Omaha High is a type of community poker. Community poker games feature a number of cards that are dealt face up in front of the dealer. These cards are visible to all of the players, and all players share the cards. Players then use their own cards and the community cards to form a winning hand.

Learn the basic rules of Omaha poker right here at Spin32 Online Poker.

At Spin32Poker.com the variations of Omaha High are defined by their betting limits:

Limit Omaha High (there is a specified betting limit in each game and on each round of betting)

Pot Limit Omaha High (a player can bet what is in the pot)

No Limit Omaha High (a player can bet all of their chips at any time)

Basic Play

1. Blind Bets
2. Deal - 4 cards are dealt to each player
3. First betting round
4. The Flop - the first three community cards are dealt
5. Second betting round
6. The Turn - the fourth community card is dealt
7. Third betting round
8. The River - the final community card is dealt
9. Final betting round
10. Showdown

The Dealer Button

Omaha High Poker uses a small disc called the "dealer button" to indicate the dealer of each hand. The first player seated at a new table will get the dealer button. The dealer button moves clockwise to the next player, once a hand is completed. This ensures that each player has the chance of playing early or late and that every player gets a chance to post the "blind bets".

Note: During Single Table Tournaments the first player to get the dealer button is determined through a high card draw (each player is dealt one card; the player with the highest value card goes first. If two or more players have the same value card then they are ranked according to suit - high to low - spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs).

The Blind Bets

The player to the left of the dealer button is required to place the "small blind" (usually equal to half of the lower stake) and the next player to the left is required to place the "big blind" (equal to the lower stake limit). Once the blind bets have been made, the cards are dealt and the next player to the left starts the first betting round.

Both the small and the big blinds are considered live bets and therefore the player has the option of checking, calling, raising or folding when the betting action comes back around to their position. After the flop and after each subsequent betting round, the first active player left of the button is the first to act.

When a player sits down at an active table, they will be required to post the equivalent of the big blind. Also, to prevent "blinds" abuse, players are required to post the small blind and the big blind upon re-entry (returning from sitting out) to the game if both blinds are missed (only the big blind amount is posted as a live bet and the remainder is added directly to the pot). All the players have the option of sitting out and waiting for the button to rotate round to their position before starting to play.

To ensure fairness to all players, the mandatory posting of the blind is in place; preventing any players from constantly switching seats just to gain a positional advantage, or from entering games in a late position and then leaving before they are required to post the big blind.

First Betting Round

Starting with the player to the left of the "big blind", they have the option to bet, raise or fold. All remaining players can then call, raise or fold. To "call" is to bet the same as the previous player. If the first player folds, then the next player will have the option to bet while the remaining players can call.

The bets in the first betting round are set at the lower limit of the stakes structure, so in a $10/$20 game, the value of a bet is $10 while the raise is $20 (a raise includes a call of the previous bet plus an additional bet).

The Second Betting Round

After the flop (when the first 3 community cards have been dealt), the second betting round then begins.

The first player to the left of the dealer button is the first to act (bet, raise, check or fold). Checking is to refrain from betting and is only available if no bet has yet been made in the betting round. Once a bet has been made, the remaining players will only have the option to call, raise or fold. Like the first round, the second also limits the bets and raises to the lower limit of the stakes structure.

The Third Betting Round

The third betting round starts after the Turn (when the fourth community card has been dealt).

Once again, the player to the left of the dealer button begins the betting (bet, check or fold). However, this time the bets and raises are limited to the upper limit of the stakes structure. Each subsequent player can then call, check, raise or fold (a player can only check if a bet hasn't been made).

The Final Betting Round

The final betting round happens after the River card (the final community card) has been dealt.

The player to the left of the dealer button can bet, check, raise or fold. Bets and raises are limited to the upper limit of the stakes structure. Remaining players can then call, check, raise or fold (a player can only check if a bet hasn't been made).

The Showdown

Any remaining players must use 2 of their cards and 3 community cards to make their hand.

The pot is split equally if two or more players have the same hand.

Betting Exceptions

In Limit Omaha High a maximum of four bets are allowed per player in a betting round - (1) bet, (2) raise, (3) re-raise and (4) cap. In No Limit and Pot Limit Omaha High the number of times a player can raise is not limited. However, a player can not raise themselves (if a player raises and then all the remaining players call or fold, then the player who raised would not get an option to raise because they were the last to raise).

If a player doesn't have enough chips to call, they are declared All-In. This player is eligible for the portion of the pot to the point of their final bet.

All further bets by other players go to a "side pot" which any All-In players are excluded from.

At first glance, Omaha looks a lot like Texas Hold'em. But in Omaha, each player receives four hole cards - this gives Omaha an interesting complexity.

In Omaha, five cards are dealt face up on the board successively during the hand. These community cards are available to all players who can use them to put together a five card poker hand.

When all cards are out, you must use two of your hole cards and combine them with three community cards in order to form the best possible poker hand.

Omaha Glossary

Blinds

Omaha is played with blinds. Before the cards are dealt, two players to the left of the dealer post a small and a big blind to create a starting pot.

The Deal

When the blinds have been posted, each player is dealt four cards face down (hole cards).
Then the first betting round takes place, starting with the player to the left of the big blind.

The Flop

When the first betting round is finished, three cards are dealt face up on the table, known as "the flop". Then the second betting round takes place, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.

The Turn (Fourth Street)

After the second betting round, the fourth community card called “the turn” is dealt.
The third betting round takes place, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.

The River (Fifth Street)

The fifth and last community card is called “the river”. Now the hand is concluded by the fourth and last betting round, again starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.

If more than one player remains in the hand after the betting, there is a showdown.

Game Advice for Omaha

Four of a kind - an easy fold! In Omaha, picking up your four hole cards and seeing a monster hand is not that great, since you can only use two of them. If, for example, your hole cards are four kings, you do not have four of a kind! As a matter of fact, you cannot even make three of a kind, since no king can come on the board.

Or, if you have four hearts, your chances of making a flush are worse than if you had had only two hearts. If you have two hearts and two spades in your hand, your flush chances are even better. So, do not be fooled when you look down at a fantastic hand in Omaha.

Big Straight Draws

After the flop in Texas Hold'em, a made hand (such as three of a kind) is usually the favourite against a drawing hand (such as four cards to a straight). In Omaha, this is not the case, since there are so many ways of making a really good hand. With these draws, you can put in a lot of bets.

For example, if you hold T-9-6-5 and the flop comes K-8-7, there are 20 cards that will make you a straight if they came on the turn or river: four fours, three fives, three sixes, three nines, three tens, and four jacks.

With Ah-Ks-Th-9s and a flop of Qh-Jh-3c, there are 22 cards that would make you either a straight or a flush. 16 cards would make you a straight: four eights, three nines, three tens, three kings, and three aces. The nine remaining hearts would give you a flush, but three of them have already been counted, since they also give you a straight: the 8h, 9h, and Kh. In both these cases, you have equal or better chances than a player who made three of a kind on the flop.

Starting Hands with Connecting Cards

With four cards, there are many more combinations than with two cards. Since all four cards can be combined with any of the other three cards, an Omaha hand is not like two Texas hands, it is like six. So, in Omaha, look out for hands where all four cards connect in some way.

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