1. Omaha Hold 'em Poker Rules
2. Omaha Hold Em Poker
3. Omaha Hold Em Rules

The game basics and strategies for how to play Omaha Poker shown here are those generally agreed to and recommended by the experts for bet limit games. An understanding of these basics is needed for all levels of competitive play. Solid intermediate and expert level poker normally requires study of the advanced game tactics and significant hours of actual casino or online playing experience.

Each player is dealt four cards face down, as opposed to the two cards that are dealt in Texas Hold'em. That is the first variation. Five community cards are then dealt. The second noticeable difference from Texas Hold'em is the fact that the players must choose two of their four cards and are required to use both of them in order to make the best hand possible.

1. If you know the standard Texas Hold’em rules, you pretty much know how to play Omaha High. The key difference is that you start with four hole cards instead of two. Your mission is to create the best possible poker hand using exactly two of your hole cards, and three of.
2. The rules of Omaha Poker are virtually identical to the rules of Texas Hold'em poker. It's a community card game, there are blinds and four rounds of betting, the highest 5-card poker wins. There are two basic differences between Hold'em and Omaha: Each player gets 4 hole cards in Omaha (vs.
3. The fundamental difference between Omaha and Texas Hold'em is that in Omaha, players are dealt four cards face down, rather than two. Each player in Omaha must use exactly two of the four cards in the hole and three of the community cards to make a hand. A typical game of Omaha goes like this: All players are dealt four cards each, face down.

Limit Omaha Poker Rules - 2 to 10 Players

• Highest hand wins
• Players MUST use TWO of their hole cards combined with three from the board to make their hands
• Ace plays both high and low for straights
• Three raise limit per round
• Cards speak

The image below depicts the card distribution and betting procedure for Omaha Holdem.

How to play $2/$4 Omaha with a double blind:

At casino Omaha tables, a round plastic marker called the dealer 'button' is placed in front of the player who would be dealing if a house dealer were not provided. The button is moved one seat clockwise after each game and the card distribution and betting starts to the left of that position.

Each player is dealt four cards face down. Then, a total of five community cards are dealt face up in the center of the table in three betting segments (3-1-1). After all the cards are dealt the players make the best hand that they can by combining any two of their two hole cards with any three of the five community cards.

Using the illustration above, a player holding a jack and an eight would end up with the best possible full house, jacks over eights. However, this good hand can be beaten if another player is holding the 'nut hand' cards of six and seven of hearts that would make an eight high straight flush.

The betting procedure goes like this:

Before each player is dealt four down cards (1.) the player at the immediate left of the button, called the 'Small Blind' is forced to bet $1 (half the minimum bet). Then the player to his left and two seats to the left of the button, called the 'Big Blind', is forced to bet $2. Each player is then dealt a four card hand. Then the player at the left of the big blind is first to act and he must either call the big blind's $2 bet, raise, or fold his hand. Continuing in turn clockwise, all the players around the table either call, raise or fold.

When the betting gets back around to the small blind, he or she can fold and lose only the half minimum bet of $1 placed earlier, call the amount necessary to get up to the betting level or raise $2 if there is a raise left.

The big blind is then the last to act before any cards are turned up in the middle. The blinds are played in the first round only.

(2.) The dealer turns three cards up in the center of the table. This is the 'Flop'. The player at the left of the button is then always the first to act. There are no more forced bets and the players can all check around if they want to. Bets right after the flop are at the $2 minimum bet level.

(3.) Now comes the 'Turn' card followed by more betting that now goes to the $4 level.

(4.) Finally the last, or 'River' card is turned up. The last $4 betting round takes place. Then the players still in the contest reveal their hole cards and the highest hand wins the pot.

General Strategy

In full ring, limit Omaha, it usually takes the 'nut' hand, or something close to that, to win! For our purpose here, we describe the 'nut' as a hand that can only be beaten by hidden quads and straight flushes. These killer hands are usually referred to as the 'pure' nuts. Two pair and trips don't win very often in this game. You need to shoot for the nut straight, nut flush, or nut full house most of the time.

This is why Omaha players all start with four cards. Each four card hand contains six Hold'em hands when the four cards are converted to all possible combinations of two. i.e. ABCD = AB AC AD BC BD CD (Players must play two cards from their hands and three from the board). If you are in a pot with five other players after the flop, it is sort of comparable to a Texas Hold'em game against thirty other players, because each of your five competitors is holding six Hold'em hands instead of one.

