Omaha Poker Rules:

Omaha poker is extremely popular nowadays and many of the biggest live poker tours offer Omaha tournaments now. Most online poker sites also have Omaha cash games and tourneys running daily. The rules of Omaha poker are similar to Holdem, so if you know how to play Texas Holdem you'll have a head start on learning how to play Omaha. The main difference between the two poker games is that players receive 4 cards in Omaha rather than 2 in Holdem.

» Omaha Poker Rules - Before the Deal

In Omaha poker players use a dealer button and pass it one seat to the left at the end of every hand. Before the cards are dealt the player sitting next to the button needs to put in the small blind. The big blind is the player sitting to the left of the small blind each hand. Once the two blinds are in the pot the dealer can deal out four cards to each player.

» Omaha Poker Rules - Preflop

Once every player in the hand has been dealt four cards face down the 1st round of betting can begin. During this round of betting players need to call the big blind, raise the BB or fold. After each player is finished betting and everyone else has called or folded, the dealer can flip over the flop.

» Omaha Poker Rules - Flop

The dealer needs to flip the 1st three community cards over at this stage of the hand after burning a card. Once the flop is revealed players still in the hand bet again. The betting starts with the player sitting to the left of the button and continues around the table moving to the left. Initially players can check, bet or raise on the flop. If everyone checks the next card can be dealt without money going into the pot. If someone bets then players need to call the bet, raise or fold before the turn can be dealt.

» Omaha Poker Rules - Turn

On the turn the dealer flips over a single card next to the cards flipped over during the flop. There is another round of betting using the same format listed for the flop.

» Omaha Poker Rules - River

In Omaha Poker the river card is the last card flipped over. When the river if revealed there is another betting round using the same format used for the flop and turn. At the end of the final betting round if there are players still left in the hand you'll go down to the showdown, which is where the winning hand is revealed.

Once you get to the showdown players need to reveal their hands to see who wins the pot. The rules in Omaha poker state that players can only use 2 cards from the 4 cards they were dealt at the beginning of the hand, which means you also need to use 3 of the community cards. You can't use 1, 3 or 4 of the cards you were dealt in Omaha poker, so make sure you remember that you always can only use 2 cards from the cards you were dealt.

Most players play pot limit Omaha poker and the rules are simple during the betting rounds. You can bet as much as you want as long as you don't bet more than what is in the pot already. You can also find no limit and fixed limit Omaha poker games, but they're a lot less busy in online poker sites.