Omaha

Rules

If you already know how to play Texas Hold 'em, then Omaha adds a twist -- Each player gets four hole cards instead of two and his final hand must make use of exactly two hole cards and three on the board. If you aren't familiar with Texas Hold 'Em, here are the full rules.

1. Each player shall be dealt FOUR hole cards, which are dealt face down.
2. First round of betting.
3. The dealer shall burn a card and then deal three community cards face up, known as the “flop.”
4. There is a second round of betting.
5. The dealer shall burn a card and then deal a fourth community card face up, known as the turn.
6. There is a third round of betting.
7. The dealer shall burn a card and deal a fifth and final community card face up, known as the river.
8. There is a fourth and final round of betting.
9. The winner is the player with the best five-card poker hand using exactly two hole cards and three community cards.

High/Low

Omaha is often dealt high/low, which means the pot will be divided evenly between the highest and lowest hands. For purposes scoring low hands, straights and flushes do not count. So, the best low hand would be A-2-3-4-5. In the event the pot has an odd number of chips, the extra chip shall go to the winner of the high hand.

The player may use different cards from his four hole cards to compose the low and high hands. For example, if the player's hole cards were 2,4,K,K and the board was 3,5,7,K,K, then the player's low hand would be a 7-high straight and his high hand would be four kings.

Video

Please enjoy the following videos, where I endeavor to explain the rules of Omaha.

 

In part 1, above, I demonstrate how to play high-only Omaha.

 

In part 2, above, I demonstrate how to play high-low Omaha.

General Rules to Betting

The following rules to betting are common to most forms of poker.

1. As in most forms of poker, there is a positional advantage to acting late around the table. To make it fair, a lamer saying “dealer” will rotate around the table clockwise one position per hand.
2. It does not matter who deals the cards, but the player with the dealer lamer will enjoy a position advantage of acting last that round.
3. The player immediately to the left of the dealer lamer must act first and then clockwise around the table.
4. There is usually a mandatory small blind and big blind in the first round of betting. These are fixed amounts, like a small blind of $1 and a big blind of $3. The player immediately to the left of the dealer makes the small blind wager and the player to the left of him makes the big blind wager. After that, all other players may fold if they wish.
5. If a player raises, any re-raises must be at least the amount of the previous raise. For example, if player A raises $10 and player B wishes to reraise, his wager must be at least $20.

Betting Limit Terminology

• Structured: In structured betting, raises may be only specified amounts. There are usually two numbers, one for the early rounds of betting and the other for the later rounds. For example, a $5/$10 game would mean that in the early rounds of betting raises must be exactly $5 and $10 in the later rounds. In games with four rounds of betting, like Texas Hold ‘Em, the first two rounds go by the first number and the second two by the larger number. Also, the small blind is equal to the lower number.
• Pot Limit: In pot limit games, there are minimum raise rules, as in structured games. However, the maximum raise would be the amount in the pot prior to the raise. For example, in a $5/$10 game with $80 in the pot, in the first two rounds of betting the minimum raise would be $5 and the maximum would be $80.
• No Limit: In no limit games, there are the same minimum raise rules as in structured games. However, there is no maximum raise, other than the maximum stack of all opponents at the game.

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Poker Etiquette

1. The biggest infraction of poker etiquette is probably the string bet. Bets are supposed to be in a simple single action. Adding to a bet already made or a bet not matching a declaration is a string bet.
2. If you wish to raise, you should declare that before your action.
3. If you declare your action, it should contain only one verb. For example, “I bet $20” or “I raise $10.” If you say something like “I call and raise,” then it will be the first verb stated that counts and you must only call.
4. Check raising is absolutely allowed. This means to check and then make a re-raise in the same round. This used to be considered bad etiquette and even banned at some tables. However, it is now a proper tool in strategy to prevent players in late position from stealing the pot after a round of checking.

Written by: Michael Shackleford