OMAHA HIGH
Rules
Omaha High is a poker variation which is very similar to Texas Hold’em.
As in Texas Hold’em players have hole cards and after a round of betting they can see a flop, then a turn, then a river. This is why they are also called community cards poker variants.
The combinations are the same and the order is also the same.
There are however two big differences with Hold’em:
1. Players are dealt 4 hole cards instead of two.
2. Players must use exactly 2 of their hole cards and 3 of the board cards to make their combinations.
As a result if you hold As Kd 3d 2d and the board is Ks Qs Js Ts 3h, you do not have a royal flush (too bad J) as you need to use two cards of your hand. In that case, your hand is two pair: KK33Q.
Similarly on a board TT772 with a hand AQT9, you only have trips and no full house. Your high hand is TTTA7 and someone with 2367 beats you with a full house 77722.
Note that during a showdown, players must show all of their 4 cards.
You may also want to know that Omaha is usually played pot limit and that it is sometimes called the game of “the nuts” as it will usually take the nuts (the very best possible hand) to win a showdown due to the increased possibilities.
Comments and general strategy
Omaha is definitely a game of drawing and if you only hold a pair of Aces after the river comes, the chances that you are beaten are quite high.
It is also very regular to see second best straights or flushes lose pots.
Interesting hands you want to play in Omaha High are hands with redraws. Let’s say you hold Qs Js Td Tc, the flop comes and you make a nice nut straight: Ts 9s 8h. But what’s most wonderful about your hand is that you still have a full house draw (in case the board pairs), a flush draw and a straight flush draw. You’re actually a 4:1 favorite against any random hand with QJ.
I might sound like a broken clock but, never underestimate the power of drawing hands and always bear in mind how far you are from the nuts.
Starting hands
When you play Omaha, your 4 hole cards give you many more combinations than in Hold’em it is therefore very important to select your hands carefully.
If you start with a hand ABCD you have six different combinations of two cards you will be able to play post flop: AB, AC, AD, BC, BD and CD. That’s just 6 times more than in Hold’em.
This means that if you’re in a 5 way pot, it would be like playing against 24 Hold’em players, hence the necessity of good starting hand selection.
Now let’s get to the fact and have a look at the actual good starting hands. Remember that double suited and suited hands are considerably more valuable.
Good Hands:
AAKK
AAQQ
AAJJ
AATT
AA99
AAxx (x means any card)
KKQQ
KKJJ
KQJT
KKTT
KKAQ
KKAJ
KKQJ
KKQT
KKJT
QQJJ
QQTT
QQAK
QQJT
QQJ9
Hands with four high cards in a row usually play very well too.
Middle suited or double suited connectors are also interesting: Ts9h7s6h
Hands you have to muck:
* Any quads (including aces). They look pretty in your hand but they have absolutely no drawing value
* Trips, except maybe for Aces with a High suited card.
* Unrelated hands such as QsJh3d3h, for a hold’em player this hand could look kind of okay but it does not have a good drawing value. If you hit a set of 3s, you are quite likely to be beaten by the river and you queen and jack can’t play with the 3s.
OMAHA HIGH-LOW SPLIT
In Omaha High-Low the rules of Omaha High apply.
The big difference is that you have to add that for each hand, a separate low hand can qualify for a split of the pot. This means that if there are no ties, the High Hand wins 50% of the pot and the Low hand wins the other 50%.
As in Omaha High, a low hand has to be composed of exactly 2 hole cards and exactly 3 board cards. All of these cards have to be lower than 8 (in some rare cases, Omaha Hi-Lo can be played with a 9 qualifier) and pairs do not count.
The worst low hand is therefore 8-7-6-5-4 and the best low hand is 5-4-3-2-A (the wheel).
The best low hand is always the one with the lowest high card. Thus 8-4-3-2-A is worse than 7-6-5-4-3.
To easily read your low hand, imagine it as a number between 54.321 and 87.654.
Due to the fact that pots split and tie easily in Omaha Hi-Lo, it is quite common to only receive one quarter of the pot (you have just been quartered!); you therefore should avoid raising too much with only a low-hand. The aim is to scoop the pot with either both the best high and low hand or only with the high hand when there are no possible low hands.
