Play at PARADISE POKER

Omaha High is a community poker game, similar to the more popular Texas Hold'em game, but with marked differences in both play and strategy. The main difference lies in your pocket cards, 4 of which are dealt face down 2 of which must form part of your hand.

Trying to make a great 5-card hand with 9 cards may appear simple, but remember you must use "2 from the hand and 3 from the board". So those 4 Aces in your hand may be deceptive!

Dealing the Game of Omaha High
The object of Omaha High is to create the best five-card hand using exactly two out of four pocket cards and three out of five community cards. You do not need to nominate the cards you wish to use, the system will automatically select the best combination for you.

Before the Deal:

1. Players will buy-in for the posted amount.
2. Selected players will post blinds.

The Dealer Button:
The dealer in Omaha High will start to deal each game contingent on which player has the “button.” The button is a graphical representation of which player is the “dealer.” Although our dealer will be dealing the game, the player who has the button placed in front of his seat gets to play his cards as if he were the actual dealer. When the cards are dealt to players, they are dealt in a manner as if the player was actually dealing in a live environment.

Blinds:
Because we have a player “on the button” we now ask two players to “post the big or small blinds please.” The blinds serve a purpose similar to antes, in that they put forced money into the pot that gives players an incentive to enter the hand. In each hand two players are forced to post or bet blinds.

The first blind is called the small blind. This bet is usually half the minimum bet of the game, although in some games, the fraction is slightly different. In $15-30, the small blind is $7, and in $5-10, the small blind is $2.

So, in a $2-4 game the small blind will be $1. The second blind is called the "large blind" and is always the same size as the game's minimum bet, e.g., in a 5-10 game, the large blind is $5.
The player directly left of the button will have the small blind. The player directly to the left of the small blind will have the large blind of the full amount or the lowest game limit.

You can join the game at any time, if the blind has not yet reached your seat you will be given the option of posting the big blind and being dealt in that hand, or waiting for the blind to reach your seat naturally.

Opening Deal:
Now that we have a button and small and large blinds, we are ready to deal. The dealer always deals from the player closest to the dealer's left.

Moving clockwise around the table, the game will "deal-in" each player. The players will each be dealt four cards face down.
A round of betting will occur starting with the player seated to the left of the large blind.
The position left of the big blind is always first to act prior to the flop and is referred to as being "under the gun".

Betting on Opening Deal:
The "under the gun" player seated to the left of the large blind will always have the action on the opening deal. This player may not check, but rather can only fold, call, or raise the amount of the large blind.

The game will now advance to each player seated asking to fold, call, or raise until we reach the large blind for an action decision.

If no one has raised by the time the play comes back around to the large blind, the large blind has the option to "check" his own blind wager, or raise.

Once all players have completed the first round of wagering, they will proceed to the flop.

Flop:
The next cards to be dealt into the game will be the third, fourth and fifth cards in the game.
These three cards will not be dealt to each player, but rather placed face up in the centre of the table and are referred to as the flop.

These three cards are called "community cards" are available to all players for potential use to make a poker hand.

Now the flop has landed on the "board" and all players now have five cards available to make their hand, any two of the four "hole" cards that were dealt on the opening round and now three "community cards" which all players may use.
The order of play is as follows.

After the flop, the player who is seated closest to the left of the button shall have the initial action for the remainder of the game.

If the player who has the button folds, then the button is still active and will remain in front of that player's seat to keep position a constant throughout that game.

The player that has the first action may check or bet. As soon as one player chooses to bet, then the other players in the hand can no longer check; they can only fold, call or raise the amount that is proper for that round (the lower betting limit on the first round and on the flop, and the higher betting limit on the turn and the river).

The Turn:
The "turn" is the fourth card to be dealt onto the board and the sixth card available to the player. Some players call this "fourth street." However, the most common term used for this round is the "turn".

At this point the players have access to the four cards on the board and their any two of their four hole cards.

The game will now declare who has the action, which always begins with the player still remaining in the hand who is closest to the left of the button.

The bet on the turn is the higher level of the betting limit. In a $2-4 game, this would be $4.
All raise will be in $4 increments with a cap of three raises. If there are just two players remaining, the number of raises is unlimited at our real money tables.

However, in tournament play, the three-raise limit applies even if there are only two players left in a hand.

The River:
The dealer will then place the fifth and final card on the board known as the river.
At this point, five cards are on the board and four hole cards are in the players' hands. You are betting on the best possible combination of; any two of your hole cards and any 3 of the board or community cards.

The action again starts with the first player still remaining in the hand who is closest to the left of the button.

All checks, bets, raises, and folds will be completed and then a showdown will begin.

Who shows first?
The determination of which players' cards will and must be shown first will lie with the player who had initiated the action or with the person who had initiated the last bet, raise or re-raise.
This simply means that whoever had the last action on the river must show his/her cards first.

Suppose a Player wins by default?
A player who has a winning hand does not have to show his/her cards if his/her bet was not called.
Does a Player have to show their Cards if they call a bet on the River?
A player is not required to show their cards if, and only if, they are not the player who had the last action.

If a player calls a bet and sees that he/she cannot win, he/she may fold his/her cards.
Players who are curious about the folded hand may request a hand history to learn it.

Who wins?
In our poker room, as with all, "cards speak."
That means our dealer will find the best five-card hand using three the five community cards on the board and two of the four pocket cards in the player's hand.

The winner will be decided based on the universal poker hand rankings.