How to Play Pot-Limit Omaha

The Two-Card Rule

This is the rule newcomers break, and it is absolute: two hole cards, three board cards, no exceptions. A player holding a single ace of spades does not have a spade flush when four spades appear on the board, because only one of their cards can be used toward it.

Order of Play

The sequence is identical to hold'em: blinds, four hole cards, a betting round, then flop, turn and river with a betting round after each.

1. 1
   Blinds postedThe two seats left of the button post the small and big blind.
2. 2
   Four cards dealtEach player receives four private cards face down.
3. 3
   Pre-flop bettingAction starts left of the big blind. Raises are capped at the size of the pot.
4. 4
   Flop and bettingThree community cards, then a betting round starting left of the button.
5. 5
   Turn and bettingA fourth community card and another round.
6. 6
   River and bettingThe fifth community card and the final round.
7. 7
   ShowdownRemaining players make the best five-card hand using exactly two hole cards.

How Pot-Limit Betting Is Calculated

The maximum raise is the size of the pot after the raiser calls. In practice: take the pot, add all bets on the table, then add the amount the raiser would call. The sum is the largest legal raise.

1. 1
   Start with the potSuppose the pot holds 100 and an opponent bets 50.
2. 2
   Add the outstanding betThe pot is now 150 for the purpose of the calculation.
3. 3
   Add the callCalling costs 50, so 150 + 50 = 200.
4. 4
   That is the maximum raiseThe total wager becomes 250: a call of 50 plus a raise of 200.

Dealers in live rooms will state the maximum on request, and online tables calculate it automatically. The practical effect is that pots can double on every street without anyone moving all in early.

What a Good Starting Hand Looks Like

Four cards that work together are worth far more than four strong cards in isolation. Connected ranks, double-suited holdings and pairs that can make sets all give the hand more than one route to improve.

• Double-suited hands make two different flushes possible, which roughly doubles the suited potential of the holding.
• Connected ranks such as jack-ten-nine-eight create multiple straight draws from one flop.
• High pairs matter less than in hold'em, because an unimproved pair of aces rarely wins a contested pot at showdown.
• Dangling cards — a lone low card with no connection to the other three — effectively reduce the hand to three working cards.

The Hands That Win

Because every player holds six two-card combinations, the winning hand at showdown is stronger on average than in hold'em. Two pair is frequently beaten, and a non-nut flush is a recurring source of large losses.

The nuts

The strongest hand possible on a given board. In Omaha it is made far more often than in hold'em, so second-best hands are expensive.

Wrap

A straight draw using multiple connected hole cards, sometimes with thirteen or more outs.

Blocker

A card that reduces the combinations an opponent can hold, such as holding the ace of a suit that completes a flush.

Freeroll

A situation where two hands are tied for the current best, but one can improve to beat the other.

The arithmetic of calling with a draw is the same as anywhere else — see pot odds and equity — but the number of outs is often much larger, and so is the risk of drawing to a hand that is already beaten.

Frequently Asked Questions