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Brains Before Nuts.

You will receive FOUR cards face down in this game but it is as far as possible from Texas Hold'em with four cards. This game is much more difficult and tricky. You don't want to play this if you are a beginner. Omaha is always played with only blinds and almost never with antes. After each player receives their four cards there is a bet session but you NEVER discard any of your cards. Next, three cards are placed face up in the center of the table called "The Flop". These are known as 'community' cards. Everyone uses these cards. Now the tricky part about this game is you can only use TWO and you MUST use two of the four cards in your hand plus the three on the flop to make your hand. After the flop there is another bet session. From here a fourth card is placed face up for everyone known as the "TURN". Now your hand consist of the best 3 out of four on the table plus 2 in your hand. It may be the same as before or not. After the turn there is another bet session before last and final card is placed face up called "THE RIVER". Finally, the last bet session occurs after the river. If you haven't folded through all the bet sessions your final five card OMAHA hand will be the best 3 out of 5 on the table PLUS 2 of the four in your hand. Now of course you can change you mind as to which two you are using in your hand during any bet session since your cards are always face down until the very end.

Below is what you will have to get use to if you go through every Omaha bet session.



This player entered the hand with a pair of eights and a suited ace-five of spades. Lets examine what happened. The flop did not come all three spades nor did it have an eight. So far this player cannot have a three eights or a spade flush, but what does she have? Well the ace of the flop and the one in her hand makes a pair of aces but he HAS to use TWO cards in his hand. Since the eights are higher than the five she must pick either eight (which eight is of no relevance) and the Ace. So her hand up to now is a pair of aces with an eight, a nine, and a six. Now comes the turn improving the players hand. Here it is very important not to misread your hand. The player does NOT have a full house (AAA88). Remember you can only use two cards in your hand even if using more would give you a better hand. You need to have this down PERFECT before you play this game against others in a casino, and this game is not hard to find in card rooms like 5 card draw ...it's VERY common. So on the turn our player has THREE ACES with her eight and the NINE on the flop. Why the nine? Only because it's higher than the six on the flop. So the bets 3 out of 4 on the turn plus two in her hand becomes ... (AAA98). Now here comes the RIVER. Try to see what happened before you read on. Notice that this player actually has to change her mind from even using her ace at ALL thus forgetting about all three aces! Why? Well because a straight is better to have than three of a kind. So now with the 7 on the river, the 6 and the 9 on the flop and the 5 and either 8 in her hand, this player has a 5,6,7,8,9! A straight and no need for the ace. So as you can see before you play this game for real you need to MASTER making your hand completely since not only do the cards you think are your best cards change but you will also be changing your mind as to which cards on the table you want to use.