The games · Coolhand Poker

Five-Card Omaha

Omaha with a fifth card in hand. Still exactly two of yours and three from the middle, but chosen from ten pairings instead of six.

18+ · Nothing to win but the hand.

Players: 2 to 8
Family: Flop Games
App: Coolhand Poker · iOS and Android, soon

How it goes

Omaha with one more card in your hand. You get five cards face down, five shared cards go face up in the middle, and there's a round of offers at each stage (tokens into the pool, matched or passed). Your final hand is still exactly two of your own cards plus exactly three from the middle. The difference is in the count: with five cards there are ten ways to pick your two instead of six, and every player at the table has those ten. Made hands come bigger and more often. The highest one at the reveal takes the pool.

A good hand

Hands that connect in several ways at once: high pairs with cards of the same suit around them, so that many of your ten pairings point the same way. The extra card improves everyone's chances, not only yours. A good hand here is usually a very strong one, and a merely decent hand is usually beaten by someone who found a better pairing.

The usual mistake

Assuming a hand that's strong in Omaha is strong here. With ten pairings per player, the table makes bigger hands, so the second-best flush or the low end of a run loses more often than it wins. When the middle offers something big, expect someone to hold the top of it, and be sure of your own hand before you match.

Played differently where you are?

Card games change from table to table, and we researched some of these games instead of playing them. If Five-Card Omaha goes differently where you play it, tell us. That's one of the things the closed beta is for.

The closed beta is by invitation. How to ask to join.