Omaha poker rules are just like Texas Hold'em Poker, except for one difference: players are
given four hole cards instead of two, and they have to make the best possible five-card winning
hand by using two of their hole cards and three community cards.
Here’s a step-by-step Omaha or Omaha High poker guide that will help teach you how to play
Omaha poker, even if you don’t know the Rules of Texas Hold’em:
First Step - Pre-flop
Two players in the game, starting from the left of the player with the dealer button, place a
‘small’ and a ‘big’ blind in order for the game to begin. All following players take turns to raise
the blinds in the round. The dealer then deals four cards to each player, also known as the ‘hole
cards’.
Second Step - Flop
Players are now free to check, or continue in the game without raising the bet; bet, or raise the
amount of bet; or fold, which means to not play the hand. Post the first set of bets has been
placed, the dealer places three ‘community cards’ face-up (flop).
Using two of their four hole cards and the three community cards, the players must take a call
on if their cards could be the winning hand. All players must again decide if they should check,
bet, or fold, depending on the strength of the cards known to them.
Third Step - Turn
After the betting is over, the dealer adds one more community card on the board (turn). Now,
players have a total of eight cards known to them – four private hole cards and four community
cards – and they must make the best possible five-card winning hand from them. Another round
of betting takes place, where players can either continue without raising the stakes, bet more
money, or fold out of the game.
Fifth Step - River
The last community card is now revealed to all the players by the dealer (river). This is followed
by the last round of betting, and all the remaining players now have a total of nine cards known
to them. Players can use two of their hole cards and three community cards to make a winning
five-card hand.
Here's a guide to How to Play Texas Hold'em Poker for you!
Sixth Step
If at any stage in the game, only one player remains (when all others have folded), the bets
placed in the pot thus far go to him/her.
However, if two or more players conclude the last round of betting after the river, the
showdown takes place. All players are required to show their four hole cards and depending on
the hand rankings, the winner is decided by the dealer. The player with the best hand wins the
round.
Here’s a quick video on all the steps in Omaha Poker, minus the betting rounds.
Now, we will cover another version of Omaha called Omaha high-low split.
It is a version of Omaha in which players are free to combine any two of their two hole cards
and the three community cards to maker a high-hand and use another (or the same)
combination of cards for a low hand. The pot is split between the best high and low hands.
For all high-low split games, a qualifier of 8-or-better is applicable for the low hands, i.e. the low
hand qualifies for the game only if the hand is 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 or lower.
In the case where no low hand qualifies, the best high-hand is the winner of the round, and wins
the entire amount in the pot.
There you go! That’s an excellent beginner’s guide to Omaha poker.
