HOW TO PLAY OMAHA HOLDEM POKER

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HOW TO PLAY OMAHA HOLD'EM

Explanation

In North American casinos, the unadorned term "Omaha" can refer to several poker games. Typically, it refers to the high-low
split variant played with fixed limits: also called "Omaha eight-or-better," "Omaha Hi-Lo," "Omaha/8" and several other similar
names. The original game is more commonly known as "Omaha high only."

In Europe, "Omaha" still typically refers to the high version of the game, usually played pot-limit. Pot-limit Omaha is often
abbreviated as "PLO." Pot-limit and no-limit Omaha eight-or-better can be found in some casinos and online, though no-limit is
more rare.

It is often said that Omaha is a game of "the nuts", i.e. the best possible high or low hand, because it frequently takes "the nuts"
to win a showdown. It is also a game where between the cards in his hand and the community cards a player may have drawing
possibilities to multiple different types of holdings. For example, a player may have both a draw to a flush and a full house using
different combinations of cards. At times, the players themselves have trouble figuring out what draws and possibilities that
their cards hold.

The basic differences between Omaha and Texas hold 'em are these: first, each player is dealt four cards to his private hand
instead of two. The betting rounds and layout of community cards are identical. At showdown, each player's hand is the best
five-card hand he can make from exactly three of the five cards on the board, plus exactly two of his own cards. Unlike Texas
hold 'em, a player cannot play four or five of the cards on the board with fewer than two of his own.

Some specific things to notice about Omaha hands are:

As in Texas hold 'em, three or more suited cards on the board makes a flush possible, but unlike that game a player always
needs two of that suit in his hand to play a flush. For example, with a board of K♠ 9♠ Q♠ Q♥ 5♠, a player with A♠ 2♥ 4♥ 5♣ cannot
play a flush using his ace as he could in Texas hold 'em; he must play two cards from his hand and only three from the board. A
player with 2♠ 3♠ K♦ J♦ can play the spade flush.
Two pair on the board does not make a full house for anyone with a single matching card as it does in Texas hold 'em. For
example, with a board of J♠ J♦ 9♦ 5♥ 9♣, a hand of A♠ 2♠ J♥ K♦ cannot play a full house; he can only use his A-J to play J♠ J♥ J♦ A♠
9♣, since must play only three of the board cards. A player with 2♣ 5♣ 9♠ 10♠ can use his 9-5 to play the full house 9♠ 9♣ 9♦ 5♥ 5♣.
Likewise, with three of a kind on the board, a player must have a pair in his hand to make a full house. For example, with a board
of J♠ J♦ A♦ J♥ K♣, a player with A♠ 2♠ 3♥ K♦ does not have a full house, he only has three jacks with an ace-king kicker, and will
lose to a player with only a pair of deuces. This is probably the most frequently misread hand in Omaha. (Naturally, a person with
the fourth jack in his hand can make four jacks because any other card in his hand can act as the fifth card, or "kicker").

Omaha Hi-Lo
In high-low split, each player, using these rules, thus makes a separate five-card high hand and five-card ace-to-five low hand
(eight-high or lower to qualify), and the pot is split between the high and low (which may be the same player). To qualify for low,
a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower (this is why it is called "eight-or-better", or simply "Omaha/8"). A few casinos
play with a 9-low qualifier instead, but this is rare. Each player can play any two of his four hole cards to make his high hand, and
any two of his four hole cards to make his low hand.

Some specific things to notice about Omaha eight-or-better hands are:

In order for anyone to qualify low, there must be at least three cards of differing ranks 8 or below on the board. For example, a
board of K-8-J-7-5 makes low possible (the best low hand would be A-2, followed by A-3, 2-3, etc.) A board of K-8-J-8-5, however,
cannot make any qualifying low (the best low hand possible would be J-8-5-2-A, which doesn't qualify). Statistically, around 60%
of the time a low hand is possible.
Low hands often tie, and high straights occasionally tie as well. It is possible to win as little as a 14th of a pot (though this is
extraordinarily rare). Winning a quarter of the pot is quite common, and is called "getting quartered." One dangerous aspect of
playing for the low pot is the concept of 'counterfeiting'. To illustrate, if a player has, for example, 2-3 and two other cards in his
hand and the flop is A-6-7, that player has flopped the 'nut low'. However, if either a 2 or a 3 hit the board on the turn or the
river, the hand is 'counterfeited' and the nut low hand is lost (the player still has a much weaker low hand however). This is why
there is significant extra value in possessing the 'protected' nut low. To illustrate this, if the player has 2-3-4 in his hand his low
is protected, i.e. if a 2 or 3 hits the board he still has the lowest possible hand. To lose the nut low in this case either a 2 and a 3,
a 2 and a 4, or a 3 and a 4 would have to hit the board on the turn and the river (giving the nut low to a player holding 4-5, 3-5
and 2-5, respectively), an unlikely possibility. For similar reasons it is significantly better to possess the protected nut low draw
over the low draw. For example, this could be having A-2-3 with a flop of 7-8-9; any low card below 7 on the turn or river gives
the player the best low.
When four or five low cards appear on the board, it can become very difficult to read the low hands properly. For example with
a board of 2♦ 6♥ A♣ 5♣ 8♠, the hand 2♥ 4♠ 5♠ K♦ is playing a 6-5-4-2-A (either his 2-4 with the board's A-5-6, or his 4-5 with the
board's A-2-6--either way makes the same hand). In this situation he is often said to be playing his "live" 4, that is, his 4, plus
some other low card that matches the board but still makes a low because the one on the board isn't needed. A player with 3♠ 5♠
10♥ J♦ is playing a "live" 3, for a low of 6-5-3-2-A, which makes a better low. However, a player with 3♣ 7♦ Q♦ Q♠ can only play 7-5-
3-2-A low; even though he has a "live" 3, he must play two low cards from his hand, and so he must play his 7-3, and cannot
make a 6-high low hand.
Starting hands with three or four cards of one rank are very bad. In fact, the worst possible hand in the game is 2♠ 2♣ 2♥ 2♦!
Since the only possible combination of two cards from this hand is 2-2, it is impossible to make low. As no deuce remains to
appear on the board, it will be impossible to make three deuces or deuces full, and anyone with any matching card to the board
will make a higher pair. Likewise, starting with four cards of one suit makes it less likely that you will be able to make a flush.
Starting with four different suits yields no chance for a flush, and starting with four disconnected cards reduces straight
possibilities. Computer analysis of the best starting hands has proven that the best starting hand for Omaha is A-A-K-K with
both Ks suited to the As. For the Hi-Lo variation, the most valuable starting holding is A-2 (suited), A-3 (suited).
Hands to avoid tend to contain mainly middle ranked cards, which are of little use for any low splits and which tend to generate
lower pairs and sets, weaker flushes and lower straights and can be very expensive.
Low hand ranks from best to worst: 5-4-3-2-A ('the wheel'), 6-4-3-2-A, 6-5-3-2-A, 6-5-4-2-A, ... , 8-7-6-5-4.

Pot-limit Omaha
Pot-limit Omaha (also called PLO) is popular in Europe, online, and in high-stakes "mixed games" played in some American
casinos. It is more often played high only, but can also be played high low. Even more so than Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, PLO is a game
of drawing, if you are drawing, to the nut hand. For example, second best flushes and straights can be, and frequently are,
beaten. Furthermore, because of the exponential growth of the pot size in pot-limit play, seeing one of these hands to the end
can be very expensive.

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