Andy isn’t thrilled with his hand, but there is now $780 in the pot, and he doesn’t have the problem Chuck had?needing to worry that he might have to invest still more money to find out if his hand is the winner. So Andy calls (he calls $60 to try to win $780).

Bob’s ace-high flush wins the pot, a surprise ending to most Omaha players who hold a flush on the turn and then see the board pair on the river. Bob rakes in the $840 pot and breathes a sigh of relief. Chuck silently curses his “bad luck” in having failed to make his straight flush but simultaneously congratulates himself for saving $60 on the end with his losing hand. Andy reminds himself for the thirty-seventh time this month about the danger of drawing to non-nut flushes in limit Omaha, and the dealer slides the button over to Andy, who will get to act last on the next hand.

You’ve now had a brief introduction to how and when cards get dealt in Omaha, and you have a sense of how a hand proceeds. The much more difficult part?why you should check, bet, call, raise, or fold at each juncture?will be addressed in Chapter 9. Poker Play.

• Poker – A Quick Run-through Of The Betting And Dealing (0)
• Omaha And Hold Em Poker (0)
• A Sample Poker Hand Of Omaha Part3 (0)

Andy now has the first betting option (he "acted" first as well in the first round by posting the small blind), and because his flush draw is not a nut-flush draw, he checks. Bob, who does have the nut-flush draw, decides to bet $30. Chuck, who nearly jumped out of his seat when he saw the possibility of an open-ended straight-flush draw, pauses to think. He has a strong draw, but it is only a draw at this point, and he'd like to collect lots of bets from everyone if he hits his miracle straight flush, so he just calls. Hal and Andy also call, meaning that the pot is now $360 ($60 each before the flop and $30 each on the flop).

The turn card proves to be the 0, giving flushes to Andy, Bob, and Chuck. Andy, with a king-high flush, decides to bet $60 (remember, the stakes have now doubled). Bob, who knows he has the best hand at the moment and would like to either drive out anyone who might have three of a kind or at least make it expensive for such a player to draw, raises it to $120.
Chuck has a jack-high flush, but the bet and then the raise have him concerned. Still, the chance that his jack-high flush might be the winner, combined with the hope that he might hit a miracle card for his straight flush, entices him to call the $120.

Hal's open-ended straight draw has not improved, and everyone else seems very happy to see a third diamond on the board. Hal decides that he might be "drawing dead"—that is, he could hit his ideal card and still lose—so he folds.

Andy considers a reraise but remembers the old saying that "if it's possible in Omaha, it will probably happen," so he decides just to call. With another $360 going into the pot on the turn, the pot now totals $720.

The river produces the (0, putting a pair on the board and thus making flushes vulnerable to full houses (or even four of a kind). Andy checks, Bob bets $60, and Chuck decides that his jack-high flush is probably no good. (Before the last card, Chuck wasn't sure that his flush was good, but now, with a full house possible, he is really convinced that he is beat.) If he felt he could contest the pot for just $60, he might call, but he figures there's a chance Andy could be thinking about check-raising. Chuck folds.

• Poker – A Quick Run-through Of The Betting And Dealing (0)
• Omaha And Hold Em Poker (0)
• A Sample Poker Hand Of Omaha Part4 (0)

Bob likes this flop a lot, because he has the "nut" (best possible) flush draw. If another diamond comes up on the turn or the river, he will make a strong hand, and, though he can't know it, he is likely to collect a number of bets from Andy, whose second-nut flush would wind up costing him a lot of money. But that's not all. Bob also has a pair of aces and an inside straight draw (often called a "gutshot" straight draw); if a jack hits the board, Bob's queen and ten will give him an 8-9-10-J-Q straight.

Chuck: (2_0~[2~[-3- This was a pretty nice starting hand, with four connected high cards and two possibilities for a flush, and Chuck has hit a monster draw: his [Vl'S gives him not merely a flush draw but also an open-ended straight-flush draw: if either [5 or 0 hits the board, Chuck is going to make a lot of money, especially from Bob, who is going to think his ace-high flush is "the nuts" until roughly the moment when Chuck reraises him for the third time. Chuck also has an open-ended straight draw—any queen or seven will give him a straight. (Unless he can make the straight flush, he'll be much better off making a straight than a flush, because his jack-high flush would lose to two other players.) Chuck also has a pair of aces with a king kicker, which at the moment is the best hand, but there is a low probability that this will win the hand, because, if he makes two pairs—aces up—then someone else will make a stronger hand. If 0 (the only king left) hits the board, Chuck will have aces and kings, but the same king will give Andy three kings. If a jack hits the board, Bob makes a straight. If a ten hits the board, Hal makes a straight. Chuck would need two perfect cards in a row for his ace to be useful: the last two aces in the deck would give Chuck three aces, which would win if no one makes a straight or a flush. So he has plenty to think about, and he doesn't know what's out there facing him.

