How to Play Pot-Limit Omaha: Rules for Beginners

How a hand is played

If you know Hold'em, you already know the order of play. If not, how to play Texas Hold'em explains the button and the blinds in more detail.

1. The blinds. The two players to the left of the dealer button put in the small blind and the big blind.
2. Four cards each. Every player gets four cards face down. Only you can see yours.
3. Before the flop. A round of betting, starting with the player to the left of the big blind.
4. The flop. Three shared cards are dealt face up, then another round of betting.
5. The turn. A fourth shared card, then a round of betting.
6. The river. The fifth and last shared card, then the last round of betting.
7. The showdown. The players still in show their cards, and the best five-card hand wins the pot. Hands rank exactly as in Hold'em: see poker hand rankings.

The most important rule: two plus three

Your five-card hand must use exactly two of your four cards and exactly three of the five cards on the board. Not one of yours, not three: always two. This rule catches out almost every new player, so here are the three classic cases.

Four of a suit on the board is not your flush

The board has four hearts and you hold one heart. In Hold'em that would be a flush. In Omaha it is not, because you would be using only one of your own cards. You need two hearts in your hand.

A straight on the board is not your straight

When the board shows a straight by itself, you do not have it. You must still use two of your own cards.

Three of a kind in your hand is only a pair

Hold three aces and only two of them can play, so you have a pair of aces plus whatever the board gives you.

Pot-limit betting

You can bet any amount from the minimum up to the size of the pot. The minimum is the same as in Hold'em: the big blind, or the size of the last bet or raise.

• Nobody has bet yet: the most you can bet is the pot.
• Someone has bet: first add your call to the pot. Then you may raise by that new total.

Example: the pot is 100 and your opponent bets 100. Calling 100 would make the pot 300, so you may raise by 300. Your largest bet is 400 in total. A quick way to work it out: three times the bet, plus the pot before it.

Before the flop, with blinds of 10 and 20, the first player can raise to at most 70: the blinds make 30, the call of 20 makes 50, and the raise of 50 makes 70. Players usually just say "pot" and let the dealer work it out. At Felt Saga the Pot button does it for you.

Because bets are capped, you cannot move all in at any moment as in No-Limit. Stacks usually go in over two or three bets instead, and you can still go all in when your chips are fewer than the pot allows.

Good starting hands

Good hands have four cards that work together:

• Pairs, especially high ones like aces or kings.
• Suited cards: two cards of the same suit, so you can make a flush. "Double-suited", two of one suit and two of another, is best. An ace-high suit matters most, because it makes the best flush.
• Connected cards close in rank, like J-10-9-8, which can make many different straights.

Weak hands have a card that works with none of the others, or three or four cards of the same rank or suit, which take away your own outs.

How it feels different from Hold'em

• Strong hands are made more often. With four cards each, everyone has more ways to connect with the board. One pair rarely wins, and two pair often loses.
• Aim for the nuts. The nuts is the best possible hand on the board. A flush that is not ace high can lose to a bigger flush, and a low straight to a higher one.
• Hands run close before the flop. Even aces win only about 65% of the time against a decent hand, against about 80% in Hold'em. So more hands are worth a call, and more pots go to the flop.
• Draws are big. A hand with a flush draw and a straight draw can be a favourite over a made hand. Many cards can complete a "wrap", a straight draw with three or four ranks that make it.
• Position matters even more. Acting last lets you see how strong the others are before you put chips in, and in pot-limit the pot you can bet grows with every bet before you.

An example hand

Six players, blinds 10/20, 2,000 chips each. You are on the button with A♠ K♠ Q♥ J♥. Mika is in the big blind.

1. Before the flop: everyone folds to you and you raise the pot, to 70. The small blind folds and Mika calls 50 more. The pot is 150.
2. The flop is 10♠ 9♥ 2♠. You have the best possible flush draw (A♠ K♠ with two spades on the board) and a big straight draw: a king, queen, jack or eight gives you a straight. Mika checks and you bet 100. Mika raises the pot: the pot was 250 after your bet, the call makes it 350, so Mika raises to 450. You call 350 more. The pot is 1,050.
3. The turn is the 3♦. Both players check.
4. The river is the 6♠. Mika bets 500 and you call. The pot is 2,050.
5. Showdown: Mika shows 9♣ 9♦ 8♣ 7♦. Mika had three nines on the flop and made a straight on the river, ten high (8♣ 7♦ with 10♠ 9♥ 6♠). You show the ace-high flush (A♠ K♠ with 10♠ 2♠ 6♠), and a flush beats a straight. You win.

Mika's three nines were ahead on the flop, but your draw had so many ways to win that calling was right. In Omaha a strong draw is often worth as much as a made hand.

Beginner mistakes to avoid

• Forgetting the two-plus-three rule. Before you bet, check which two of your cards make your hand. One heart with four on the board is not a flush.
• Overvaluing one pair or two pair. With four cards each, someone often has three of a kind, a straight or better.
• Drawing to a hand that is not the nuts. A king-high flush draw on a board where an ace-high flush is possible can cost you a big pot.
• Playing any four cards. More hands are playable than in Hold'em, but four cards that do not work together still lose money.
• Playing too many hands out of position. The big pots in Omaha are much easier to play when you act last.

Play Omaha at Felt Saga

Choose Pot-Limit Omaha when you start a practice match against the computer players, or when you open a room for your friends. Your four cards overlap so each one shows its corner, the Pot button works out the largest bet for you, and at the showdown the winning two-plus-three hand lights up. It is free, with play chips only.

New to poker altogether? Start with the hand rankings and the pot odds calculator: both work the same way in Omaha.