When first starting to learn how to play Omaha poker, it can be difficult to put your much-needed strategies into words. So let’s take a few steps back to describe the pot odds, the starting hand rankings, and the best time to play each hand in Omaha High Low.
Pot Odds
Simple to remember and easy to determine, pot odds Omaha boils it down to a ratio of the amount of the Ante to the amount of the Small Bet. Because the Ante is automatically bet one in four times, the amount of the Ante is also the amount of the Small Bet, once you call or raise in Omaha, the amount of the Ante bets that follow must be added to the amount of the Small Bet. For example, in a $5/$10 game the Ante could be $5, $10, $20, and $40. The total amount of the Ante bets would therefore be $95. Let’s say that one of the players bets the $10, making the pot $35, the next player bets the $20, which now makes the pot $50, and the next player bets the $40, which now makes the pot $100. The sum of the Ante bets in all four rounds should be $15, just so the winning player doesn’t risk the entire pot on a single hand.
Starting Hand Rankings
Because Omaha is a three of kind hand system, the best possible hand is three of a kind. Omaha Three of kind is the best possible hand in Omaha High Low. The next best hand would be two of kind, then one of another kind, then a high card. However, certain combinations of Omaha High Low hands are not permitted, such as a hand of queen-high cards or ace-low cards. If this happens, the two highest cards instead of the high card wins. For an ace-high hand, the highest card is considered the high card while for a queen-high hand, the queen is the high card. The exception to this rule is in Seven Card Stud, where the rule is that the ace-high hand is the best while the queen-high hand is the best.
The Twenty-Card
The Twenty-card hand is the combination of the one of a kind and the five town cards. If you have QQ, you have the entire set of QQ. This hand beats all previous hands. However, since it is a hand of twenty cards, you have already taken the greatest risk in poker. Twenty-card hands are the hardest to get, but they deal with the greatest potential for big hands.
First Card
In all possible cases except very rare, the first card to be dealt face up is the best card in the game. Because of this fact, players tend to either hold or foolishly push whole amounts of chips into the middle of the table. This is generally not a wise move since you have no way of knowing what the next card will be if you have to face all of the other hands. Unless you have a powerhouse hand, stay patient and wait for the next deal to pop the next ” ONE MORE card ” out of the deck.
After the forth card is dealt, it is time for another round of betting. This is the most crucial point in the game since a player can only guess at the next card, rather than the cards that will come out of the deck. Therefore, it is important to remain calm and patient, and wait for the fifth and final card to be exposed.
The Cannot-Enter
The cannot-enter portion of the dewalive is where the action starts to get exciting. Two hole cards are allowed to be seen by the other players at the table. Once you allow the other players to see your cards, you cannot change them. If you want to bluff the others into thinking that you do not have a strong hand, you are allowed to open up your range of cards in this particular phase. However, make sure that you remember to close the hole at the same time you open up your range of cards. Do not make the mistake of opening all of your cards and then closing them, or vice versa. This forces the other players to make a decision early on, which they may not want to take.
The Finale
With the increase in the number of players on the table, the excitement level also increases. Almost always, the final hand will result in a lot of yelling and screaming. If you are playing in a casino, make sure to plan ahead so that you can stake out a valuable area for this portion of the game. In addition, if you intend to play Omaha Hi Lo, you must be able to play the game with a small sum of cash.