Assuming you know how to play Texas Hold ‘em, learning the game of Omaha should be easy for you. Like in hold ‘em, the purpose of the game is to get the best combination possible out of the cards that are dealt to you in addition for the ones on the table.
So far, it’s just like in hold ‘em, but here comes the twist:
As you well know, in hold ‘em each of the players get two pocket cards which only he can see, before the five community cards are dealt. In Omaha each of the players gets four cards which only he can see, but as opposed to hold ‘em where you can play with any combination you like out of your pocket cards and the five cards on the table – in Omaha you have to use two out of your four cards, in addition to three out of the five cards (the community cards). This makes a straight or a flush a lot harder to obtain than in hold ‘em.
To sum up, in Omaha your hand is made up of two cards only you can see, and three of the five cards shown to all the players.
All the betting rounds are similar to hold ‘em – before the flop there’s the first betting round, followed by the turn, another betting round, the river and the final betting round before the showdown.
Let’s have a look at this example as one of the things that is familiar with Omaha:
having two pairs on the board is most likely to deprive the possibility for a full house –
A-A-K-K-9 are the community cards, and since you have to use two of your four cards to make a hand, having A-J-10-7-6 will never make a full house.
If 2-7 is the worst pocket you can get in hold ‘em, the worst possible pocket you can get in Omaha is four deuces. Having four deuces means that you can only use two of them since you are required to use three from the board. That means that any player holding a card that makes a pair will be higher than your hand and as a matter of fact eliminates your pair.
In order to tell the difference between high and low hands, remember this rule:
cards over 8 can’t be taken into consideration when making a low hand, 8 and below do consider.
