Poker Tips

Introduction.

The vast majority of online poker players will learn to play poker around a Texas Hold ‘em table, having mastered Hold ‘em it’s only natural that you should then want to try out some of the poker variations – which for most folk mean will probably mean playing Omaha poker. Although Draw poker is another favorite alternative to Hold em, Omaha poker is probably the best option to try first as the style of play is similar to Hold ‘em – whist having an edge of difference to make you think more deeply about your poker play.

Is everyone so welcoming to Omaha poker learners in Nebraska?

The mechanics of Omaha.

Well you don’t have to go to Nebraska to learn the basic mechanics by which Omaha is played should be easy enough or an experienced Hold ‘em player to pick up. However, do read this carefully as with up to 10 players around an Omaha poker table pretty well all of the deck will end up in play! To begin, with going around the table from the left of the button, each player is dealt 4 cards one at a time. So that’s potentially 40 cards already in play on a full table. These four cards are all hole cards to be kept secret form your opponents. The flop sees three community cards dealt to the centre of the table followed by another community card for the turn and the river is the fifth community card. So, for a full table of ten players 45 cards out of the 52 will be in play. With each player holding four hole cards – the difference between Hold ‘em and Omaha is that it’s that bit more difficult to try and reason what hole cards an opponent might be holding. However, to be a winner at Omaha you still only need to produce a winning hand of 5 cards – the same as for Hold ‘em. Despite receiving four hole cards you can still only use two of them, making up the rest of the winning hand from three of the five community cards. This means that winning hands in Omaha games usually have high values. Also, unless you’re holding four really promising hole cards – don’t raise before the flop, call instead and see what the community cards offer.

These would be ideal Omaha hole cards.

Omaha winners.

Winning hands in Omaha are exactly the same as those for Hold ‘em – straights, flushes, pairs etc. The trick to getting a winning is, of course, knowing what to look for as the cards are dealt and, with four hole cards coming your way – making sure you use the best two with the community cards on show. So, any pair of high value hole cards, Aces, Kings, Queens or even Jacks, will immediately put you in a strong position and should mean that you can bet with confidence after the flop. However, beware of starting off to aggressively with the betting. Say you’ve got really strong hole cards if you bet too big too early on you’re as good as telling the other players you’ve already got cards they’ll be pushed to beat – meaning they’ll back-off and fold, leaving you with a tiny pot when, by drawing them into the betting you can get them to fatten up that pot for you. Holding a low value pair probably isn’t much use to you in Omaha. Again you have to wait and see what the community cards are but, with potentially 45 cards in play – those high value cards and possibly pairs are probably out there somewhere, already sitting in someone else’s hole!

I knew Omaha was the gateway to the west - but is she showing a novel way of delivering fruit through the gateway/

Omaha Rookie betting limits.

Unless you’ve got a seemingly endless bank-roll as a rookie Omaha player you really should stay clear of no-limit Omaha games. A no-limit game means there’s no limit to the stake that can be bet in any one betting round. These days you’d do well to steer clear of pot-limit Omaha games too as, with the maximum stake bet being worth the current value of the pot – you could quickly find yourself betting amounts that are really beyond what you can afford to lose. Much better to stick to limit Omaha games which have the maximum size of permissible bets announced before the hand begins.