Omaha Poker Game: Rules, Strategies, Playing Tips

With all the poker game variations around, chances are you might not have had a chance to play Omaha poker. Or if you have, you might have thought you were playing a variation of Texas Holdem because the games are similar.

With Omaha poker, each player makes their preliminary blind bets before the cards get dealt. Once the betting is done, then each player gets four cards dealt face down. These are the hole or pocket cards and to keep track, card numbers one through four. Then, the first round of betting commences.

Once the first round of bets are made, the dealer then deals three cards face up. These are called community board cards because all the players can see them. To maintain a tracking of the cards thus far in this game of Omaha, they are numbers five through seven and are called a flop. Then, the next round of bidding ensues.

The turn, card number eight, is dealt face up by the dealer. If a player hasn't folded at this point, a third round of betting ensues, usually higher figures than the first two rounds. The final card, number nine, is issued by the dealer face up and is known as the river. Once this final card is dealt, then a last round of betting gets underway with higher bets than the last.

Finally, it is showdown time in this game of Omaha poker. Players have to use two of their four hole cards and three of the community cards to create the best five card hand they can. The player with the best hand obviously wins the pot for that card game.