There’s no doubting Texas Hold’em’s status as the USA’s king of poker games. In comparison, Omaha poker seems like some unclaimed, distant cousin. Its tables, if you can find them in Vegas or Atlantic City, are usually stuffed into the far corners of casinos’ gaming floors with rarely a soul at them—unless, of course, you believe shills have souls.

It’s probably little wonder though that, as with many things, Europe takes an opposite tack from the U.S. in matters of poker. From Lisbon to Monaco, Omaha tables make up a large chunk of casinos’ offerings. And it’s rare not to find at least 10 hands of the game’s most popular permutation, pot-limit Omaha High, in full swing at any given time.

The most likely explanation for these differing poker preferences is that Americans, per capita, like taking risks more. And because its game mechanics allow players to choose which cards they use, Omaha involves very little risk at all. Its games often come down to whether you have a good hand, and success usually depends on how tightly you play.

So it seems Europeans prefer Omaha because it’s less risky. And, as a result, the legal poker sites that cater to them provide far more poker variants. Of course, you might think offering so many different games would hurt these operators’ bottom lines. But, ironically enough, Europeans seem to appreciate having a choice of games more than their American cousins.

Besides offering plenty of choice, though, there is one other benefit to having so many options: Americans can play free online Omaha poker too. This is because anyone with enough hard drive space can download free poker games from Euro operators. The only stipulation is players living in jurisdictions where online poker is illegal can only play free poker online and may not make deposits.

And yet the idea of using these operators’ software to play poker for fun might seem alien to folks who haven’t tried it before. That’s why we here at AceHoyle.com have prepared the following guide for anyone on the fence about the issue. In it, you’ll find complete information on whether it’s legal to play poker for fun, how to download free poker games and which free poker rooms offer the best selection of free poker games downloads.

Think of it as a kind of boy scoutly deed the Ace Hoyle crew is doing the rest of the world. After all, Europeans shouldn’t be the only ones getting in on these games. Omaha was invented by Yanks, so Yanks should be able to play it too. And, besides, if you are an American we doubt you’ll get the cold shoulder at Euro tables. In fact, scads of players from all over the EU will probably be willing to bust you out at your earliest convenience.

Is it Legal to Play Free Online Poker for Fun?

Few strictly free poker sites—those that offer free online poker no download games like AOL, MSN and Facebook—give players the opportunity to play free online Omaha poker; usually, their offerings are limited to free Texas Hold em and no limit Texas Hold em at that. The reality, then, is that if you want to play free online Omaha poker you’re going to have to do so at a pay site.

This might scare you if you live in a country where online poker is illegal. But, rest assured, the spooks aren't going to kick down your door if you play free online poker for fun. According to even the U.S.’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act—probably the most vague and, therefore, far-reaching gambling legislation to date—online poker is only a crime if you bet on it. No current law says you can’t access free poker sites. So, by the same token, you may also download free poker games from pay sites and play free online poker for fun to your heart’s content.

Actually the real question is whether a pay site will allow you to access its free poker games downloads. And, as for that, several sites—like Titan Poker for instance—do in fact block U.S., Russian, Indian and Israeli players.

This is essentially a safety precaution, but one that is entirely unnecessary; just as it’s legal for banning countries’ residents to play free poker online, it is also be 100 percent legal for online operators to offer free poker games downloads. The fact that they block some players isn’t an indication that you can’t play poker games for fun. It’s only a sign that these sites want to earn as much good will as possible from countries that ban online betting.

At any rate, this really isn’t a problem you have to worry about because the majority of legal poker sites do allow U.S. players to play free poker online. Naturally, they do so hoping all the people who play in their free poker rooms will become real-money players if their countries lift their bans. So, while they’re basically providing free entertainment at the moment, many European operators do expect to profit from allowing folks to play poker for fun.

How to Download Free Poker Games

Obviously, you probably won’t download free poker games for fun any time soon. And, really, we can’t blame you. After all, it’s hard to tell before you’ve played in an operator’s free poker rooms whether you’ll like its other players and environment. Meanwhile, the site’s software will be take at least a little time to download and will take up its own wedge of memory space.

