Omaha High Games

The online poker world provides countless opportunities for the adventurous poker player. If you're like most online poker players, you probably got your start playing Texas Hold'em. If Texas Hold'em poker isn't exciting you the way it once did, or you're looking to enhance your online poker experience, you may want to consider Omaha High.

Online Omaha vs. Online Texas Hold'em

One could think of Omaha as the next evolution of Texas Hold'em poker. Instead of only two cards to make your best five-card poker hand, you get four. Just like in Hold'em, you combine your hole cards with the five community cards on the board to make your best five-card poker hand. But unlike Hold'em, you must use exactly three of the board cards to make your hand. This requires some significant adjustments in poker strategy.

Why Omaha Online?

There are some significant advantages to playing Omaha online versus playing live. For one thing, having four cards can be a bit unwieldy. It's difficult to hold four cards up without exposing any to any other player, and it is awkward to "peek" at four cards by turning up their corners the way one does in Texas Hold'em. Online, your cards are displayed right in front of you, easy for you to see and impossible for your opponents to see.

In addition, when you begin playing Omaha, you'll want to start at a low limit while you get the hang of the game. In many casinos, only one or two Omaha games are spread, and they are high-limit games. Some casinos do not spread Omaha at all, deferring to its split game version, Omaha Hi-Lo. Online, you're much more likely to find the Omaha betting structure and limit you need.

Online Omaha Tips

Know the Strength of Your Hand

Remember that since each player gets four cards, nearly the entire deck is in play. This means if there are cards that fit in perfectly with the board and you don't have them, one of your opponents probably does. This means you need much stronger hands to win in Omaha than in Texas Hold'em. If there are three to a suit on the board, you need the ace-high flush to win. If the board is paired, you need a full house.

Play Strong Starting Cards

The key to Omaha is hand selection. Start out with four high cards, four consecutive cards, or double suited cards, preferably with aces in them. Hands full of sevens, eights, and nines, hands containing trips or quads (which are useless since you can only use two of your hole cards), or hands where one or more cards are uncoordinated with the others should regularly be thrown away in online Omaha.

Practice Hand Reading

It's easy to get confused when reading your hand in Omaha. If you have three of a suit and there are two on the board, or if you have one of a suit and there are four on the board, you may often be misled into thinking you have a flush, which you do not, since you must use exactly three of the board cards, no more, no less. If you have a hand like 9s-9d-6h-Kc on a board that reads 9c-6s-4d-Ks-Js, you may believe you have a full house. In fact, you only have three nines and will almost certainly lose to a straight or flush.

Learn More About Omaha Poker: Omaha Strategy, Omaha Rules
Other Omaha Poker Games: Omaha Poker Overall, Omaha Hi Lo