Fans of Texas Hold’em may be interested to know that another poker variation offers just as much thrill and excitement as their chosen game. Omaha poker is a skilful poker version which calls for players to use advanced poker strategy in order to make the best poker hand.

Players accustomed to Texas Hold’em will have little difficulty adapting to Omaha as the sequence of play and rules are highly similar. New players who have never played Texas Hold’em or Omaha before are likely to grasp both games in a short space of time if they study the following rules. However, it is worth bearing in mind that a major rule governing the composition of the winning hand makes Omaha more challenging for new poker players.

Omaha is a five card poker game where the player with the highest hand at the end of the game wins. All standard poker card rankings are used in the game.

To begin a game of Omaha, the betting structure requires either blind bets or ante bets to be made which go into the pot prior to any cards being dealt. Once these bets have been made, each player receives four hole cards from the dealer. This is the first notable deviation from a Texas Hold’em game where players receive just two hole cards in the first round.

When each player has viewed his four hole cards, the first betting round takes place. All players have a chance to bet and can raise the bet, check the bet (if no other player bets in the round) or fold if they feel they have little chance of improving their poker hand. This stage of the game is called the pre-flop.

After this, the flop takes place. This is where the dealer deals three community cards face up on the table. These cards are used by all players to add to their poker hand. Players bet again once these community cards have been dealt.

The next stage of the game is known as fourth street or the turn. This is when the dealer places a fourth community card in the center of the table and players bet again on the strength of their hands.

The fifth and final card is known as the river. After this last community card has been dealt, the final betting round in the game takes place. Players at this stage should have a strong poker hand that complies with poker hand rankings in order to remain in the game. Those players that are still in the game after the last betting round take part in the final showdown which is when all remaining poker hands are displayed on the table for everyone to see. The player with the highest poker hand wins the Omaha game and is awarded the entire contents of the pot.

However, in order to win Omaha a player must produce a winning hand comprised of no less than two hole cards and three community cards. This rule adds an extra element to the game and requires a higher level of skill than that needed to produce a winning hand in Texas Hold’em. In Texas Hold’em a player’s final five cards can be any combination of cards used throughout the game. In Omaha, a player’s cards must conform to the above rule or he cannot win.

For this reason, Omaha is a highly competitive game where players are required to use the best of their strategic abilities to calculate odds and probabilities. Generally, a strong poker hand must be made in the early stages of the game and the contents of the pot manipulated before the turn for a player to achieve a healthy win.

The game of poker has been growing exponentially in popularity over the past few years, and shows no signs of stopping. Players continue flock to their favorite casinos and online poker rooms day and night to pursue their favorite pastime. This surge in popularity can largely be attributed to two factors: first, widespread poker coverage on television, and second, the increasing availability of games online, 24/7. According to PokerScout.com, there are over 64,000 cash game players raking hands online at any given time, and hundreds of thousands of tournament players duking it out for prize money day and night. Party Poker has gone from a tiny underground cardroom, to a massive, publicly listed company traded on the European stock market, all in the span of just a few years. Online poker is here to stay.

Although some players only play on the web, some feel that playing on the computer just doesn’t offer the same experience as playing live in a card room or casino. They miss the flashing lights, the sounds of the slot machines, the cheers of players winning at a table across the floor… It’s true- online poker is an entirely different game when compared to brick and mortar. That said, many online poker players love playing on the net, because it forces them focus intensely on opponents betting patterns, reaction time, and other player behaviors that are not physical in nature. Most online players feel that exercising these skills makes them better all-around players than their live counterparts. Since poker is a game that requires adaptability, successful online players learn to master new and unusual surroundings very quickly. A good internet player can often walk into a casino and outplay the live regulars right off the bat.

Online poker players can be classified as one of two types: play money players, and real money players. If you are new to poker, we recommend that you first signup as a play money player. Play money will give you a feel for what poker is all about, and when you are ready to make some money, you can play for real cash.

Before depositing into a real money account, the first consideration that usually pops into a player’s head is the integrity of the different poker rooms. Many online poker sites are certified by watchdog organizations, such as the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, and major internal auditing companies such as PriceWaterhouse Coopers often run investigations to ensure the legitimacy of most reputable sites.

TEXAS HOLDEM – HOW TO?!

Texas Hold’em is currently the most popular form of poker It’s the game that has massively increased the popularity of poker around the world and is the form of the game you may have seen on TV. The rules are simple to learn and there is added excitement over the traditional forms of poker due to the community cards and the way a hand can develop with a ‘turn’ and a ‘river’ card.

The object of Texas Hold’em is to create the best five-card hand using seven cards.

