If you want to hone your Omaha poker skills before you start playing in casinos or home games, the Internet is a great place to start. You can play free Omaha poker games online thanks to VIPpoker.com. It doesn't cost a thing to download the software you need to play poker online, and it only takes a few minutes to register with VIPpoker.com.

Once you register with VIPpoker.com, you need to determine if you want to play Omaha High or Omaha Hi-Lo. In Omaha High, the entire pot goes to the player with the highest hand, while Omaha Hi-Lo involves a split pot between the highest hand and the lowest hand. In order to qualify for the low hand, all of your cards must be eights or lower.

Since VIPpoker.com offers free, "play money" games and low-limit and no-limit games, you need to determine which game best suits your skill level. If money is on the line, you may want to consider playing Omaha Hi-Lo if you want to stay in the game longer. While the payouts aren't always as large as Omaha High, you can often stay in the game longer by splitting the pot with another player.

Since Omaha poker players rely on three community cards to make their hands, it's important to read the other players. Making an educated guess at what the other players are holding is a great way to determine if it's worth it for you to stick it out until the end. In Omaha Hi-Lo it often becomes pretty obvious which players are going for the high hands and which players are going for the low hands.