The Other Omaha

The other Omaha is the one with only one winner per pot in most hands.  Omaha HiLo seems to be the most popular of the two poker games, but Omaha is the game that is featured in the WSOP each year.  Omaha is a high hand only game with nine cards per hand including the five-card flop.  The game is played just like Omaha HiLo only there is no low hand winner.  You must use two cards from the four that are dealt to each player and three from the flop.  Good starting hands are high pairs or suited connectors.  Many pots are still won in this game with more three of a kind, flushes or straights than you see in Holdem.  The extra two cards per hand open up more possibilities.

The lower popularity than the other Omaha is due to there only being one winner so the pots are uniformly smaller.  The game just does not have the gamble in it that you see in Omaha HiLo.  On the other hand new players to the game are still at a disadvantage as experience with the play of the game is important when figuring if your hand is good enough to win.  Aces are a good starting hand, but they are not the holy city they are in Holdem.   Many Holdem players make this mistake when playing Omaha High.

The rules for what the likely winner will be when there are three cards to a flush in the flop are still valid.  There will likely be a flush in the hand.  A pair will likely be three of a kind or a full house.  It will still be rare that two pair or even a pair win the pot.  Another good starting hand is two or three cards to a straight or two cards to a flush.  These hands are both common to this game and show up a great many times at the show down.

As with all poker games the wise player will read a good book or two on the game before playing it at higher stakes.  Knowledge and playing experience can keep a player from making some serious bad plays in the game.  New players that try to play this game like a version of Holdem are destined to be carved up very quickly if they play for any length of time

Tags55poker.com, Holdem, Omaha, Omaha HiLo, poker games, poker players, WSOP

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