As you may have noticed, poker offers players several variants of the game. In this article we will discuss Omaha poker. Omaha is popular with a large number of professional players, but most consider it an easier option than classic Texas Holdem poker.
You may come to this conclusion yourself, the truth is that most of the time, Texas Holdem poker starts to play, then it goes to more complex Omaha Poker. On the other hand, Texas Holdem players have difficulty coping with the chances Omaha Poker has to offer.
If you are looking for the rules and strategies of the Texas Holdem variant, go to the following article:
Basic rules of Omaha poker, or different from other variants
The main difference between Omaha and Texas Holdem is that the player has four cards. Of course the dealer didn’t make a mistake and didn’t give you two extra cards, having four cards in his hand is correct.
For many players, Omaha is therefore more interesting than Texas Holdem, as four winning cards create more winning hands and the possibilities are more widespread. This is related to the probability of getting another card in the winning hand, ie outs, which are higher in the case of Omaha poker.
The course of the game is similar. After the original bets, a three-card flop appears on the table, followed by a turn and a river, where one card is added. Even when it comes to betting, everything is the same, which means that the player has a choice:
- Check
- Call
- Bet
- Raise
- Fold
According to Omaha poker rules, almost all players are dealt in multiple players. If you are playing online poker, or if you are a live tournament with 10 players at the table, 40 cards out of a total of 52 are dealt before the flop.
After switching to the flop, three more cards are used, one card being burned. This is followed by a turn and a river, one card and one card each. Altogether, this is an additional 8 cards, which means using 48 out of 52 cards. With Omaha Poker with 10 players, you don’t just use 4 cards!
Of course, this must be remembered by the player, and although the player has four cards in his hand, he uses only two of them. You really need to use two cards from your hand, you can’t create a winning hand with only one card, as possible with Texas Holdem.
So if you have KK and QQ in hand, KQ4510 appears on the table, then you can only use KK, creating a three-K. However, once four cards of the same suit are on the board and you have an ace of the same suit then you don’t flush! You must also have another card of the same suit to create a flush. The winning combinations in Omaha poker are the same as the Texas Holdem variant.
Sub-variant of the game – Omaha Pot Limit poker
If you choose Omaha as the poker variant, then you will often encounter a sub-variant called Pot Limit Omaha, where players have a limited betting method than that of No Limit, where the name suggests there’s no limit.
Pot Limit Omaha means a bet limit in which you can only raise up to a maximum value equal to the pot. So if you are at the start of the game and bet first (you are right next to the BB – Big Blind), then you can bet the chips to equal the big blind + small and big blind.
The advantage of such a bet is that players always know what the odds are to call a bet. It’s always 2: 1, which again confirms the simpler difficulty of the Omaha poker variant compared to Texas Holdem.
If you then raise the pot, then you must place at least the value of the previous bet. So if we raise to the next position, then we have some limitations. We need to raise at least the small and 2 * big blind bet by the player in front of us, and at the same time twice the value + the original call from the player, which corresponds to the small and big blind in the pot at the start of the game.
Pot Limit Omaha then uses the equation that players can bet on. According to her, the maximum bet for the first bettor is derived as a 2 * pot size. For the next player who raises the bet, the equation is extended by the original call bet, ie 2 * call amount + pot size.
It is said that practice is better than theory. Let’s use an example for a better understanding:
We are in the first position right after the big blind, with a big blind of 10 and a small blind of 5 chips. The equation tells us that we need to bet the pot size + 2 * of the original call to make the maximum bet. In this case, the original bet is the big blind. This means we can bet a maximum of 35 chips (15 + 2 * 10 = 35). Now we are in the next position, the player bet the pot. How much can we bet? Simply calculate according to the formula -> 15 + 2 * 35 = 85 chips.
Omaha Poker Strategy – Create a combination of winning hands
The basic prerequisite for mastering the Omaha poker strategy, which of course you can also use when playing online Omaha poker, especially for the Pot Limit Omaha sub-variant, is knowledge of the risk of the Omaha poker variant. Unlike Texas Holdem, it is more likely that your opponent has a stronger hand if you hold the second or third highest possible.
Once you have reached the stage where you have made a lower straight and your opponent bets the pot, then you can fold. Although he may very aggressively try to bluff and show you that he has the straight, even if he doesn’t actually hold it, he is very likely to raise the original bets to create the best possible hand. In Texas Holdem, this is not usually the case, but rather the bluffing mentioned above.
The big difference between Texas Holdem and Omaha poker is the probability of winning if you hold AA and KK, Omaha has the option to have both hands for one game. Even if you look at the flop with only one player, remember that you have a chance to win 60-70%. As far as you can, avoid playing on the flop with a multiplayer, preferably playing against only one, up to two opponents. Especially if you really hold AAKK.
The basic key to success is for the player to play with combinations that have the ability to create two colors (AK and 109), a straight of four with paired cards (10987), a combination of pairs (AAKK), and combine these variants to create what the largest number of winning combinations.
Remember that although you can create multiple winning combinations in Omaha poker, there is a risk that your opponent is holding the highest possible hand. If you like Pot Limit Omaha, you can also try Hi / Lo Omaha, where you can win both the highest hand and the lowest hand!
The last important Omaha Poker invoice is that long-term variation plays a far greater role here. The probability of winning is far more with you than with Texas Poker, and you may lose your pots in the long term with a higher initial chance of winning. Therefore, it is advisable to adhere to stricter bankroll management within Omaha Poker.
Pot Limit Omaha is also a game that has created the biggest poker banks online – the biggest pot was at Full Tilt Poker and was $ 1,356,946.5,
