Omaha is an increasingly popular poker variant, available in most online poker rooms. In a normal game of Omaha, players receive four cards facing down, followed by a series of five community cards to be placed on the table. In 5 Card Omaha, as the name show, each player is dealt five cards, with another 5 community cards to be dealt. As in the normal Omaha game, players must use two of their own cards and three community cards (not more, not less) to form the best poker hand possible to win the pot.
5 Card Omaha can be played in a Pot Limit or a No Limit setup. In Pot Limit games, players must bet the amount in the pot at that time – for example, if the pot is $50, a player must bet or raise $50. This is the most popular form. A No limit game means that the maximum amount of bets and raises is limited only by the pile of each player.
At the beginning of the game, the two players to the left of the dealer must pay the small and big blind bets. The dealer then gives each player their cards, one by one, until each of them has five cards facing down in their hands.
After each player had the chance to check their cards, the first – pre-flop – betting round begins. In pot limit games, the big blind is considered a live bet, so the next player to act has to call or raise the same amount (in a game with a big blind of $2, the next player can call $2 or raise $4). Betting continues until each active player has matched all bets.
After the first round of betting, the dealer places the first three community cards on the table – the ‘flop’. A betting round follows, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer. After it concludes, the dealer proceeds with dealing the ‘turn’, the next community card, followed by another round of betting. When this concludes, the fifth – final – community card, the ‘river’, is placed facing up on the table. This marks the beginning of the last round of betting, followes by the showdown.
After the last bet has been placed, the player with the last bet shows his cards first. If there have been no new bets in the last betting round, the player to the left of the dealer is the first to show.
Players must form the best possible poker hands using exactly two of their own cards and three community cards. The highest ranking hand wins the pot. If more players have hands with the exact same value, the amount of the pot is divided equally between them.
Good luck playing 5 Card Omaha.