How to Play 7-Card Stud

Televised poker debut

 

The differences between Omaha and Texas Hold 'em

To be honest, if you can play Texas Hold 'em, you'll pick Omaha up in no time at all.

Like Texas Hold 'em, Omaha is a community card game where your one and only aim is to make the best five card hand that you can from the cards you're given and the cards that are dealt face up in the center of the table. So far so good, just like Texas Hold 'em you say. Whoa, hold on there, this is where it all gets a little bit different.

As you'll know, in Texas Hold 'em each player receives two cards that only they can see (their "hole cards") before the five community cards are dealt face up. In Omaha, each player is dealt four hole cards. Before you think whoopy-do, there's a catch. Unlike Texas Hold 'em, where you can use any combination of hole and community cards to make your best five card hand, in Omaha you must use two of your hole cards and three community cards when making your hand. So, just to recap, as this is important: when making your five card hand, you must use two of your four hole cards, and three of the five community cards.

Apart from that, the game follows the same patterns as Texas Hold 'em, with the same blind structure and betting rounds. If you're not sure about all that, you'll get everything you need to know in my "How to play Texas Hold 'em" guide.

Hi/Lo Variation

Omaha High/Low is an interesting variation of Omaha poker that allows for two winning hands to share the pot; the best high hand and the best low hand.

For a hand to qualify for the low hand, it must consist of five unpaired cards with the highest being no greater than an 8. The winning low hand is determined by the player with the lowest high-card if you see what we mean. For example, 2h-3h-5s-6d-8c, their low is an 8-6. In the event of a tie the next lowest high-card is used and so on (8-6-5). In the event of a tie where the two hands cannot be separated, each player receives a quarter of the pot.

Some more rules of Omaha High/Low

  • If there is no qualifying low hand then the best high hand wins the entire pot.
  • One player can win the entire pot by having the best high hand and the best low hand (for example, A-2-3-4-5 or 2h-3h-5h-6h-8h).
  • Aces count as both high and low.
  • Players may use different cards to form their high hand and their low hand, or they can use the same cards.
  • Again, as in Omaha, each player must use precisely two hole cards and three board cards to make their best five card hand.