What is Omaha

Although I know how to play poker I did find myself asking what Omaha is. I see it in the tournament schedules and it seems fairly popular so I wanted to find out. Omaha is a very similar game to Texas Holdem. The difference being in the number of hole cards you have. In Texas Holdem you have two in Omaha you have four. In Texas Holdem your final hand is of the seven cards ( your two hole cards and the five community cards) in Omaha its nine ( your four hole cards and the five community cards) Having nine cards to make a hand increases the chances of holding better hands. There is one restriction though and that is you have to use two of your hole cards and three of the community cards to make your hand. This might seem like a small difference but it does make Omaha a more complex game than Texas Holdem.

So if you find your self holding four aces as your hole cards you only actually have a pair as you can only use two of your hole cards. At the flop you need to be looking out for full houses, flushes and straights as they will be a lot more common than in Texas Holdem.

If you get a good hand in Omaha you should bet aggressively. You need to get more opponents to fold and pick up the pots . Checking and letting other players stay in for free allows them the chance to pick up better hands than you.

Omaha High-low is played the same but at the showdown the highest hand wins half the pot and the lowest hand wins half the pot. You don’t have to specify if your going for high or low.

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