Best Omaha Poker Sites
Omaha Poker and especially its variant Pot-Limit Omaha are among the fastest growing poker games in the world. The reason is simply that it’s a fun game that delivers a lot of action and excitement.
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Aim of this page is to make you familiar with the Omaha rules, explain, which are the best starting hands in Pot-Limit Omaha and provide a winning Omaha poker strategy.
To start things off right, we are telling you which are the best Omaha Poker Sites to play Pot-Limit Omaha online for real money.
Here are the best Omaha Poker Sites 2023:
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Omaha Poker Rules
Due to the fact that each player is dealt four cards, Omaha is also known as the action game.
Even though the betting structure is Pot-Limit, which means you can only bet the size of the pot, pots in Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) often get bigger than in Texas Hold’em.
This is one of the reasons, why PLO it is so popular as a cash game as well as among high rollers.
Each player is dealt four hole cards of which he has to use exactly two to build the best-possible five-card poker hand.
Then five community cards are dealt face-up of which you have to use precisely three.
Note: You have to use only two of your four hole cards together with three community cards to form a five-card poker hand in Omaha.
Difference between Omaha and Texas Hold’em
Omaha is mostly played with a Pot-Limit betting structure, while Texas Hold’em is mainly a No-Limit game these days.
That means in Omaha you can only bet the size of the pot as in No-Limit Hold’em you can bet as much as you want.
Another major difference between Texas Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha Poker is the number of cards each player is dealt.
In Omaha, everybody is dealt four hole cards instead of only two cards in Texas Hold’em. This is the reason, why there is much more action in Omaha on the flop as often several players make either a strong made hand or a strong draw.
This means you need a much stronger hand on average to win the pot.
The third big difference is that in Omaha you have to use exactly two of your four hole cards to build the best five-card poker hand, while in Texas Hold’em you can use both, one or even none of your hole cards.
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Types of Omaha Poker Games
There are different types of Omaha Poker Games with Pot-Limit Omaha being by far the most popular.
For the sake of completness, we have listed all types of Omaha Poker Games and a short explanation below:
- Pot Limit Omaha: Also called Omaha Hi. You can maximum bet the size of the pot. This is by far the most popular form of Omaha Poker.
- No-Limit Omaha: You can bet any amount so also all of your chips at any time.
- Omaha Hi/Lo: The pot is split into two halfs. 50% goes to the best High hand and the other 50% to the best Low hand.
- 5 Card Omaha: Commonly referred as “Big O” is very popular in Southeastern United States. As in PLO you have to use 2 of your 5 hole cards and three community cards played with a Pot-Limit betting structure.
- 6-Card Omaha: Same as 5-Card Omaha with the difference that you get six hole cards.
- Courchevel: Is 5-Card Omaha game with a twist: The first community card is exposed preflop before the first betting round starts.
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Best Omaha Starting Hands
First step of a winning Omaha poker strategy is to need to know which are the best Omaha Starting Hands.
It is very important to play double suited hands or at least single suited as you often need a Flush or a Straight to win a multi-way pot in Pot-Limit Omaha.
Below are the 30 best Omaha Starting Hands:
Omaha Poker Strategy
Each poker game has its very own character and specific features you need to adapt your poker strategy to.
In addition to playing at the best Omaha Poker Sites, we have listed the most helpful Omaha poker strategy advice to win more money below.
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Top 10 Omaha Poker Strategy Tips
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1. Be patient when it comes to starting hand selection
Only because hand values are close in Omaha doesn’t mean that you should play a lot of hands. In fact, this is one of the biggest beginner mistakes!
The reason being Omaha is a flop game and you laying a good foundation preflop significantly influences your chances of winning the hand later.
By selecting your starting hands carefully, you can already get an edge over most opponents on the low limits.
2. Aces aren’t as good as in Texas Hold’em
For players coming from Texas Hold’em it is very important to note that Aces are nowhere near as good in Omaha, especially if they are offsuit.
Please Note: Offsuit Aces are only a 52% favourite heads-up against a rundown and unlikely to win a multi-way pot, if they don’t improve on the flop.
Therefore please make sure to play only double suited Aces or at least single suited connected Aces aggressively preflop.
3. Draw to the nuts
Make sure to draw to the Nuts, since you are often losing a big pot in Omaha with the second best hand.
4. Table selection is key
One of the steps to become a successful Omaha poker player is to select your tables wisely.
In contrast to No-Limit Hold’em, you can still find a good amount of inexperienced or bad players at Omaha tables, so focus on the fish!
5. Bluff less in PLO
You should bluff less in Omaha than it is in Hold’em as there are more multi-way pots and therefore less good spots to do so.
One of them is for example, when the flush comes in and you have the Ace of the respective suit means blockers are more important and efficient than in Texas Hold’em.
If an opponent shows strength with a big bet or raise, it is likely to be a strong hand in Pot-Limit Omaha.
6. Position is King
Position is even more important in Omaha than in Hold’em, so you try to play most of your hands in position.
By doing that you are getting a lot of additional information that will serve two purposes: Firstly you will make better decisions and secondly you can steal a decent amount of pots with a small bet, when checked to.
7. The average winning hand strength goes up a lot
Don’t overvalue top pair, Two Pair hands, except for Top Two and Open-Ended Straight Draws. All of them have significantly less value than in Hold’em and often won’t be winning the pot.
An OESD is particularly problematic as in PLO there are straight draws, so-called wraps, with up to 20 outs!
8. Pursue Strong Draws
As mentioned above, you want to pursue strong draws in Omaha that can make you the Nuts.
Wraps are straight draws with more than nine outs. The most powerful wraps are even a favourite against a set as they can have 20 outs and a high chance to make your hand.
9. Avoid Limping
Limping is considered a sign of weakness as most opponents will realize that your hand is not strong enough to raise, so it’s better to open-raise, when you enter a pot.
There are only few hands that you can limp with though such as rundowns.
10. Memorize the best starting hands
It is a good strategy in Omaha Poker and an easy way to gain an edge to learn the Top 30 starting hands by heart.
On top of that, it makes sense to memorize i.e. the top 30 hands that have at least one suite.
FAQS
As The best Omaha Poker Sites to play online for real money are GGPoker, PokerStars, Natural8 and the iPoker Network.
No the Omaha is not harder than Texas Hold’em. What is a little bit more difficult is improving your game though as there is less poker strategy content and tools for the game analysis available.
A-A-K-K double suited is the best Omaha Hi hand and A-A-2-3 double suited is the best Omaha Hi/Lo starting hand.
