Omaha hold’em game

Omaha hold’em game (or Omaha holdem or simply Omaha) is a community Omaha hold’em poker card game based on Texas hold 'em. It was originally created as a high-poker hand only game, but a high-low split variant called "Omaha eight-or-poker better" has also become popular. In North America, the unadorned term "Omaha" often now refers to this high-low split variant, while the original game is more commonly known as "Omaha high". In Europe, "Omaha" still typically refers to the high version of the game, which is very popular in pot limit play.

Before undertaking to learn Omaha, be sure that you are familiar with Texas hold'em as well as with general game play and poker hands, and particularly ace-to-five low poker hands. In casino play, Omaha is generally played with the same poker betting structure as Texas hold'em. Omaha high is particularly well-suited to pot limit play (and is often abbreviated as "PLO"). "Pot-limit Omaha" usually refers to Omaha high, though Omaha eight-or-poker better can also be played pot-limit. Omaha is almost never played no-limit, likely because of the frequency of big poker hands.

The basic differences poker between Omaha and Texas hold'em are these: first, each player is dealt four Omaha hold’em poker cards to his private poker hand instead of two. The poker betting rounds and layout of community Omaha hold’em poker cards are identical. At showdown, each player's poker hand is the best five-Omaha hold’em poker card poker hand he can make from exactly three of the five Omaha hold’em poker cards on the board, plus exactly two of his own Omaha hold’em poker cards. Unlike Texas hold'em, a player cannot play only one of his Omaha hold’em poker cards with four of the board, nor can he play the board, nor play three from his poker hand and two from the board, or any other combination. Each player must play exactly two of his own Omaha hold’em poker cards with exactly three of the community Omaha hold’em poker cards.

In high-low split, each player, using these rules, thus makes a separate five-Omaha hold’em poker card high poker hand and five-Omaha hold’em poker card ace-to-five low poker hand (eight-high or lower to qualify), and the pot is split poker between the high and low (which may be the same player). To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower (this is why it is called "eight-or-poker better", or simply "Omaha/8"). A few casinos play with a 9-low qualifier instead, but this is rare. Each player can play any two of his four hole Omaha hold’em poker cards to make his high poker hand, and any two of his four hole Omaha hold’em poker cards to make his low poker hand.

The brief explanation above belies the complexity of the game, so a number of examples will be useful here to clarify it. The table below shows a five-Omaha hold’em poker card board of community Omaha hold’em poker cards at the end of play, and then lists for each player the initial private four-Omaha hold’em poker card poker hand dealt to him or her, and the best five-Omaha hold’em poker card high poker hand and low poker hand each player can play on showdown:

In the deal above, Chuck wins the high-poker hand half of the pot with his J-high straight, and Brenda and Emily split the low half (getting a quarter of the pot each) with 7-5-3-2-A. Some specific things to notice about Omaha poker hands are:

• In order for anyone to qualify low, there must be at least three Omaha hold’em poker cards of differing ranks 8 or below on the board. For example, a board of K-8-J-7-5 makes low possible (the best low poker hand would be A-2, followed by A-3, 2-3, etc.) A board of K-8-J-8-5, however, cannot make any qualifying low (the best low poker hand possible would be J-8-5-2-A, which doesn't qualify).
• As in Texas hold'em, three or more suited Omaha hold’em poker cards on the board makes a flush possible, but unlike that game a player always needs two of that suit in his poker hand to play a flush. For example, with a board of K♠ 9♠ Q♠ Q♥ 5♠, a player with A♠ 2♥ 4♥ 5♣ cannot play a flush using his ace as he could in Texas hold'em; he must play two Omaha hold’em poker cards from his poker hand and only three from the board. A player with 2♠ 3♠ K♦ Q♥ can play the spade flush.
• Likewise, two pair or trips on the board does not make a full house for anyone with a single matching Omaha hold’em poker card as it does in Texas hold'em. For example, with a board of J♠ J♦ 9♦ 5♥ 9♣, a poker hand of A♠ 2♠ J♥ K♦ cannot play a full house; he can only use his A-J to play J♠ J♥ J♦ A♠ 9♣, since must play only three of the board Omaha hold’em poker cards. A player with 2♣ 5♣ 9♠ 10♠ can use his 9-5 to play the full house 9♠ 9♣ 9♦ 5♥ 5♣. With trips on the board, the player with the fourth Omaha hold’em poker card of that rank can play quads because any other Omaha hold’em poker card in his poker hand can act as kicker.
• Low poker hands often tie, and high straights occasionally tie as well. It is possible to win as little as a 14th of a pot (though this is extraordinarily rare). Winning a quarter of the pot is quite common, and is called "getting quartered". A quarter of the pot is not normally sufficient to recover the money you poker bet, so you would normally fold if you anticipated being quartered.
• When four or five low Omaha hold’em poker cards appear on the board, it can become very difficult to read the low poker hands properly. For example with a board of 2♦ 6♥ A♣ 5♣ 8♠, the poker hand 2♥ 4♠ 5♠ K♦ is playing a 6-5-4-2-A (either his 2-4 with the board's A-5-6, or his 4-5 with the board's A-2-6--either way makes the same poker hand). In this situation he is often said to be playing his "live" 4, that is, his 4, plus some other low Omaha hold’em poker card that matches the board but still makes a low because the one on the board isn't needed. A player with 3♠ 5♠ 10♥ J♦ is playing a "live" 3, for a low of 6-5-3-2-A, which makes a poker better low. However, a player with 3♣ 7♦ Q♦ Q♠ can only play 7-5-3-2-A low; even though he has a "live" 3, he must play two low Omaha hold’em poker cards from his poker hand, and so he must play his 7-3, and cannot make a 6-high low poker hand.
• Starting poker hands with three or four Omaha hold’em poker cards of one rank are very bad. In fact, the worst possible poker hand in the game is 2♠ 2♣ 2♥ 2♦! Since the only possible combination of two Omaha hold’em poker cards from this poker hand is 2-2, it is impossible to make low; since no deuce remains to appear on the board, it will be impossible to make three deuces or deuces full, and anyone with any matching Omaha hold’em poker card to the board will make a higher pair. Likewise, starting with four Omaha hold’em poker cards of one suit makes it less likely that you will be able to make a flush.

Variations

Sometimes the high-low split game is played with a 9-high qualifier instead of 8-high. It can also be played with five Omaha hold’em poker cards dealt to each player instead of four. In that case, the same rules for making a poker hand apply: exactly two from the player's poker hand, and exactly three from the board.

In the game of Courcheval, popular in Europe, instead of poker betting on the initial four Omaha hold’em poker cards and then flopping three community Omaha hold’em poker cards for the second round, the first community Omaha hold’em poker card is dealt before the first poker betting round, so that each player has four private Omaha hold’em poker cards and the single community Omaha hold’em poker card on his first poker bet. Then two more community Omaha hold’em poker cards are dealt, and play proceeds exactly as in Omaha.