poker school
lesson 19: omaha
Welcome to your next lesson ladies and gentlemen. We are moving on from the style of stud poker and moving on to Omaha. There are many variations of Omaha, but first we will discuss the set up and the structure of limit Omaha. Enough with the intro let's get to the goods.
When you are playing Omaha you will notice that the initial set-up and the structure of the game are almost exactly the same as Texas Hold'em. Although the strategies that are required for Omaha are completely different. There are a couple of main differences between the two styles of games. First off, in Omaha you are dealt four facedown cards (also referred to as hole or pocket cards), as opposed to receiving two in Hold'em. The second major difference is that while playing Omaha you have to use exactly two of your pocket cards, along with exactly three of the five community cards to make a hand complete. This change sometimes makes it difficult for players when they are switching from playing Hold'em to Omaha as you know, in Texas Hold'em you are not forced to use a certain amount of your pocket cards. You could use one, both or you don't even have to use any of them to complete your hand. Let's take a look at this example. If the community cards show a 4-5-6-7-8, this does not give you a straight unless you have two cards in your hand that complete the hand. For instance, if you are holding a 6-9 in your starting hand you would now have completed the straight because two of your cards are able to make the hand. On the other hand, if your starting hand consisted of 8-A-J-10 you would not complete the straight because only one of your cards helps you complete the straight and remember you have to have two of your pocket cards to help out.
There are a total of four rounds of betting in Limit Omaha. To explain the betting structure, we will look at as though we are playing at a $10/20 table. So for the first and second rounds of betting, all bets are made in $10 increments. For the final two rounds of betting, all bets are made in $20 increments.
Omaha follows the same blind structure as Hold'em. As a refresher, a button and two blinds (small and big) are used, and after the players have posted the blinds, the action will begin with the first round of betting. Upon completion of the first round of betting, the dealer will then turn three cards face-up in the middle of the table (referred to as "community cards"). After the flop, the betting action for the second round will begin. Following the example above with regards to the betting structure, the bets in this second round will be made in $10 increments. After this round has been completed, the dealer will then turn up the fourth community card (known as the turn card).
Now the action in the third round begins with the remaining players placing their bets. The bets are now doubled from this point forward. Once this round of betting has been completed the dealer will turn up the fifth and final card; known as the river. Those players that are still alive in the hand will proceed with their final bets. A winner is then declared.
That's a wrap for this lesson. So we now know the structure and set-up of Omaha we will now move forward to a very popular format of Omaha, known as Omaha 8 or better (Hi/Low). See you guys at the next class.
good luck and enjoy your experiences at the poker tables
