Omaha Poker is a variant of Texas Hold ‘Em, a card game involving five ‘community cards’ (cards lying face up on the table). Each player is given four cards instead of two, and the object of the game is to make the best hand using two of the ones held and three of the community cards. Also, unlike Texas, a player can only use two of his own cards to form the hand—no more, no less. The community card layout and the betting rounds are identical.

It is not known when Omaha poker originated, but the first casino to offer it was the Las Vegas Golden Nugget Casino. The game was offered by Bill Boyd and was initially known as ‘Nugget Hold’Em.’

Omaha High

The original Omaha game is known as Omaha High. This simply means that the hand with the highest value wins the game, as is the game standard. In Omaha High, the ideal starting hand will have a double-suited combination of two aces, a king, and a queen. Four-card connectors, suited aces, and a pair of pairs (one of them high) also make good starting hands.

Omaha High-Low

Omaha can also be played in a high-low or hi-lo version. Also known as the split-pot, this version splits the pot evenly between the person with the highest hand and the one with the lowest. This means that the goal isn’t always to maximize your hand’s value; rather, it’s to correctly judge whether you have a better chance of winning a high or a low. it also means that getting the whole pot is twice as hard—you have to form both the highest and lowest hand in the game.

Eight or lower

Most Omaha hi-lo games follow the eight-or-lower rule. This means that for a hand to qualify as ‘low,’ it must not contain any card higher than eight. A hand with a nine or ten, for example, will not win the split pot even if it is the lowest card at the end of the game. The cards to avoid in this game are the mid-ranked ones, or the ones close to eight, because they won’t make good high-low combinations.