The First round:Omaha High Poker
The first person sitting at a table becomes the dealer, and
receives the dealer ‘button’. A new game on an active table starts with the button moving clockwise to the next
player. The player next to the button / dealer is required to place the small blind. The small blind is equal to
half the lower stake. This is a guideline for determining the blinds and not a strict rule. at Baha Poker.com the
small blind is rounded down to the nearest dollar. For example – at $5/$10 Omaha 8 or Better per
the formula the small blind should be $2.5. Instead, it is rounded of to the lower dollar, so the small blind would
post $2. However, as it is just a guideline, the amount of small blind could be set differently at the time of
setting up the table.
The player to the left of the small blind is required to post the big blind, equal
to the lower stake limit. In a certain scenario it is possible for more than one player to post a big blind in a
hand. This is if a new player joins a table at which a game is already going on. The player would get an option of
placing a Big Blind at the start of the next hand or wait for his/her turn (as decided by the movement of the
button) when it is normally his/her time to place the Big Blind. All the blinds in Hold’em poker are considered
live bets and the players who posted them will have the option of checking, calling, raising or folding when the
betting returns to their position.
After the blinds have been placed, the down cards / hole cards are dealt to each
active player. In Omaha 8 or Better, 4 cards are dealt to each of the players, after which the first betting round
begins. The player to the left of the player who placed the big blind starts the betting for this round. Each
player will now have the option to place his or her bets in the first round, which is set at the lower limit of the
stakes structure. For example in a $10/$20 Omaha 8 or Better game, the value of each bet is $10 in the first round.
When we say that bets are limited to $10, it refers to a single bet of the value of $10, so when a user places a
“BET” then it is $10, a “RAISE” would be $20 – including one additional bet and a call on the previous bet placed
by a player. Bets can be placed by playing any of the following options – Bet, Call and Raise. Each player will
also have the option to Fold. These options are available to each player depending on the action taken by the
previous player. The first player (left of the Big Blind) to act in the first round) would get the Bet, Call and
Raise options. Subsequent players would also get the options of Call and Raise. To Call is to bet the same as what
the previous player has bet. Raise actions call for raising the bet/call amount of the previous player, and can be
calculated based on the value of the previous bet amount.
In order to participate in the hand every player must at least match the amount of
money put in the pot by previous players (includes bets, calls and raises). There might be a limit on the amount
and the number of bets a player can place during a betting round, which also would be considered during the hand.
The numbers of bets for a particular round of betting has been mentioned below, please refer to the section on
“Standard Rules” (below) for the limits on the number of bets.
After the first round of betting is over, the Flop (the first three cards of the
community) is dealt. The community cards are common of all the players participating in the hand.
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