Omaha has fast become a preferred Poker game to many. Although the game is very similar to that of Texas Holdem, there are two distinctive differences between the two games which is that in Omaha each player receives four cards instead of two, and the player must use two of these cards to form their hand.
Omaha is played with a minimum of two players and a maximum of ten players. There are two ways of winning in this game in that you take the pot if you are the only person left in the game that has not folded, or if you have the best hand at the showdown.
To start the game off, the highest card drawn becomes the dealer and is given the “Button”. Should there be two of the same high card drawn, then the dealer will be determined by the suit. Poker suits are in alphabetical order starting with the worst being Clubs – Diamonds – Hearts and Spades.

The Blind

Prior to any cards being dealt the “Small Blind” which is the player directly to the left of the Button will place a forced bet (small denomination) – Following that the “Big Blind” to his/her left will then also place a forced bet which is normally double that of the Small Blind.
Once these two bets have been placed, the dealer will then deal each player one card face down until each player has four cards.

Preflop

Once all players have received their four cards face down, they then look at their cards and the first round of betting is then made, this is called the re-flop.
When the betting gets back to the “small Blind”, should a raise have taken place and in order to continue they would then deduct the “small Blind” that they started with from the raised amount and that would then be the amount they would need to put into the pot to continue.
At this point it is then the turn of the ‘Big Blind” who would then if a raise has been posted need to add the amount less his/her original forced bet after which the round has then been completed.
A basic rule to remember is when playing Poker only one player plays at a time and the betting is always started off from the player to the left of the ‘Big Blind”.

Flop

As Omaha is a community card game, there is a total of five community cards dealt. The “Flop” is the first three of these cards.
To start of this dealing, the dealer first discards the top card by placing it face down (known as the “Burn” card) and then proceeds to deal three cards face up in the middle of the table which is then followed by the next round of betting starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the game.
The player may either check or bet and is not required to add any money into the pot if they wish to call. The bet that takes place here is equal to the same amount as the “Big Blind”. Play continues clockwise with the same rules for all.

Turn

Prior to dealing the next community card face up which is known as the “Turn” the dealer will first discard the top card from the deck (burn card) – this will then be followed by a further round of betting in the same manner as the previous round of betting with one exception in that a single bet on the turn now uses the larger betting limit which is double the “Big Blinds” bet in the previous round.

River

On completing the last round of betting the final community card “The River” is dealt face up and the final “burn” card is dealt face down. A round of betting then follows in the exact same manner as the betting round for the “Turn”
When the river betting round has been completed all remaining live players enter into the showdown. The concept of the showdown is simple: the player with the best hand wins the pot.
To start off the next game, the dealer passes the dealer button to the player to his or her left.
At this point you begin the next hand with the two players to the left of the new dealer putting out their blinds.