable game for the new player. "Experience" is the name of the game to become a winner at Omaha.