OMAHA
HOLD'EM
The mechanics of Omaha
hold'em (Omaha for short) are very similar to those of Texas
hold'em. In fact, there are only two primary differences:
Instead of getting just two private cards, each Omaha player
is dealt four cards face down, and combines two cards from
that hand - no more, no less - to form the best five-card
poker hand with just three of the five communal cards.
Despite the similarities
to hold'em, Omaha is a far more complicated games, especially
for beginners. You'll find it far easier to visualize if
you pop in the CD and play through the 25 sample hands in
either or both of the Wilson Software Omaha mini-programs
you find there.
(There's one for Omaha/8
and one for Omaha high. Both games are described here. For
instructions on using the programs, turn to page Seven.)
Don't worry right now about playing the hands correctly
- that can come later. For now, just absorb the games visually.
On the Internet, you'll
find Omaha played for both fixed limits and pot limit. More
often than not, Omaha is played as a "high-low split"
games, Omaha/8, in which the best high hand and the best
qualifying low hand divvy up the pot. To qualify for the
low side of the pot, you must form a hand of five unpaired
cards with the rank of eight or lower, using exactly two
of your four personal cards and exactly three of the communal
cards in the middle of the table.
It's possible to make
both the best high hand and the best low hand, and to win
the whole shebang in the process. Omaha players call this
"scooping," and when push comes to shove, the
objective of the games is not to take half the pot; it's
to hog it all. When there are lots of folks drawing, things
can get pretty wild, with players jamming the action for
both the high and the low sides of the pot.
You can make a high
hand and a low hand by using different cards from your private
cards combined with different cards from the communal cards
to construct each side. For example, if your private cards
are A ?2 ? 3 ?K ? and the five communal cards are Q ? 9
?7 ?6? 4 ?you can make a flush by mating your K? 3? with
the communal Q? 7? 6? . You can also make a low hand (the
best possible low on this board, in fact) by using you’re
A? 2? with the board's 7? 6? 4? .
On the other hand,
you can also make a high hand and a low hand using the very
same two cards from your four private cards and the same
three from the communal cards. If you have A-3-4-K of four
different suits and the communal cards are 2-5-Q-A-9, the
trey and four from your hand combine with the ace, deuce
and five from the communal cards to make both the best high
hand and best low hand possible, given the cards specified.
In this example, you have a five-high straight, called a
"wheel," and your wheel is also a five-low, the
best possible low hand in Omaha/8.
Split-pot games are
known for their no-holds-barred action because some players
are trying to make the best low hand, some the best high
one, and still others are trying to scoop the entire pot.
But Omaha/8 also stimulates action because each player gets
four private cards rather than just the two he'd get in
hold'em. Naturally, with four cards to choose from, many
players have no trouble finding hands to play. But believe
it or not, to be a winning Omaha player, you should play
fewer hands than you would in hold'em, not more. (We'll
tell you more about that shortly.)
In Europe, where the
majority of Omaha game are pot-limit, they're generally
played for high-hand only. We call that type of Omaha, "Omaha
high." Nevertheless, the structure is identical except
that low hands don't count for a thing. (Obviously, this
difference also affects the betting action.) Because online
poker is played on a virtual table stretching from one end
of the world to the other, you'll find both Omaha/8 and
Omaha high, played for fixed limits as well as pot-limit.