So if you get down to the river with a very good hand, but one that can be beaten by some other two card combinations, brace yourself for a loss because they are likely to be out there somewhere. Your high end straight on the flop runs into serious problems when the board turns up three suited cards or a pair. A flush or a full house will usually pop up to beat you. In Omaha, always play for the NUT!

Just one or two good hold'em hands is usually not a very good starting hand in Omaha but many players cannot resist the urge to play them. With four cards to choose from, these kinds of hands are easy to get and Omaha games normally have more players and bigger pots than in Hold'em. The higher payoffs work to your advantage when you usually start with hands that contain four cards that all interact with each other to make about five or six decent Hold'em hands instead of only one or two.

You will see a few exceptions to this here in the starting hands strategy.

Definitions

High Cards

A, K, Q, J, 10

Middle Cards

9, 8, 7, 6

Low Cards

5, 4, 3, 2

Suited Player Hand(s)

Two of the players four cards of the same suit.

Double Suited Player Hand(s)

Two of the players cards of one suit and two of another suit.

Active Sidecard

Sidecard that when combined with another makes two parts of a straight or flush.

Nut Hand

An unbeatable high or low hand. Sometimes called a 'lock'.

Set

Three of a kind with two of the three in your hand. (Four of a kind split two and two is a 'Quad Set')

Trips

Three of a kind with all or two of the three on the board.

Rainbow

Hand or flop etc. with cards of all different suits.

Flop Turn River

The community cards in the order of distribution. See top illustration.

Fast Play

Bet, raise and re-raise to get as many other players out as possible.

Slow Play

Just check or call along to keep other players in the game to increase the pot odds.

Check-fold

Check when you can and fold if you are bet into. Gladly accept all free cards offered.

The Best Omaha Starting Hand

This top ranked Omaha hand contains 4 Premium and 2 Strong Holdem hands:
Note: In this case, the 2 'Strong' hands do not add value.

Your starting Play/Fold decisions will involve a quick assessment of the hand type and the six Hold'em hands in your four card Omaha hand. The playable starting hands suggested are a good place to start. These are not hard and fast rules about what to play or not, but a generalization of expert opinions and computerized hand value results that you can use as a guide.

Omaha Hold 'em Poker Rules

Two Card Hold'em Hands to Look For in Omaha Hands

Premium Hands

High Pair - AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010
Ace and High Card Suited - AK(S), AQ(S), AJ(S), A10(S)

Strong Hands

High Cards Suited - KQ(S), KJ(S), K10(S), QJ(S), Q10(S), J10(S)
Middle Pairs - 99, 88, 77, 66
Two High Cards - AK, AQ, AJ, A10, KQ, KJ, K10, QJ, Q10, J10
Ace and Middle Card Suited - A9(S), A8(S), A7(S) A6(S)
Middle Suited Connectors - 10 9(S), 98(S), 87(S), 76(S)

Minimum Hands

Low Pairs - 55, 44, 33, 22
Ace and Low Card Suited - A5(S), A4(S), A3(S), A2(S)
Any Two Cards to a Straight - i.e. 10 6, 98, 75, 73, A4 - Note: Most in this category are normally not playable in regular Holdem, but they do add value in combination Omaha hands.

Throw-Away Starting Hands

These hands should be automatically folded without any further consideration:
Quads - (including) A A A A
Trips - (except A A A with a high side card suited is sometimes playable)

Playable Omaha Starting Hands

Pair of Aces - A A x x
Pair of Kings - K K x x
High Pair and Ace Suited - Qh Qs Ah x .. Jh Js Ad 6d
High Pair and Middle / Low Pair - J J 7 7 .. Q Q 4 4
High Pair and Two or more Other Hands - J J 9 7 .. K 10 10 8
Any Four High Cards - K Q J 10 .. A K J 10 .. Q Q 10 10 .. A J J 10 .. (includes two high pair)
Three High Cards w Ace Suited - Ah Qs 10h x .. Ah Ks Jd 5h
Three High Cards and Active Sidecard - K Q J 8 .. Ah Qs 10d 4h
Three Card Straight with a Pair - 7 6 5 5 .. 9 8 7 8 .. 6 5 4 6
Three Card Straight and an Ace Suited - 8h 7s 6d Ah .. Ah 9s 8d 7h
Close Group with Two Gaps or Less - J 10 7 6 .. 8 7 6 5 .. 9 8 5 4.. 9 7 6 4 .. J 10 8 6

