Poker Tip Man Armen-"Omaha"

     There is a misconception on the origin of Omaha. Most people think it originated in Omaha, Nebraska; this is not the case. Nobody really knows where it originated from. It's said to believe it started in the mid-west, but it made its official debut in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1982 at the Golden Nugget Casino. They called it Nugget Poker.

    The game of Omaha is very similar to Hold'em. There are only two things that change in the rules compared to Hold’em.

1. You get dealt four cards instead of two.
2. You have to use two out of the four cards in your hand and three community cards to make the best hand possible.

    Most new players don't understand the two cards must play rule, so they end-up losing couple hands before they understand the rule. For example, let's say you get dealt Ah, Qd, 10d and 9s. The community board is 2h, Qh, 4h, 6s and 7h. What is the highest hand you can make? If you said flush than you are wrong. You actual have just a pair. The best five card hand you can make using two out of the four cards you are holding and three from the community board is a pair of Queens.

  Cards in play: Qd, Qh, Ah, 7h and 6h
    

     There is another example of a common mistake new players make playing Omaha. For example, let's say you have Ah, Kd, Qc and 10h. The community board is 10s, 10d, 3s, 3h, and 3d. The best hand you can make is trips: three 10’s, Ah and and 3s. So, if someone is holding pocket Jacks they have a full-house. So your trips got counterfeited on the river.

    I don't normally play Omaha because the bad beats are devastating. It's also very difficult to bluff or put someone on a hand. It's really fun to play but I'm still adapting.

    There is another type of Omaha game that I like to play. It's called Omaha High Low. I will talk about Omaha H/L in one of my next posts.

Play Hard, Play Smart and Good Luck