Omaha Hold'em poker

Omaha Hold'em poker is a poker variety closely related to Texas Hold'em poker, but don't let the similarities fool you. These are two very different games that require very different strategies. Many players used to Texas Hold'em lose quite a lot of money when they give Omaha a try since they keep forgetting this basic truth. If you are a seasoned Texas Hold'em player that wish to learn Omaha, we suggest you start playing with really low wages. Once you get into the habit of thinking like a Omaha player rather than a Texas Hold'em player you can gradually increase the level. Be careful about jumping back and forth between Texas Hold'em and Omaha or playing both games simultaneously in different windows online, especially if you are tired or easily distracted.

Just like Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hold'em use five community cards that are placed on the table in the following fashion:

1. Three cards (the flop)

2. One card (the turn)

3. One card (the river)

Instead of the two hole cards you are used to from Texas Hold'em, you will however receive four hole cards at the start of game. An unlike Texas Hold'em where you are free to combine hole cards and community cards as you please to form the best possible poker hand, an Omaha player must use exactly two hole cards and exactly three community cards. Holding three aces will therefore not give you trips, and so on.

Just as for Texas Hold'em, the early development of Omaha Hold'em remains a mystery. In fact, the name Omaha is a fairly late labeling of a poker variant that is considerably older. Casino executive Robert “Chip Burner” Turner brought the game to Las Vegas and introduced it to Bill Boyd, card room manager at the famous Golden Nugget casino. Boyed decided to call it Nugget Hold'em and began offering it to poker players visiting the Golden Nugget casino. This was as late as 1983, over 15 years after the Golden Nugget became the first casino in Las Vegas to offer Texas Hold'em. As the game “Nugget Hold'em” spread to other casinos in Vegas, the name Omaha Hold'em was popularized.

Omaha is usually played as Pot Limit, even though Fixed Limit and No Limit do exist as well. There are two main types of Omaha: Omaha High (the original type) and Omaha Hi Lo split / Omaha eight-or-better split. In the later version of Omaha, you must form two separate five-card hands. One hand should be as high as possible while the other is as low as possible. Half of the pot will go to the player with the highest hand and half of the pot will go to the lowest. It is possible for a player to win both halves of the pot. Please note that a low hand must be eight-high or lover to qualify as a low hand.