Streets and blinds rules for Omaha Hi poker
Being a holdem kind of poker rules for Omaha poker are in some way different. So the streets and blinds’ structure should not be duplicated blindly from Texas. Here are some differences and the way they affect the game course.
1) In Omaha Hi a position is more important.
Now we don’t talk about a limited poker game, but compare pot-limit Omaha with pot-limit holdem. One of the effects is a more difficult calling of bets before the flop. Therefore it is better to have three blinds instead of only two in a pot-limit game.
The shortcomings of “under the gun” position are less in the rules for Omaha poker, since there are three players (blinds) before it, so the person under the gun has advantages before them. Thus more people are involved in the game making it more interesting. This entails another specification: all blinds have to be done by players on the left from the button, and not a single on it. The right of the last action is more preferable in Omaha than in any other game, so the player needn’t any additional stimuli of participating in the given pot. Even in Texas players understand that there is no need to put blind on the button. In Omaha poker game rules this question is not even discussed.
2) When playing Omaha High the top hand has fewer advantages before the middle hand.
In holdem a top pair often wins the pot even without improvement and has thereby a big advantage over most of the hands. It is unfair in Omaha poker. Thus a bet before the flop doesn’t have as big chances to win when playing Omaha as it has in Texas. A player who’s raising before the flop can expect to be called, that is why a bet is not so necessary to ensure the player making it and having in his hand quite good combination with winning something essential or give the player with a dog a reason to bluff. In a usual situation there is enough activity as it is to win something without making bets.
3) In Omaha High many players usually call before the flop.
This means that it would be harder to defend your hand by a bet during the flop, because each player pays a good price for his hand to call. In a pot-limit game there is nothing unusual if six or seven players want to see the flop. In a usual middle-limit holdem (say 10 and 20 dollars) lower limit is used before and during the flop and upper limit on the fourth and fifth streets. The rules for Omaha poker allow using of upper limit during the flop (or at least the flop limit must be higher than the preflop limit). This narrows the possibility of trying to draw an inside straight or a flush on the last two cards almost like in winning video poker game. A good consequence for players and a casino is that pot limit quickens the game. It would be short-sighted for the casino to limit its income by limiting the upper bet during the flop to a bet which gives 10:1 or more pot odds for every player.
The peculiarities of rules for Omaha Hi poker
When playing pot-limit Omaha a structure, different from usual pot-limit holdem games, is applied. But it is not clear whether this is the result of inner differences of the games or not. A structural characteristic of rules for Omaha poker is a requirement for a minimum input bet to double the big blind (sometimes even 2.5 times). To our opinion there is no such characteristic of the game to justify this method. In theory the input (hereinafter the term input is referred to as first bet after blinds) for double bet must make the game more tough. In the real life the game doesn’t calm down but on the contrary, since it is in human nature to play and not to sit out.
Double input is more reasonable with three blinds comparing with two blinds, because more money gets in the pot. Double input is as good as balancing the big blind.