Omaha hold em is played much like Texas hold em. Each player is dealt four cards instead of two; however you can only use two of the four cards along with three of the five community cards that are placed in the middle. The term Omaha refers to several different poker games. A version known as “Omaha Hi-Low” is played as well as one called “Omaha eight-or-better”.
The main differences between Omaha and Texas hold em are that each player is dealt four instead of two cards in their hole. The betting rounds and the community layout are the same. Another difference is at the showdown, whereas in Texas hold em you can use 4 or even all five of the cards on the community board, however in Omaha hold em you can only use three and you must use two of the four cards that are in your hole.
The way the hands are played out will be different with Omaha as compared to Texas. In Texas you can have 3 or more of the same suit for a possible flush, where as in Omaha you have to have two of that suit in your hand in order to get a flush. The same with a full house if you have two pair on the board and one of those pairs in your hand you do not have a full house. You would have to have three of the same cards on the community board and a pair in your hand or mix and match of those cards between the hole and community in order to get a full house.
Betting in Omaha hold em is done just like with Texas hold em. You use blinds. The dealer and person directly to the left place the low blind and the third person makes the high blind and the round continues with everyone else either matching, raising or folding as the game progresses. In the end if everyone but one person has folded that person that did not fold does not have to show all the cards the held and takes the pot, however if there are two people left then they must go into a showdown.
The showdown is simply showing your full and best possible hand. Whoever has the highest hand wins the pot. If for some reason there is a tie then the pot is split between the players that have the tie. The best strategy that you can hope for is to bet as low as possible while holding the best hand you can and of course keeping a good poker face will help too.
When it comes to differences between Omaha hold em and Texas hold em there really are not many. The only main difference is in the amount of cards dealt and the way they get used at the end of each hand when it comes down to the showdown phase to determine a winner.