How to Play Omaha Poker: Rules and Pot-Limit Omaha Basics

Omaha is the second most popular community-card poker game after Texas Hold'em. The flow of a hand is the same, but each player gets four hole cards instead of two, and the rules for making a hand are different. The most common version online is Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO).

The short version

• Each player receives 4 private cards (not 2).
• You must use exactly two of your hole cards and exactly three of the five board cards.
• In pot-limit games, the maximum bet or raise is the size of the pot.
• The usual hand ranking applies, but you need stronger hands: the nuts matter far more than in Hold'em.

Key differences from Hold'em

• Four hole cards. That gives each player 6 possible two-card combinations to choose from.
• The 2 + 3 rule. You cannot play one hole card and four board cards, or play the board. You always use two from your hand.
• Bigger draws and bigger pots. Hands run closer in equity, so more players go to showdown.
• Pot-limit betting. You cannot move all-in with any stack size like in no-limit; the maximum bet is the pot.

Omaha vs Texas Hold'em at a glance

The best Omaha hand has a smaller edge, which is why pots are bigger and more players see the flop: no starting hand is as dominant as pocket aces in Hold'em. The equities of Omaha hands come from the simulation described below; the Hold'em figure is from the poker odds calculator.

The 2 + 3 rule with examples

Your hole cards: A♠ K♠ 7♦ 2♣. The board: Q♠ J♠ 10♦ 4♥ 3♠.

• You have two spades in your hand (A♠ K♠) and three spades on the board (Q♠ J♠ 3♠). Using exactly two of yours and three of the board gives you an A-high flush.
• Your A♠ K♠ with the Q♠ J♠ 10♦ on the board also makes a broadway straight (A-K-Q-J-10). It is a straight, but a flush is stronger.

Now the board is 9♥ 9♦ 9♣ 5♠ 2♣ and your hole cards are A♠ K♠ Q♥ Q♦. You cannot say "I have three nines on the board and four cards in my hand". You must use two of your hole cards, so with Q♥ Q♦ you have a full house (nines full of queens). Without a pair or a nine in your hand you would have only the three nines on the board plus your highest two cards.

A flush needs two suited cards in your hand. A single spade in your hand with four spades on the board does not make a flush.

How a hand is played

1. Blinds are posted just like in Hold'em.
2. Each player receives four hole cards.
3. Betting round before the flop, flop (3 cards), turn (1), river (1), each with its own betting round.
4. At showdown the best five-card hand made with exactly two hole cards and three board cards wins.

Pot-limit betting

In pot-limit, the largest bet or raise is the size of the pot. For a raise, the pot includes your own call.

Example: the pot is $10 and your opponent bets $10. The pot becomes $20. You call $10 first, which makes the pot $30, then you may raise by up to $30. A pot-sized raise therefore takes your total bet to $40 (three times the bet plus the original pot: 3 × 10 + 10).

Most poker software calculates the maximum for you, and many players use the "pot" button.

Which starting hands to play

In Omaha it is the whole four-card hand that counts, so it matters whether the cards work together:

• Strong: A-A with two other connected or suited cards (A-A-K-Q double-suited, A-A-J-10).
• Good: four connected cards with no gaps ("rundowns") such as J-10-9-8 or 10-9-8-7, especially double-suited (two suited pairs).
• Good: "double-suited" hands: two different suits with two cards each. They have more chances to make a flush.
• Weak: hands with a "dangler", one card that does not connect to the others, like K-Q-J-3 or A-A-7-2 off-suit.
• Weak: hands with three or four cards of the same suit (they block your own flush chances) and hands with pairs plus junk.

Remember that no hand is as dominant as A-A in Hold'em. Aces are still strong but they do not crush other hands as often.

How strong are Omaha starting hands?

Because there are so many four-card hands, the best way to feel the difference is a number. The table shows the share of the pot each hand wins on average against one random four-card hand when all five board cards are dealt. It was calculated by simulating 150,000 random boards for each hand with the exactly-two-plus-three rule (accuracy about ±0.3 percentage points).

