Omaha High Poker: How to Play
Welcome to Omaha High Poker. It shares many rules with Texas Hold’em, but each player receives four private cards rather than two, creating more possible hand combinations and more decisions at every stage.
The key rule is simple: to make your best five-card poker hand, you must use exactly two of your four hole cards and exactly three of the five community cards on the board. You cannot use none, one, three or four hole cards. See the poker hand rankings before you play.
What Is Omaha Poker?
Omaha poker is similar to Texas Hold’em, but each player receives four private cards and must use exactly two of those hole cards and three of the five community cards to make the best five-card hand. Learn the Omaha hand rankings or visit our online poker homepage to start playing.
Types of Omaha Poker Games
- Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO): Players can bet up to the current pot size.
- No-Limit Omaha: Players can bet any amount up to their entire chip stack.
- Fixed-Limit Omaha: Bets and raises are restricted to predetermined amounts.
The basic rules are the same across all Omaha variants; only the betting structures differ.
The Omaha High rules
The player with the highest-ranking five-card hand wins the pot. If two or more players have identical winning hands, the pot is divided equally between them.
Omaha High is played through four betting rounds:
- Pre-flop Players receive four hole cards. Action starts with the player to the left of the big blind, who may fold, call or raise. Betting continues clockwise until all active players have contributed the same amount to the pot.
- The flop The first three community cards are dealt face-up. The active player immediately clockwise from the button acts first, followed by another betting round.
- The turn A fourth community card is dealt. The active player immediately clockwise from the button acts first, followed by another betting round.
- The river The fifth and final community card is dealt, followed by the final betting round.
The Showdown
If more than one player remains after the river, the hand reaches a showdown. The last player to bet or raise shows first. If there was no river bet, the player immediately clockwise from the button shows first.
Once the pot has been awarded, the button moves one seat clockwise and the next hand begins.
Omaha betting formats
The core Omaha rules remain the same across all formats. The main difference is how much you can bet or raise.
Pot Limit Omaha: The minimum bet is the big blind. You can bet or raise up to the current pot size, calculated using the pot, bets already made and the amount required to call. There is no cap on the number of raises.
No Limit Omaha: The minimum bet is the big blind. You can bet any amount up to all the chips you have on the table. There is no cap on the number of raises.
Fixed Limit Omaha: Bets and raises are set at predetermined amounts. Pre-flop and on the flop, they equal the big blind; on the turn and river, they double. Up to four bets are allowed per player in each betting round: bet, raise, re-raise and cap.
In Pot Limit and No Limit games, tables are usually named for their blind sizes. For example, a $1/$2 Omaha game has a $1 small blind and a $2 big blind.
In Fixed Limit Omaha, the big blind is the small bet and the small blind is usually half that amount, although it may be larger at some stakes. In a $2/$4 game, for example, the small blind is $1 and the big blind is $2. In a $15/$30 game, the small blind is $10 and the big blind is $15.
Starting hands in Omaha
Your four cards should work together. Since you must use two hole cards, hands that offer several ways to make strong combinations can be valuable.
Double-suited hands give you two possible flush opportunities. Combining this with high pairs or connected cards can create a strong starting hand. Commonly regarded top starting hands, when double-suited, include:
- A-A-K-K
- A-A-J-T
- A-A-Q-Q
- A-A-J-J
- A-A-T-T
- A-A-9-9
- A-A-X-X
- J-T-9-8
- K-K-Q-Q
- K-K-J-J
A strong Omaha High starting hand may not be equally strong in Omaha Hi/Lo, where the pot can be split between the highest and lowest qualifying hands.
Explore Omaha at Betfair
You can play Omaha in cash games or poker tournaments. If you are learning the format, Play Money games let you practise the rules against other players without money at stake.
Explore online poker to find Omaha and other poker variants.