Strategy Tips

• Stay aware of the nut hand possibilities. As the board develops, make sure that you always know what the three best hand possibilities are, and how that might change on the next card.
• High pair with an overcard is a good flop in Hold'em but not in Omaha. In this game you need to flop two pair, a set, or better.
• Usually don't raise before the flop unless you are holding Aces or Kings and are in position to narrow the field. Another time to raise is when you are unraised on the button and have a strong hand. Try not to let the blinds play bad hands cheap.
• Fold your straight or straight draw if that's all you have and you don't flop an unpaired rainbow. If you do get the right kind of flop, bet/raise to discourage the back door flush draws.
• Don't over value low pairs. A pair of fours in your starting hand is only useful if it flops a set, but then a low set on the flop is not a very strong hand in Omaha.
• Study your opponents, especially when you are not playing hands and can pay careful attention. Do they find more hands to play than they fold? Do they bluff? Can they be bluffed? Do they have any 'tells' (give away mannerisms) that disclose information about their hands etc.
• Get caught bluffing once in a while. It is a way to vary your play and not be too predictable. You win pots that you don't deserve when your bluff works. You lose a few chips when it doesn't work but it will get you calls from weaker hands down the line when you are really strong and need the action.
• Check the raisers chips. Players that are close to all-in often rush the betting just to get all their chips in a sink-or-swim last hand that doesn't merit a raise.

Have fun and GOOD LUCK!

Will it ever catch up and become the preferred game for most poker players - either online or live? Well, no. Odds are low.

While heavy poker players might get bored with Hold'em after a while (read: 400,000 hands) and make the switch to Omaha, Hold'em is still the perfect game for most recreational and amateur players.

The rules are simple, the rush of a massive all in will always make for great and memorable moments (win or lose) and the game offers enough complexity to unfold in different layers over years of play.

Omaha Poker ... it's a great action game. At least Pot-Limit Omaha is. And you'll get a lot of big hands, which is fun. Omaha also offers a ton of complex strategy to chew on for years.

But it just doesn't have quite the 'je ne sais quoi' of Hold'em. And it's not quite as accessible for the average player. It may 'only' be 2 extra cards but it's enough to keep it running slightly behind Hold'em as the game of choice for the poker world writ large.

That being said ... you should learn to play it! The Omaha strategy you learn will pay off ten-fold in your Hold'em game. It's also an essential component of being a great mixed-game player. And, when it comes right down to it, Omaha poker really is fun.

As an added bonus Omaha poker rules are very similar to Texas Hold'em so it won't take long to make the leap. Below we'll break down the basic rules and game play of:

• Omaha High
• Omaha Hi-Lo (Omaha 8 or Better)

How to Play Omaha Poker

Good news! The rules of Omaha Poker are virtually identical to the rules of Texas Hold'em poker. It's a community card game, there are blinds and four rounds of betting, the highest 5-card poker wins.

There are two basic differences between Hold'em and Omaha:

• Each player gets 4 hole cards in Omaha (vs. 2 in Hold'em)
• You MUST use exactly 2 of your hole cards to make your best 5-card poker hand

And that's pretty much it (outside of the Hi-Lo variation of Omaha - more on that below). The hardest thing to get used to probably is needing to use exactly 2 of your hole cards to make your best hand. That means you can't:

• Play the board
• Use one of your hole cards

Otherwise game play goes along identically to Texas Hold'em so if you've played it before you'll be fine switching over to Omaha. If you need a quick refresher on the basic rules of Omaha play, here's it is:

Rules of Omaha Poker (High)

• 2-10 players at each table
• Small Blind and Big Blind are paid each hand
• Player directly to the left of the dealer pays the small blind
• Player directly to the left of the small blind pays the big blind
• Dealer button and blinds rotate to the left after each hand
• Each player is dealt 4 hole cards in sequence for each hand
• First betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind
• After all the bets are matched dealer burns one card and then deals 3 cards face up in middle of the table. This is called the flop.
• Flop cards are community cards each player can use to make their final hand
• After the flop a second betting round begins starting with the player closest to the left of the dealer still in the hand
• Once all bets are matched dealer burns one more card then deals another community face up card on the board (the 'turn')
• Third betting round begins after the turn, again starting with player to left of dealer
• Once all best are matched dealer burns one card and deals a fifth community (the 'river')
• The fourth and final betting round begins again with player closest to left of dealer
• Once all bets are matched all players left in hand reveal hands for showdown
• Best high 5-card poker hand wins with each player using exactly 2 of their original four hole cards

The final point is a very important distinction for Omaha poker. Each player's best 5-card hand must have:

• 2 hole cards
• 3 board cards

That's it. No variations are possible - ie one hole card plus 4 board cards, all board cards. If you need a refresher for the poker hand rankings, here it is:

