The Festival Explains: Omahajack
Ahead of the first running of the Omahajack at The Festival Weekend in Tallinn, here is a quick rundown of the rules and strategy for this five-card split-pot game. This niche variant combines Five-Card PLO and Blackjack, with half the pot going to the best PLO hand and the other half to the best Blackjack hand, the closest to 21.
Basic Rules
The game begins almost exactly like 5-card Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO5):
- Every player receives 5 private hole cards.
- There is then a round of betting preflop.
- Five community cards are dealt (flop, turn, river).
- Betting proceeds exactly like Omaha (usually pot-limit).
- At showdown, players must use exactly 2 hole cards and exactly 3 board cards to make their poker hand.
- The three cards they have remaining will be added together to make the Blackjack hand.
Players MUST use the best PLO hand available to them with two cards. They cannot sacrifice the PLO hand to make a better Blackjack hand.
Blackjack Scoring
Standard blackjack values apply for card scoring:
- Ace = 1 or 11
- Face cards = 10
- Number cards = face value
Example hand
Hole cards
A K Q J 10
Board
A K 7 2 3
The best Omaha hand would be aces and kings. However, with Q J 10 , you would bust the blackjack hand, as you would have 30. If any player scores above 21 in the Blackjack portion of the hand, they cannot win the Blackjack pot. If everyone busts the Blackjack portion of the pot, the entire pot goes to the best PLO hand.
Strategy
What makes a good hand in this game is coordination and cards that can make 21. Aces are particularly powerful as they can be one of two scores. Medium connectors gain value, hands like 98765. Hands like these can produce: 9+7+5 =21 or 8+7+6=21, depending on what the board is for the Omaha pot. With these hands, you can also make multiple straights or two-pair holdings for the PLO portion of the pot.
As it is a split pot game, playing hands that can make the nuts in both pots is essential to maximize your chances of gaining chips. Wraps, nut flush draws, and combo draws retain their strength as they would in PLO and PLO Hi-Lo. It is imperative to play for both pots, meaning the standard PLO hands that are strong, aces and kings double suited, for example, aren't as strong in Omahajack as there is a high chance of busting the Blackjack portion.
Good lcuk to all those taking to the tables at The Festival Series!
