Omaha (Pot Limit)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order and hand ranking
3. Betting in short
4. Pot limit
5. Setup
6. A deal, step by step
7. Exactly two plus three
8. All-in and side pots
9. Winning the game
10. Tips for beginners
11. Variants

Overview

Omaha is a close relative of Texas Hold'em. Each player gets four secret cards, and five cards are laid face up in the middle for everyone to use. The catch: your final hand must use exactly two of your own cards and exactly three from the middle. Over four betting rounds players put chips into a shared pot – or give up. The pot goes to the last player left in, or to whoever makes the best five-card poker hand at the end. It is usually played pot limit: you may bet at most as much as is in the pot.

• Players: 2–10, each for themselves.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches, buttons) – the same amount for everyone at the start, e.g. 200 each. You play for chips, not money.

Card order and hand ranking

Cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2; the Ace can also be low in the straight 5-4-3-2-A. Suits are all equal.

At the end you make the best hand of exactly five cards: two of your four and three of the five in the middle. From best to worst:

Any hand of a higher kind beats any hand of a lower kind. Between hands of the same kind, the higher cards win: first compare the most important cards (the four, the three, the higher pair …), then the remaining cards one after another from the top. A straight is ranked by its top card, so 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest straight. If all five cards are equal in rank, the hands tie and share the pot – suits never break ties.

Betting in short

All chips bet go into the pot in the middle. When it is your turn in a betting round, you can:

• Check – bet nothing, if nobody has bet yet in this round.
• Bet – put in chips (at least the big blind, see below).
• Call – put in just enough to match the highest bet so far.
• Raise – match the highest bet and add more. A raise must be at least as big as the previous bet or raise in this round.
• Fold – give up: put your cards away face down. You lose what you have already put in and take no further part in this deal.

A betting round ends when everyone still in has put in the same amount (or is all-in) and has had a chance to act.

Pot limit

In pot limit, the largest bet you may make is the size of the pot – everything in the middle, including the bets already made in this round. For the largest raise, first imagine that you call: you may then raise by as much as the pot would contain after your call.

Example: After the flop the pot holds 20. Anna bets the maximum, 20 (pot now 40). Ben wants to raise as much as he can: calling costs 20, which would make the pot 60, so he may raise by 60 – he puts in 80 in total, and the pot holds 120.

Example: Before the flop, with blinds of 1 and 2, the pot holds 3. The first player to act could call 2 (pot 5) and raise by 5 – putting in 7 in total.

If in doubt, count the pot before you bet the maximum.

Setup

1. Everyone gets the same number of chips. Agree on the blinds – two forced bets that start each pot, e.g. small blind 1 and big blind 2 chips.
2. Pick a first dealer (e.g. highest card cut). The dealer's position is marked with a button (any small object); it moves one place to the left after each deal.
3. The player to the dealer's left puts in the small blind, the next player to the left the big blind. With only two players, the dealer puts in the small blind and the other player the big blind.
4. The dealer shuffles and deals everyone four cards face down, one at a time, starting on the left. These are your hole cards – look at them, but show them to no one.

A deal, step by step

1. Preflop: the first betting round. The player left of the big blind starts; play goes clockwise. The blinds count as bets, so to stay in you must at least call the big blind. The big blind acts last and may still raise, even if everyone just called.

2. Flop: the dealer "burns" one card (puts it aside face down, unseen) and turns three cards face up in the middle. These community cards (the board) belong to everyone. Second betting round – from now on, the first player still in to the left of the dealer starts, and players may check.

3. Turn: burn one card, turn up a fourth community card. Third betting round.

4. River: burn one card, turn up the fifth community card. Fourth and last betting round.

5. Showdown: if two or more players are still in, they turn all four hole cards face up – the player who made the last bet or raise shows first; if everyone checked, the first player still in to the dealer's left shows first. Each makes the best five-card hand from exactly two hole cards plus exactly three board cards. The best hand wins the pot; equal hands share it.

If at any time all but one player fold, the remaining player wins the pot at once without showing any cards.

Exactly two plus three

This rule catches out every beginner who knows Hold'em:

• If the board shows four hearts and you hold one heart, you have no flush – you need two hearts of your own.
• If the board shows a straight or a flush, it is nobody's hand – you can only ever use three board cards.
• Holding three of a kind in your hand is worth only a pair: you may use just two of them.

Example: The board is K♥ 9♥ 9♦ 4♥ 2♣. Anna holds A♥ Q♠ J♣ 7♦ – with only one heart she has no flush; her best hand is A Q + K 9 9, a pair of nines. Ben holds 9♠ 8♣ 5♥ 3♥: with 5♥ 3♥ and the three board hearts he has a flush (K 9 5 4 3). Carla holds K♣ K♠ 4♠ 4♦: K♣ K♠ with K♥ 9♥ 9♦ make a full house, K K K 9 9 – Carla wins.

All-in and side pots

If you want to call but don't have enough chips, or want to bet everything you have, you go all-in: you put all your remaining chips in. You stay in until the showdown without betting further, but you can only win as much from each opponent as you put in yourself.

The extra chips that the other players bet beyond your all-in amount go into a separate side pot, which only they can win. At the showdown, the side pot is settled first among the players in it, then the main pot among everyone still in, including you. If everyone still in is all-in (or only one player still has chips), nobody can bet any more: the rest of the board is turned up at once and the showdown follows. Anyone who has no chips left is out of the game.

Winning the game

Play until only one player has chips left, or stop at an agreed time – then the player with the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• Hands are much stronger than in Hold'em: two pair or a small straight often lose. Aim for the best possible hand (the "nuts").
• Good starting hands work together: four cards close in rank (like J 10 9 8), or pairs and two suits (like A♠ A♥ K♠ Q♥).
• Four unrelated cards, or three or four of one suit, are weaker than they look.
• Check what the board makes possible: a pair on the board means someone may have a full house.
• Don't call just because you have already put chips in. Chips in the pot are no longer yours.

Variants

All optional – agree beforehand.

• Omaha Hi-Lo (eight or better): usually played with fixed limits – bets and raises equal to the big blind in the first two rounds, double in the last two. At the showdown the pot is split between the best high hand and the best low hand. A low hand is five cards of different ranks, all 8 or lower; Aces count low, straights and flushes are ignored, and hands are compared from the top card down (7-5-4-3-2 beats 7-6-3-2-A; the best is 5-4-3-2-A). Both hands must use exactly two hole cards and three board cards, but they may be different cards, so one player can win both halves. If nobody has a low hand – which is certain if the board doesn't show three different cards of 8 or lower – the high hand wins the whole pot. Ties share their half; an odd chip goes to the high hand.
• Limit or no limit: Omaha can also be played with fixed limits or, like Texas Hold'em, no limit.
• Five-card Omaha (Big O): everyone gets five hole cards; still exactly two plus three. Six-card Omaha works the same way.
• Courchevel: five hole cards each, and the first flop card is turned face up before the first betting round.