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Play Omaha Poker
by
Bill
Burton
This lesson teaches the basics
to
prepare you to
play Omaha
at the How to Play Poker program..
Omaha
may
resemble Texas Hold’em in the fact that it is a game played with five
community
cards but the game is quite different. There are two variations of the
game,
Omaha High only and Omaha Hi/Lo split.
It can be played with
the betting being
a structured Limit game or you can find No Limit and Pot Limit games. I
will
use the Limit Omaha High game in the explanation about how to play.
The rules of the game are fairly easy to learn.
Limit
Hold'em has structured betting, and the lowest limit you will usually
find in
most casinos is a $2/$4.
Other limits you may find are 5/10
or 10/20 or higher.
I will be using the 32/4 game as an example. That means the
minimum bet is three dollars during the first two rounds of betting and
the
minimum bet is six dollars during the last two betting rounds.
These
same
limits are used when you raise as well.
Play Omaha Poker: The Dealer
Since the casino supplies a dealer one player must be the
designated dealer who will act last during the betting rounds.
A
disk or ‘Button’
is used to identify the dealer and this is rotated to the left after
each
hand.
Unlike
stud, all the players do
not ante each round. Blind bets are posted to generate a starting pot
just the
way that they are in Texas Hold’em.
Play
Omaha Poker: The
Start
To start a new hand two ‘Blind’ bets are put up
or ‘Posted.’
The player immediately to the left of the player with the
dealer button puts up
or ‘posts’ the small blind which is
approximately half the minimum bet. The small blind for the $2/4 game
is one
dollar.
The player to the left of the small blind posts the big
blind which is equal to the minimum
bet which is three dollars for this game.
The rest of the
players do not put up
any money to start the hand. Because the button rotates around the
table, each
player will eventually act as the big blind, small blind and dealer.
It
will
cost you three dollars every time the deal makes a complete rotation
around the
table.
Play
Omaha Poker:
The Opening
After the blinds are posted, each player is
dealt four cards
face down with the player on the small blind receiving the first card
and the
player with the dealer button getting the last card.
The
first betting round
begins with the player to the left of the big blind either putting in
two
dollars to ‘Call’ the blind bet, or putting in four dollars to ‘raise’
the big
blind or folding his hand.
The betting goes around the table
in order until it
reaches the player who posted the small blind. That player can call the
bet by
putting in one dollar since a dollar bet was already posted.
The last person
to act is the big blind. If
no one has raised, the dealer will ask if they would like the option.
This
means the big blind has the option to raise or just ‘check.’
The
Flop
After the first betting round is completed, the
dealer will ‘burn’
or discard the top card on the deck. This is done to make sure no one
could
have accidentally seen the top card. Three cards are dealt and turned
face up
in the middle of the table. This is known as the ‘Flop.’ These are
community
cards used by all the players.
Another betting round begins
with the first
active player to the left of the dealer button. The minimum bet for
this round
is also three dollars.
The
Turn
When the betting round after the flop is
completed, the
dealer burns another card and turns a fourth card face up in the middle
of the
table. This is referred to as the ‘Turn.’ The minimum bet after the
turn is now
six dollars and begins again with the first active player to the left
of the
button.
The
River
Following the betting round for the turn, the
dealer will
burn another card and turn a fifth and final card face up. This is
called the ‘river,’
and the final betting round begins with six dollars being the minimum
bet.
There is usually a three or four raise maximum during all betting
rounds except
if the play becomes heads up with two players.
Then the
raises are unlimited.
Play
Omaha Poker: The
Showdown
To determine the winner, the players MUST use
two of his
hole cards and three cards from the ‘Board’ to form the highest
five-card hand.
In some cases, two players will tie which happens quite often in Omaha
Hi/Lo.
In that case, the players will split the pot.
A sixth card
is never used to
break a tie.
Play
Omaha Poker is followed by Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better
OR
How to Play Poker 1
Program
OR
Learn
Poker Games 2 with 7 Game Types
Gambling
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