Hal: |3-|51"H"[S- Hal has "hit the n°P" Iust wel1 enough to get into trouble. He has a pair of nines, but—more important—he has an open-ended straight draw by using his ten, jack, and queen. A seven, a ten, a jack, or a queen will give Hal a straight.
If it seems as though there are a lot of possible ways for each player to win (or lose) out there, you're right. Welcome to Omaha.

Because everyone still in the hand has a "piece" of this flop (meaning it has either improved all four of them or given them all at least some reasonable drawing possibility or other), even though those pieces are all draws rather than made hands, the betting action is likely to be anywhere from very cautious to very aggressive, depending on the playing styles of the people in the game.

• Omaha And Hold Em Poker (0)
• Poker – A Quick Run-through Of The Betting And Dealing (0)
• A Sample Poker Hand Of Omaha Part4 (0)

Let's now take a look at how a sample hand of Omaha might proceed. Even though a beginner should not play in a high-stakes game, let's make the example more fun by assuming we're playing $30- $60-limit Omaha: eight people are at the table, listed here in clockwise order:
Andy is sitting to the left of the button and thus must post the $15 small blind.
Bob is sitting on Andy's left, so he posts the $30 big blind.

Chuck, Dave, Ed, Frank, and George come next and will act in that order.
Hal is the final player at the table, and he holds the button for this hand.
Four cards are dealt out to each of the eight players, the first card going to Andy in the small blind, the last card dealt to Hal on the button (the cards are dealt one at a time). Chuck, the first to take action, looks at his cards, sees that he has a strong starting hand, (2"0"0"K> and decides to raise the existing bet ($30) to $60. (In poker slang this would often be called "making it $60 to go.")

Dave, Ed, Frank, and George all decide to fold, but Hal, who has H-H-0-B> decides to call the $60 on the button. (Calling a raised pot, without having yet made any investment in it, is often referred to as "calling two bets cold.") Andy, who already has $15 in the pot because he posted the small blind, holds 0"H"[3"H and Puts in $45 more to cal1 the $60- Bob' who has already invested $30 in the big blind, and holds LQ-H, also calls the $60 by putting in $30 more. (By the way, I'm going to withhold, until the chapter on strategy, all comment about whether or not these raising and calling decisions, as well as the ones that follow, are good decisions.)

With four players still in the hand, the dealer turns up a flop of 0-0 "[!*]• Let's take another look at the players' hands and see how they fit this flop.
Andy: [3~H ~H"S • His Pair oi kin§s' which were never much of a threat to win a four-way pot without improving, are now almost certainly losing to someone who has an ace in his hand, although because Andy can't see the other player's cards, he can't be sure about this. Still, Andy retains some interest in the hand, because he has the [V] and (0 in his hand and two diamonds have flopped. This gives him a chance to make the second-best possible flush (called the "second-nut" flush).

• Poker – A Quick Run-through Of The Betting And Dealing (0)
• Omaha And Hold Em Poker (0)
• A Sample Poker Hand Of Omaha Part4 (0)

In most home poker games, the deal is passed clockwise (right to left), from person to person after each hand. Casinos furnish a professional dealer who deals every hand for you. But because betting position is important in every hand, we use the small plastic puck called the button in order to keep track of whose deal it would be if the players were passing the deck and dealing the hands themselves. The person who owns the button in any given hand has the significant advantage of being the last one to act in each round of betting, and so the dealer moves the button one spot clockwise after the end of each hand.

Before the hand begins, the player sitting directly to the left of the button posts the small blind (a bet which is usually half the size of the big blind, but which in some games may be as small as one-third of the big blind and in others as large as two-thirds of the big blind). The player to the immediate left of the small blind posts the big blind. The first card is then dealt to the player who posted the small blind, and the deal proceeds until each player has his four hole cards. The player to the left of the big blind is the first to take action; as in Hold'em, his options for the first round are limited to calling (matching the big blind), raising, and folding.

