What is Omaha Poker?

Omaha Poker is fast becoming one of the most popular variations of poker worldwide.

Omaha Poker, also known as Omaha Holdem or simply Omaha, is filled with action and strategy, making it exciting and more interesting to both beginners and professional poker players. 

If you understand the rules for Texas Hold’em Poker then you’ll be able to pick up Omaha Poker quite easily since they are similar. Both of them consist of hole cards and community cards that are shared by all players.

How To Play Pot-Limit Omaha

To use TWO of the four hole cards together with three community cards to make the best hand.

 

 Position

Big Blind	Small Blind	Dealer
The player on the left of the small blind. The big blind is the same as the minimum bet size.	The player immediately left of the dealer has to post the small blind.	Each hand has one designated dealer. The dealer position determines the small and big blind positions. The dealer button is passed clockwise after every hand.

Betting Rounds

Just like Texas Hold’em, there‘re four betting rounds during a hand of Omaha.

The pre-flop	The initial betting round—Everybody gets their first four cards (hole cards) Players receive their hole cards and before the flop. Some players (the ‘Blinds’) are obliged to place a bet while the others can decide whether to call, fold, or raise. The Big Blind (BB) and the Small Blind (SB) place their bets on the table so the action can start.
The flop	The second betting round—Three Community cards are dealt The dealer places the first three community cards on the board, face-up. The players still in the hand decide how to combine two of their four hole cards and all three community cards to make their best five-card combination.
The turn	The third betting round—Another community card is dealt The player must combine two of their hole cards with three of the four community cards on the table to make their best five-card hand.
The river	The last betting round—The final community card is dealt The player uses two of their hole cards and combines them with three from the five community cards to make their best hand.
The showdown	When there are two or more players who are still in play after the river, it’s time for a showdown.  Once all betting is done, the player with the strongest hand is determined and they take the pot. If the showdown ends in a tie, the pot is split evenly among the winning players.

Action

In each round of betting, the player has the option to take one of the following actions:

Fold	The player feels they can’t win the hand, so forfeits any chips they have in the pot. They give their hole cards back to the dealer without showing them to anyone else.
Check	If there is no new bet, the player can pass the bet to the next player without betting or folding. But if another player raises before the round of betting is complete, the player will then need to call, re-raise or fold.
Bet	The player bets a certain amount based on the strength of his cards (or they can bluff if they’re feeling adventurous). The bet must be more than the Big Blind.
Call	If a bet has been made before it reaches the player, they can choose to call to match the bet. If they don’t have enough to match the bet but still want to play, they can go “All-In”, but you can only win the amount of chips they have contributed to the pot.
Raise	The player can choose to bet more than the other bets that have been made so far. Bear in mind that it has to be at least double any previous bets made in that particular round.
All-in	The player can bet or raise their full stack (the total number of chips they possess), leaving nothing behind.

 

Omaha Poker Hands Ranking

Basic Rules

The Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) of the game only allows players to bet up to the size of the pot.

The minimum bet that can be called in Omaha is the equivalent of one big blind.

A game that is $1/$2 PLO would mean that a minimum bet a player can make is $2.

 

Calculating Pot-Size

When playing Pot-Limit Omaha poker online, pot sizes and maximum bets are automatically calculated.

When betting pre-flop, the blinds are considered bets so the first player to act in a $1/$2 PLO game will be able to raise a maximum of $5.

• Small Blind $1 + Big Blind $2 + Call Big Blind $2 = Pot Size Raise $5.