The thing is, though, that the experience of playing free poker games for fun at pay sites far outstrips what you’ll get from sites offering free online poker no download games. Free online poker no download games, you see, rely entirely on your browser’s capabilities. And, often enough, this means free poker sites can't offer as many perks as full-fledged pay sites.

As a result, downloading and play testing several operators’ packages is well worth your time and patience because of their sharper, crisper graphics and hundreds of player choices. Really, you’ll experience all the same amenities as a regular cash-game player, while sitting at nearly the exact same tables. The only difference is you’ll be playing for free.

The other thing, too, is that most operators’ downloads are extremely fast and require very little effort on your part. All you have to do is visit their sites, click one of their “free download” links and follow the prompts from your computer. The download aspect itself will take a minute or two, then—assuming you’re running Windows—your Setup Wizard will appear.

Click “Continue” next, and the Wizard will add the new software to your list of applications. You will then see an icon for the poker room on your desktop, which will act as a shortcut to the room itself. Once the download is complete, click on the icon and follow the poker room’s instruction prompts. Usually, the operator will require you sign up for a player membership, but again, this is entirely free and doesn’t require you make a deposit.

After you’ve created your member account, the software will automatically load the poker room’s main page. This will be the first thing you see after opening the software from now on, and on it you’ll find every option imaginable. One display, for instance, will show how much “play money” you have. This is what you’ll use to play games like free online Omaha poker, and it acts as real money in every way except it’s not redeemable for cash.

Somewhere near your play-money display you will also see an option to replenish your play-money account. Clicking it will cause the room to credit you with free chips. But make sure you budget these as rooms will often give you more free money only once per day.

Assuming you’ve loaded up on play money, then, the next step is to select a table. Since you probably want to play free online Omaha poker games—after all, that’s what this page is about—you’ll likely have to hunt for the “Omaha” tab as most sites are set to Hold’em when you first open them. This shouldn’t be hard to find, though, as operators tend to make their variant tabs large and display them at the top of their poker rooms’ viewing windows.

Finally, before you can sit down you’ll have to decide what kind of free Omaha poker table you want to play. Depending on the operator, you might have the option of Omaha High-Low and Omaha High, but every poker room is essentially the same when it comes to limits. To choose a table according to limits, simply scroll through the list of tables in the room’s central viewing window.

As we said above, you’ll only get so many play-money chips per day, so we suggest choosing one of the low-limit tables you first time. Regardless of the limits you choose, though, the only thing you’ll definitely have to check are the number of players seated. If the number of players equals a table’s ceiling, you'll have to wait to join in. Otherwise, the table will appear automatically, and you’ll be ready to play.

Free Omaha Poker Tournaments

Though not as prolific as Texas Holdem freerolls, free Omaha poker tournaments do exist and can be a good way to step up from free- to real-money play. Usually, operators offer these free Omaha poker tournaments if a majority of their registered players prefer Omaha. And, while this is rare, you can occasionally find one or two if you shop around.

One word of caution, however, is that many operators only offer freerolls to players who are completely new to their sites. And because being a “new player” generally means “never signed up for anything,” we suggest reading all the fine print on a poker room’s home page before signing up to play free games.

At any rate, if you do find an Omaha freeroll, you’ll be pleased to learn it will essentially allow you to play free Omaha poker for real money. Yes, we realize the idea of “free Omaha poker for real money” probably doesn’t make much sense, but it is, in fact, completely true.

The way it works is that many online card rooms are so impatient for new business that they’ll put real money on the line just to get you through the door. These promotions are a type of “no deposit bonus,” and as the name indicates you don’t need to put up a cent to enter them. All you need to do is start an account as detailed above, and volia, instant cash.

Legal Poker Sites Offering Free Omaha Poker

In the final section of our “Free Omaha” page, we’d like to point you in the direction of several legal sites currently offering some form of the game to play-money users. As we said before, though, make sure to read all their fine print before signing up. Omaha freerolls are rare enough, after all, and if you’ve already been practicing at a site for a good while you might not have access to their promotions when they come up.

Internet Casino Poker Room	Types of Omaha
Titan Poker	Hi & Hi-Lo
Pacific Poker	Hi & Hi-Lo
Party Poker	Hi
RedKings Poker	Hi
Everest Poker	Hi

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