HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Omaha hold 'em (also known as Omaha holdem or simply Omaha) is a
community card poker Community card poker refers to any game of poker that uses community cards (also called "shared cards"), which are cards dealt face up in the center of the table and shared by all players. In these games, each player is dealt an incomplete hand f ...
game similar to
Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...
, where each player is dealt four cards and must make their best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards. The exact origin of the game is unknown, but casino executive Robert Turner first brought Omaha into a casino setting when he introduced the game to Bill Boyd, who offered it as a game at the
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
Golden Nugget Casino (calling it "Nugget Hold'em"). Omaha uses a 52-card
French deck French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. I ...
. Omaha hold 'em 8-or-better is the "O" game featured in H.O.R.S.E.


History

Omaha hold 'em derives its name from two types of games. "Hold'em" refers to a game using community cards that are shared by all players. This is opposed to
draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...
games, where each player's hand is composed only of concealed cards, and
stud Stud may refer to the following terms: Animals * Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding ** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred Arts and entertainment * Stud (band), a British progressive rock group * The Stud (bar), a gay bar ...
games, where each player's unique hand contains a mix of cards visible to the other players and concealed hole cards. In the original Omaha poker game, players were only dealt two hole cards and had to use both to make a hand combined with community cards.Doyle Brunson, ''Super System: A course in Power Poker'', Cardoza Publishing (1978), This version of Omaha is defined in the glossary of ''
Super/System ''Super/System'', one of the first books about poker strategy, was written and published in 1979 by Doyle Brunson, a professional poker player and multiple winner at the World Series of Poker. History and title ''How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing ...
'' (under Omaha) as being interchangeable with " Tight hold 'em". Across all the variations of the game, the requirement of using exactly two hole cards is the only consistent rule. The "Omaha" part of the name represents this aspect of the game.


Explanation

In North American casinos, the term "Omaha" can refer to several
poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
games. The original game is also commonly known as "Omaha high". A high-low split version called "Omaha Hi-Lo", or sometimes "Omaha eight-or-better" or "Omaha/8", is also played. In Europe, "Omaha" still typically refers to the high version of the game, usually played pot-limit. Pot-limit Omaha is often abbreviated as "PLO." Pot-limit and no-limit Omaha eight-or-better can be found in some casinos and online, though no-limit is rarer. It is often said that Omaha is a game of "
the nuts ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
", i.e. the best possible high or low hand, because it frequently takes "the nuts" to win a showdown. It is also a game where between the cards in their hand and the community cards a player may have drawing possibilities to multiple different types of holdings. For example, a player may have both a draw to a
flush Flush may refer to: Places * Flush, Kansas, a community in the United States Architecture, construction and manufacturing * Flush cut, a type of cut made with a French flush-cut saw or diagonal pliers * Flush deck, in naval architecture * Flu ...
and a
full house ''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for ABC. The show is about widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend Joey Gladstone to help raise his three dau ...
using different combinations of cards. At times, even seasoned players may need additional time to figure what draws are possible for their hand. The basic differences between Omaha and Texas hold 'em are these: first, each player is dealt four hole cards instead of two. The betting rounds and layout of community cards are identical. At showdown, each player's hand is the best five-card hand made from ''exactly three'' of the five cards on the board, plus ''exactly two'' of the player's own cards. Unlike Texas hold 'em, a player cannot play four or five of the cards on the board with fewer than two of their own. A maximum of eleven players can be dealt a hand in Omaha, regardless of whether or not
burn card In card games, a burn card is a playing card dealt from the top of a deck, and discarded ("burned"), unused by the players. Burn cards are usually not shown to the players. Burning is most often performed in casinos to deter a form of cheating kno ...
s are used, however Omaha is most commonly played six handed or nine handed. Some specific things to notice about Omaha hands are: * As in Texas hold 'em, three or more suited cards on the board makes a flush possible, but unlike that game, a player always needs two of that suit in hand to play a flush. For example, with a board of , a player with ''cannot'' play a flush using the ace as would be possible in Texas hold 'em; the player must play two cards from in-hand and only three from the board (so instead, this player's best hand is two pair: ). A player with ''can'' play the spade flush. * The same concept applies to straights. In Omaha, a player cannot use only one hole card and four cards on the board to play a straight. For example, with a board of , a player with or ''cannot'' play a straight. But a player with ''can'' play a straight from 3 to 7; * Two pair on the board does not make a full house for anyone with a single matching card as it does in Texas hold 'em. For example, with a board of , a player with a hand of cannot play a full house; the player can only use the A-J to play , since they must play three of the board cards. A player with ''can'' use their J-9 to play the full house (or ). Likewise, a player with ''can'' use their 5-5 to play the full house . * Likewise, with three of a kind on the board, a player must have a pair in hand to make a full house. For example, with a board of , a player with does not have a full house, the player only has three jacks with an ace-king kicker, and will lose to a player with only a pair of deuces. This is probably the most frequently misread hand in Omaha. (Naturally, a person with the fourth jack in hand can make four jacks because any other card in hand can act as the fifth card, or "kicker".)


