Poker Beginners Guide: Introduction to Omaha

Omaha Hold’em (usually shortened to just ‘Omaha’) is very similar to Texas Hold’em (universally known as just ‘Hold’em’). Like Texas Hold’em, Omaha has five community cards, with the same flop/turn/river structure. The two key differences between Omaha and Hold’em are:

1. Each player receives four hole cards instead of two.
2. A final Omaha hand is comprised of two cards from the four hole cards and three cards from the board. You must use two and only two of your hole cards in completing your five-card hand.

The fact that everyone receives four cards rather than two means that generally there is more ‘action’ in Omaha. More players will stay to see the flop, and three (or even more) players will sometimes be involved in the showdown. Overall, Omaha is a much more complicated game than Hold’em.

In this section we shall be discussing Omaha Hi. In the US, Omaha is usually played with a Hi/Lo split. That form of the game is discussed later on in Section 5. However, if you intend to play Hi/Lo it is vital that you understand the Hi form of the game, so you are still advised to read this section first.