Omaha is a ‘community card’ game, meaning that the players share a board of five cards in addition to their own hands. It differs from Texas hold’em in that players have four cards in their hands – as opposed to two – and that two of the four cards must be played. For example, if the board shows 5-6-7-8-A and you are holding A-A-K-9, you do not have a straight to the 9, since that would only be using one of your cards; your best five-card hand using two of your own cards would be A-A-A-8-7, or three aces. In order to have a straight, you would need two cards in your hand to complete it, such as 9-10, giving you a straight to the 10, or even 4-7, giving you a 4-5-6-7-8. While seemingly minute, this change dramatically changes the way that hands play out.

Another key difference between Texas hold’em and Omaha hold’em is that the latter is often played as ‘Hi/Lo,’ meaning that the pot can be split between the high and the low hand. An A-2-3-4-5, known as a ‘wheel’ straight, is the best possible low hand. Because there will be additional players chasing the low before and after the flop, the pots in Omaha Hi/Lo are often larger than those of standard Omaha hold’em. The Hi/Lo variation is usually played as a limit game, though pot-limit and no-limit tables are not unheard of.

While many people play for the aforementioned reasons – lots of action and huge, split pots – there is another, subtler factor that may drive additional players to the Omaha tables: namely, the beginner player has a smaller disadvantage when compared to the expert. Though the skilled player will win the more often of the two, his or her edge will not be as large on each individual hand. No preflop in Omaha hold’em is nearly as powerful as AA is in Texas hold’em, and having four cards means that players will more frequently hold the best possible hand – ‘the nuts.’

Omaha hold’em has ridden the coattails of its sister game, Texas hold’em, into the spotlight and is now played with increasing frequency. It draws players in with its massive pots and Hi/Lo variation, which allows for two winners per hand. Though the strategy in Omaha Poker is somewhat different than in Texas, give the former a whirl if you have already learned the latter, as you will pick it quickly; you might even find a new favorite game.

My first hole cards were: AJKT double suited, which I knew were good. Decided to play them strong and attack right off the bat. Raised pre-flop, got re-raised (assumed I was up against AA or KK as that’s what Sammy’s book said) and just called. Flop was…. QJ9 with two diamonds. I had two diamonds. Bet out right away, got re-raised, capped it — same on 4th street when a blank came up — and made my ace high flush on the river. Other guy had a set of queens.

According to the book — that guy made a donkey play with his queens. I ended up winner for the game mainly because of this massive first hand. Ha!

Anyway, I’m doing one Omaha Hi/Lo tournament tonight, and will hopefully be doing cash games for the next two days. Will be back on friday night, hopefully with a couple thousand in profit, and not a couple thousand in losses.

Reading Farha on Omaha as we speak — final fine tuning of my game!

(the reason why I have the K10/KJ double suited as a pic attached is simple. It’s my signature Omaha hand! )

Double suited AK QJ, double suited AJ KQ, double suited TT99, double suited AQ KK — all very valuable imho…

The video shows the value of the drawing hand, and should show why AAA4 rainbow is not a hand you want to shove too many chips in the middle with…. (but then again, Sam Farha would play the AAA4, so who am I? )

Click here to view the embedded video.