Omaha (PLO) rules: you must use exactly 2 of your 4 cards

Omaha (Pot Limit Omaha, PLO for short) is a close relative of Texas Hold’em, with the same hand rankings and four betting rounds. The differences: each player gets 4 hole cards and must use exactly 2 at showdown, and betting is pot limit — you can bet at most the size of the pot.

In the WPT Global lobby, the PLO tab is split into PLO-4 (4 hole cards) and PLO-5 (5 hole cards). Which tables and stakes are available depends on the platform’s current schedule.

What “use exactly 2” means

This is the most important rule in the game, and the easiest one to misread. At showdown, your five-card hand must be:

2 hole cards + 3 community cards, no more and no less.

You can’t use just 1 hole card, you can’t use 3, and you can’t play the board alone. Here are some examples Hold’em players often get wrong:

Board	Your hand	What you think	What it actually is
A♠ K♠ 7♠ 2♠ 9♦	A♥ Q♠ J♦ 5♣	One ♠ in hand, so a flush	Not a flush. You only have 1 ♠ in hand, and you must use 2
8♥ 8♣ 8♦ 8♠ K♥	A♥ A♣ Q♦ 5♣	Quad 8s on board with an A kicker	A full house. You can only use three 8s from the board, plus A-A from your hand, for 8-8-8-A-A
5♦ 6♣ 7♥ 8♠ K♦	9♥ A♣ A♦ 2♠	The 9 completes a 5-6-7-8-9 straight	Not a straight. You can use at most 3 board cards, so a straight needs 2 hole cards, but the 9 is your only useful card. Your best hand is actually a pair of aces

When you look at your cards, count “which 2 am I using” first and you won’t misread.

How pot limit works

The betting cap in PLO is the size of the pot. More precisely, you can raise by at most the size of the pot after you call.

Example: The pot is 10 and your opponent bets 5.

1. You first call 5, making the pot 10 + 5 + 5 = 20.
2. You can then raise 20.
3. So the most you can put in this time is 5 + 20 = 25.

You don’t have to do the math. When it’s your turn, the betting area has a Pot button that sets the maximum amount allowed at that moment.

Betting flow

Same as Hold’em:

1. The small blind and big blind post, and each player is dealt 4 hole cards (5 in PLO-5).
2. Preflop: Action starts to the left of the big blind. You can fold, call, or raise (capped at the pot).
3. Flop: Three community cards, one betting round.
4. Turn: The fourth community card, one betting round.
5. River: The fifth community card, the final round.
6. Showdown: If two or more players remain, hands are shown and compared using 2 hole cards + 3 community cards.

How PLO-5 differs

In PLO-5 each player gets 5 hole cards, and you still must use exactly 2 at showdown. Everything else — pot limit betting, hand rankings — is the same as PLO-4.

With one more card in hand, there are many more combinations. Everyone is more likely to have strong hands and strong draws, so the hand strength needed to win at showdown goes up too.

Adjusting from Hold’em

Omaha is a drawing game. Four hole cards make 6 two-card combinations, so after the flop everyone has lots of draws, and pots get big more often than in Hold’em.

• The nuts (the best possible hand) matter a lot. In Hold’em, a flush is usually good enough to win. In PLO, a non-nut flush often loses to a bigger flush.
• A pair of aces isn’t as strong. In Hold’em, AA is the best starting hand. In PLO, AA with two unrelated side cards is easy to outdraw after the flop.
• Look for coordinated starting hands. Four cards that connect (for straights) and are double-suited play better than simply high cards.

WPT Global runs PLO rakeback promotions from time to time.

FAQ

What's the difference between Omaha and Texas Hold'em?

Two things. First, in Omaha each player gets 4 hole cards (5 in PLO-5), and at showdown you must use exactly 2 of them with 3 community cards; in Hold'em you can use 0 to 2 hole cards. Second, PLO is pot limit, so each bet can be at most the size of the pot, while Hold'em is no limit. Hand rankings and the number of betting rounds are the same.

I have 4 cards of the same suit and there's 1 of that suit on the board. Is that a flush?

No. In Omaha you must use exactly 2 hole cards plus 3 community cards, so the board needs at least 3 cards of the suit, plus 2 of that suit in your hand, to make a flush.

The board has 4 cards of the same suit and I have 1 of that suit. Do I have a flush?

No. You must use 2 hole cards, and with only 1 card of that suit in your hand you can't make a flush. This is the most common misread for players coming from Hold'em.

What's the most I can bet in PLO?

At most "the current pot + the amount you need to call." The Pot button in the app calculates the maximum bet for you.

For Short Deck rules, see Short Deck rules.