|
Want to make the jump from Texas Hold Em to Omaha poker? Well, good for you. They’re both good games, and Omaha can provide some interesting variations outside the typical stuff you expect with Texas poker. But before you make that sudden jump and leap into Omaha paying games online there are a few things you need to know.
Omaha poker plays different from Texas Hold Em in two major respects. First, you’re dealt four hole cards rather than the standard two. This makes for a certain amount of variety. However, like Texas, Omaha requires that you use two of those cards to make your hand. Not three, not four, not one; you need to use two no matter what. Texas poker allows you to use all or none of these cards, depending on how you feel about your hand.
Second, you’re required to use precisely three board cards in your hand. Again, not all five, not even four. You need to use three. That way, between the community pool cards and the cards in your hand, you have exactly five cards in play (an obvious staple for playing any kind of poker). Got that? Exactly five in Omaha.
It may sound as though this article is trying to put down your intelligence, but this difference between Texas and Omaha must be heavily stressed for anybody looking to play this for any amount of cash. It’s very easy for the brand-new Omaha poker player to have, say, three spades in his hand, see two more in the community pool, and assume that he has a flush. This is not the case. The combination would have to be reversed for any hand to exist.
Because of the number of variations available this brand of poker is only played as Pot Limit or Limit games. There are too many strange variations of cards and possibilities for No Limit to be considered an effective way to play. If you can accept these limitations (thereby accepting that you probably won’t make as much money this way), you’ll probably enjoy this good game of poker.
|