Rock At Omaha As Well As Hold’em; The Different Games Available At Sky Poker

Although we use the term poker to describe a single card game, in reality poker embraces a far wider range of games than the form of the game most people ascribe to it. That version of poker is called Texas Hold’em and it is by far the most popular form of the game played online today.

Indeed, sites like Sky Poker (which you can join today if you are not already a member and claim a fantastic Sky Poker no deposit bonus by clicking right here) offer a wide range of different forms of Texas Hold’em, including Sit & Go games, Multi Table Tournaments as well as traditional cash table games.

However, it would be wrong to think that online poker begins and ends with Texas Hold’em. In fact, there are many other versions of poker in existence in the world today. Not all of them translate well into an online environment and certainly not all of them are as popular as Texas Hold’em, but there are a couple of games in particular that are also available readily online. With Sky Poker, those games are Omaha and Omaha Hi Lo.

In this article, we are going to take a look at all three types of the games you can play at Sky Poker and what the key differences are between them and whether the poker skills you learn at one, can be transferred over to the other games successfully or not.

Let us begin by taking a look at the most common game played online today, including the massive range of games available at Sky Poker and that is Texas Hold’em.

Texas Hold’em on Sky Poker

This is the most common form of poker found online today and its popularity lends itself to the fact that it is a game that offers a wide possibility of outcomes on every hand and is particularly friendly for both the player and the viewer (hence it is particularly popular for televised poker tournaments).

Most modern poker players will have taken their first steps online playing Texas Hold’em and as the name suggests, the game was first developed many years ago in the state of Texas.

A typical round begins by the players to the left of the dealer button placing in the Blind and Big Blinds. These are the bets which start the betting action in every round of Hold;em and ensure that there is always something to win in the pot. After the blinds are paid, each of the players are dealt two pocket cards (these can be called ‘hole cards’ too). The first round of betting follows.

If no player wins the hand then the next three cards are shown. This is the “flop” and each player can now try to improve their hand by using the cards shown in the flop with the two in their hand to make the best possible poker hand. Another round of betting ensues.

Once again, if no player wins, then a fourth community card is laid face up and this is the ‘turn’ card. The player can now use any of the four community cards, plus any of the cards in their hand to make the best poker hand. Another round of betting ensues following the turn.

Finally, if two or more players remain in the game, the fifth and final community card, the ‘river’ is displayed face up. Players can now use any of the five community cards or their two pocket cards in any combination to make the best poker hand. A final round of betting ensues and if two or more players remain in the hand, a showdown takes place with the strongest poker hand of the players remaining taking the pot.

After the hand is completed the dealer button moves one space to the left and a new hand commences with the payment of the two big blind bets from the players to the dealers left.

Omaha on Sky Poker

There are many similarities between Omaha Poker and Texas Hold’em. The five community cards are shown in the same order, with the same name and there are the same number of rounds of betting. The hand values remain the same and all the terms used in betting and the different betting options, calling, raising, folding, checking etc are all present.

However the big difference in Omaha Poker is that in this version of the game, the player receives four pocket cards and they must use two of their pocket cards, along with three of the community cards to make their strongest hand.

Unlike Texas Hold’em, where players can use any of the five community cards along with their two pocket cards in any combination (so a player can make a qualifying hand of four community cards, with just one pocket card) in Omaha, players must use two cards from their four pocket cards and three from the community cards.

You can play Omaha in two versions, Pot Limit and No Limit on Sky Poker as well as another variant on that game as outlined below.

Omaha Hi Lo on Sky Poker

Omaha Hi Lo is a slightly more complicated version of Omaha Poker and is certainly a game that players need to practice and study in order to learn the subtle nuances of. The structure of Omaha Hi Lo is almost exactly the same as Omaha Poker in that each player is dealt four cards, up to five community cards are shown and rounds of betting will be contested in between each part of the hand.

However there are two key differences between Omaha Hi and Lo to Omaha and that is in this game players must make two hands, their best possible hand (called the “high hand”) and the worst possible hand (called the ‘low’ hand).

The other key difference is that in Omaha Hi Lo, the pot is split with a percentage of the pot paid to the player with the best high hand, and the remainder given to the player with the worst qualifying low hand.

A key statistic to remember for Omaha Hi Lo is that there are qualifying rules in place for what constitutes a low hand. This is a hand where all five cards are ranked below 8. Players are only dealt this type of hand around 60% of the time, which means that on some hands where you do not qualify, it may not be possible for you to win the ‘low’ part of the pot.

For example, if you are dealt a hand of A, K, K, 6. Then at least one of your cards that makes up your low hand will be higher than an eight (in this case, most likely an Ace and a 6), therefore, you cannot qualify for the low hand pot.

However, if you are dealt K, K, 7, 6, then you can qualify for the low pot, provided that three or more of the flop, turn and river cards are below 8 in value.

Omaha Hi Lo is very much a game for players who are more advanced at Omaha poker than most and it is something that I would strongly advise newer players to avoid until they are confident playing Omaha and to then practice Omaha Hi Lo before playing for real cash.