One question I get asked a lot both as a freelance sports journalist and as a professional poker player myself is - 'so what's the best poker game Texas Hold'em or Omaha High / Low?' It's kind of an odd question really because it's like making a sweeping statement that baseball is better that cricket or whether Karate is better than Tae Kwon Do. It depends a lot on personal preference; even though I'm English I'd watch baseball over cricket any day of the week and I'm not a fan of Karate or Tae Kwon Do as I think Muay Thai kickboxing is far superior as a martial art. So instead of having to explain how Texas Hold'em and Omaha High / Low are different, in future I'll just refer the person to my blog.
What is Texas Hold'em Poker?
I think it'd be fair to say that when most people think of poker nowadays, it's Texas Hold'em they think about. It's the game the pros play on televised tournaments and the game that you can play at any online poker room that takes your fancy. Although over this side of the pond in Europe, Texas Hold'em poker has only been dominant since 2003, back in the good old US of A it's been played in the World Series of Poker since the early 70s. It's a fast game and when playing online somewhere like PokerStars, EuroPoker or 888Poker, you can easily play 60 to 80 hands an hour if you know what you're doing. For anyone who has ever played 5 Card Draw or Seven Card Stud poker, you know it'd be impossible to play so many hands an hour in those games.
In Texas Hold'em each player is dealt a pair of cards, and based on the strength of these two cards they can either bet, raise or fold. Three cards are then dealt to the middle of the table face up, giving each player the chance to make the best hand they can out of the five cards (three in the middle and their pocket pair). After either checking, betting, raising or re-raising a single forth card is added to the three in the middle, where everyone bets again, and then a final card is dealt. This gives the table five cards, and with a pocket pair, each player has seven cards to make the highest five card hand that they can. The winner gets the pot and the cards are dealt again. As far as poker games go Texas Hold'em has got to be one of the most exciting and easy to pick up for beginners. Although being dealt only two cards at first seems strange, after a while they are more than enough to make up a vast array of winning hands.
What is Omaha High / Low Poker?
First of all just so I don't mislead anyone there are different variants of Omaha poker. Regular Omaha poker or Omaha High as it is sometimes called rewards the player with the highest hand with the pot. Omaha High / Low, which is the subject today, is a game where the pot is split between the highest (best hand) and the lowest (worst hand), and just before you get all excited about finding a game that finally rewards those who suck at poker, it's really not that simple! A low hand must be made up of five cards that are 8 or lower, if no-one holds an 8 or lower hand, then the high hand wins the entire pot.
In Omaha High / Low each player is dealt four cards that only they can see. Betting rounds and community cards (cards placed in the middle of the table) progress exactly as they do in Texas Hold'em. The final hand of each player is made up of exactly two of the player's own cards and exactly three of the five community cards. So a player trying to win with a high hand split would pick their two best cards and put them together with the three best cards on the table; the player going for a low hand split would pick their two lowest cards and put them together with the three lowest cards on the table. An Ace card in Omaha High / Low is seen as the lowest card, and the King as the highest, as an example of this the best hand possible for a low split is A-2-3-4-5. Only using two of your cards and only three of the community cards stumps beginners who think they have a straight or a flush but then realize they can't make the hand using only two of their cards. In Omaha High / Low a pair or a trip will lose to a hand without every time.
The Best Game?
Well in short there isn't one. Texas Hold'em is easy to learn, fast paced and pretty straight forward for anyone who has ever played 5 Card Draw or 7 Card Stud before. It offers several rounds of betting and allows the player the freedom to use one or two of their pocket pair to make their best hand, it's a good game for tight / loose / passive / aggressive play and allows for heavy bluffing if you know what you are doing. Due to it being so popular there are a lot of bad players and hardcore gamblers so at 60-80 hands an hour a lot of money can be made fast if you know what you're doing. Being good at Texas Hold'em allows you to gain experience before you enter freerolls, sit-n-go tournaments and power tournaments, and being able to play so many games in such a short space of time allows good players to improve rapidly and become great.
Omaha High / Low on the other hand is a game with a much slower pace that many poker players find difficult to adapt to because it lacks the fast paced adrenaline rush excitement of a Hold'em table. This being the case of a less popular game, many more of the players you meet will be of a higher ability than the ones you meet in Hold'em. The Omaha High / Low split pot, however, gives you double the chance of winning if you know what you are doing and what you are looking for which means bigger pots and more money to be made. Omaha is more strategic and the strategies of Texas Hold'em could damage you in Omaha High / Low. Although they are similar in many ways, these two games are completely different animals.
If you are new to the world of online poker and like to gamble, bluff and enjoy the thrill of tournaments then Texas Hold'em is for you. However, if you are a player with a lot of experience, a sound strategic mind and the patience to wait for a big pot pay out then Omaha High / Low might just be the thing you are looking for. From experience I can tell you that it takes some getting used to and personally Texas Hold'em is my game, but now and again a game of Omaha High / Low can really stretch your ability, slow the pace and in a weird kind of way feels more satisfying when you win a big pot because you've had to work harder for it.
