The Basics of Omaha Poker

The game of Omaha Poker is increasingly becoming one of the most popular poker games available at online casinos as well as land based casinos.  It ranks second only to the ever popular Texas Hold ‘em games.  The game is played very similar to Texas Hold ‘em with community cards, but there are some major differences that have to be taken into considerations.  Omaha Poker has several different variations of the games including Omaha Poker and Omaha Hi-Lo Poker.  In this article we will focus on Omaha (Hi) Poker Keep reading to learn the general rules of Omaha Poker.

As we mentioned earlier Omaha Poker games are similar to Texas Hold ‘em games.  The dealer button moves around the table with each hand dealt.  The small blind and big blind are posted by the 2 players by the dealer.  After the blinds have been posted then the cards are dealt.

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How Omaha Poker Works

In Omaha Poker each player is dealt 4 hole cards.  You may only use 2 of these cards in your final hand.  After the cards have been dealt there is a round of betting and then comes the flop.  The flop has 3 community cards that can be used by everyone at the table.  There is another betting round after the flop and then the next community card which is called the turn card is dealt followed by another round of betting.  The final community card which is called the river card dealt next followed by another round of betting.  After all bets have been placed the hole cards are turned up to see which player has won the hand.

Omaha Poker Tips

One very important thing to remember when playing Omaha Poker is that you must use 2 of your hole cards and 3 of the community cards in your final hand.  In Texas Hold ‘em you can use as many of the community cards as you like to make your hand, but this is not the case in Omaha.  Many beginners to the game of Omaha Poker get very discouraged because they don’t understand the rules.  A common mistake is thinking that you have a hand that you do not have because you are using too many of your hole cards or too many of the community cards.

With more cards to choose from, you will consistently see monster hands while playing Omaha.  It is not unusual to see 4 of a kind beaten while playing Omaha.  This being said, we would like to go over some of the best starting hands while playing Omaha Hi.  You always want to have 4 cards that can work together.  For example: 2♥ 2♣ 3♥ 3♣.  In the previous example you have 2 pairs.  Both of these pairs give you the opportunity to have quads.  They are also double suited connectors so that you have the potential to make a straight flush in hearts or clubs.  The previous example is a fair starting hand, but it is not the best since it is 2s and 3s.

The strongest starting hand in Omaha Hi is a pairs of aces and a pair of kings double suited: A♥ A♣ K♥ K♣.  This gives you the potential to have quad aces, quad kings, a royal hearts straight flush, or a royal clubs straight flush.

Hands that are double-suited with high-valued connectors and pairs are always your best choices for Omaha starting hands. We have some of the best Omaha hands listed below:

A♥A♣ K♥K♣             Best Hand

A♠ A♥ J♥ T♠              Second Best Hand (Note the double suited connectors)

You always want to look for hands that can be adjusted to several different hands.  In the two examples above you have straight potential, quad potential, flush potential, and straight flush potential.  We will be adding more Omaha articles soon that will discuss Omaha Hi/Lo rules and strategy for all Omaha games.