Texas Hold’em can be played from between 2 and 10 players with a single deck of 52 cards. Every player is dealt two ‘hole cards’. Each player’s aim is to make the best possible hand out of five cards. Those five cards can come from his private ‘hole’ cards and any of the five community cards which are dealt in the middle of the table face up.

BEFORE THE DEAL:

• Players will buy-in for the posted amount.
• Selected players will post blinds.

DEALER BUTTON:

Unlike Seven Card Stud wherein the dealer deals each opening round clockwise around the table starting with the player closest to the left, the dealer in Hold’em will start to deal each game contingent upon which player has the “button”. The button is a graphical representation (“D”) of which player is the “dealer”. Although our dealer will be dealing the Hold’em game, the player who has the button placed in front of his seat gets to play his cards as if he were the actual dealer. When the cards are dealt to players, they are dealt in a manner as if the player was actually dealing in a live environment.

BLINDS:

Because we have a player “on the button” we now ask two players to “post the large or small blinds please”. The blinds serve a purpose similar to antes, in that they put forced money into the pot that gives players an incentive to enter the hand. However, only two players will “post” or “put up” the blinds.

The first blind is called the “small blind”. This bet is usually half the minimum bet of the game, although in some games, the fraction is slightly different. In $15-30, the small blind is $7, and in $5-10, the small blind is $2. So, in a $2-4 game the small blind will be $1. The second blind is called the “big blind” and is always the same size as the game’s minimum bet, e.g., in a 5-10 game, the big blind is $5.

The player directly left of the button will have the “small blind”. The player directly to the left of the small blind will have the “large blind” of the full amount or the lowest game limit.

OPENING DEAL:

Now that we have a Button and small and big blinds, we are ready to deal. The dealer always deals from the player closest to the dealer’s left. Moving clockwise around the table, the game will “deal-in” each player. The players will be dealt one card face down, then a second card face down. A round of betting will occur starting with the player seated to the left of the big blind.

BETTING ON OPENING DEAL:

The player seated to the left of the big blind will always have the action on the opening deal. This player may not check, but rather can only fold, call, or raise the amount of the big blind.

The game will now advance to each player seated asking to fold, call, or raise until we reach the big blind for an action decision. If no one has raised by the time the play comes back around to the big blind, the big blind has the option to “check” his own BLIND wager or raise.

Once all players have completed the first round of wagering, they will proceed to the flop. It’s important to know the strength and potential of your cards, and to try and deduce what hand you could make out of them. Make sure you familiarise yourself with the poker hand rankings before you play – click the link to view the hand ranking chart.

Once you’re comfortable with which hand is which and how the blinds work you’re ready to play.

At the table there is a dealer button which moves on clockwise to the next player after every hand is completed. The two players to the left of the dealer put in the blinds, which are the initial forced bets. Don’t worry, the blinds rotate clockwise after every hand, so each player is treated equally. Each player is now dealt two hole cards and a round of betting follows.

The dealer then deals ‘the flop’. The flop is the first three community cards, available for use by all the players. There now follows another round of betting. The player to the left of the dealer is always the first to act.

Once all bets are matched, the dealer turns over the fourth community card, the ‘turn’ card.

Another round of betting follows until bets are matched and the dealer now deals the final community card, known as the ‘river’ card.

TEXAS HOLD’EM BLIND RULES:

All players must pay for their blinds in full before they are allowed to get the button. Therefore, the player who had posted the small blind in the prior hand will receive the button on the next deal of any game.

If in the event we have a new player to the game, then three (3) actions will occur.

1. If the new player is seated left of the blind, then he/she may choose to “post” the big blind or “wait.” If the player does post, then his/her wager is active.
2. If the new player is seated in the big blind, then he/she is treated as such.
3. If the player is seated between the button and any blind, then he/she must wait for the button to pass.

MISSED BLINDS RULES AND PROCEDURES:

• Missed big blind: If a player misses the big blind for any reason, then that player may not play in any hands until the sum of all blinds are made up. The game will place an “ML” button in that seat to declare the missed big blind. The game will ask the next active player to the left to post the big blind for the hand. If the missed player makes up the sum of all blinds, then the small blind portion is dead and must be put into the pot before the hand is dealt.
• Missed small blind: If a player misses the small blind for any reason, then that player may not play in any hands until the small blind is made up. The game will place an “MS” button in that seat to declare the missed small blind. The game will ask the current big blind to please also post the small blind for the game. The game will further ask the next active player to the left to post the big blind. The player who had missed the small cannot return until after the button has passed. When and if the player does make up the missed small blind, then that money is dead and must be placed directly into the pot before any cards are dealt.

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