Omaha Hold'em (O)

Omaha Hold'em (O) is a community card game similar to Texas hold'em in many ways.

Both are played with a standard 52-card deck with no joker, and players are able to use the five community cards, 'the board', in conjunction with their own hole cards to make a five-card poker hand.

In both types of poker there are four rounds of betting and community cards are dealt after each round of betting is complete.

The two main differences are:

• In Replay Poker Omaha, each player receives four hole cards instead of two. This means the number of players is limited to ten when four cards are used (and even less for games where five hole cards are dealt).
• A player must use EXACTLY two (2) hole cards with EXACTLY three (3) from the board to make their hand. This means you need at least two suited cards in your hand to make a flush, and usually, you have to match two hole cards with the board to make a full house. This rule makes reading of the hands tricky at times and even experienced players can make serious hand reading errors.

Strategy

Be careful what you wish for. Calling to make a flush on a paired board or a straight with three suited cards showing can be expensive when you connect and find you lose.

Average hand strength is quite a bit higher in Omaha than Texas Hold'em. This means that if the board pairs or there is a possible flush, the chances that a player on the table has a strong hand are high, especially if there are multiple opponents.

Flushes and straights other than the very best ranking are vulnerable and should be played with caution.

There are opportunities for bluffing or representing hands you do not have. For example, having two of the cards needed for a straight means opponents are less likely to have them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following are examples for Omaha, all using a starting hand of Ac Kd 7h 7d:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You: Ac Kd 7h 7d

Board: Kc Ks 9c 6c 3c.

The best hand you have is: Three kings with an ace kicker. Kd-Kc-Ks-Ac-9c.

You do not have a club flush because you only have one club in hand (Ac).

You do not have a full house because you must use exactly two from hand and using your K-7-7 from hand would not be allowed. You would only have two pair towards a full house: kings and 7s, -- Kc, Ks, 7h, 7d, Ac.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You: Ac Kd 7h 7d

Board: Ad Ah 9d 9s 6d. Your best hand is: A diamond Ace-high flush. Ad-Kd-9d-7d-6d.

You do not have a full house because you must use exactly two from hand and using your A-7-7 from hand or A-A-9-9 from board would not be allowed. 

You: Ac Kd 7h 7d

Board: Js 8h 6h 5h 4h. Your best hand is: A pair of sevens with jack kicker. 7-7-J-8-6

You do not have a straight or a flush because you need to use two cards from your hand and just 7h is not enough. Since you used the two sevens from your hand, your kickers must all come from the board.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You: Ac Kd 7h 7d

Board Js Jc Jh Jd Kc. Your best hand is: A full house, jacks full of sevens

Because you must use exactly two cards from your hand and three from board, you do not have four jacks, and the king on the board does not help you with a full house.

On this board, all players with no pair in their hole cards would have three jacks with the two highest cards from their hand as kickers, even if they hold a king.