PL Omaha rules
Pot-Limit Omaha is Hold'em's bigger-handed cousin: four cards each instead of two, and bets capped at the size of the pot. It is also the heart of Patch-Patch, where each of your three hands plays its board exactly like an Omaha hand. Patch-Patch deals PL Omaha at 6-max tables, from two to six players, and at a heads-up table beside each one, with the same play chips as every other game here.
The game at a glance
| PL Omaha | |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 to 6 |
| Your cards | 4 |
| Board | 1: the flop (3 cards), the turn (1), the river (1) |
| Making a hand | Exactly 2 of your 4 cards + exactly 3 of the board's 5 |
| Betting | Pot-limit: any bet from the big blind up to the size of the pot |
| Betting rounds | 4: before the flop, on the flop, on the turn, on the river |
| Buy-in | 20 to 150 big blinds |
Blinds, positions and the order of play
These are the same as in Hold'em. The button moves one seat clockwise each hand, the two players to its left post the small and the big blind, and at a full table the seats are the small blind, the big blind, UTG, MP, the cutoff and the button. Before the flop the player left of the big blind acts first; after it, the first player still in to the left of the button, with the button last. Heads-up, the button posts the small blind, acts first before the flop and last after it.
A hand is dealt and bet like Hold'em too: four cards each, a round of betting, the flop and a round, the turn and a round, the river and a last round, then the showdown.
The one rule: exactly two and three
Your hand is the best five cards you can make from exactly two of your four cards and exactly three of the board's five. Not one of yours with four from the board, not three of yours with two from the board. This is the rule that catches Hold'em players, because hands that look made aren't.
Holding two kings with a king on the board makes a set; holding three kings yourself is no better than two, since only two of your cards ever play. The hand rankings page has more of these traps.
Pot-limit betting
In pot-limit, the most you can bet is the size of the pot. The most you can raise is a call plus the pot as it stands after that call:
raise to = the bet you face + the pot after your call
The pot counts everything in the middle: earlier rounds' pots, every chip bet in this round, folded players' chips included. The smallest bet is the big blind, and the smallest raise adds as much as the last bet or raise in the round. Anything between the smallest and the pot is allowed.
Worked examples, at 5-10:
| Situation | The pot before you act | The largest you can go |
|---|---|---|
| Before the flop, the first player to act | 15 (the blinds) | Raise to 35: call 10, the pot is then 25, raise by 25 |
| The next player faces that raise to 35 | 50 | Raise to 120: call 35, the pot is then 85, raise by 85 |
| On the flop, nobody has bet | 80 | Bet 80 |
| Facing a bet of 80 into that pot | 160 | Raise to 320: call 80, the pot is then 240, raise by 240 |
The table's bet panel has a Pot button that works this out for you, beside the smaller quick sizes and a slider. An all-in is allowed only when your stack is within the pot limit. An all-in that's less than a full raise doesn't reopen the betting for players who already acted, and the chips a short stack can't match go to a side pot the others play for.
Showdown and ties
The best five-card hand made with two of a player's cards and three of the board wins the pot. Suits never break a tie: equal hands split the pot, and an odd chip goes to the first of them clockwise from the button.
Stakes, clock and rake
Public Omaha tables run at every stakes from 5-10 to 500-1000, each at three speeds whose clocks give you 37.5, 25 or 12 seconds a decision. When the clock runs out you check if you can, otherwise you fold, and you sit out from the next hand. From 10-20 up a public table keeps 3% of each pot that saw a flop, at most three big blinds; 5-10 and private tables take nothing. Everything is play chips: no real money, nothing to buy, no prizes.
Where to go next
- Patch-Patch rules: three Omaha hands at once, on three boards, with one pot.
- NL Hold'em rules: two cards and no limit.
- The hand rankings, with the "exactly two" traps and the odds of each hand in Omaha.