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The Scoop on Omaha
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No, not the city, and if you got the pun, you probably already knew that. Omaha is another poker game. The game was not invented in Omaha and has been around since the 1980’s. Believe it or not, there is a whole poker world outside of Texas Hold’em.
Omaha can be a bit more complicated than Texas Hold’em. Initially, each player receives four down cards instead of two. The blind structure is similar to Hold’em in that you have a dealer button and a small and big blind. After each player receives his down cards, a round of betting commences. The game can be played as limit, pot-limit or no-limit.
The board then mirrors a Hold’em board with 3 cards on the flop, a turn and a river card. Since everyone receives 4 cards, it is customary for a stronger hand of at least two pair or better to win in the end. There is a round of betting after the flop, turn and river. The goal is still to make the best poker hand. The only caveat is that you can only use two of your down cards and three cards from the board to make your hand. So, one of the worst starting hands in Omaha is 4 of a kind down cards, since you can only use two of these cards to make your final hand.
There is a variation of the game played called Omaha Hi-Low. In this case, players have the potential of winning two different ways: with a traditional high hand or with a low hand. The low hand consists of five cards between A-8 with no duplicates, the best low hand is the A,2,3,4,5. The only way there can be a low hand, is when there is at least 3 low cards on the board. If there is a low and high hand, the pot is split. If there is only a high hand, the entire pot is pushed to this hand. If one player wins both the high and low, the player “scoops” the pot.
In some games, they add another element called the kill. In this case, if a pot is greater than a certain dollar amount, the blinds increase. Locally, the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa offers 2-4 Limit Omaha Hi-Low with a kill. In this case, if a pot is greater than $40, the structure goes to $5-$5 and the person who wins the previous hand is required to post the kill for the next hand.
If you like action and big pots, this may be the game for you. However, it is not for the weak at heart. You may want to pick up a copy of Mike Cappelletti’s book or practice some online first. See you at the Omaha table…..
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