Texas Holdem Press

Omaha (holdem)

This is nearly the same game as Texas Holdem, but with important differences. The general manner in which the game progresses is identical.

There are however, four ‘hole cards’ dealt to each player – and two and only two of those, MUST be used in composing their final hand.
There is again, a five card flop that follows the issuance of the hole cards, but three and only three of those cards MUST be used in formulating your final hand.
Seems easy, right? But these subtle changes will trick you up if you’re not familiar with this variation.

For example, in Texas Holden you may be used to seeing the possibility of a full house when the flop reveals two pair. But remember, you can only use three cards from the flop.
Similarly, you may have three aces in your four hole cards, but you can only use of those cards.

In Texas Holdem you can build your best hand from all of the available cards (all seven). In Omaha Holdem you can only use five of the available cards (two from your hole cards, three from the community cards).
There are many other subtle differences, and variations that, should you not be familiar with the Omaha version of Holdem, cause you to think twice before jumping into a game of Omaha without first doing additional research and getting a little experience online. In American casinos, “Omaha” might mean the original game sometimes called “Omaha High”, a variation called “Omaha Hi-Lo”, or “Omaha eight-or-better”

Sometimes the high-low split game is played with a nine qualifier instead of the usual eight high. It can also be played with five cards dealt to each player instead of four. In that case, the same rules for making a hand apply: two from the player’s hand, and exactly three from the board.

In Europe, instead of betting on the initial four cards and then flopping three community cards for the second round, a variation has the first community card dealt before any bets are made. Each player then has four hole cards and one community card to consider before betting. After two more community cards are dealt, play proceeds exactly as in Omaha.

Pot Limit Omaha “high” is also played with more than four hole cards. As the Boy Scouts say, “be prepared.” We recommend that you study up: get a poker book, such as Brunson’s “Super System” (but be sure it has a recent publishing date, as things have changed in the last decade).