Omaha hi-low split-8 or better

In Omaha hi-low split-8 or better (simply Omaha/8), each player makes a separate five-card high hand and five-card ace-to-five low hand (eight-high or lower to qualify), and the pot is split between the high and low (which may be the same player). To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower (this is why it is called "eight or better"). A few casinos play with a 9-low qualifier instead, but this is rare. Each player can play any two of their four hole cards to make their high hand, and any two of their four hole cards to make their low hand. If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins (''scoops'') the whole pot. This game is usually played in the
fixed limit In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing. Different games are played using different types of bets, ...
version, although
pot limit In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing. Different games are played using different types of bets, ...
Omaha/8 is becoming more popular. A few low-stakes
online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...
tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
feature
no limit No Limit may refer to: Music Record labels *No Limit Records, a record label founded by Master P *No Limit Forever Records, a record label founded by Romeo Miller, son of Master P Albums * ''No Limit'' (Art Pepper album), 1977 * ''No Limit'' ...
Omaha/8. The brief explanation above belies the complexity of the game, so a number of examples will be useful here to clarify it. The table below shows a five-card board of community cards at the end of play, and then lists for each player the initial private four-card hand dealt to him or her, and the best five-card high hand and low hand each player can play on showdown: In the deal above, Chris wins the high-hand half of the pot with their J-high straight, and Bryan and Eve split the low half (getting a quarter of the pot each) with 7-5-3-2-A. Some specific things to notice about Omaha/8 hands are: * In order for ''anyone'' to qualify low, there must be at least three cards of differing ranks 8 or below on the board. For example, a board of K-8-J-7-5 makes low possible (the best low hand would be A-2, followed by A-3, 2-3, etc.) A board of K-8-J-8-5, however, cannot make any qualifying low (the best low hand possible would be J-8-5-2-A, which does not qualify). Statistically, around 60% of the time a low hand is possible. * Low hands often tie, and high straights occasionally tie as well, as do, even more rarely, full houses. In theory, it is possible to win as little as a 14th of a pot (though this is extraordinarily rare). Winning a quarter of the pot is quite common, and is called "getting quartered." One dangerous aspect of playing for the low pot is the concept of "
counterfeiting To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
". To illustrate, if a player has, for example, 2-3 and two other cards in their hand and the flop is A-6-7, that player has flopped the "nut low". However, if either a 2 or a 3 hit the board on the turn or the river, the hand is "counterfeited" and the nut low hand is lost (the player still has a much weaker low hand however, with 3-4, 3-5 and 4-5 making better lows). This is why there is significant extra value in possessing the "protected" nut low. To illustrate this, if the player has 2-3-4 in their hand their low is protected, i.e. if a 2 or 3 hits the board they still have the lowest possible hand. To lose the nut low in this case either a 2 and a 3, a 2 and a 4, or a 3 and a 4 would have to hit the board on the turn and the river (giving the nut low to a player holding 4-5, 3-5 and 2-5, respectively), an unlikely possibility. For similar reasons it is significantly better to possess the protected nut low draw over the low draw. For example, this could be having A-2-3 with a flop of 7-8-9; any low card below 7 on the turn or river gives the player the best low. * When four or five low cards appear on the board, it can become very difficult to read the low hands properly. For example, with a board of , the hand is playing a 6-5-4-2-A (either their 2-4 with the board's A-5-6, or their 4-5 with the board's A-2-6--either way makes the same hand). In this situation he is often said to be playing their "live" 4, that is, their 4, plus some other low card that matches the board but still makes a low because the one on the board isn't needed. A player with is playing a "live" 3, for a low of 6-5-3-2-A, which makes a better low. However, a player with can only play 7-5-3-2-A low; even though he has a "live" 3, he must play two low cards from their hand, and so he must play their 7-3, and cannot make a 6-high low hand. * Starting hands with three or four cards of one rank are ''very'' bad. In fact, the worst possible hand in the game is . Since the only possible combination of two cards from this hand is 2-2, it is impossible to make low. As no deuce remains to appear on the board, it will be impossible to make three deuces or deuces full, and anyone with any matching card to the board will make a higher pair. Likewise, starting with four cards of one suit makes it ''less'' likely that you will be able to make a flush. Starting with four different suits yields no chance for a flush, and starting with four disconnected cards reduces straight possibilities. Computer analysis of the best starting hands has proven that the best starting hand for Omaha is A-A-K-K (
double suited The following is a glossary of poker terms used in the card game of poker. It supplements the glossary of card game terms. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms. This is not intended to be ...
). One favorite starting hand for Omaha is A-A-J-10 (
double suited The following is a glossary of poker terms used in the card game of poker. It supplements the glossary of card game terms. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms. This is not intended to be ...
), because of its wider range for making the nut straight (J-7, Q-8, K-9, and A-10). For the Hi-Lo variation, the most valuable starting holding is A-A-2-3 (double suited). * Hands to avoid tend to contain mainly middle-ranked cards, which are of little use for any low splits and which tend to generate lower pairs and sets, weaker flushes and lower straights and can be very expensive. Four of a kind is the worst possible starting hand in Omaha, in contrast to most other poker games, where it is exceptionally strong. * Straights and flushes are ignored when judging low hands. Low hand ranks from best to worst: 5-4-3-2-A ( the wheel), 6-4-3-2-A, 6-5-3-2-A, 6-5-4-2-A, ..., 8-7-6-5-4. Low hands can thus be read as numbers between 54,321 and 87,654 (with the exception of any number that has a pair, i.e. 54,322). The lowest number that any player can make, while ordered from high card to low, is the best possible low hand in play. For example: 2♠ 3♣ 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ wins over A♠ 2♣ 3♥ 4♣ 8♠


