Omaha is a community card game just like Texas Holdem and its Pot Limit variant has seen quite a bit of a popularity explosion lately. Due to the peculiarities of the game, Omaha is rarely played with a NL betting structure. Indeed it would seem like lately will most of the high-stakes online poker action happens at the PLO tables. Seeing the pros go at it has fired up the masses as well, so currently, everyone who considers him or herself to be a decent online poker player is into Omaha.

The problem however is that despite only minor differences in gameplay mechanics, Omaha is quite a bit different than Texas Holdem when it comes to how the action unfolds. In Omaha, players pick up four hole cards, and while they can only use two of those cards in the makeup of their eventual showdown hands, the higher number of starting cards means that they get a whole lot more information at the onset of a hand than they do in Texas Holdem.

One of the most important things that beginner Omaha players should bear in mind is that they can only use two cards from their pockets and three cards off the board. Rather, they always have to use exactly 2 cards from the pocket and exactly 3 cards off the board, there are no other ways to make a hand in Omaha. One cannot use one card from the pocket and four cards off the board or vice versa.

Beginners who watch the pros in action are often tempted to emulate the way they play, but in the case of PLO that is absolutely not the way to go. Here are a few basic guidelines one should always keep in sight when hitting the Omaha tables. Playing within one’s bankroll all the time is a no-brainer. There are some ridiculously big PLO games at the majority of the bigger online poker rooms, but beginners should definitely steer clear of them until their bankrolls grow to the required size. Just because the pros can handle it doesn’t mean the average Joe can too.

Also known as a game of nuts, Omaha requires players to always play the odds and to be extremely tight. In Omaha, one should pretty much know on the flop whether or not he’s going to end up taking down the pot. The game of Omaha can be extremely emotionally taxing, which means that keeping one’s emotional composure gains even more importance than in the case of Texas Holdem.