Omaha (Pot-Limit Omaha)
The world's second most popular poker game - four hole cards, exactly two used - and how it differs from Texas Hold'em.
Omaha plays like Texas Hold'em with one big change: you get four hole cards instead of two, and you must make your hand with exactly two of them plus exactly three from the board. It is almost always played pot-limit, so you will see it called PLO.
The rules that differ from Hold'em
- Four hole cards each.
- Exactly two from your hand, exactly three from the board. Not one, not three, not zero.
- Pot-limit betting. The biggest bet or raise allowed is the size of the pot, counting your call first.
- Everything else - blinds, the button, the flop, turn and river, hand rankings - works as in Hold'em.
The "exactly two" trap
This is the rule that catches every new Omaha player.
You hold A♥K♠Q♦J♣ and the board is 10♥9♥8♥2♥3♣.
- No flush. There are four hearts on the board, but you have only one. You need two hearts in your hand.
- A straight: Q♦J♣ with 10♥9♥8♥ makes Q-J-T-9-8. Your king cannot join in, because K-Q-J would be three cards from your hand.
The same goes for the board: if it shows four of a kind, or a straight, you cannot "play the board" as in Hold'em.
Why hands run closer
With four cards, everyone has many more combinations: six two-card pairs per hand. Hands that would be huge favourites in Hold'em are often only slight favourites in Omaha. Even A♠A♦K♥K♣ - one of the best possible starting hands - is only about a 65/35 favourite against a good connected hand like J♥10♥9♠8♠.
That means:
- Draws are stronger. A flush draw plus a straight draw can have 20 or more outs.
- The nuts matter more. With so many cards out, someone often has the best possible hand. A second-best flush loses big pots.
- Top pair is weak. In Hold'em it often wins; in Omaha it rarely wins a big pot.
Good Omaha starting hands
- Double-suited hands, with two cards of one suit and two of another: A♥K♥Q♠J♠.
- Connected hands, where all four cards work together: J♥10♠9♥8♠.
- Aces with suited aces: holding the ace of a suit makes the nut flush.
Avoid hands with a "dangler" - a card that does not connect with the others - and hands with three or four of a suit, which block your own flush outs.
Omaha Hi-Lo
In Omaha Hi-Lo (or Omaha 8), the pot is split between the best high hand and the best low hand: five different cards of eight or lower, with aces low. If nobody qualifies for low, the high hand takes it all.
Learn the basics of Hold'em first in the rules, then try Omaha: it is a fun change in a home game.