OMAHA HOLD’EM

Very similar to the evergreen Texas Hold’Em, Omaha Hold’em, or simply Omaha, is a community card poker game. The gameplay can involve between 2 and 10 players and uses a standard card deck of 52 cards.

OMAHA HOLD’EM BASICS

In a typical Omaha game, each player is dealt a total of four cards, but is only able to use two of them in combination with exactly three out of five community cards on the table. 

• Poker Players

A standard gameplay can involve between 2 and 10 poker players.

• Deck

A game of Omaha Hold Em involves a standard 52-card deck. Similar to Texas Hold’em, Omaha is a “flop” game, using hole and community cards. 

• Dealer

Omaha includes a dealer who deals the cards clockwise. The first two players on the Dealer’s left side are the ones who the dealer collects the small and big blinds from.

• Blinds

Small and big blinds are the first two bets to create a starting pot, made before the Dealer deals the cards.

 

OMAHA HOLD’EM RULES

ROUNDS OF DEALING

1. Blinds: The first round is called a “betting round”. The Dealer collects a small and a big blind from the first two players, sitting on his left side. Dealers use blinds for the starting pot.
2. Flop: Once the betting round is over, the Dealer deals three community cards facing upwards in the middle of the table. This round is called the “flop”.
3. Turn: Also known as Fourth Street, the “turn” round concludes the dealing of a fourth community card and the third betting round, starting with the first player on the left dealer’s side. 
4. River: the fifth and final community card marks the “river” or the “fifth street” round. Players can bet for a fourth and last time. If there is more than one player remaining in the hand after the betting is over, there follows a showdown. 
5. Showdown: all players show their cards.

 

MAKING YOUR HAND

There are five actions a player can take during gameplay:

1. Fold – when the player discards his hand. 
2. Check – the player keeps his cards, but doesn’t increase his initial bet amount.
3. Bet – the player increases the amount of the initial bet from the amount of the previous bet, or the cost of the big blind. 
4. Call – the player makes an equal bet amount to the previous player’s bet.
5. Raise – the player increases the amount of his bet to the previous bet amount

MAKING YOUR HAND

There are five actions a player can take during gameplay:

1. Fold – when the player discards his hand. 
2. Check – the player keeps his cards, but doesn’t increase his initial bet amount.
3. Bet – the player increases the amount of the initial bet from the amount of the previous bet, or the cost of the big blind. 
4. Call – the player makes an equal bet amount to the previous player’s bet.
5. Raise – the player increases the amount of his bet to the previous bet amount

OMAHA Hi-Lo

Known as Omaha Hi/Lo, this is a variation of a split-pot version of Omaha. During gameplay, players compete for both the high and low halves of the pot. 

PLO 

Shortened from a Pot Limit Omaha, PLO has a few significant differences from a classic game of Texas Hold’em. Players start with four hole cards and use two of them, in combination with 3 of the community cards on the table. In pot-limit games, the maximum size of a bet a player can make is the amount of the total pot.