• Poker – A Quick Run-through Of The Betting And Dealing (0)
• Omaha And Hold Em Poker (0)
• A Sample Poker Hand Of Omaha Part4 (0)

In limit Omaha, there are four rounds of betting. During the first and second rounds, you can bet $1X, and for the third and fourth rounds you may bet $2X. (In these particulars, the game is identical to Hold'em.) To show you what I mean by "$1X" and "$2X," if you were playing $400- $800-limit Omaha (you'd better bring $50,000 to that game!) all bets and raises would be made in $400 increments during the first two rounds, and in $800 increments during the last two rounds. In a game like that you can easily lose $4,000 in one hand.

As in Hold'em, a button and two blinds (small and big) are used (if these concepts are unfamiliar to you, you skipped Chapter 2), and after the blinds are posted, you are each dealt four cards facedown. After you've all looked at your cards, the first round of betting begins. When that round of betting is complete, the dealer turns three cards faceup in the middle of the table. These three faceup cards are community cards, available for use by everyone. As in Hold'em, these cards are commonly called the flop. After the flop, there is a second round of betting, still at $1X, and when it is complete, the dealer turns up a fourth community card, commonly called fourth street or the turn card.
Now the third round of betting begins. Remember: this is when the stakes double. After this round of betting is complete, the dealer turns up the fifth and last community card; this one is commonly called the river. Now the last round of betting proceeds, and although the dealer is done dealing cards for this hand, his job is far from over.

After the last round of betting is complete (several players have no doubt folded by this time), the dealer helps determine who won the pot, because in Omaha, determining who won is a bit more complicated than it is in Hold'em. Since each player must use exactly two cards out of his hand, beginners (and often even experienced players) sometimes misread their hands. That's why I say the dealer's job is far from over when he has finished dealing the cards in Omaha (of course, often the dealer is wrong too).

This is also why it's a good idea for beginners and intermediates to lay their cards faceup on the table, all of them visible, at the end of each hand, even if they think they've lost. If you expose your cards at the proper time, the dealer may notice that you have a better hand than you thought, one you may have overlooked. Don't be lazy, though; don't depend on the dealer to read your hand for you. After all, you've been checking, betting, calling, or raising on the basis of your own ability to read your hand, all the way through the hand. Laying your hand down at the end is just a fail-safe move to make sure you don't accidentally overlook a winning combination.

• Omaha And Hold Em Poker (0)
• A Sample Poker Hand Of Omaha Part4 (0)
• A Sample Poker Hand Of Omaha Part3 (0)

The two big differences between Hold'em and Omaha are, first, that in Omaha you receive four facedown (or "hole") cards, instead of two and, second, that in Omaha you must use two and exactly two of the four cards in your hand, along with three and exactly three of the five board (community) cards. This distinction makes switching from Hold'em to Omaha very difficult for some players, because in Hold'em you're allowed to use one, both, or neither of your hole cards in putting together your final hand.

For example, in Hold'em, if there is a flush or a straight on the board, your hand is a flush or a straight, even if your hole cards don't contribute to it in any way. Of course, it's possible for your hole cards to improve a flush or straight that is on the board: if the board shows 7-8-9-10-J, and you have a queen in your hand, then you have a queen-high straight. Or perhaps the board will be [3-(51 "El "H "El» and the 19 in y°ur hand makes you the best possible hand. Often a Hold'em board will come down 7-8-9-10-J, and all the active players in the hand end up splitting the pot because they all end up playing the board (no active player has a queen).

But in Omaha, that 7-8-9-10-J board does not give you a straight unless two of the four cards in your hand allow you to complete a straight. For example, if your hand is A-A-9-10, the 9-10 that looked so insignificant to you when you started the hand, compared with your fine pair of aces, now gives you the straight. Similarly, you can play the jack-high straight if you hold 7-J-X-X (7-J from your hand and 8-9-10 from the board) or 8-J-X-X (8-J from your hand and 7-9-10 from the board) or any other combination of 7 through J in your hand. With a board of 7-8-9-10-J, you would have a queen-high straight with 8-Q (8-Q from your hand and 9-10-J from the board) or 9-Q or 10-Q or J-Q as part of your four starting ("hole") cards. You would need exactly a Q-K as part of your four-card hand to make a king-high straight.

• A Sample Poker Hand Of Omaha Part2 (0)
• Poker – A Quick Run-through Of The Betting And Dealing (0)
• A Sample Poker Hand Of Omaha Part4 (0)