Despite its namesake, Omaha poker wasn't actually founded in Omaha, Nebraska. The 4-card version of the game is one of the newest poker variations, only arriving on the Vegas scene in 1982 - though earlier forms were around in home games prior to that time. Due to its ability to prompt plenty of action because early players found it difficult to land a four-card starting hand they weren't tempted to play, Omaha was nicknamed 'The Game of the Future."

It's safe to say that Omaha evolved from Texas Hold'em. There were a few variations of early Omaha, one in which players had to use both cards in their hand in combination with 3 of the 5 communal cards to form the best possible hand. So, when 4 card Hold'em arrived in Las Vegas it became known as Omaha as the game needed all players to use 2 of their own cards with 3 of the communal ones to form a winning hand. Today Omaha High-Low is also a favorite variation since it awards both the highest ranking hand and the lowest ranking hand.  Still, how exactly this old version of Texas Hold'em was given the name Omaha is unclear.

Learn how to play Omaha and Omaha High-Low.