There is always something new and exciting in the world of poker. The latest thrill is Omaha hold’em. You all know the game of Texas hold’em with its two-card deal, Omaha hold’em offers the twist of a four-card deal.

The additional cards force you to make a choice of which cards you want to play. You have more options than in Texas hold’em, but you also have more decisions to make. In essence, the crux of the matter is which two of the four cards in your hand do you want to play based on the community cards dealt on the table. With Texas hold’em, there is no choice to make, you must play the cards you have been dealt to you to your best ability. With Omaha, you still play with only two cards, but it’s up to you which two those will be.

The result is that you get to play more hands and have more opportunity to win. What many people don’t realize is that poker isn’t only about the cards. If that was the case, then you’d probably have more fun playing bridge, but because of the betting involved it adds a new dimension to the game and forces you to keep your wits about you.

The rules and play of Omaha are the same as for other hold’em games. Each player is dealt four cards to use in the round. At this point, if your cards are such that you wish to continue the play, an initial bet is placed. This bet is called the big blind. You determine from your hand whether to call, raise or fold.

After the first round of betting the first set of community cards are dealt onto the table, the flop, where you can then assess the strength of your hand. Another round of betting will then commence and once again you can call, raise or fold your hand. After everyone has completed their betting the next community card, called the turn, is then dealt onto the table and there is another round of betting.

The final round of betting then commences after the last card is dealt, called the river, and there it’s make or break for your hand. If you’re good the chips are coming your way, if not then its good bye to them and hopefully you can win them back on the next one. Each round of betting should help you determine the hand strength of your opponents and when you get good enough you’ll know how much to bet and when to bet.

The real challenge of poker then is to make the unpredictable predictable. Your opponents are unpredictable when the round starts, but then after playing close attention to their play and using your well-honed insightfulness, you learn their style. Now that opponent is predictable and you have a much better chance of overcoming him.

The more you play, the better you will get at putting your opponent on a hand and the easier it will become to beat them; the rest as they say is all up to luck!

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Minted Rakeback as well as Poker Nordica Rakeback.

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