Pot Limit Omaha Rules

Omaha Poker Overview

Omaha is like Texas Hold'em. Each player receives four cards dealt face down. These cards are also called pocket cards. Like in Texas Hold'em, five cards are dealt face up on the table. The players can make combinations using only two of their four pocket cards and three of five common cards on the table.

Omaha Game Rules

Pot Limit Omaha plays just like No Limit Hold'em except for two crucial differences: In PLO, you get four hole cards instead of two. In PLO, your maximum bet at any point is limited to the current size of the pot. You can't go 'all-in' in PLO unless your stack size is smaller than the size of the pot. Omaha is usually played with either pot-limit or limit betting rules. For more on the different betting structures in poker, check out our guide to Poker Betting Rules. Pot Limit Omaha is commonly called “PLO”, and is the second-most popular poker game in the world, behind Texas Hold’em.

Omaha can be played with as little as two players, up to a max of ten players. It is played with 52 card deck without joker. Each player receives 4 (four) cards, face down. These cards are known as pocket cards. Then, dealer hands out five community cards face up. The players can make combinations using only two of their four pocket cards and three of five common cards on the table. The best five-card poker hand wins the pot. The combinations and their ranking are the same as in Texas Hold'em.

Omaha High/Low Rules

Omaha High/Low rules are very similar to the rules of regular Omaha with only one exception: a pot is split equally between the best High and the best Low hands. A player is considered a winner if he has the best High hand. However, a player having the best low hand consisting of 5 cards of different values ranked 8 or lower can win half a pot.

The player play can make their combinations using only two of their four pocket cards and three of five common cards on the table.

If only one player has the best low hand, a pot will be split between him and a player with the best high hand. If there are several players with low hand, a winner is determined by the high card of the combination which is lowest card in this case then, the second high card, etc. If there are several players with equal low hands, their pot share is split between them evenly.

A player may play high and low hands simultaneously using two of his pocket cards and three of the common cards on the table. The best low hand consists of five, four, three, two and ace of any suits. The same ace may simultaneously be a part of high hand and low hand.

Game Types

Limit poker

In Limit poker Bet as well as Raise is agreed in advance. For example, in a 1/2 Limit game, both Bet and Bet Raise must be equal to 1. Not more or less. In last two rounds Bet and Raise must be equal to 2.

Pot Limit

In a play with Pot Limit the maximum value of Bet or Raise shouldn't exceed the current total amount in the pot.

For example: if the total amount in the pot in the middle of the table is 10 the first player to act in the betting round bets 10, the second player could bet a total of 30 - 10 for his portion of the call and raise by 20, the total amount of money in the pot when the action got to him, including his call. There is no cap to the number of raises in Pot-Limit poker games.

No Limit

In No Limit game there is any bet limit.

Every player makes any bet in any betting round. Minimum bet is equal to Big Blind.

Game Stages

The game is divided into four rounds of betting. Initial pot is forming by Blind Bet. The first player who takes place at the table becomes a dealer. The game starts from the position next to the dealer button, a round disk marks would be the dealer.

If players take place at the table simultaneously, on tournaments for example, each player receives straight one card face up. In this case the deal begins from the player to the left of the virtual dealer, and that player who receives the card of maximum value first, becomes a dealer. A dealer button moves clockwise from player to player with each round.

Blinds

Before a game starts, the two players to the left of the dealer make Blind Bets, so-called because they are made before the players have seen any cards. This is called 'posting the blinds'. The Blinds ensure that there is some money in the pot to play for at the very start of the game.

The player to the left of the dealer posts the Small Blind. The second player to the left of the dealer posts the Big Blind which is equal to the double Small Blind.

If player does not have enough chips to make Blind Bet, he stakes everything he has at once. Please see All-In.

If there are only two players in the game, Small Blind and Big Blind are posting also. In that case dealer posts Big Blind.

After that the first round begins.

Pre-Flop

Every player receives two cards back up. Each player can see his cards only. The player to the left of the player who posted Big Blind begins a round of betting. This player can:

• Call - match the amount bet in the big blind,
• Raise - increase the amount bet, or
• Fold - surrender his cards and stake in the game.

The same action can make each player when it is their turn to bet. When the betting returns to the player who made Big Blind, that player can not to increase the bet – Check – if it is equal to Big Blind in case if no one player doesn't Raise. However, if an opponent has raised, Big Blind has three options: he must call, raise or fold.

When all bets get equal, the initial pot is formed and the game turns to the next round Flop.

Flop

In this round dealer is facing up three of Community Cards, which players can use to make their five-card hand. These cards are called 'Flop'. Player who makes Small Blind begins the betting round. If he flop the cards, the betting round begins from the first player to the left of him who does not flop the cards. When all bets get equal, the game goes to the next round (Turn).

Turn

A fourth Community Card is dealt face up on the table. The third round of betting begins.

River

The fifth and final Community Card is dealt, and the final betting round is beginning.

Showdown

When all bets get equal, it is time to show the cards.

The last player to bet or raise during the final betting round shows his cards first.

If during the last betting round all the remaining players are checking nobody betting, the first player to the left from dealer who did not discard is to show his cards first.

The other players reveal their cards moving clockwise around the table. If player's current hand is weaker than winning hand shown, he has the option to show or muck his cards.

In Omaha:

The best five-card hand takes the pot.

In Omaha High/Low:

A pot is split between best high hand and best low hand evenly. If no player has low hand, the entire pot goes to the player with High hand.

If two players share an identical hand, the pot is split.

Each player may claim the pot in forming of which he took part. Please see All-In.

