Texas Holdem and Omaha Poker resemble each other in that it is a game played with five community cards but there are differences between the two games, the major difference is that the hands in Omaha are usually much better, since you get to choose from 9 cards in total.

Omaha poker is fun, easy to play and here we will cover the basics you need to know.

Omaha poker has two variations of play only; Omaha High and Omaha Hi/Lo split. Omaha Poker can be played with betting ranging from a structured Limit game to a No Limit or Pot Limit. For ease of understanding, we will discuss Omaha High here.

Rules of the Game

Omaha poker is very easy to learn.

Omaha poker has structured betting. $2/$4 are about the lowest limit you find. Some games may be 5/10, 10/20 or higher.

For our example here, lets use a 3/6. 3/6 means the minimum bet is $3 for the first two rounds of betting and the minimum bet is $6 for the last two betting rounds. These same limits are also applied to raising.

As every casino supplies a dealer, one player is designated as a dealer. This dealer is who acts last during each betting rounds. A "Button" (signifying marker) is used to identify the dealer/. The button is rotated to the left after each hand.

In stud poker, all the players ante each round. This is not the rule in Omaha. Instead, blind bets are made to generate the starting pot just as in Texas Holdem.

Playing Omaha

Two "Blind" bets are put up or "Posted" to start the game. As in Texas Holdem, the player immediately to the left of dealer puts up or "posts" the small blind. The small blind bet is half the minimum bet.

Therefore, the small blind for the $2/4 game is $1. The player to the immediate left of the small blind then posts the big blind. The big blind will equal the minimum bet; or $3 for this game.

No more money is put up to start the hand by the other players. As the button rotates around the table, each player will in turn act as the big blind, small blind and dealer.

The Game Routine Flop, Turn, River and Showdown

When the blinds are posted, each player is then dealt four cards face down . The small blind player receives the first card, so the dealer gets the last card. Now the first betting round begins. The player to the left of the big blind either puts in two dollars to "Call" the blind bet, or puts in four dollars to "raise" the big blind. If he has a bad hand he will fold

The betting then goes around the table in order until it reaches the player who posted the small blind. The small blind can call the bet by putting in one dollar (since a dollar bet was already posted). The big blind is last person to act, and if no one has raised, the dealer asks if he would to. Big blind then, has the option to raise or just "check." (do nothing)

After that, 3 cards are dealt face up on the table. These cards (and part of play) is known as the "Flop."

These are the community cards and can used by all the players. The next betting round will then begin with the first active player to the left of the dealer. As expected, the minimum bet in this round is again three dollars.

As the betting round is completed after the flop, the dealer burns (turns over) another card face up in the middle of the table. This is called the "Turn." Now however, the minimum bet is now $6, which as above, start with the first active player after the dealer.

After the turn betting round for the turn, the dealer burns the last (5th) card face up. This is known as the "river". The final betting round then starts with a $6 minimum bet.

If the play becomes head to head with only two players, the raises are unlimited. Otherwise there are usually three or four raises maximum during all betting rounds.

The Winning Hand

To find out who won, all the players are obliged to use two of his hole cards and three cards from the "Board" (forming the highest five-card hand possible). The winning hand is then determined.

Many times two players will tie, and if that happens, they will split the pot between them.

While Texas Holdem is the more popular game. Omaha poker has much to recommend it and you should check it out.

Remember

In Omaha poker each player is dealt four cards, before another five cards a dealt face up on the table. This means each player has a total of 9 cards from which to form his best five card hand. But in Omaha the best five card combination Must include two cards from the hand and three cards from the table, making it a challenging and fun game.