Two things stand out. A good double-suited hand wins much less often than pocket aces in Hold'em (70.7% against 85.1%), so Omaha pots are contested by many players. And a hand such as A-A-7-2 has 61.3% against a random hand, but your opponents rarely hold random cards: against hands with connected, suited cards it is much weaker. That is why the guide above calls it weak even though the number looks good. You can check any of these hands in the PLO calculator; the Hold'em figure comes from the poker odds calculator.

Think in terms of the nuts

The nuts is the best possible hand on the board. In Omaha opponents have four cards each, so the best hand is often made. Second-best hands lose a lot of money.

• A flush draw with an ace of the suit (the "nut flush draw") is much better than one with a low card of the suit.
• Top pair is usually weak. Sets, straights and nut flushes win most big pots.
• A straight on a board with two suited cards can lose to a flush. Look at the board before you commit.

Draws in Omaha

Because you hold four cards, one hand can have a flush draw and a straight draw together. A "wrap" (a straight draw that can be completed by many ranks) can have up to 20 outs, which is more than a typical flush draw (9). A hand with a wrap often has more equity than a one-pair hand, which changes how you value your cards. See outs and equity and pot odds.

Mistakes Hold'em players make in Omaha

• Overvaluing top pair or an overpair. In Omaha these are usually weak hands.
• Playing too many hands because there are four cards.
• Playing hands with a dangler or with all four cards of one suit.
• Drawing to a non-nut flush and paying a lot for it.
• Forgetting the 2 + 3 rule and thinking you have a hand that you do not.
• Not noticing that the board is paired (a full house or four of a kind is possible).

Omaha Hi-Lo (eight or better): the rules

In Omaha Hi-Lo (also called Omaha eight-or-better, or O8) the pot is split into two halves: one goes to the best high hand and one to the best low hand. A player can win both halves, which is called a scoop.

• The 2 + 3 rule applies to both halves. The low uses exactly two hole cards and three board cards, and they may be different from the cards in your high hand.
• A low needs five different ranks, all eight or lower. Aces are low, and pairs, straights and flushes do not count against a low. The best possible low is A-2-3-4-5 (the wheel).
• Qualifier. If the board has fewer than three different cards of rank eight or lower, nobody can make a low and the best high hand wins the whole pot.
• Lows are compared from the highest card down. 6-4-3-2-A beats 7-5-4-3-2 because its top card is lower.
• Ties split the half they tie for. If a low is shared, each player gets a share of the low half.

Example. The board is K♣ 8♦ 5♥ 3♠ 9♣ and you hold A♥ 2♠ K♦ J♦. Your low is 8-5-3-2-A (A♥ 2♠ with 8♦ 5♥ 3♠), and your high is a pair of kings (K♦ J♦ with K♣ 9♣ 8♦). You can win the low half, the high half or both. Hands that contain A-2 are the strongest low draws, but if the board pairs an ace or deuce your low can be counterfeited (the board takes the card you needed).

5-card Omaha (PLO5)

In 5-card Omaha each player receives five hole cards, but the showdown rule does not change: you still use exactly two hole cards and exactly three board cards. You have ten two-card combinations to choose from instead of six and there are 2,598,960 possible starting hands, so draws and the nuts come up even more often. Pot-limit betting, position and thinking in nut hands matter as much as in four-card Omaha.

Playing Omaha online and practising for free

You can learn Omaha without risking money: use play-money tables at online poker rooms, enter freerolls (see poker freerolls) and review your hands after each session. Start at the smallest stakes, play fewer tables at once than you would in Hold'em, and check the rules of your jurisdiction and the age limit (18+) first. If you are new to online poker, read online poker for beginners.

Try the calculator

Enter your hand and your opponent's hand, and a flop if you like, in the PLO calculator to see how often each wins. For example A♠ A♦ K♠ K♦ against J♥ T♥ 9♦ 8♦ on Q♣ 7♥ 2♠ is 80.9% to 19.1%.

What to read next

• How to play poker: the basics of a hand.
• Hand rankings: the order of hands.
• Outs and equity: counting draws.
• Glossary: PLO and other terms.
• Pot odds: the maths you still need in Omaha.
• Poker positions: why acting last is worth even more in pot-limit games.