Pot-limit Omaha

Pot-limit Omaha ( frequently shortened to PLO) is popular in Europe, online, and in high-stakes "mixed games" played in some American casinos. This variant is more often played high only, but can also be played high-low. To a still greater degree than in Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, PLO is a game of drawing, when drawing, to the nut hand. Second best flushes and straights can be, and frequently become, losing hands, especially when a player is willing to commit their entire stack to the pot. Furthermore, because of the exponential growth of the pot size in pot-limit play, seeing one of these hands to the end can be very expensive and carry immense
reverse implied odds In poker, pot odds are the ratio of the current size of the pot to the cost of a contemplated call. Pot odds are compared to the odds of winning a hand with a future card in order to estimate the call's expected value. The purpose of this is to ...
.


Wraps

In poker, an out is any unseen card in the deck that will give a player the best hand. A wrap is a straight draw with nine or more outs. This is called a wrap because the player’s hole cards are said to wrap-around the board cards. In hold-em, where players have two hole cards, the greatest number of straight outs possible is eight; however, in Omaha, there are four hole cards, which can result in straight draws which can have up to 20 outs. An example of a twenty-out wrap is on a flop of . To hit a straight, any of the following cards is needed: .


Redraws

A desirable hand to have in PLO is the current best hand with a
redraw The following is a glossary of poker terms used in the card game of poker. It supplements the glossary of card game terms. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms. This is not intended to be ...
. For example, if the board is , and the player has , then not only do they have the current best hand possible (their ace-king makes the ace-high straight), but they also have a redraw with the two queens in their hand because if the board pairs, they will make a full house, or four queens. would be an even better hand because it has flush and royal flush redraws as well. In fact, with the board, is approximately an 80-20 money favorite over a random hand containing ace-king (see freerolling). Even a pair of queens with any two spades is better than 55-45 against a random ace-king hand.


Omaha Variations

The most common variations of Pot Limit Omaha high are Five-card Omaha, commonly referred as "Big O" very popular in Southeastern United States as a home game and Six-card Omaha or 6-O which can be found in many casinos across the UK. Some
online poker Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...
rooms support Five-card Omaha, Six-card Omaha and Courchevel. "Big O" (occasionally called Five-card Omaha or 5-O) began appearing in Southern California in 2008 and had spread to most of the card rooms in the area by the end of the year. Sometimes the high-low split game is played with a 9 or a 7-high qualifier instead of 8-high. It can also be played with five cards dealt to each player instead of four. In that case, the same rules for making a hand apply: exactly two from the player's hand, and exactly three from the board.


Courchevel

Courchevel is named after the high-end ski resort in the French Alps, near the Italian border. According to the urban legend, bored tourists wanted to play a version of poker no-one has ever played before, so they came up with this game. The place where Courchevel was most commonly played was the Aviation Club de France in Paris. That casino is now closed. In the game of Courchevel, players are dealt five hole cards rather than four. Simultaneously, the first community card is dealt. Following an opening round of betting, two additional community cards are dealt, creating a 3-card flop, where the structure of the game is then identical to standard Omaha. Still, exactly two of the five hole cards must be used. Courchevel is popular in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
but its popularity has expanded in other parts of Europe, particularly the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. Courchevel is also available in a hi-low 8 or better variety, and while Courchevel is rarely offered on any of the major
online poker Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...
sites, as of 2019, hi-low sit-and-go games at the micro stakes level can be found taking place several times a day on Pokerstars, which had the game since 2013.


See also

*
Glossary of poker terms The following is a glossary of poker terms used in the card game of poker. It supplements the glossary of card game terms. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms. This is not intended to be ...
*
List of poker hands In poker, players form sets of five playing cards, called ''hands'', according to the rules of the game. Each hand has a rank, which is compared against the ranks of other hands participating in the showdown to decide who wins the pot. In high ...
*
Texas hold'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face ...
*
Greek hold 'em Greek hold 'em (originally known as tight hold 'em) is a community card poker game variant of Texas hold 'em which transitioned into Omaha hold 'em. Greek hold 'em combines the rules of Texas hold 'em and current day Omaha hold 'em. In professio ...


Notes


External links


Strategy from 1999 World Series of Poker Omaha champion
Steve Badger
Omaha Recommended Starting Hands Strategy
Lou Krieger
How to Play Omaha Poker


PokerNews PokerNews is a website dedicated to providing poker industry news, live tournament coverage, strategy, player interviews and videos, podcasts, and information on bonuses and freeroll tournaments available at online poker rooms. It is run by iBus ...

Pot Limit Omaha From Square One
Professional Rakeback {{Poker footer Poker variants