How To Play Omaha Poker

Learning how to play Omaha poker can be fun and rewarding because it's an exciting poker variant that takes Texas Hold 'Em but ramps up the action. Omaha is known for action and huge pots and is played in casinos and home games around the world. Omaha poker is also quite easy to learn and just takes a few minutes to master the basic rules.

Supplies you'll need:

• A standard 52-card deck
• Poker chips
• At least two players

1. Omaha poker is very similar to Texas Hold 'Em. If you already know how to play Texas Hold 'Em poker, learning how to play Omaha poker is a snap. One of the key differences is that instead of being dealt two face-down hole cards to start the game as in Texas Hold 'Em, in Omaha each player is dealt four cards face-down. After that, the action is exactly the same, as far as the flop, turn and river with betting rounds after each.
2. Basic rules for Texas Hold'em and Omaha. If you want to learn how to play Omaha poker but have never played Texas Hold 'Em, here's a quick rundown of the action. Each player is dealt cards face-down to start the hand (two face-down cards in Hold'em and four face down cards in Omaha) and there's a round of betting after each player gets their cards. Three cards are then dealt face-up in the middle of the table; these cards are called "the flop" and they're community cards that are shared by all players. A fourth card (the "turn" card) and a fifth card (the "river") are also dealt face-up in the middle for a total of five face-up community cards. There's a round of betting after the flop, the turn and the river.
3. Making your best five card hand. After the last round of betting, all players still in the hand turn over their cards and a winner is declared. Players use a combination face-down hole cards along with the shared community cards to make the best five card poker hand possible. The other big difference in how to play Omaha poker as compared to Hold 'Em is that in Omaha each player must use exactly two cards from their four hole cards when making their best five card poker hand. In Hold 'Em a player has the option to use both hole cards, one hole card, or none, but that's not the case in Omaha; in Omaha poker a player must use two and only two cards.