• Royal Flush (A, K, Q, J, 10 all of same suit)
• Straight Flush. (5 cards in sequence all in same suit - eg 7h-8h-9h-Th-Jh)
• Four of a Kind. (All four cards of same rank)
• Full House. (3 cards of one rank alongside 2 cards of another - eg. 6h-6s-6d-8d-8c)
• Flush (All 5 cards or one suit, any rank)
• Straight (A sequence of 5 cards of rank, any suit - eg, 2h-3d-4c-5s-6c)
• Three of a kind (3 cards or any one rank, two unmatched cards)
• Two pair (Two different pairs plus one unmatched card)
• One pair (One pair of equal rank, 3 unmatched cards)
• High Card (all unmatched cards ranked by the highest single card)

Another important note about Omaha Poker Rules:

Omaha is typically only played in either Limit or Pot-Limit format. It is RARELY played as No-Limit. The action is already pretty hectic as it is so No-Limit is not a preferred format for playing. Omaha poker.

Perhaps the most popular form of Omaha poker is Pot-Limit Omaha, which is played by all the best high-stakes pros and is a super fast, super fun action game played at all stakes.

The trickiest part of learning to play Pot-Limit Omaha is figuring out how to calculate what your pot-size bets and raises can be on each street. As luck would have it, we've put together a guide to calculating pot bets right here to help you along:

If you'd like to learn more about betting formats, betting rules & betting order, check our Betting Rules article here:

Omaha Poker Rules -- Hi-Lo (Omaha 8-or-Better)

More good news for people who hate learning new rules: the only way Omaha High and Omaha Hi-Lo differ is when it comes to the showdown.

In standard Omaha High (and Pot-Limit Omaha), the high hand wins the whole pot - just like Texas Hold'em. Again, there are the hand rankings up above if you need a refresher.

In Omaha Hi-Lo, the pot is split between the best high hand and the best low hand. As you might guess from the name above, there's also a catch:

The low hand has to be '8 or Better' to qualifying for that half of the pot. In other words a qualifying low hand must have:

• 5 unpaired cards all ranked at 8 or below

The 'better' part might be a bit confusing there as they all have to be lower than 8 rather than higher than 8, but in terms of a lowball game that means that are technically 'better.'

Some more important points of note for ranking Omaha 8-or-Better low hands:

• Aces are both high and low - high for the high hand and low for the low hand
• Flushes and straights DO NOT COUNT for the low hand but DO count for the high hand
• Low hands are ranked from the high card down, so the lowest 'high' card in the low hand determines the ranking
• Players still have to make up their high and low hands from exactly 2 hole cards and 3 board cards
• Players can use the same cards to make up their best high hand and their best low hand or use different cards
• Any pair or card higher than 8 disqualifies a hand from being able to win the low share of the pot
• Pairs under 8 still disqualify a low hand
• If the highest low card is the same in two players' hands the next lowest card determines the winner
• If players share the same low hand they split the half pot between them - this is called getting 'quartered'

The lowest possible hand in Omaha 8-or-better is: 5-4-3-2-A, which is called a 'Five Low.' It also counts as a straight or 'wheel' for the high hand.

Play Omaha Poker Free Online

The best way to get a handle on Omaha poker rules is really simply to play some hands and see how it goes. If you're coming over from Texas Hold'em the rules don't change that much and the betting rounds are still all the same.

Omaha Hold Em Poker

It takes some getting used to to think of using exactly 2 hole cards to make up your final hand (and getting into the logistics of Hi-Lo is another step altogether) but Omaha is a very fun game filled with action that will keep you very entertained while you learn the ropes.

If you're want to learn quickly you can get A LOT of Omaha hands in online by playing the free games offered at major poker sites including 888poker, PokerStars and William Hill Poker, to name a few.

As an added bonus, if you're worried about being able to calculate pot bets on the fly for Pot-Limit Omaha, the online software calculates it for you!

You will still need to sign up and create a registered account at the poker site itself but you do not have to make a deposit to play the free Omaha poker games. Simply click on the 'free play' or 'instant play' under the Omaha games tabs.

Read our reviews and get exclusive poker bonuses here:

After you've got up to speed with the rules of Omaha and the pace of the game, it's very easy to make a small deposit and jump into the microstakes cash games or tournaments.

Omaha has a very steady player base at all levels so you'll have no problem finding a game that suits your skill and bankroll. Good luck and enjoy the great game of Omaha poker!

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Omaha Hold Em Rules

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