Game-specific

Missed Blinds Policy

To prevent players from entering games in a late position to avoid placing blinds, you will have to post an initial fee, equal to Big Blind, or you can sit out and wait until Big Blind reaches your position.

Player can choose to:

• post Big Blind, or
• wait for Big Blind.
• Fold - surrender his cards and stake in the game.

If the player chooses to wait for Big Blind he will be sitting out and won't be able to join the action until Big Blind comes around to his position.

If the player were at the table and then sat out for a while and missed his Big Blind, he will also have to miss Small Blind and the dealer's button. If you missed the small and big blind, you will be required to post an amount equal to the big blind plus a 'dead' bet equal to the small blind.

All-In

Pl Omaha Rules

If the player finishes his chips he may not to fold the cards. The player can go All-In and bet all his chips. In this case the pot is divided into the Main pot and the Side pot. All the next bets are included to the Side pot. If the player which goes All-In did not win, the winner receives all chips (both the Main and Side pots). If the player who goes All-In wins, he receives the Main pot, but the Side pot is passed to the player having the second highest ranking Poker hand. If several players go All-In, the several Side pots can be created. If the player who accepted all All-In bets does not go All-In by himself, but appears to have the highest ranking hand when cards were revealed, he takes the Main pot as well as the all Side pots. If the highest ranking hand has the player who went All-In, he takes the pot or all pots which were created until he went All-In. Every All-In player having highest ranking hand can take only the pot (or pots) in forming of which he took part.

Learn how to play Pot Limit Omaha with this quick and easy guide to learning the Omaha Rules

Pot Limit Omaha Poker Rules

If you already know how to play No Limit Hold Em then picking up the Omaha Rules should be a cakewalk (if you haven’t then familiarise yourself with them now before you continue). Although the differences in strategy between the two games are immense the rules are actually very similar. Here are the ways in which PLO (or Pot Limit Omaha) differs from NLHE:

In Pot Limit Omaha rules you are dealt 4 cards instead of 2. Here is an example hand:

Like in Hold ’em the object is to make the best 5 card hand but unlike in NLHE you must use exactly 2 cards from your hand and 3 from the board (the community cards). This is different from No Limit Hold ‘Em where you can play any 5 cards out of the 5 on board and the 2 in your hand. To illustrate how this difference matters let’s take a look at a sample board that might fall in PLO or NLHE:

Take the example hand I gave you above: at first glance it might look like you have an ace high flush but you actually don’t as you can only play three of the diamonds from the board. This means that in Omaha Rules you cannot ever make a flush unless you have at least 2 of a suit in your hand. On this board your actual hand is two pair, tens and fours with a Q kicker. Because of this neccessity to play 2 cards from your hand and 3 from the board the value of having a coordinated 4card hand is vastly increased. Hands that are “double-suited” are considered higher in value because they have more chances of making a flush.

Here are a few more hands with possible boards for you to look at:

Hand #1 You have trips with an Ace and a seven as kickers. In Hold ‘Em having an ace when quads fall on the board gives you the nuts. In this situation however you’re losing to anybody with a pair in their hand or a higher kicker to go with their ace. Omaha Rules dictate you can only play three cards from the board.

Hand #2 Again you have trips, this time with a Q kicker. In Hold ‘Em having a 9 on this board would give you a fullhouse, but as you can only use three cards from the board in Omaha Rules your final holding is instead Q♠9♠9♣9♦5♥and you would be losing to somebody holding, say 5♣3♦2♠4♥ as they would have a full house.

Hand #3 In the final hand I’m sure you’re beginning to see the pattern. Rather than the 7♥ in our hand making us a straight we actually just have a single pair of aces. If we changed the K♠ to either a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or an 8 our hand strength would then improve to a straight which should give you some idea of how dangerous a board like this is with such a vulnerable hand as just one pair.

Betting

The only other thing you need to know regarding Omaha Rules before you start playing is that in PLO you can’t always just shove “all in”. The “Pot” in “Pot Limit Omaha” refers to the maximum bet or raise you can make when the action is on you. This means it’s rare to see all the money go in pre-flop, rather the game lends itself to more complex and skillful multi-street decisions. If you’ve ever played Pot Limit Hold ‘Em you’ll be familiar with the way betting pot is calculated, it’s really very simple but can sometimes throw people off when they’re raising somebody.

Imagine there is $10 in the pot, your opponent bets $10 and you would like to raise the maximum you are allowed. Your pot raise is not $20 but rather whatever the pot would have been after your call. So here if you called the pot would be $30 so raising the pot is to call and then raise $30. So when the bet is to you, raising “for pot” would be a raise to $40 ($30 for your opponent to call).

Of course if you’re playing online it doesn’t matter much because you can just click the pot button, but it’s nice to know for those times you get your friends round for a home game and people aren’t so familiar with the Omaha Rules.

Where to play Pot Limit Omaha?

Now that you know the Omaha rules you’ll want to make sure you’re playing at the site which hosts the best games. Whereas almost all of the big name websites host hundreds of NLHE tables simultaneously, the differences between them when it comes to their Pot Limit Omaha action is substantial.

You’ll want to consider several factors when choosing which sites you’re going to do the majority of your playing at. These include the number of games running at any one time, the quality of the software and, perhaps most importantly of all, how fishy their players are.

With that in mind I took it upon myself to sign up at all the cardrooms that offer Pot Limit Omaha as a game, play a few thousand hands at each of them, find out which ones are best and then share that information with you. You can read my full conclusions at my “Where to play PLO” guide. Once you’ve signed up (and make sure you take maximum advantage of the sign up bonuses they offer) at your chosen site(s) it’ll then be time to start working on your strategy. Thankfully you’re already at the right website for that!